to your Bible to Mark chapter 14. Let's get into our passage this morning. Mark chapter 14 verse 43 through verse 52 today. Can I ask you a question? Are you glad? I mean this sincerely too. Do you want to be a church that's involved in those ways in this community? I mean, you're going, yeah, that's where you want to be. Okay. And so I am too. But really, it takes all of us to be a part in some way or another if we're going to make a significant and substantial lasting impact in this community. So what I say to churches, let's not slow down. Let's live sacrificially. Let's be involved in our community. As Brad said earlier, let's be a part of taking the gospel to the world, but let's be a part of taking the gospel to the Antelope Valley as well. Amen? say if you honor God's Word, Mark chapter 14, beginning verse 43. We come this morning to the betrayal of Jesus. I titled this message, Betrayed with a Kiss. Verse 43, immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they left him and fled. And the young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him. But he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. Father, thank you for your word. There's a curious ending to our passage today, but what is clear is that Jesus, you willingly laid down your life for us. Father, would you help us to see today who we most resemble in this passage? And Lord, would you call us to be more like the Savior? We pray in Christ's name. Amen. You can be seated. It's actually interesting when Felipe was saying that May 5th is not Cinco de Mayo. It is Cinco de Mayo. That's like asking, what day is the 4th of July in England? It's the 4th of July. But in our family, Cinco de Mayo, or May 5th, it has little to do with anything else going on. That's the day that my little Hannah was born, 18 years ago this week, which is crushing this father's heart. It's just destroying me. Two weddings, an 18-year-old, a high school graduation, all within a four-month period of time is cruel and unusual punishment. And not only that, but my young, a week later on May 12th, turns 16. And that's just scary because that means that all four of my kids could drive. So I've had teenagers for a lot of years now, and we love teenagers. And one of the things that we used to do with our kids, particularly Brandon and Sidhu when they were the high school age, I don't know, I don't hear it as much today, but one of the things that was fun for everybody to do at that time, maybe you still do this, is we used to play this game, if we were in a long line at Disneyland, or driving a long way in the car, we would play the game, Would You Rather? Have you ever played that game, Would You Rather? So you ask a question like this. In fact, play it with me right now, okay, ready? Would you rather go 90 days with no sugar, or 30 days with no caffeine? 30 days with no caffeine, that's so funny, because some of you are saying, man, in the last service, of course it's first service, you people all slept in, so they're here early, so in the last service they're like, oh no, I want my life without sugar, I can't give up my caffeine, which just means they're all drug addicts in first service. Would you rather have a child at 18 or 45? 18. 45, who said that? Okay. Would you rather drink a bowl of gravy or have a large spider caught in your hair? Drink the gravy! I would rather have a large spider caught in my hair because I know it wouldn't be hanging around long. There's just not enough to grab onto. Would you rather die leaving no legacy, being completely unknown to any other human soul, or would you rather die infamous? Famous, but famous for your shame. Would you rather be unknown or infamous? Unknown. I would rather be unknown, too. The man that we looked at today, Judas, who betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss, will forever be the infamous man who betrayed the Lord of glory with a sign of affection. Judas, his name, is synonymous with betrayal and forever will be. You might not know this, but Judas was actually a very common name a couple thousand years ago. It sort of isn't so common today, is it? In fact, it was interesting, yesterday when I was out at Newberg Impact at the high school, my name is common, right? Chris Johnson. That's a pretty common, two common names. Chris Johnson, put them together. So I'm at A.B. High School yesterday, and a couple of the moms who come in to see their kids to play, they come over and greet me, and they're very sweet. And they just said, oh, how are you? And I said, I'm fine. They told me their names. I said, oh, I'm Chris Johnson. And this lady looks back at me, and she goes, that's my grandma's name. Why don't I get a grandma's name? Judas was common like that. Everybody would have had it, but you don't hear it today. Who names their son Judas? I mean, listen, I'll bet you there's a lot of Davids in this room right now. There's a lot of people named after King David. The name Judas just didn't live on. In fact, it was so common, remember, two of the twelve disciples were named Judas. What a bummer for the other Judas, right? Judas, the son of James. I was in Germany a couple of years ago with actually Pastor DeWayne, and something I always like to do, we went to a cemetery, and we went to a cemetery that looked like it was primarily full of people who had lived through World War II, before the start of World War II and then died, it was a cemetery around a church, and it was interesting looking at those dates, how many people had the first name Adolf. I mean, that was not a fun name to live with in post-World War II Germany. Judas was one of those guys. He died an infamous death, and his infamy lives on today. He is the great betrayer. And what I'd like to do in our passage today, as we get to the end, I'm going to ask you three questions. And my question is going to be today, I'm going to ask you, are you more like Judas? Are you more like Peter? Are you more like Christ in this passage? But first, let's look at the passage. Look at the arrest. The arrest of Jesus Christ achieved. They'd been working at this for some time and it's finally achieved. Look at verse 43. