The Gospel According to Jesus' Enemies

John chapter 11, starting from verse 38. Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said.

But Lord said Martha, the sister of the dead man. By this time, there is a bad odor for he has been there for 4 days. Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of god? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, lazarus come out. The dead man came out. His hands and feet wrapped with, strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Therefore, many Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to the pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedron. What are we accomplishing they said they asked? Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.

And then the Romans will come and tape away both our temple and our nation. Then 1 of them named caiaphas, who was a high priest that year, spoke up. You know nothing at all. You do not realize that it is better for you that 1 man die for the people than the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own.

But as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for the neck that nation. But also for the scattered children of god to bring them together and make them 1. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved publicly among the people of Judea. Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, a village called iframe, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing by the passover before the passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts, they asked 1 another, what do you think? Isn't he coming to the festival at all? But the chief priests and the pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him. My name's Rory, for those of you who don't know me, I'm 1 of the members of staff here at at Cornerstone.

And, just to add to what Leon said before about reliable men on Monday. It's it's gonna be a brilliant time together, I think. It it might be quite powerful. But it's, we're gonna listen to Paul Whitfield. He do he's done an interview with Tom.

I'm gonna think about him as he as he deals with his, with his cancer. And so even if you don't usually come to reliable men, come this just come this once. We're gonna pray on our tables afterwards. We're using our morning series as men to think through how we pray through issues like this. So I I I I really do recommend coming along to that.

And the other thing to, make you all aware of, which hasn't been said, is that the Zambia, the Zambia team went today today. I got a picture from my brother on our family WhatsApp group. They all look very happy. So, obviously, it's the start of the the trip. But it's brilliant that they're able to go over there.

The 4 of them is Lorraine. Nathan Breons and his friend and Steven, and we wanna pray that God will bless their time. They're gonna go through the armor of god on that camp. So that would be a really good opportunity for them to go in and to witness to many people at that camp. So we wanna pray for them.

And we wanna pray also for our time together now in god's word. So let's let's do that as we begin. Let's pray. Father, we we thank you so much. For this time that we get to have together, and we thank you that we can turn to you in prayer.

And, we do commit to you now, the Zambia team. We thank you for them. We pray father that you'll give them, a safe journey to Zambia. And we pray father that you will use that team, to build relationships, to faithfully proclaim your word, to clearly explain your words that the those young people that are Christians will be built up in their faith and in the love of the lord Jesus Christ. And for those who do not know you, we pray.

Will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And father, for our time now, as we look at your word, we pray that you do help us. We thank you for the reminder from Safron, this evening. 900 translations of your words. And, sir, we pray father that your health was not to take this for granted.

We pray father that as we come, to this words, you will help us to treat it seriously. And we will, have gratitude in our hearts, that you have given us your words. And so we pray tonight you will speak through it. May we see more glories of the lord Jesus Christ tonight? And so he prayed these things in his name, amen.

Okay. Now Roman, Romans, Jonathan's, What the dickens? John chapter 11 and verse, 53. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. They plotted to take his life.

That is quite a a a a stark and surprising, shocking sentence you may you may find. And, usually when you hear that somebody is plotting to take somebody's life, you think, well, What situations is that correct? Is that okay? What has led someone to come to the conclusion that it's okay to try and murder somebody else? What has led them into this course of action?

It it must be serious. For for somebody to plot to take somebody else's life. The the situation must be serious. The person must have done something. You know, this is the mo this is, you know, for the most serious of criminals.

This is for your gangsters. This is for, if you know, in 9 I think it was 19 39, July, the twentieth. There was a plot. To take the life of Hitler. And you think, yeah, maybe that's fair enough.

Maybe you understand that. Surely, If you're gonna plot to take somebody's life, they've gotta have done something to deserve their life being taken. And surely, that's what's going on here with these guys. Surely, these pharisees, they're so offended by Jesus. He must have done something to deserve them plotting against his life.

