He settled backfired, death of the devil.
It's the final very few hours of the life of Jesus Christ
before his great crucifixion and resurrection story.
We actually find ourselves in Luke chapter number 22
verses 24 and following.
And in this second sermon, we call the sermon
real talk for real disciples.
That's right, backfired, the death of the devil.
Satan, as we know, is a worthy adversary.
Yet one night in a series of fatal mistakes
in the span of 12 hours, Satan and his ultimate plan
became his eventual demise as he possessed Judas,
betrayed Jesus, and had him arrested.
This is the story of the devil's death,
and dark plan that famously backfired.
Before we read the text today, I want
to introduce you to someone special.
As we pray for the nation of Israel,
we understand that our heart, as Christians,
is not local, but it's global.
And that we as Christians have been spreading
the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world.
And you as a church have been doing this by every Sunday
when you give to the Lord a portion of that which you give
goes to our worldwide partners, our missionaries
all around the world.
One of those partners is with us today,
missionary Jeremy Pinheiro.
And the story that I heard him tell,
I said, you need to tell that story before my sermon today.
So at this time, will you welcome to the platform
your missionary, missionary Jeremy Pinheiro at this time.
Hey, Jeremy, glad you're here.
Thank you, sir.
It's a prayer of a pledge to be able to be in partnership
with you guys as we serve in a place like Vanuatu, really
the uttermost parts of the world if you get out a map
and you look at where that is located in the South Pacific.
And God has enabled us to start seven churches
throughout the islands of Vanuatu.
A lot of those have come about through difficulties,
through disappointments that God has opened up opportunities
for the gospel.
And one of those incidents took place on a little island
called Gawa, completely isolated, zero technology.
Yesterday we got to see your city and boy, that's a jungle.
But zero, nothing, nothing, no technology.
We have people that don't have a lot of clothes on,
but it's not because of choice.
And that is the location that we were located on.
We had just had an incredible outreach opportunity.
We saw numerous people saved and a new church started.
And at the end of that week, we baptized some people
and we were excited.
We had seen God do something amazing.
We were waiting for a boat to pick us up.
They called up and said, the location
where we were going to pick you up, the ocean is too rough.
You need to travel three hours to another village
and that is where we will pick you up.
We're picking you up tonight, start moving.
So we packed our bags, there was 20 of us
and we hiked to that other village
where we were not welcomed.
Our reception actually was witch doctors
dressed in all these leaves with these big weird mud hats
with different eyes on them, taunting us
and running circles around us
and trying to put fear into our hearts.
And then we were in this village,
no one greeted us outside of these guys.
We picked a dilapidated bamboo thatchard roof hut
that was leaning sideways, that was infested with rats,
which is another fun story.
And that's where we were waiting for this boat, no boat.
Gets to nighttime, we are hungry
and the only option we had was to go into the ocean
and spear fish and see if we could find something
and we went out there and we filled up a boat.
It was phenomenal.
We came back to shore, the people on the shore
of that village said, where'd you get the fish?
We haven't had fish for months.
We have, this place is over fished.
There is no fish and so we were excited.
We're like, oh God's answered our prayers
and then that rolled into the next morning.
You're waking up for breakfast, not the greatest breakfast
and then into the next lunch, fish again
and then into the next night, there's no boat yet.
I'm getting frustrated.
My phone has flown into the jungle a few times
while I'm trying to communicate with this boat
that's been not telling me the right information.
We go fishing again the third night.
Now by night three, I love sushi just like anybody else
but fish for morning, lunch and dinner for three days
and sleeping on dirt in a dilapidated hut with rats.
Man, I was disappointed and it was in a difficult place.
Third night, the leader of, there was a church there.
The church's been there for 100 years.
The leader of that church came and said,
would you guys speak?
Would you guys speak?
We know that you're a church group.
Would you guys speak tonight to us?
And so we went and we spoke and I was able to share
the message of Jesus Christ,
how that He wants a personal relationship with you.
And through that, we had numerous people in that church
raise their hands wanting to receive Jesus,
including the church leader that was sitting upfront
in a little chair.
He raised his hand as well.
And we proceeded to lead them into a prayer.
And at the end of that, someone waved a hand
from outside the building through the open window,
waved a hand with a fist and said,
what about those questions we wrote?
You see, it was actually a trap.
They had spent three days writing up all these questions
against what they thought we had said or done against them.