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs and the chief priests and the scribes. and the elders. And so it says there, immediately. What does it mean that they came immediately? Well, anytime you see a word like immediately, you should look at what happened immediately before it. Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, and there, in verse 41, Jesus comes out, finds his disciples sleeping. Remember, Jesus has been spread out on the ground, blood has been pouring out of his forehead, because the thought and the stress and the strain of enduring the wrath of God has gotten to him. He's pleading with his Heavenly Father, if there's any way, take this cup Firmly, the cup representing the will of God for Christ, it's full of His wrath against the sin of man. And just as if there's any other way. And yet His conclusion is, after praying three times, finding His disciples sleeping is, Your will and not my will be done. And so he comes out the third time, finds the disciples sleeping, and he just says to them, could you not pray for an hour? The time of temptation is coming. You're either going to pray or you're going to fall into temptation. And the same thing is still just as true for us today. We'll pray or we'll fall. And so immediately Jesus comes out, and he says there in verse 41, and the third time he came to them, are you still sleeping? taking your rest, it is enough, the hour has come, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, and immediately, in that moment, here comes Judas with this band of men to arrest Christ. It was Judas who guided them to that familiar and intimate meeting place of Jesus and his disciples, as it says in John 18, the Garden of Gethsemane. They came at night so they would not be causing commotion during the day to avoid conflict with the crowds who had been following and were loyal to Jesus. John tells us that the arresting group included a cohort, which is a tenth of a legion, which is 600 men. This wasn't just a few men that came to arrest Jesus. They came ready to do battle. In verse 44, The Bible tells us there that Judas had given the armed band a secret. Look at verse 44. Now the betrayer, how would you like to be known as that betrayer, had given them a sign saying, the one who might kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. So Judas came with his armed band. He would identify Jesus with a kiss. A kiss was considered a kind and respectful gesture between a disciple and their teacher. It was an expression of loyalty and devotion, ironically enough. And can I just tell you that not all kisses are born out of a loving heart. Kisses can be deceitful. Not all kisses are born out of a loving heart. Kisses can be deceitful. And so, I realize the context isn't entirely connected here, but can I say to the young ladies in the room, their teenage girls in the room, can I just tell you that not all kisses are born out of a loving heart. They can be deceitful. And in this case, this kiss was meant to identify Jesus our Lord. Proverbs 27, 6 says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Judas cheapened everything he ever touched. The irony is his name means praise. And yet, as I mentioned earlier, who in the world would name their son Judas today? He didn't bring any praise to God. He sought praise for himself. He used the kiss as a weapon and not a sign of affection. So we'll see there in verse 45, it says, came, and he went up to him and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him. Look at verse 46, we see the submission displayed. First the arrest achieved, now the submission displayed. We see the submission of Christ displayed. Verse 46, and they laid their hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, have you come out against, as a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? The day after day I was with you in the temple, And you did not seize me, but let the Scriptures be fulfilled." And so they did not need clubs and lights and swords. Jesus wasn't going to hide from them. They didn't need a flashlight. They didn't need to bring force, as Jesus pointed out to them. They would not have to look for Him. They would not have to force Him to follow. In fact, if they wanted to force Him to follow, their efforts would have been futile. They couldn't make Jesus do anything. Jesus came and said he came calmly and he surrendered freely in John chapter 18 verse 8 parallel passage Jesus stepped boldly forward and identifies himself In fact, he said these words. I told you that I am he so if you seek me let these men go So our good chef our chief shepherd even in that moment isn't defending himself. He's looking out for his disciples I hate let these guys go just take me and Mark records in verse 47 a brazen attempt at resistance by an armed and unnamed bystander. Look at it in verse 47. