In today’s sermon, Pastor Babij teaches several points concerning Jesus’ crucifixion:
- Three characteristics now associated with Jesus
- Three highlighted groups of sinners
- Several thoughts to ponder regarding Jesus’ death
Pastor Babij encourages believers to remember that Jesus’ death and resurrection provide Christians with hope for today; such thoughts are precious treasures that will transform a person.
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and we can turn to should turn to Mark chapter 15 we’re continuing through the gospel of Mark and I do want to remind everyone that uh this afternoon we have our annual uh Church business meeting and that’s going to be we’re going to have lunch lunch will be provided and uh then we will have start around 2:00 we’d like you to stay um and be participate in that at least listen to what we are communicating uh through that particular meeting and that’s today at um approximately 2: p.m. so let us uh look at Gospel of Mark now in uh chapter 15 and we’re going to be looking at verse 16 through verse 32 but before I look there let’s pray Lord this morning again as we approach the word of God God I pray Lord that you would just make us attentive pull us into the narrative so we sense what is going on there and I pray Lord as we consider the things that this text brings out I pray Lord that you would impress upon our heart the very things that we ought to meditate upon and think about every day of our life about what you accomplished Lord on behalf of Sinners because Lord all these things you went through because because we sinned against you and we could never make ourselves right with you you had to have a plan to be able to make us right with you and give us your righteousness and nail our sin to the Cross so I pray Lord that we would learn this morning well and then have an ample amount of information to think about as we consider our own salvation and I pray this in Christ’s name amen amen I say okay so far we have been remember uh we it’s we’re still it’s still Friday morning uh probably now around 6: p.m.
shortly after after Dawn the sun has risen uh a formal uh trial has taken place and of course the Sanhedrin uh got the Roman Court uh to have the trial but the only problem is the Roman Court Found Jesus not guilty and um that caused a problem Jesus is not found condemned is not condemned by the Roman court but he is found innocent actually by the Roman court and instead he is offered up by some Festival custom and a crowd that was persuaded by a jealous religious body who wanted Jesus dead at all cost so we see from last time pilot the politic ition cowers and caves in verse 15 it says wishing to satisfy the crowd pilot released barabus for them and after having Jesus scourged he handed him over to be crucified so pilate is willing like a good politician to satisfy the people’s wishes he washes his hands of the matter and of course to clear himself hopefully from the responsibility for the death of Jesus and then we have barabus who is the criminal uh convicted criminal he’s released and uh of course it says in verse 15 pilate released barabus and then Jesus the innocent is scourged and of course scourging many people die under that even because it really uh rips their back to shreds right down to the through the muscle right to the Bone and of course they did not want to kill Jesus in that way they wanted to keep him alive hopefully pilate was thinking if we beat him enough long enough maybe the people say okay that’s enough he doesn’t have to be crucified we get it but that’s not what happens of course uh Jesus the Guiltless one is handed over verse 15 over to be crucified so all the levels of people that are present we see that spiritual blindness Madness and Folly really Prevail in this day and when the soul is dead and the heart is numb people are capable of committing even the worst of brutal acts and this is what we see in this section of scripture The Suffering The mockery the torment of the servant King uh is what we see here in our text so this morning I’m asking you to focus your mind on the things about Jesus suffering and how the sinful mind concludes in a completely different direction than what is actually taking place as at least from God’s perspective and so this morning I want you to look at three things about what the Lord is going through the first first thing that should come to your mind and you should Ponder concerning the suffering of Jesus is that Jesus was mocked and he was smitten as a wouldbe king even though he was a great king now look at verse number 16 it says this the soldiers took him away into the palace that is the pratorum and they called together the whole Roman cohort now of course right here remember it is it is Friday at 6: a.m. in the morning Jesus is now handed over to the Roman soldiers to prepare Jesus for crucifixion it was their job to do that and Jesus is already badly beaten a cohort of soldiers is quite a few actually uh maybe even up to 200 soldiers some say that it’s even more the soldiers now have the authority over the prisoner and they took the liberty at that time to Mock and smite Jesus this would be king now I say it like this for this reason the soldiers say okay if you’re supposed to be a king we’re going to treat you like a king all right and so there are actually there’s six things the soldiers did to rid Jesus claim to be a king Mark makes really a vivid description of the horrific event the first thing is this what does a king need a king needs a royal robe right so in verse number 17 notice what it says they dressed him up in purple that that they put a really a robe of purple on him signifying of course mocking him as a king and then the second thing a king needs is a crown it says in verse 17 and after twisting a crown of thorns they put it on him so they put on his head this mock crown and then in verse number 18 a king requires adoration it says and they began to Acclaim him hail King of the Jews all in a mocking manner sarc a sarcastic