And they wanted us in that building
so they could ask these questions to us.
The man stood up with the questions.
So we got these questions.
I said, well, I need my Bible
because I just had a spear gun at that stage.
So I went out the building outside.
It's dark.
There were people outside with bone arrows,
which is an indicator that there's something wrong here.
And I got to my Bible and I'm walking back
and I'm sort of praying through it.
I'm thinking, Lord, if I get martyred tonight,
don't let me get martyred.
And then when I get to heaven, you're like,
nah, it doesn't count.
You just said some dumb things, Jeremy,
because I'm known to say some dumb things.
So it doesn't count.
So I'm like, Lord, don't let me say anything dumb.
And so I went into the building.
God just inspired me to just hold up the Bible.
And I said, who wrote this?
And they're like, God.
And I'm like, did I write this?
They're like, no, I'm like, okay.
So I'm going to answer your questions from this.
And if you're not happy,
this is what you need to get angry at, not me.
I sort of clarified the situation.
One of my pastors was sitting next to the window
and later on asked him,
were you thinking he's like,
I was very fast in football.
I played as a striker.
I was right next to the window.
I thought I could run and get free
so that I could tell your story.
And so I'm like, fair enough.
And so we answer all these questions back and forth.
He stands up in front of his congregation and says,
you know what?
What you have shown us tonight,
not me, he said, what God has shown us tonight,
clearly what we have been doing as a church
is not in the word of God.
And he said, you've shown us tonight
that this is the way to Jesus
through what you've shared with us.
We went to sleep again in that hut.
And the next morning we woke up
and one of the elders of the church came
and he said, I've been praying for you guys for years.
We said, how so?
He said, numerous years ago, I was reading the Bible
I was confronted with some things in it about Jesus
and what he did and what he did for us.
And I had questions and I went to my church leader
and he said, hey, hey, hey, no, no, this is not your job.
Your job is to look after the affairs of the church.
My job is to open up the Bible, stop reading the Bible.
He said, since that moment I've been praying God,
would you bring someone here?
If we've got it wrong, would you bring someone here
to clear up to us the way to Jesus?
And he said, last night you answered my prayer for many years.
With that, about five minutes later,
we heard, wham, wham, boat was coming in.
I'm crying because I am so excited to get out of there.
They're crying because we're leaving
and they've just built relationships and friendships.
And as we headed out, one of our pastors asked, he said,
he said, who's going to pass them?
What's going to happen with them?
I said, I don't know, I'm not going there.
I don't know.
I said, but they're God's people and God has sought it.
A few years later, we went back to that island
to open up a brand new church.
It was actually called the Church of the Rejected.
They built it in a different location
through different things that happened there.
And so, you know what?
God sometimes uses difficult and hard situations,
disappointments, and he brings them into opportunities
for where he wants you to be and what he wants to do.
Thank you, Pastor.
Thank you.
Difficult situations that lead to great opportunities,
change that leads to opportunity.
The man had been told he was going to die
and he laid in his deathbed, knowing
that this would be his final night.
As he laid there, his affairs were in order.
Everything he needed to do was already done.
He told the Lord that he was ready to go to heaven
and receive his reward and believed
that that night, as he closed his eyes,
it would be his last.
Yet, it was not his last.
For the morning came and as the morning came, he woke up.
And the first thought he had was, why am I still here?
This is my deathbed.
And the second thought he had is, what is that smell?
Wafting through the air were the smell
of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
He thought to himself, dear God, I
see why you left me here one more day.
It's so that I could have a chocolate chip cookie
before I go to heaven and receive my reward.
And so he prayed one final prayer, oh God,
that I would receive this chocolate chip cookie
as my final gift on the planet.
And he thought to himself, let me have the cookie.
And the Lord said to him, get up and go get the cookie.
And so he did.
He crawled out of the bed and he fell onto the ground.
But determined with the smell of the chocolate chip cookie,
he started crawling out of his room, hand over hand,
down the hall, grasping at the carpet
to get to the linoleum of the kitchen.
He pulled himself closer and closer to the counter,
where he looked up and saw a tray of freshly steaming
chocolate chip cookies.
He built all of the muscles he could in his body
and got up on one knee.
And he reached up with one quivering hand
to a chocolate chip cookie when suddenly a spatula out
of nowhere slaps his hand.
Ouch.
And he heard a voice of his wife who said,
those are for the funeral.
That is not good.
What would your last treat be?