And so that's, obviously, in chapter 11, we seen that? What a horrible man Jesus is in chapter 11? He's completely deserving of this. Isn't he? What's he what's he done?

Well, you've note you'll notice if you Look back or you know the story of Lazarus, John 11. Lazarus has died. He's 1 of Jesus's close mates. In fact, in fact, Jesus has allowed him to die. And, Jesus has finally come onto the scene.

At least delivered this incredible statement, you'll see it down at verse 25 to 26. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. The 1 who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? So he's, you know, delivered this statement.

And then later on, as Leon read, he's come to the tomb, deeply moved, and he said roll away the stone. Of a person who's been dead for 4 days. Martha is thinking 4 days dead body, pretty smelly or you mad Jesus. Jesus says, look, just trust me. Just trust me.

And he he then says his prayer in verse 41 to 42. Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me. And then he shouts, lazarus come out. Which if any of us tried that in a graveyard, we may be sectioned.

But this is the resurrection and the life. And so the dead man listens to the call and walks out of the the tomb alive. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the 1 who has the power to raise dead people to life so they walk out. And so what a horrendous human being Jesus is that they should plot to take this man's life.

Is that really something that is befitting the response of plotting to take somebody's life? Surely the response should be what we find in verse 45. Therefore, Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. Just as Jesus prayed, I'm gonna do this so that people will believe in me. And so he raises this man to life, And I believe.

Of course, you should believe this man. This man can give life. This man can raise dead people to life. This man has proven that he is the resurrection and the life. The only correct response to this man is to follow him.

Is to trust in him. It's to believe in him. But it's clear that that isn't for everybody. Look with me at verse 46, but some of them went to the pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. They they Yes.

You've raised somebody for from from the dead Jesus, but you're not for us. You're a threat. And so like the those those siblings that you had, they always snitch on you. Yeah. They always it was gavin in our family.

He would always run to mom and dad and tell on us for what we'd done wrong, pain in the back so I'd never do anything wrong in front of Gavin. Take that for free. These people run to the pharisees and says, you see what he's doing here. And they report back to the pharisees about this troublemaker Jesus. And so the report comes back to them.

And that is the final straw for this this group of Pharacies. It's time to declare an emergency meeting. This is code red. This is cobra. This is def con 1 nuclear weapons out.

We need an emergency meeting. We need to deal with this problem. And so what is The verdict of this emergency meeting, well, here's my first point, righteous murder, righteous murder. We pick up the story of the second half of verse 47. It says, what are we accomplishing?

They asked, Here is this man performing many signs. What are we accomplishing? What are we achieving here? Well, I mean, we've tracked we've tried everything. We've tried the this.

We've tried that. Tried this, and nothing seems to be working in terms of trying to get trying to deal with this problem of Jesus. It's frustrating for these pharisees. And they say, don't they there? Here is this man performing many signs.

See, the the issue with Jesus is that he's not he's not lying that he can do these things. Jesus can clearly do incredible miracles. This is the miracle maker. That they're not denying the fact that Jesus has raised a dead man to life. They can't deny those things.

So how how will they justify their opposition? How will they how will they say it's okay to oppose Jesus. We'll look with me at verse 48. 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. See that, how do we justify it?

We say he's a threat to the national security. The Romans will come and take away both our temple allow our nation. They're saying that Jesus by his actions, by his great miracles, by his words, as people come and flock and follow him and and and more and more people come to believe in him and trust in him, they're saying that this man is gonna cause some sort of rebellion, a revolution that will try and take down the Romans. And if he does that, then then surely the Romans will just come in and take everything that we love They're gonna take the things that we love, they're gonna take our temple, they're gonna take, they're gonna destroy our nation, they're gonna take away our our self autonomy, our our our ability to govern ourselves. Problem is, if you know anything about Jesus, That's not what he's about at all.

Is he? They couldn't be further away from the truth about Jesus here. He's no threat to Rome in a sense. He's repeatedly said, I'm not coming here to take things by force. I'm not here to make a a physical war with Rome.