acknowledgment of his Royal dignity and then a fourth thing is that a a king needs a staff now here it says they kept beating him they kept beating his head with a re so so Jesus is addressed as a king who is powerless to use his scepter here recognized as a reed so they beat him with it and then fifthly a king requires respect and they disrespect him by hurling upon him the grossest kind of insult in verse 19 spitting on him and then also in verse 19 the king requires worship so what do they do they are bowing before him and mocking Jesus in a with worship type of positions because he was supposed to be this great king now the tense of the verb that is used here denotes the soldiers actions were repeated for some time actually pilate let this barbarity go on for almost three hours from 6: a.m. to 9 a.m. the Apostle Peter said this of Jesus in his epistle he says and while being reviled he did not revile and return while suffering he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously that was the attitude of Jesus through all this so This shameful demeaning activity was only brought to an end for the purpose of keeping Jesus alive and preparing him for the ultimate death sentence and if you notice what the soldiers did in verse 20 after they had mocked him they took the purple robe off him and put his own garments on him now they probably did this out of respect of the Jews ultimately the Romans would just strip them down completely naked but they put his clothes back on him so that as they went through the procession through and of course uh the procession went through major roads now some people uh think that the Via delar Roa is the is the place that Jesus actually walked on that’s probably not the case the reason why is because Jerusalem has been destroyed and built and destroyed and built and destroyed and built from six times so the original road that uh Jesus probably walked on we don’t even know what it it would have been but we do know this that the Romans always brought the criminals through the most populated streets and then the actual site for the crucifixion was done off a major road they wanted people to see their power and their Authority and they also wanted people to see that if you live and respond against the Roman authorities this is what happens to you all right and so the people of course do get that message uh when there’s some public execution some public hanging the people watching do get a message that I don’t want to be the one getting home I don’t want to be the one getting crucified so the message is a pretty powerful one and so this is what Jesus is going through it’s completely humil humiliating and so this procession it says in the end of verse number 20 it says and they led him out to crucify him so the procession for criminals to be crucified was again as public as possible and usually the pro procession went through streets that were probably the bus busiest uh the most things that are going on would they would be paraded through those streets now in this part of the text Jesus is viewed in a different kind of way by the soldiers all right the soldiers are really running this and of course behind what the soldiers are doing is the Jewish authorities you know egging them on to do these things and so we see first of all that Jesus Jus is viewed as a man who needed some help uh Jesus was de debilitated at this point by the suffering already he already endured and so another Jew was compelled to carry jesus’ cross mark uh once again shows us Jesus in his weak Humanity breaking down under the load of the cross uh so completely that even the mean-spirited soldiers saw his present fail F Frailty and had to do something about it notice in verse 21 it says and they pressed into service of a bypasser by coming from uh the country Simon of sirene of course that was Africa he was from Africa he was probably in Jerusalem to worship and it says the father of Alexander and ruus uh to bear his cross so they pulled this guy off the street usually it was probably coming out of the gate of Jerusalem and they commandeered him to do Carry the Cross for Jesus and so that all that a Roman soldier actually had to do was to tap the soldier of any person they wanted to with the flat of their spear to press them into service everybody who was a in the Roman uh system kind of knew this this was made known and so really the term came to mean to requisition someone um it was a first used in a a Persian Royal post where um the Royal actually male service of the Persian Empire would requisition anybody they needed to accomplished their mission in Roman times it was used for military or Civil Service the term came to mean as the text uses it here to press someone into service in other words they didn’t have a choice all right when the Roman soldiers came and laid their sword on your shoulder you did not have a choice it wasn’t a up for negotiation it was do you’re going to do this or you know what’s going to happen you’re you’re going to be at the end of this spear all right dangling on it all right so that’s the kind of mindset that was they had uh it’s possible that something happened to Simon picking up Jesus cross on golgatha because that really dramatically changed his life he could have believed in Jesus on that particular day because it says here that he he had Sons named Rufus and Alexander and of course we find in Romans 16:13 this is what it says about a man named Rufus greet Rufus a choice man in the Lord now this could be the same man that was now the son of this man who was carrying Jesus cross we cannot know that for sure but the possibility is pretty high that that could be the case because he’s actually Simon is mentioned again in acts when Paul and Barnabas are sent on their mission to the Gentiles and it mentions Simeon which is another form of Simon called Niger and they know that those two put together mentioned when somebody’s called Niger that means that they were probably from North Africa because they came they had a a swathy skin