If you knew you were going to die,
what would be your last meal?
If you knew that today was your last day
and you had an opportunity of sitting with your children,
your best friends, your community,
and you had a chance to share your final thoughts,
what would you say in your final thoughts?
That's what today's sermon is about.
You see, Jesus had just had a final meal with his disciples
in the upper room in Jerusalem.
He knew that the next thing that would take place
is they would leave the upper room,
go across the Kidron Valley, up the Mount of Olives,
and go to a garden called the Garden of Gethsemane,
where Jesus himself would be betrayed by Judas,
who had been possessed by Satan.
And then he would be taken and put on trial,
crucified and buried.
Jesus knew this was his final moment with his disciples.
What would Jesus say to his disciples in his final words?
That's what today's sermon is.
The upper room discourse from Luke chapter number 22.
What are Jesus's final instructions to his disciples?
Three main thoughts that we see in this sermon.
Number one, the very first thing Jesus says to them,
essentially can be boiled down to this thought.
Number one, service leads to greatness.
Say it with me.
Service leads to greatness.
Say it again.
Service leads to greatness.
Look at what Jesus says in his final words
to his disciples now in verse 24.
There was also a great dispute among the disciples,
as to which one of them should be considered the greatest.
Have you ever had a nice meal prepared for your family
and suddenly the family meal turned into a family fight?
Some of you say, pastor, you don't know my family.
Jesus has a beautiful meal prepared for the disciples.
And as they sit down, Judas now leaves,
he turns back to the other disciples
and they're amidst of the argument.
They're about to fight.
They're fighting.
What are they fighting about?
Here's what the disciples of Jesus were fighting about.
Which one of them was greater than the other?
Verse 25, and Jesus said to them,
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them
and those who exercise authority over them
are called benefactors.
Jesus says, what are you fighting about?
We're trying to decide who is in charge of who.
And Jesus says, don't you understand?
That's the way the kings of the Gentiles act.
They exercise dominion and authority.
They talk about who's in charge and who's the greatest.
And then the person really in charge,
they refer to themselves as benefactors.
He's talking about the Roman world.
And in the Roman world, if you were really
an important civic leader, you would take the name
benefactor, which means friend of the people.
Yes, Jesus was being a little sarcastic here.
How many of you have the spiritual gift of sarcasm?
Jesus is a little sarcastic here.
You'll appreciate Jesus sarcasm.
He says, don't you understand?
You're acting like the Gentiles,
who the biggest shot in the room calls himself
the friend of the people.
How is he a friend of the people?
He takes all their money and spends it on himself.
He's not a friend of the people.
He takes advantage of the people.
And Jesus says, that's how they do it.
That's not how we do it.
Look what he says in verse 26.
But not so among you.
Who in this room is a Jesus follower?
If you are, say amen.
Amen.
Not so among you.
On the contrary, he who is the greatest among you,
let him be the younger.
And he who governs as he who serves.
Greatness is found in service.
Service is greatness.
This is what the Bible is teaching us.
This is what Jesus' final words to his disciples were.
He gives an illustration in verse 27.
For who is greater?
He who sits at the table or he who serves?
Is it not he who sits at the table?
Well, that's a good question, right?
If you and I were gonna go to Chili's this afternoon
and get some of their chips and salsa,
can I get an amen?
And we went down to Chili's today.
Here's the question Jesus would ask us,
would you rather be the server of the chips and salsa
or the eater of the chips and salsa?
And the answer to that question is obvious.
I'd rather eat the chips and salsa.
One more time for the chips and salsa.
Amen.
Seven of you are like, pastor's hungry already.
Who's greater?
The one who serves or the one who eats?
And Jesus says, obviously from a human's perspective,
the one who eats.
But Jesus goes on to say,
yet I am among you as the one who serves.
Jesus said, don't you understand?
I am your minister.
I'm the one who serves.
In the other gospel accounts, this is the moment
where Jesus rolls up his sleeves,
girds his loins, gets a bowl of water and a towel,
and he kneels down and he washes the disciples feet.
He does so to prove that greatness is not about others
serving you, greatness is about you serving others.
And what he wanted for his followers is that we would go
from that room and spread the message around the world
that greatness is not about demanding that your people
follow you, but it's going around the world saying,
how can I serve others?
Look at verse 28, but you are those who have committed,
have continued with me and my trials.