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Now, Mark does not identify who this is, which disciple this is, but we all know, don't we, who is it that took the sword and cut off the servant's ear? It was Peter. You might say, well, how come it's not recorded here? Who's the apostle behind the Gospel of Mark? Peter is. So Peter maybe selectively is a... I think I'll just leave my name off there. But his good buddy and fellow apostle John wasn't so kind. And in John 18 we see that Peter is clearly identified as the man yielding the sword. But Peter... One of the disciples with the sword, by the way, in Luke 22, 38. In fact, Luke 22 makes it clear that Jesus had told his disciples to bring swords. This just wasn't the time to use it. And so, believe it or not, some people have made this into a sermon about bend control. First of all, I don't see any bends in the passage. If anything, it might be a sermon about sword control. But it's not about having one. It's about how you use one. That's really the issue here. Peter, ultimately, commits a rebellious act. He struck a man named Malchus, according to John 18, and the servant of the high priest Caiaphas. Peter chops off his right ear, John 18.10, and as one commentator said, Peter was either really good with the sword, or he was really bad with the sword. He was either aiming for the guy's ear, or he was aiming for his head and just caught his ear. But either way you look at it, Peter shouldn't have been swinging that sword. In fact, in Luke 22, 49, the disciples ask this question. In this moment, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And in a moment of impulsivity, Peter swung before the Savior had a chance to answer. And how many times do we pray just like that? Lord, is it your will for me to be... And we're actually doing it while we're asking. This is not submission. You'd say, well, how did Peter fall into this moment? Because just before, he'd say, you know, Lord, I'll die for you, and then pretty soon he's going to be fleeing. Why was Peter caught up in sin in this moment? And it was sin. It was a lack of surrender. And I'll tell you why. Peter was sleeping when he should have been praying, and he was swinging when he should have been surrendering. And we do the same. John MacArthur says it this way. Peter boasted too loudly, prayed too little, slept too much, acted too fast. Only Luke tells us that Jesus reattached the ear in Luke 22, 51. And I will tell you that was kind of Jesus. This is the last recorded miracle of Jesus. But I'll tell you, not only do I think that miracle was for Malchus, and can you imagine the blood that was pouring out the side of this man's head? I don't think it was only for that servant. I think it was also for his servant, Peter. Because if he hadn't reattached that ear, there would have been four crosses at Calvary that day. Trust me. And Peter would have been on one of them with Jesus. And Jesus had other plans for Peter. But mark this, Peter's attempt was unnecessary. It was unnecessary. It was unwise. I'll tell you why in just a few moments. And it was unauthorized, which is the main point. He swung while he asked instead of asking before he swung. Jesus did not need Peter's protection. Amen? He didn't. Matthew 26, Jesus says that if he wanted to be delivered, he could have summoned the legions of angels. They would have come and rescued him. A legion was a group of 6,000 soldiers. So what he's saying is, I could have called 72,000 angels from heaven, and they would have come and rescued him. 6,000 for each of the disciples, the 11, plus Jesus. More than sufficient for about 600 Roman soldiers and some temple guards. After all, Jesus didn't really even need 72,000 angels to deliver himself, did he? All he had to do was, with a word, he could have destroyed them. In fact, when he identifies himself in John chapter 18, I am, which many people think is Jesus referring to himself as the I am, in full metonym of God, it says all the soldiers, just with his word, fell back. Just with a word. Jesus didn't need Peter's protection. They came at night into a secluded place because they were cowards and they came fulfilling the scriptures as Jesus said and then the last thing we see is the desertion fulfilled Jesus had promised that his disciples would desert him look at verse 27 chapter 14 and Jesus said to them you will all fall away for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered that very night He said you're all going to fall away and then we've seen that fulfilled look at verse 50 and they all left him and fooled and Jesus made it clear that he would not resist arrest, and therefore was not going to be setting up his messianic kingdom at the moment, and the disciples fled, just as he in the Old Testament had predicted. No one remained with Jesus, not even Peter, the one who said he would never desert him, even if he had to die with him. And then we find this curious story in verses 51 and 52. It's curious because it involves a streaker in the middle of the Bible. It's not the only streaker in the Bible. We know Joseph was a streaker. We know there was a demon guy that was a streaker. Now we meet this man who's running around naked. Verse 51, and a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And he seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away. Now I know you think, what is this strange episode? Why is this illustration