because of the of the Sun and the climate in that part of the world and of course sirene in in it mentions it again in Acts is North Africa so it’s a great possibility that this man somehow was changed by this moment became a Believer his family became a Believer and they became very influential in the Church of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel but it’s hard to make that hard fast but it’s possible a second thing that Jesus is viewed as an unclean man if you notice what it says in verse number 22 then they brought him to the place gtha which is translated place of the skull now why is that because no one could be killed inside the city walls of Jerusalem especially a Condemned criminal and so they had to take them outside the city to do the killing gtha was of course outside the Gate of Jerusalem um even Hebrews tells us the book of Hebrews tells us that therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate so there is an indication here that Jesus was unclean uh to the Jew and so therefore he could not be crucified in in the city limits but had to be taken outside the C city limits to be crucified so Jesus was taken to galtha which is translated the place of the skull now of course the Greek term here may sound very familiar to you uh it’s the word cron all right which of course here translated skull but it of course it’s the word cranium all right in other words the actual place of the skull refers to the shape of the Hill like a cranium the Round Top of the skull so it referred to the skull like Hill outside of Jerusalem which is now occupied by by a mam a mohamedan cemetery a hill that rises right above the garden tomb so this is uh most likely the very place that Jesus Christ was crucified and not too long ago they found the garden tune right below that so that was the place so this galtha really was a place that looked like when you look at it uh a cranium a top of a head and um so that’s why they called it that the place of the skull some say no it’s because of people who died there and all their bones were left there and all the skull uh you know skulls were left all around around and that’s probably not the case it uh it’s what the the way the hill looked so see so Jesus is considered an unclean man because of his uh being found guilty and and then of course taken out of the city to be killed and then the Third Way Jesus is viewed is he’s viewed as someone who needs drugs in verse number 23 it says they tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh but he did not take it see at galtha Jesus was offered a narcotic myrh was added to Wine to give a Stupify effect drugged wine was given for several reasons the first was uh of course the terrible pain suffered by such a death as crucifixion and secondly it subdued the criminal to make it easier on the soldiers to nail that person to the Cross however Jesus did not take it it says in verse number 23 he wanted to remain perfectly clearheaded and sober in order to take the full brunt of suffering so none of his senses could be dull a third a next way that Jesus is viewed is he is viewed as a man hoping hopelessly condemned in verse 24 it says they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves casting lots for them to decide what each man should take see once they started casting lots for the clothes it is thought the person who’s dead doesn’t need their clothes anymore so the soldiers it was customary for the soldiers to cast lots to see what parts of the clothing they get usually there was four Lots three were blank one was marked with who would get the Garment because the Garment usually taken to the Cross was one piece uh so you couldn’t cut it up so it had to be given to at least one of them and so uh but remember this was also fulfilled prophecy it tells us in psalm 22:8 they divided my garments among them for my clothing they cast lots Psalm tells us that matter fact this whole section is can be verified by The Book of Psalms that all these things were prophetic they had to happen according to what the scriptures told us and then in verse number 24 it says to us that and they crucified him that’s the first part of the verse this is the reason why this was all happening and according to church history Jesus bore really was crucified on a t-shaped cross it really had no top piece at all like our present crosses would have Jesus was lifted up no more than 36 in off the ground so he was very close to the ground and the Great Nails that were driven through his hands and feet were done usually while the cross was on the ground and then lifted up into position and of course Luke tells us because some people believe that jesus’ feet were not actually pierced but there’s a problem with that and the problem is that there’s too many scriptures that say his feet were pierced in fact Luke 24:39 says see my hands and my feet all right and then of course in Psalm 22:16 it says for dogs have surrounded me a band of evildoers have encompassed me they pierced my hands and my feet so according to scripture Jesus hands and feet were pierced through with these Great Nails so crucifixion is a very horrible way to die it was agonizing it was humiliating it was exhausting because it was was designed to be a slow and painful death some say that one could Linger on the cross for four days before they succumb to death four days that did not happen with Jesus matter of fact Jesus died before the soldiers came around to break the legs of the people so they would die immediately and we’ll look at that some time later yet we we do know this and I I do don’t want you to get this impression because we see the greatest Agony Jesus suffers is not physical it was a rather the agony of Soul as he bore the guilt of the world’s sin that is what really made the cross a horrible place to be now the only thing is that we don’t exactly know the depth of the suffering that Jesus went through at that particular time the scripture does not go into great detail about what he suffered and what he did when he