I bestow upon you my kingdom,
just as my father bestowed upon me,
that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom
and sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
Jesus says this, you are the ones who have been following me
through all the difficulty,
and if you stay with me through the difficulty
and you become servants to the world, there is a reward.
You'll get through this world
and you'll get to the next kingdom.
You'll go through the thorns and you'll get to the throne.
You'll get through the crown of thorns
and you'll get to the crown of heaven.
That's what God is saying to his disciples.
Now, if you remember last week's sermon,
I told you that Judas had already had become disillusioned
and disenfranchised with Jesus
because Jesus had promised them months before
a throne to rule over Israel.
Now he got frustrated because Jesus was talking about dying.
If he just would have stuck with Jesus a little bit longer,
Jesus would have said to him, look, don't you understand?
You make it through the cross, you get the crown.
You make it through the thorns, you get the throne.
Service is the way to greatness.
Oh, Christian, don't miss the great truth of Jesus Christ.
What makes Jesus great is not that he demands loyalty,
it's that he serves those who need him most.
A few weeks ago, I showed up at our church
on Sunday morning at six o'clock in the morning.
I normally on Sundays don't get here
till about eight o'clock, maybe 8.15.
Right before our first service at 8.30.
Why? Because we have an amazing team
that gets everything done and ready to go for the services.
And I spend the morning in prayer
and final preparation with the sermon.
But for whatever reason on that day, I showed up at 6 a.m.
and as I walked through this back hallway,
I looked down the hall, the sun was coming in
and I saw two silhouettes with mop buckets and mops mopping.
And I said, what's going on?
And I looked and I saw who they were.
It's Pastor Fred and Pastor Jason.
I said, hey, what are you, what are you guys doing?
And they said, the septic overflowed everywhere.
I said, oh, that's terrible.
Now you know Pastor Jason and Pastor Fred.
These are the people that lead the church,
the big shots around here.
And there they are, mopping up septic overflow.
And I walked up and I thought, that is greatness.
And then I thought, I'm sure glad they're doing it.
And I turned around and I walked away.
Because they're great, not me, you see?
I want them to have the blessing.
You say, you're not like Jesus.
I'm trying, but not that day, not that day, not that day.
What are Jesus' final instructions to his disciples?
Number one, service leads to greatness.
Here's the second thought he gave me.
Here's the second thought he gives them.
Final words in the upper room.
Number two, pride leads to a fall.
When it comes to service in your life,
can you ask the question for your practical application
in your own life?
Who is it that you should be serving?
Who in your workplace should you be taking care of?
Who in your family should you be taking care of?
What chores in your home should you be striving to do
before anybody else can get them done?
Who should you serve?
Service leads to greatness.
Number two, pride leads to the fall.
Can you say that with me?
Pride leads to a fall.
Say it again, say it again.
Pride leads to a fall.
Look at what Jesus says to them in verse 31.
Jesus interrupts his sermon by addressing one of the disciples
individually.
He looks at them and says,
Simon, Simon,
indeed Satan has asked for you
that he may sift you like wheat.
Can you imagine if somebody in the middle of the sermon
called your name out?
Jason, Jason,
suddenly the sermon to everybody becomes a sermon for one.
And imagine Jesus does this.
Jesus looks and says, Simon, Peter,
Satan wants you.
Now I've got to tell you,
if Jesus said anything to me, I'd be thrilled.
But if Jesus looked at me and said, Satan wants you,
I think I might be out.
You know what I mean?
Like can you imagine Jesus looking you in the eye and say,
hey, I want you to know Satan wants you.
And then he goes on to say, Satan desires to have you
that he may sift you like wheat, but don't worry.
This is what he says.
Don't worry, I have prayed for you.
Hey, what an amazing thing to think
that Jesus himself goes to God the Father and prays for you.
A lot of times we think of this passage, we think,
oh man, Satan wants to have Peter.
No, the big thing that you should see
is that Jesus prays for Peter.
Satan desires to have you that he can sift you like wheat,
but don't worry, Peter, don't worry,
because after you have failed,
I'm praying that God would bring you back to me.
What?
Look at what it says in the verse going on, verse 32.
But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail,
and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brother in.
He goes on to say, I've prayed for you.
You're going to fall.
And when you've fallen, I pray that you'll return
and strengthen the brother in.
Now, think about it practically.
If Jesus looked at you and said, hey, Satan wants you,
I'm praying that you don't fail, it's going to happen,
but you're going to come back to me,
and then when you do, I want you to lead everybody again.