included here in the scriptures? And it might seem quite off for you, but let me first explain that most commentators, and when I say most, I mean most, most Bible interpreters, and I would agree, not that my agreement brings any more validity to the idea, that this is likely John Mark, the writer of this gospel, who was a young man, the word young man there would mean he's in his early 20s most likely, he was a young man who fled the scene. You say, well how did he end up at that scene? If you take a look at Acts 12.12 and you go back and look at Mark 14.14-15, when Jesus is making the arrangements for the upper room, remember there's somebody that's going to let Jesus use basically this large upper room that they have in their home. Most people believe that that was John Mark's family. That it was John Mark's dad that made the upper room available to Jesus. And that John Mark may have been home during that evening, and as the disciples left the upper room and headed for the garden, that he would have been aware that they were heading out. And remember, Judas had left the meal early to go get the soldiers to come back and arrest Jesus. Where would Judas maybe first have gone to when he came back to the rest of Jesus? The last place he saw him, which would have been the upper room. So it seems like a viable argument that Judas would have first come back to the upper room. Remember, Jesus had kept it secret where he was going to have that meal. Only a couple of the disciples knew. They made the arrangements. And then they all showed up for the meal. Judas would have had no way to tell the Roman guard or the Sanhedrin, where they were going to be. And so he would have brought them there. John Mark could have been stirred, already gone to bed. Notice it said he had this linen cloth on. That would have been the undergarment. That would literally, seriously, what he's saying is he was in his PJs. He didn't have his outer garment on. It could be that Judas brought the armband back with him to that home when they weren't there. Judas knew exactly where Jesus would be next, which was the garden, because it says that that was a place that he would take his disciples as an intimate, quiet meeting place, which makes this all the more disgusting what Judas did. And John Mark could have followed that group over there. Jesus gets arrested. As they're arresting Jesus, they're like, grab him too. And so they seize him, as it says, and then he takes off running, and he leaves behind his PJs. and goes streaking home. What his explanation was to his parents that night, I don't know. Some of you have probably had experience at that and you could imagine. But in this case, whether it's John Mark or whether it isn't John Mark, the question we must ask ourselves is why is this included in Scripture? I think to illustrate verse 50. Verses 51 and 52 illustrate verse 50. And they all left him. And then John Mark says, there's even this young man who followed behind with nothing but a linen cloth on, and they seized him, but he left too. In fact, he was so scared he went running away naked. It was more important for him to get away with it than even have his clothes. To the point, they all left him. And I think this is John Mark, and I think what John Mark is saying, I did too. I left him too. Everybody left him. So the disciples forsook Jesus, and they fled. So did the young man who came into the garden as a witness of his arrest. And Jesus says in John 16, 32, and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. So everybody can leave me. Everybody can abandon me. You know what? Not the Father. He's still with me. I'm not alone. Although it wouldn't be long before the Father would forsake him too, and the wrath of God would be poured out upon him. And so while Jesus, as I said last week, is our great high priest, he can relate to everything we've ever been through in our lives, we can't relate to everything Jesus has ever been through. Because Jesus had the wrath of God poured out on him, and you've never had that happen. And you've never had God forsake you. In fact, Jesus says if you're a believer, he'll never leave you or forsake you. So you might feel like, I've got nobody in my life, but if you're in Christ, you have Christ. And that's better than anybody else in your life. And so Jesus died alone. In conclusion, I want to draw your attention to a quote, and then I want to ask you three questions. The quote is from Warren Wearsby, and it goes like this. Each of us must decide whether we will go through life pretending like Judas, or fighting like Peter, or yielding to God's perfect will like Jesus. Will it be the kiss, the sword, or the cup? I want to ask you, what will it be for you? The first question is this, is am I pretending? Will it be the kiss? Am I pretending? Will it be the kiss? Let me state the obvious for you, and that is that Judas was a phony and not a true believer. Everybody understands that, you know that. He was a hypocrite. He never really believed in Jesus. It's sad how close a person can come to salvation and yet be forever lost. What may not be so obvious to us is that the disciples didn't understand that Judas was a hypocrite and a liar and a phony. They lived with him for three years and yet they trusted him so much that they gave him the money. He was the treasurer. He was regarded highly by his fellow disciples. In fact, when Jesus in the upper room said, one of you is going to betray me, none