suffered the spiritual part of his death uh for the guilt of the world’s sin but nonetheless Jesus is also viewed as a guilty man in verse number 25 it says it was the third hour when he When They Crucified him now the third hour would be 9:00 in the morning so Jesus was on the cross at 9:00 in the morning and uh that’s what they wanted they wanted to get it done early uh Jesus is hanging there at that particular time and um then he right up until noon time which would been the sixth hour something changed in nature which I’ll look at next time but the superscript scription that um was actually displayed through the uh procession and held up by uh one of the sometimes one of the soldiers or again another citizen that they would commander and it would list on it on it in big letters why this person was being crucified what their crime was why they were guilty and of course in verse 26 the superscription uh publicly displayed the charge for which the person was guilty and it says this the inscription of the charge against them read the king of the Jews that’s why he’s guilty doesn’t seem like a legitimate charge does it but for the Jews it was a legitimate charge because they claim Jesus claimed something they think was not true and so they belied that he deserved this so as Jesus was raised on the cross the Jews noticed this superscription which pilate had caused to be placed above him and they insisted that he modify it but pilate refused to modify it in fact let’s take our Bibles and look over to John chapter 19 John Chapter 19 Verse 22 and I want you to notice John recording the same incident the same thing and he list and includes other things in John Chapter 19 Verse number 19 it said pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross it was written Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews therefore many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew Latin and in Greek so the chief Priests of the Jews were saying to pilate do not write the king of the Jews but that he said I am the king of the Jews and it says in verse 22 pilate answered what I have written I have written so even though this superscription was used in a mocking way it was Pilot’s way of revenge against the Jews in other words if you want Jesus this badly you will have to have him as your king now of course what is ironic is that what is written is true Jesus is the great king even though it was used in a mocking way so that is what we see of the Lord Jesus Christ that Not only was Jesus was mocked and smitten as a wouldbe king even though he was a great king and Jesus was also led to the slaughter as a defenseless and helpless lamb even though he was the great Lamb of God a third thing about the Lord Jesus Christ is that Jesus was crucified to save others not himself even though he was the son of God and a great king so I want you to notice in verse 27 the great king was crucified with sinners in verse 27 They Crucified two Robbers with him one on the right and one on on his left now these convicted robbers were directly connected to Jesus because they were sinners they were not merely Petty thieves they were called actually highway men those who robbed innocent victims while they were traveling from place to place which included beatings and often murder and other crimes so these were not peaceful men who got caught robbing a penny store these were serious criminals that were being crucified with Jesus and Jesus is smacked right in the middle of two criminals Jesus that means is the most important person who held the center Place between these two Sinners who are dying justly for their crimes and for your information if you notice in your Bibles uh in verse number 28 uh either it is italicized or it is omitted or it is bracketed meaning that there was not enough textual support to include this passage in uh our Bibles however our text is so clear that Jesus was fulfilling prophecy and so the scribes who were writing scripture put it in the sideb of the text and it somehow got into it now if you have the new American Standard what does it read there in verse 28 and the scripture was fulfilled which says and he was numbered with the transgressors well that’s exactly what’s happening here right and so he got in there so I would say why don’t just leave it alone because that’s exactly what it says in Isaiah 53 because it says he was poured he he he was poured out he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors so Jesus was not about saving himself he was about saving his people which required Jesus to stay on the cross until the work was finished so not Jesus Not only was crucified with Sinners but but Jesus Christ was crucified for Sinners and in verse 29 through verse 32 we have actually a list of sinners in our text see Jesus was fulfilling his mission that he was not dying for the righteous for there are none righteous but he was the substitute sacrifice for all kinds of sinners sinners of all levels of all walks of life for the scriptures tell us in Corinthians he made himself who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf so that we may become the righteousness of God in him so it’s it’s kind of hard to believe that Jesus Christ would die for the help and would die for the ungodly and would die for all kinds of Sinners and would die for his enemies who dies for their enemies nobody dies for that you kill the enemy you don’t die from that Jesus dies for his enemies in fact scripture is pretty clear about this Romans chap 5 what the passage of scripture we we often would quote in in witnessing to somebody or evangelizing somewhere it says in Romans 5 verse number 6 for while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly for no one for one will hardly die for a righteous man perhaps though perhaps for a good man someone would dare to die but God demonstrates his own love toward toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled shall we be saved by his life amen see Jesus Christ came to die for sinful Humanity so three groups