I'm not here to be your king that you want. I am the king, but I'm not the king that you necessarily think I am. He's the 1 that comes when they say, should we pay taxes to Caesar? He says, give to Caesar What is Caesar? This is not, you know, try some sort of boycotting of taxation to rebel against her Caesar.

He doesn't do that. And in fact, when he does eventually come before pontius pilot, the man can find no fault with Jesus. And so what they're doing is really the the the saying that that that they're inventing a false reality about Jesus so that they can justify the fact that they're opposing him. And in the midst of that meeting, The old high priest. I don't know why he's old.

I don't know if he's old. Sorry. High priest, caiaphas, gets up, stands up. And he delivers a speech to solve the problem. Look how he starts at verse 49.

You know nothing at all. Flip it at Kivas. This is a a a a room full of learned men that know the law of by heart And Kiophus obviously thinks he's a sort of a big dog, which he kind of is, I suppose, you know nothing at all. You want educated wretches. You don't know anything at all.

You know, you are thinking, oh, what do we do? It's obvious what we do. What do we do? Look at verse 50. You do not realize that it is better for you that 1 man die for the people than the whole nation perish.

It's better for you. It's better for our people that Jesus dies. It's in the national interest, when we've ever heard that phrase before. See, if if 1 of 1 person dies, and then everyone else survives, surely, that is good. If 1 person dies, we get to keep our our country.

We get to keep our most precious temple. We get to keep our power. And so they might use sentences like It's for the greater good. The greater good. If you know that film reference.

The greater good. I read 1 quote that said for the greater good the phrase that always precedes the greatest evil. There's countless of examples of people that said were doing it for the greater goods. Soviet Union as they got rid of any political opponent, it was for the greater good so that we can solidate our power. As they allowed famine in Ukraine, it was for the greater good so that we could have a stronger agricultural efficiency.

The Nazis for the greater good of our race and our society, we can get rid of 6000000 people. For the greater good, For the greater good of women, we will allow them to terminate pregnancies for the greater goods, for the greater goods. For the greater good is the phrase that always precedes the greatest evil. And so, we come back to our verse 53. From that day on, they plotted to take his life.

Verse 57. The chief priest and the pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him. There is no greater evil than this. There's no greater evil than saying, we want to kill the very man who can give life to dead people. Not only that, but if you look at chapter 12 and verse, 10, the chief priests made plans to kill lazarus as well.

For an account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. Not just, not just, oh, let's kill the man who can, who can give life to dead people. Let's kill the man that he raised up from the dead. I mean, you I'm you've gotta take issue with that, don't you? He's just raised him from the dead.

He could do it again. Come on, lads. Think about it. That's evil though, isn't it? I read 1 commentator, man called Matthew Henry says, pretended fears are often the color of malicious designs.

Pretended fears are with It's in the national, it's either for the greater goods, pretended fears are often the color of malicious designs. And so they've been plotting for a while, haven't they? These virus has been plotting for a while, but the intensity has just stepped up because a dead man has been raised to life. And so murder is on the card, but it is righteous murder, isn't it? It's justified murder.

It's okay because it's for the greater goods. It's okay because it's better that he's gone for us. It's okay. That's what happens in our society. People always reject the law Christ, just like the pharisees.

They don't deal with they don't deal with Jesus' words. They don't deal with Jesus' actions. They don't deal with a very person of Christ. But they think of many very many many excuses for not trusting in him. They have many excuses for dismissing him Think about what they say about the Christianity and and the message of the lord Jesus Christ is the cause of so many wars they say.

That that they say this is not a progressive message of the lord Jesus Christ. This is so backwards that we've moved on from that There's no need for us to have that anymore. This is a dangerous message. You're you're you're you're inciting violence against me because what you're saying, what Jesus says, upsets me, and I wanna have a safe space. We aren't nothing to do with the lord Jesus Christ and his words and his actions.