What would be your response?
You would think that your response would be something like,
what do I do?
Can I just stop and ask this question?
Why do you think it is that Satan wants to take out Peter
above everybody else?
Why do you think?
Anybody want to shout out a guess?
Why do you think?
Yeah.
It's the same reason why an enemy might want to take out the captain
before he takes out the lieutenants,
because he's the leader.
And if he can go after the leader,
maybe the army falls apart.
Listen to me, my dad's in the room.
Be careful, the devil's after you.
I've seen it over and over.
If he can take out the daddy, he takes out the family.
Listen to me, leader in the community.
Can I tell you, the moment you became a leader in the community,
you painted a target on your back.
If the devil can take you out, he takes out everybody.
If you're a manager of people and owner of a business,
don't you understand what that does?
If the devil can take you out, what he does is he takes out everybody that follows.
It's his method.
Now Jesus says this to Peter, and you might ask the question,
okay, what is Peter going to say back?
Now look at what Jesus says, be careful, Peter,
because you're not going to fall, and then when you've returned,
strengthen your brother, and Peter says to Jesus, stop.
Here's what Peter should have said to Jesus.
What Peter should have said to Jesus is this,
yes sir, thank you for warning me.
I didn't know how dangerous this situation was.
What should I do?
It's a humble response, but look at what Peter's response is.
Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.
How many men are in the room?
You a man in the room?
Give me a very sheepish amen.
Amen.
I'm telling you, I know man, I love man, I am a man, I'm a man's man.
You know what I mean?
I'm a man other men look to and say, that's a man.
Some of you are doing it right now, you're like, what a man.
I know I am, I know.
And we men, we are so filled with pride.
Satan wants to have you, Peter, don't worry, I'm praying you won't fail.
But when you return, strengthen the brethren, and Peter looks at them and says,
I'm going to go to prison and die with you.
Sure Peter, can I just stop and say that is the wrong answer.
It is humility that is the superpower of the Christian, not hubris.
It's an ability to see your weakness and acknowledge your weakness and say,
what have I done wrong, not what have others done wrong.
Jesus looks at Peter after he demonstrates his pride and Jesus says to him patiently,
I tell you Peter, the rooster will shall not crow this day before you will deny me three times that you ever even knew me.
Jesus looks at Peter and says, fella, the sun is down, by the time the sun comes up,
you will have denied you even know my name, you even know me three times.
Now I often think to myself, what in the world could have happened to a man that is strong like Peter to deny Jesus.
And I judge Peter, I become prideful, and I think to myself, what a foolish man,
I would never do something like this.
And I fall into the same trap of pride as Peter.
And recently I learned how easy it is to turn your back on a friend.
You say, well, when?
Last Sunday afternoon I was given tickets to go to a football game here in town,
The Raiders vs. The Patriots.
And that was an incredible game.
I mean, what an amazing game.
It was a lot of fun.
And I had a chance to go with one of my fellow pastors here, Pastor Caleb.
How many of you know PC?
If you know PC, say amen.
And so PC and I went, and we had a chance to sit with some friends, some members of our church that we love,
and we sat there in the seats.
And when we came in, Pastor Caleb was wearing a Tom Brady jersey because he's a big Patriots fan.
And I, because I love my city and Josh Jacobs, I was wearing a Josh Jacobs Raiders jersey.
And we were walking in as brothers into the game between the Patriots and the Raiders.
And now, for those who don't know, the Raiders destroyed the Patriots.
It was a beautiful moment.
It was fantastic.
And I love just holding that over Pastor Caleb's head as we walked in and walked out of the stadium.
But walking out as friends, this is what took place.
Now I have to begin the story by telling you this.
How many of you know that the Raiders have two kinds of fans?
You know, you know, somebody's laughing.
You know exactly.
We'll call them legacy fans.
These are the legacy fans who come from Oakland and LA and they're a different,
what's a word that could describe legacy fans of the Raiders?
They're aggressive.
They're passionate.
They're very, very excitable.
Especially if you're wearing the jersey of the other team at your home stadium.
And I've heard that that was especially the case in Oakland.
So you have some legacy fans who drive in from California.
Then you have a second group of fans.
And those groups of fans are like the Newby fans.
They're like me.
They're just normal middle-aged Las Vegas people who are like,
we like Raiders now.
Fantastic.
Yay!