of Sinners are highlighted Sinners who stabed Jesus repeatedly with their cowardly degrading and insulting tongues here’s the first group in verse 29- 30 and this group repeatedly derided him this first group is really the Jews from the city notice what it says those passing by verse number 29 were hurling abuse at him wagging their heads and saying ha you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days save yourselves yourself and come down from the cross so see this first group were most likely Jews from the city and those visiting because of the Passover holidays who were just passing by trying to get a closer look at what was going on and they derided Jesus with the same charges of the false Witnesses in chapter 14 of Mark now this again was prophesied in Psalm 22 where it says all who s see me sneer at me they separate the lip they Wag the head saying commit yourself to the Lord so again everything being done according to what was written in the book of Psalm and of course they completely misread the real intent of jes’ words because he was actually talking about the Temple of his body that will be torn down in death and rebuilt in Resurrection they totally missed it so this group was actually chowing jesus’ power they were saying if you have the power then to destroy the temple and raise it up in three days then you can save yourself come on if you don’t come down you have no power your power is a sham that’s group one group number two verse 31-32 this group also repeatedly mocked Jesus who was this group this is the group that’s been with Jesus from day one this is look what it says in verse number 31 in the same way the chief priests also along with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying he saved others he cannot save himself let this Christ the King of Israel now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe hey guys it’s a little late it’s a little late the second group is the chief priests and scribes of the religious establishment and what they’re actually doing in this St stat is challenging jesus’ whole Ministry from day one to the Cross they’re challenging everything he ever did all right kind of saying this if you saved others then you can save yourselves show us a Sign by coming down from the cross come on you big talking King you must be false because you cannot save yourself so that means all your Miracles are Furious see you are no Messiah you are no King just show us a Sign by coming down from the cross and then it says so that we may see and believe well you know what what what they do here is not far off from what we all do give me some proof give me some proof that this is true and I’ll believe right but Jesus says if you want proof first you have to believe you have to believe that I am and a rewarder of those who diligence diligently seek me see faith comes first before we SE things matter of fact you can stack up all the proof in the world that Jesus did all these things to people and they can still walk away and many people do and not believe them because they have to be regenerated they have to be made new God has to convict their sin of righteousness of judgment and he has to open up their eyes to see so they can be born again into the kingdom of God in fact the Apostle Paul exposed the character of the Jews by writing this in 1 Corinthians the first chapter indeed the Jews asked for a sign right and the Jews uh we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block see Christ crucified will always be a stumbling block it is still a stumbling block to the Jews today it is still that why because they cannot believe that a messiah a king should be crucified that doesn’t show that that person is a king or that they have any kind of power it shows that they are weak and useless and they’re a sham and that’s exactly what they saying saying here that Jesus is a big sham but if you come down to the Cross maybe will’ll believe they’re not going to believe anything it’s too late for them and then there’s group three and group three is kind of a surprising group three repeatedly reviles Jesus and notice what it says in verse 32 it says those who were crucified with him were also insulting him that means the two thieves on his right and his left were insulting him now of course because of their criminal nature you wouldn’t think it would be such a surprise to to revile Jesus and and the word revile means to berate him to insult him actually that’s what it says in our text those who were crucified with him were also insulting him so the Rob robbers being crucified with Jesus both first joined in reviling with everyone else they just jumped on the bandwagon said well we might as well do it too until one came to see who Jesus really was and it’s recorded not in Mark but I want you to turn to Luke chap 23 and notice in verse number 39 through verse 43 in verse number number Luke chap 23 look at verse 39 it says one of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuse at him saying are you not the Christ save yourself and us but the other answered and rebuking him said do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation verse 41 and we indeed are suffering justly for we are receiving what we deserve for our de our Deeds but this man has done nothing wrong and he was saying Jesus Remember me when you come in your kingdom this is very significant passage of scripture because this man can do nothing at all to help himself this man man cannot go back and undo what he did this man is hanging on the cross as a genuinely Condemned criminal who has had all the proof to put him there on the cross and he admits it and he sees something in Jesus probably following the storyline through Jerusalem all this time and he sees something in Jesus that is innocent and he sees Jesus as a king hanging on that cross and he sees Jesus as the only solution he has to his problem and this is the only thing he asks him Jesus Remember Me When you come to your kingdom well what was jesus’ response to the criminal that this