Righteous murder. But like in a like if you think about a play, And there's the play that's going on in front of us. It's San Hedran trial, but behind the curtain of the play is the director who's moving all the pieces together. There is something going on behind what's happening in this def con 1 meeting. For behind that curtain is god the director.

And so here's my second point. Richard meanings richer meanings. See, the the joy of these statements, is that they're true. Unwitting unwitting to to caiaphas. Yes.

But it's more true than he could ever even contemplate In fact, he's actually a prophet. He doesn't even know it. He's just speaking, and god's like, yeah, he's a prophet. Not a he's not like a good bloke, but he's a prophet. Look at verse 50 to 52 again.

You do not realize that it's better for you that 1 man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that he didn't know it, but he's prophesying that 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 1. There's richer meanings here. There's 4 richer meanings I want you to get. They all begin with s.

It's kind of me, isn't it? First Richard meaning, sovereignty sovereignty See, yes, yes, man is responsible here. Yes. There are wicked men at play. Yes.

There is murder on the minds of the Pharaces. But behind all of that, behind the murderous intent, there is a sovereign god who is in control. Did you see him? Did you see how he is sovereign in all of this? Yes.

There's Kyovis who thinks he's a brainiac because he's thought about a plot that will make everybody be okay, but that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die. That that that this would mean that scattered children of god come in. He's sovereignly behind this. This is how god works. Throughout salvation history, god uses wicked people to achieve his purposes.

You think of the story of of Joseph in in Genesis. Evil wicked brothers, jealous of Joseph, and his beautiful coat, jealous of Joseph and his dreams. Here he is, the dreamer, Here he is. Let's have him. Let's sell him.

And into Egypt, he goes into slavery, but down the line, The brothers come back, and Joseph realizes that god has been using this situation so that the good of his people would flourish. And so he says, you meant it for evil, but guards meant it for good. That's Joseph. In acts, it goes on after after the resurrection of Christ in acts chapter 8 after Stephen, is stoned to death. A great persecution, is brought on to the church.

And what happens? Well, the church is scattered to Judea and Samaria and all over place, and so that the gospel then goes out, and the church has grown and grown and grown. God uses wicked people to achieve his aims. That's an amazing thing, isn't it? You you're there thinking you're an opponent?

And really, the person you're opposing is just using you to make his stuff happen. I remember being at, revive a few years back, and, we were doing a mission slot. I just want you to see that this still happens today. They were doing it on China. And in China, they they I don't know if this still happened, so if anybody knows, come do tell me.

In China, they said that they were allowed house churches. But when they got to a certain size, the authorities or the police would come, and they would They had would split it in half. It's 2 churches. Fantastic. And then those 2 churches would grow.

They'd get to a certain size. The police would come, those wicked police. Split it into 2, 4 churches. And then those 4 churches would grow, and they'd get bigger and bigger and bigger, and then they would get too big. And the police would come.

We could please. They'd come. They split them in 8 churches. I can't do this mass this long. So I think I think sixteen's next.

God uses wicked people. And so here you have caiaphas. Here you have the pharisees, and they want to kill Jesus. But behind the curtain, god is in control. And it's not just caiaphas who wants to kill Jesus.

It's god who wants to kill Jesus. But not because he hates, but because he loves. In Isaiah 53, it says that the lord is punishing the sun. It says it was his will to crush him. And in in acts as a prayer where it talks about pontius, pilate, and herod, and god is using these peoples as pawns and their wicked behavior, and he's using them to achieve his purpose of putting the lord Jesus Christ on a cross.

So it although they think they've got their little schemes, and they've got the little plans that they'll kill Jesus. In behind it all really is the lord, the god of the universe, the sovereign king of all things, behind there using their stuff to achieve his purposes. And so there's assurance here brothers and sisters that I want you to see this. There is assurance that we have a god who is in control. We we have assurance, excuse me.