Is that with the Tom Brady fans?
Sure.
We're buddies.
Fun game.
Where's the hot dogs?
You know, that's the other kind of Raiders fans.
So we're walking out of the stadium after the Raiders beat the Patriots.
And the Tom Brady jersey that was walking beside me in Pastor Caleb form,
and my Raiders jersey, we're walking side by side out of the stadium.
And all of a sudden some of these legacy aggressive fans started yelling behind us.
They started yelling things like, how can I say it?
We don't like the Patriots, but they didn't say we don't like the Patriots.
You understand?
You understand what I'm saying?
Yeah.
And so it was getting really loud and they're coming behind us.
And it was a big group of big, huge guys.
And they're like right behind us getting really close.
And then they saw my friend, my friend, Pastor Caleb's jersey,
and they started calling out Tom Brady.
And they started saying things like, stinky Tom Brady,
but they didn't say stinky, you know what I mean?
And they were like right behind us and we're walking together.
And it got really kind of like a big moment.
And I saw Pastor Caleb just calmly walking like this.
And I thought, good for him.
That's a good man.
He's just walking on his own out there.
Nobody...
This is true.
And before you know it, I'm actually with the guys yelling at him.
One of them, he was huge.
He put his arm around me.
And we're walking and I'm all like, stinky Tom Brady!
But I said stinky.
I said stinky.
I did.
And I'm yelling at my friend.
I said, how do you get to a place where you turn your back so quickly on somebody?
And the answer is if you've never been in that scenario, you may not know,
but it gets really easy, really quick.
Pride.
Thinking that you are above it all.
Even as we look at Peter and say, I would never, I would never,
never, careful, pride leads to the fall.
And before you know it, you're going to see it in a few weeks in the story.
Peter does exactly what Jesus said he would do.
He denies Jesus Christ.
The question is not, will you ever make a mistake?
The question is, where must I grow?
The question is not, what have others done?
The question should be, what can I learn?
The question isn't, I'll never do anything.
The question should be, where can I seek godly advice and demonstrate submission to God's plan for my life?
Humility is the way of Jesus Christ, not pride.
And so Jesus says in His final words to His disciples,
service leads to gratitude, pride leads to the fall.
Number three, change leads to opportunity.
Say it with me, change leads to opportunity.
Pastor Caleb said this to me just a few days ago when studying this passage together.
He said these words.
Now hear this quote.
You won't see the opportunity God has for you unless you're willing to experience the change God wants for you.
Let me say that again.
You won't experience the opportunity God has for you unless you're willing to experience the change God wants for you.
Jesus is about to give His final words as He looks at His disciples and says,
things are going to change for you, fellas.
Embrace it.
Look at what He says in verses 35 through 38.
And Jesus said to them, do you remember when I sent you without money bag and without knapsack and without sandal?
Back in Luke chapter number nine, Jesus sends all of the disciples out when they're in Galilee.
And He says, go and preach the kingdom of God as a hand.
Don't take a backpack.
Don't take money.
Don't take anything.
You just go and you'll be taken care of.
You remember that?
And the disciples responded, yes.
Did we, did you lack anything?
And they said, we lack nothing.
And Jesus' point is, you trusted me and it worked out.
But look what He says in verse 36.
Then Jesus said to them, but now, He who has a money bag, you better take it.
And if you have a backpack, you better bring it.
And if you don't have a sword, you better sell a piece of clothing and go buy one.
He's saying, prepare for the worst because things are about to change.
Now, some of you men in the room, the only verse that you'll remember from the whole sermon is sell your coat and buy a gun.
That's not what it says.
Some of you going home with your wife today and you'll be like, honey, let me show you what the Bible says.
The Bible says, I need to sell your coat and buy myself a.357 Magnum because I feel lucky, you know.
It's not what He's saying.
He's saying things are about to change.
The way it used to work is no longer what it's going to work.
What's the big thing that's about to change Jesus?
Jesus is saying, I'm not going to be with you in the same way that I was with you.
Things are different now.
They're coming after us.
Verse 37, for I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me.
And He was numbered among the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end.
Jesus is saying the prophecies are coming to an end. I will soon be crucified.
Jesus is looking at His disciples saying things are about to change.
The prophecies will be fulfilled.
They're going to crucify me.
It's all going to be over and things will be different now.
Change is coming.
And notice the disciples' response.
So they said, Lord, by the way, don't you love the disciples?