Condemned criminal well Jesus answered look at vers number 43 truly I say to you today notice you shall be with me in Paradise is that not Authority is that not acting like a king speaking like a King Jesus says today you’re going to be with me in Paradise that that means something you know what that means that means what Jesus was doing on the cross is efficacious and beneficial to those who believe in him who cannot do anything for themselves but have faith in Christ amen that means the same with us so see you see how a work-based religious system is totally negated in this one particular event it could have never happened so what what does this suffering and mockery and torment of the servant King do for those who repent and place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for Eternal salvation well it does many things and I in my reading I came up with several ones and other people that I read and included him in about eight things from this particular text but remember this before I say these things remember this it was us and our sin that were the cause of all Christ suffering it was us and our sin that was the cause of all of Christ’s suffering well here are eight things to ponder and try to ponder them often here’s the first thing Jesus suffering in our place brings us to God it tells us in First Peter 3:18 for Christ also died for sin once for all the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God having put to get death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit secondly Jesus suffering in our place delivers us from the pit of Destruction and the tor M of the prison of Hell thirdly Jesus suffering in our place sets us free from every charge in the day of judgment and to present us faultless before the father with exceeding Joy fourthly Jesus suffering in our place is so that we might have glory and honor and eternal life through faith in Christ Aton atment and that we might be received into God’s kingdom with Triumph at the last day and receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away fifthly Jesus suffering in our place is that we might be clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ because we have no righteousness of our own not clothing defiled by sin but pure white unstained wedding garments for the presence of our King sixthly Jesus suffered in our place so that we may be be delivered from the curse of sin Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree seven Jesus suffered in our PL place so that we we may be reconciled or reckoned innocent for Christ’s sake and found worthy to escape God’s judgment and and be pronounced not guilty before Heaven and Earth and then lastly Jesus suffered in our place so that we may have a strong consolation when we walk down into the valley of the shadow of death hearing no evil all those things and more are accomplished for us and benefit for are a benefit to us every day in our Christian walk we have a confidence that you can get nowhere else than from when we learn the word of God and even a confidence to be able to be have a strong stamina when we are even Faith with with death right before us because we know that death is that doorway into the presence of God for even even Paul said therefore be always of good courage knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord but when we’re absent from the body we’re present with the Lord right so that Christ makes that way into his presence a way that something he accomplishes on our behalf that gives us a strong consolation that we know where we’re going because God has told us the truth and because he told us the truth and he cannot lie I will rest completely on him and what God says will come true it has come true and it will come true all of it will come true and we being as children are our privileged to know that let’s try to keep these things in mind these are the very things that will transform you then think often of the suffering of Christ done on your behalf and the benefits that secure your total salvation for those who believe completely in finished work of Jesus Christ these are the things that make us like him these are the things that make life worthwhile these are the things that make looking to a resurrection and the life of Christ something that Comforts and encourages us every single day as we live in this world with many discouraging things happening every day with negative news coming out from all parts of this planet uh and it seemed like there’s no longer any hope for anybody There’s Hope in Christ see and if you have that and you know that then you have benefits that other people sought their whole life to obtain studied their whole life to understand and didn’t the lord gave it to you don’t take those things lightly those are precious Treasures that need to be occupying our minds all the time let’s pray Lord thank you again for the word of God lord we as your people are are happy and joy filled when we know that these things are ours they’re for us and Lord as we understand those things I pray that you would just well us up with the peace of God and the joy that passes all understanding and Lord and make us through these truths transform our minds so we could every day give ourselves over as a Living Sacrifice to you which we know is to be holy and acceptable and reasonable Service as one of your children and Lord take us that we would not be conformed to the world but we would be transformed by the renewing of our mind so we can know the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God and that Lord also that we wouldn’t think of oursel higher than we ought to or lower than we ought to but just the way you created us and then Lord send us out every day with Zeal and with love of God and love for people to do your work with the gifts you’ve given us and I pray Lord that you would not waste the knowledge that we gain from hearing and understanding scripture I pray that it would always strengthen us and make us mighty men and women of God I pray this in Christ’s name amen