That even if there are people that oppose you, even if there are people in your life that are completely against you, God can use them to make you more like he wants to make you the lord Jesus Christ in Romans 8. It's a superb. That's why I said Romans at the very start. In Romans, it's amazing. It says, it says that god works in all things to make us more like the lordy Christ essentially, and and and it's it gives it a whole list of things that that that people might say, well, this is this is separated from the love of Christ has, and it surely surely, surely, this isn't for my good, and 1 of those things is persecution.

But really, what what god is doing, in fact, he's using all of those things. He's using acution. He's using famine. He's using trouble. He's using hardships.

To they're no longer barriers against you, what if you're not a Christian. They're like barriers, aren't they? They're they're they're they're they're they're They devastate me, but god turns them, and he uses them as blessings to you, and says, actually, now I am in control. I'm always in control, but brothers and sisters, that means for you that the people are opposing you, that the evil in this world is for your blessing and for your good. There is great assurance that god is in control, even over the actions of those who oppose you.

So that's the first thing that we see here sovereign. But secondly, substitution, substitution See, caiaphas's statement is a statement of substitution, isn't it? Do you see what he says? You do not realize that it is better for you that 1 man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. It's better to have 1 who will die.

And, obviously, in caiaphas's mind, he thinks, well, that's a physical thing. It's better that he dies so that we get to keep our our temple, and we get to keep Jerusalem, and we get to keep our our status as a nation, and we get to keep our power I mean, the ironic thing for Kyaphas is that, I think, 37 years down the line, Jerusalem is no more. The temple is torn down. But On a much larger spiritual level, this is so true. It's interesting he uses that word and perish.

Warehouse as he used that word perish and John. John 3 16. Forgot so loved the world. That he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not do what? Perish.

Yeah. No 1 perish. God gives his son. So that he would die for us and that I don't perish. See Christ takes the place of sinners.

We sang this morning, come behold the wondrous mystery. As we look at the And the lord Jesus Christ hanging on that tree instead of ruined sinners. We sing another to him that says bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned he stood, hallelujah. What a savior? There is substitution here as Jesus comes.

And as they put him on a cross, they put him in the stead of us as ruined sinners. There is substitution here, and it is great news. But thirdly, it means there is salvation for the nation. Did you see this in 51? That Jesus would die for the Jewish nation.

All the promises that are in the old testament, all the things that were said about the Messiah are coming through in the lord Jesus Christ, And so when he hangs upon that tree, he is dying for the people. John 10, Just a just a page before. Verse 11 says I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life. For the sheep.

In verse 14 to 15, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, but my sheep know me just as the father knows me, and I know the father, and I laid down my life, for the sheep. This is what Jesus has come to do. He's come to be a substitute so that the sheep may be brought into the flock so that they may find salvation, that they may find freedom. But not just salvation for the nation, but fourthly, salvation for the scattered children verse d 2.

And not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of god to bring them together and make them 1. See, it's it's too small a thing just for those around him. Jesus must go bigger. And bring in the scattered children. Again, in John 10, verse 16, it says I have other sheep that are not of the sheepfold.

I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be 1 flock and 1 shepherd. His promise is that He will bring people from all nations and that they may be called children of god. John 1, verse 10 to 13. He was in the world, and though the world was was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to do what. To become children of god. Children Not born, not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband's will, but born of gods. There is salvation as we are brought into the family of gods.

There is salvation as both Jews and gentiles people from all over the world accept the substitutionary sacrifice of the lord Jesus Christ, and they are brought on to 1 family. In ephesians chapter 2. It says, doesn't it? From verse 13, it talks about how Christ has come to make Jews and gentiles, break down the barrier between them to make 1 people for himself. That's what he's doing on the cross.

He's putting to death hostility. He's bringing peace to all people so that verse 18 for through him, through Jesus, We both have access to the father by 1 spirit. Wasn't it great this morning for those who were there? To be reminded that we get to call almighty God of the universe, father. There is no greater privilege in the whole of the Bible than to call godfather.