of them pointed the finger at Judas. They were quicker to point the finger at themselves than they were at Judas. They didn't think it was him. They thought he was the real deal. Psalm 41 verse 9 says this even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. He was a close companion and Yet he was a phony in Matthew 13 24 to 30 Jesus tells this parable about the wheat and the tares It's an interesting parable because it's hard what it's explaining is it's really hard to tell the difference between wheat and tares in a field we can't always tell the difference between true people of God and hypocrites who can't and And if we knew which was which, we would go to every hypocrite individually and warn them, and we'd also warn everybody else of the hypocrites, because they do great damage. Does anybody here love C's candy? Who loves C's candy? C's candy, I don't know what they put in it. It's so good. But there's something I don't like about C's candy. And that is I can't tell what's inside of the candy itself. You know what I'm saying? I'm talking about the ones that are filled. I like those too. I don't like all of them. And so I know there's like a little road map on the bottom, like it's in this position, it's this candy, but once someone takes a couple out, they shift in the box, you can't tell. If the only thing you can really do is check. You know, so you just kind of... None of you are going to be eating these candies out of my box, that's for sure. Amen! I finally get an amen in church. How about that? Thank you. I wish sometimes that we could just take out the candy, the person, what's really inside of there. Are you real? John MacArthur says this, Judas supplies sinners, please listen carefully, Judas supplies sinners with a solemn warning. We learn from the example of Judas that a person can be very near to Jesus Christ and yet be lost and damned forever. Would you please take these words seriously? What I'm saying to you is you could have been going to the church for years or going to church for years and be on your way to hell. Demarest even worms pastors of such things after having preached to others make sure you're not disqualified This is for all of us Judas wasn't deceived MacArthur writes he was a phony He understood the truth and posed as a believer furthermore. He was good at it the cleverest hypocrite We read about in all of the scriptures for no one ever suspected him. He had everyone fooled except Jesus Who knew his heart? And mark it, wherever God's work is done, there will be imposters like Judas. There will always be hypocrites among the brethren. The favorite trick of Satan and those he employs is to disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. 2 Corinthians 11, 15. In fact, in that verse, the Bible says Satan himself appears as an angel of light. The devil is a master of making his work look good, and he is busily at work amongst the Lord's people. The second question I have for you is not only am I phony or am I pretending, but maybe some of us fit this category. Am I fighting? Am I the sword? Peter's sword symbolizes his rebellion against God's will. He was fighting when Jesus was surrendering. I like Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord. This is your spiritual act of worship. Expressing a living expression of living sacrifice is set against the backdrop of the Old Testament sacrifices Where in the Old Testament the worshiper would offer an animal that would be slaughtered before the Lord the New Testament Worshipper is to offer himself or herself as a living sacrifice So when the when the plates passed really, you know, you would think oh, you know I always say just put whatever God says to put in the offering plate Really what is being said here if you could think of it like to the extremist put yourself in the offering plate I don't know how that would go over If the ushers were passing the plate and you sat on it and you're like, take me. I don't even know for sure how we would deposit you in the bank. Could be quite interesting taking you over to Bank of America and going, well, we have this. But that's kind of the picture. You offer your whole self. I never loved roller skating. I've done it. My wife was good at it as a teenager. She never loved it, never loved the roller rink deals. Fine. Just go. Let's be honest, teenage boys, the only reason you ever like roller skating is for the couple to skate. You get to hold hands with a girl. But there's this weird part of it that I always dreaded. And that's when they called you all up to the middle to do the hokey pokey. I don't even know if this is good to say in church. I'm not sure. I don't even know for sure the hokey. I don't know. But you know that song, I don't know, it's something like you put your right arm in, you put your left arm in, your leg in, and you shake it all about. That's the part I don't like. I don't like to shake it all about. I don't have any soul, I don't have any moves. When I shake it all about, it's just nothing good. And so you're out there, but at the very end, I do remember this. Eventually, you put your right arm in, you put your left arm in, your right leg in, your left arm in, you know, and you do the hokey pokey, and you turn it all around, something like that. I don't remember. And I wasn't good at skates, so me turning around a lot of times meant me falling on the floor. But at the end of the song, as it says, you put your whole self in, you put your whole