Because they're kind of like disciples of Jesus now.
They're kind of idiots sometimes.
They say, that's so sacrilegious.
Well, then they shouldn't have told the story where they show their idiocy so much.
Because their response to Jesus is the world is changing.
Look at what they say.
Lord, look.
We have two swords.
Jesus looks at Him and says,
it is enough.
Good job, guys. Two swords.
We're going to take all the Romans.
All of them.
We're taking out all the Romans.
Is that what Jesus was saying?
Was Jesus saying, come on, fellas, grab the swords.
Let's go kill all the Romans.
Is that what He's saying?
Yes or no?
No.
In fact, we know this a few stories later.
Peter has one of those swords in the garden and they come to arrest Jesus.
And he says, it's now the time for the swords.
He says it.
It's in the thing.
You're going to see it next week.
And he pulls out a sword and he tries to chop a dude's ear head off.
The dude ducks and his ear gets chopped off and Jesus says, what are you doing?
Jesus says, those who live by the sword die by this or put it away.
And then Jesus reaches down and heals the dude's ear.
No, Jesus wasn't saying, go get a sword and kill everybody that comes after you.
What He was saying is that the entirety of the situation that you're entering, it's about
to change.
It's going to get dark before it gets light.
You are in perilous times.
The sun will rise, but we have to go through the darkness to get there.
The crown is coming, but the cross first.
The throne is coming, but we got to get through the thorns.
That's what He's saying.
It's like today.
Today you see the world at war.
You see what's going to happen.
You see the economy and you say, what's going to happen?
Some of you in your 20s and you look and you say, is there any way possible I'm ever going to be able to afford a home?
Some of you in your 60s and you're thinking, am I ever going to be able to retire?
Some of you it's not economic, it's not international, it's relational.
You've got a relationship issue that you're like, I'm not sure it's ever going to be fixed.
And it looks dark.
And Jesus is saying, you're going through change, but that's okay.
I don't want to go through change.
Don't worry.
Change leads to opportunity.
The darkness leads to light.
The disciples had to go through all of the rest of the stories we're about to see so they could get to the book of Acts.
You see, there is no resurrection until there's a crucifixion.
There is no celebration of Pentecost and the growth of the church until you go through the end of the book of Luke.
Don't you understand?
You have to go through the tragedy to get to the triumph.
And what the disciples are going to experience is the great gospel of Jesus Christ spreading wildly throughout the world, through the book of Acts.
That beauty is coming.
But Jesus was saying, don't you understand?
You have to change and the change you're experiencing, you will be brought through to the opportunity you're going to be given.
Pastor Caleb's quote is so true.
You won't see the opportunity God has for you unless you're willing to experience the change God wants for you.
He'll say, boy, this change would work a whole lot better if I had a weapon.
And it's interesting because Jesus never clarifies what He meant by pick up a sword.
Never does.
And if you were one of the disciples, you would have been like, you told us to bring a sword.
Why did He bring a sword?
I don't know.
He told us to bring a sword.
And now I wonder if throughout Christian history, the disciples for a long time wondered, what did He mean by bringing a sword?
Then He yells us, but then there was a guy who was a Pharisee.
His name was Saul.
He became Paul.
And Paul said, oh, I know what he was saying.
And he wrote a letter to the Corinthians and he said, yes, you're in the middle of a war.
But your warfare and your weapons are not weapons of carnal fleshly steel.
Our weapons are weapons of godliness.
And then he writes to the Ephesians and he says, you are at battle.
You must arm yourself with the armor of God.
And the weapons of our warfare are there for the tearing down of strongholds.
And what we have are the weapons of prayer and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
And the weapons that you have today are exactly the weapons that you need to accomplish what the early disciples had in the midst of change.
What you need in the midst of change to embrace your opportunity are the weapons of prayer and the word of God.
Yes, you have an enemy.
And it seems like a scary thing to say this, this enemy is after you, but you have to understand what was true for the disciples back then is true for you.
The devil has a plan to take out Jesus, but his plan famously backfires.
His plan is to kill the Messiah.
Yet the moment they kill the Messiah is the moment the devil is defeated.
So yes, it's true. Satan desires to have you that he may sift you like wheat, but even in his greatest plan, friend, his plan will backfire famously as long as you rely upon the weapons that God has given you of prayer and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
This is real talk for real disciples.
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And remember, we exist to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Have a great week. Peace.