There is no greater privilege to be known as a church child of the living god, once objects of wrath, once deserving the very wrath and judgment of god poured upon us. Now that we can now that we can call Godfather because of what Jesus did on the cross and substitution. God made him who had no sin to be sin. So that in him, we may be the righteousness of god. That substitution.

So when you go home tonight, and you turn on the TV, and you watch Scotland thrash hungry. And they make a substitution. 1 player for another player, and you think what a rubbish game of football is, but you might also remember this sermon and say, praise god for the substitution of the lord Jesus Christ. That he would take my place, that he would die my death, that he would suffer my punishment. So that I may be a child of the living god so that we may be the family of him.

And maybe as we as we come to the close of the passage, did you notice what time this is? In the passage. Sorry. Not now. Don't look at that clock.

It's got it's been going on for absolutely ever. What time is this? It's the passover. And what was the passover? The passover was when Israel was enslaved in Egypt.

And do you know what you see in the Passover, you see sovereignty, you see substitution, you see salvation, sovereignty, God raises pharaoh up to show who he is. He's gonna use a wicked man. To achieve his purposes, substitution. How is it that people escape judgment In the in the Passover, they must take a lamb. They must slaughter that lamb.

They must eat that lamb. And with the blood of that lamb, they must paint the door posts with the bloods. That when the age of death comes over, he passes over them. They must trust in the substitute Not that we don't we don't have to have our firstborn killed. We now trust in the the lamb.

And so the lamb is the 1 that his blood means that I escaped the judgment of god. And so you come to John, and you come to the first chapter of John, and John, the Baptist sees him, he says, behold. What did he say? Behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world. The substitute is there.

And because he passes over, there is salvation. There is freedom. There is life. Not death. And so the Passover points to the lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of gods, who will paint his blood on the wooden beams of a cross so that we may have salvation that we may have life from the resurrection and the life so that we may go free and incredibly so that we may be called children of the living gods.

So Who are you in this story or where are you in it? Well, maybe you're not a Christian or you wouldn't call yourself 1. And if that is you, please hear the warning from the Passover story. And the warning from rejecting Jesus for if you do not trust in him, then life is not yours, but only death. But maybe you've seen tonight that this is an innocent man who has been put to death by evil people, but but but by the the sovereign control of almighty god.

He's there so that you might be called a child of the living god. And so will you come And like those in verse 45, will you come and will you believe in him? Will you follow him? Will you trust in him? And for us as Christians, what great assurance What great assurance?

God is never out of control. He's always in charge. What great assurance? Christ is my substitute. Christ took all my sin upon himself.

Christ died my death. Christ took my punishment so that I don't have to. What great assurance that I am in the family home of god that I will never be kicked out that I'll always be a son of the living gods. What joy we have because of these things. Let us not forget these things, brothers, and sisters.

Let us be united around these things. We are now bought as 1 family, as 1 people, brothers and sis together. And as we revel in these truths, let us hand and and hold this out to a a people. There are scattered children all over the world. There are scattered children probably on this road.

There are scattered children in Kingston. There are scattered children in the UK. There are scattered children in Indonesia, how helpful it was to hear about that. Let us pray that god will take this message or substitutionary atonement, and that he would take it and root it in the heart of the Arab Panang people. Let us be our heart's desire.

Let us not be cold. As Seth said, let's feel the rebuke. Let us not be cold to the gospel. Of Christ, but let us be warmhearted and let us have unceasing anguish and unceasing sorrow that there are people that are not yet converted, and let's pray. And let's go with beautiful feet.

Do you want beautiful feet? Yes? Let's go and tell people about this incredible Jesus. Let us follow him and let us hold him out to those around us. Let us pray.

Father, we thank you, for this passage. And we thank you that you are a sovereign god that despite wicked men, wicked intentions, you use them to achieve your purposes. And so we thank you so much that The lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to be a substitute for us to secure a salvation to secure us you as father. And so we pray father, you'll give us great assurance, that you give us great joy, that you'll give us unity, and that you'll give us a passion to talk about the lord Jesus Christ. And so we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.