self out, you put your whole self in. And what I'm saying is this, is Peter in that moment didn't have his whole self in. He took out the sword, and he swung it, in rebellion. And we've all been there. So I ask you today, are you resisting God's will in your life in any way? Is there sin in your life that God has repeatedly called you to give up and yet you keep walking in it? Is there someone in this room who has been called to go do something? God called you to go do something, but you keep coming up with really good reasons not to do it? And maybe it's something that doesn't even make sense to the world around you, but you know that your Savior's called you to do it. What is it? Are you fighting? And then the last question I have is, am I yielding? Am I the cup? Am I pretending with the kiss? Am I fighting? Am I the sword or am I yielding? I'm the cup. Spurgeon says this, it is appointed that he must die, speaking of Jesus. And how shall he fall into the hands of his adversaries? Shall they capture him in conflict? It must not be, lest he appear an unwilling victim." This is an important point in this passage. Do you know why Jesus said, did you have to come with 600 men and clubs and swords? I wasn't going to resist. Jesus couldn't let that moment end with there being any confusion. You know why I think Jesus was so quick to fix the guy's ear? I think he was saving Peter. I think he was being kind to Malchus, a man who was his opponent, which, by the way, we know what it's like when Jesus is kind to his opponents, because he was kind to us. But you know what else I think he was doing? I think he didn't want anybody ever in the rest of human history, like you couldn't let this moment go by thinking that he was resisting arrest. Because he said, Father, your will be done. Not my will, your will. And there couldn't be any confusion about any of that. had yielded himself up. Turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 2, just for a moment. 1 Peter 2, verse 23. 1 Peter 2, verse 23. It's one of my favorite verses, honestly. I just love this section of Scripture here. 1 Peter 2, verse 23. It teaches us how to deal with injustice. You know, in my house, when my dad and one of my kids were smaller, there were two things that I just wouldn't allow to be said. It always used to just get on my nerve. The first one is when kids would say, I'm bored. I don't really hear that. We don't really hear that phrase in our house. Can't stand that phrase, I'm bored. Because my response was always, you know, my response was always instantaneous, like, well, let me unbore you. I'll give you something to do that will take you a really, really long time. And the other phrase was, that's not fair. Yeah, that's not fair. She got it. He got it. How come, wait, this is not fair. And my response to that was always the same. Don't ask for fair because fair is down there. It'd be fair if we all died and went straight to hell. And your kids just tend to look back at you like, okay, thanks dad. Fairness. How do we deal with injustice in our lives? Jesus is our example. Look at verse 21 for this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example That literally means to trace his steps so that you might follow in his steps Look at the example. He committed no sin nor deceit found in his mouth. He was totally innocent None of us are totally innocent or ever have been when he was reviled He did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but continued in trusting himself to him who does justice day because he was totally yielded to the Father and trusted the Father in faith that God, you've got all this, I just believe, I trust you. Verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed spiritually, for you were strained like sheep and have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. One commentator says that humanly speaking, the provocation to retaliate during Christ's arrest, trial, and crucifixion was extreme. Yet he suffered in silence, committing himself to God. Peter explained, one who could have destroyed his enemies with a word, patiently endured the pain and humiliation of the cross. Why did he do it? So he could redeem us. By his wounds we are healed. And so Jesus yielded so that we could be saved. And he is our ultimate example of how we should yield as well. Can I tell you this as we close? Jesus did not come primarily to be our good example. He came primarily to be our Savior, who set for us an excellent example. Having a hard time dealing with injustice? Life doesn't seem fair? You feel like you got something in life that you didn't deserve? You know what you need to do? Entrust yourself to Him who judges justly. And the ushers are telling me my sermon is over, so let me pray. Let me pray. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Lord, which is it for us? Would you reveal it to us today? Are we pretenders? Are we resistors? Are we the sword? Are we like Peter? Lord, are we more like Jesus, yielding every part of our life to you? Whatever your will is, we want. Lord, I know that most people in this room, except for maybe the phonies, but most people in this room aren't phony, Lord. Most people in this room probably relate most to Peter. We resist you at every turn. So, Father, I pray today that you would help us to surrender and to yield like our Savior. I thank you that He did, because in doing so, He gives us life eternal. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.