November 1
John 18:1-2; Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 22:39-46; Mark 14:43-52; Matthew 26:47-56; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:3-24
Would any of you want to know how and when you were going to die? I know, many of us are praying for the Rapture, but if we are to perish prior to that event, one unmistakable truth is that all of us one day will die. So, with that in mind, what is it that you seek? Is your desire longevity or purpose? This is an important question, for in it often you determine the trajectory of your lives. We read in Psalm 139:16, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” We often don’t know, but God already knows how and when each of us will pass from this earth before we even take our first breath on this earth. When I passed my first kidney stone, when my appendix became infected, I knew that something out of the ordinary, something that I could not escape was happening. That is probably how it will be at the end of our lives. When that moment comes will we try to claw our way out or seek His will right up to the end. Will we try to make a difference in the lives of others as our lives are fading? In reality, are any of us really prepared to live if we are not prepared to die?
Jesus is our example for everything. He is who we want to model , get our counsel from, whose life was on display so that we can see what perfection looks like. Though Jesus is indeed God, He became man for our sake, and as it says in Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV), “ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was to die, and He knew both how, when and why He was to die. We read in Matthew 26:39, “ He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” It wasn’t just that He was to die, but our sinless Lamb was going to take all the sins of mankind onto Himself, while suffering an unimaginably cruel death. Not His sins, since He never sinned, but our sins. Every lie, murder, rape, etc., for every person no matter how “good” or vile that person might be, in the past, present and future. Despite this, we see His response in 26:42, “Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” It’s not like He couldn’t manipulate the situation if He so desired, as we read in 26:53-54, “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
As they arrested Jesus, we read in John 18:12, “So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up.” They thought themselves in control, but as Pastor Chuck Smith explains, “They didn’t need to bind Jesus. He was bound by cords much stronger than the ropes they used. He was bound by His love for us.” Jesus through His life and ministry taught us how to live. In the concluding chapters of the gospel He also teaches us how to die. When we live, we live for others. Even when we die, we get to do that for others. It is so hard to get our eyes off of ourselves, but that is where true freedom rests. With our eyes off of ourselves and on God and others we are free to live and die with purpose for however long God chooses to allow us to walk this earth.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: