Classic Christianity – Jesus His Final Hours P1 (04-13-20)
Synopsis
People used to be able to gather to discuss these events concerning the life of Christ, in particular those events where a man named Jesus died on a cross, and then three days later was raised from the dead. Here is a brief journey through the scriptures, of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, of calling his disciples to go find a donkey and bring it back to him, of him riding on a donkey in the streets of Jerusalem, and people are heralding him as king of the Jews, and shouting praises to God, and then of the jealousy and scheming of the Pharisees to kill Jesus, of his betrayal, of his last meal with his disciples, of his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, in a grove of olive trees, of his knowing what is going to have to take place, of his eventual death, and then burial for the sins of all men. But knowing what is set before him, he endures the cross, scorning its shame. Then, some three days later, he is raised from the dead.
All the people were gathering in Jerusalem on this festive occasion in Jewish life and culture, of Passover, commemorating the day they were delivered by God out of Egypt in a miraculous way, where the death angel passed over them. So this is a very special day to the Jewish people. Here are the people, laying down palm branches, and heralding Jesus as the promised Messiah, as the king of the Jews. After this time, Jesus takes the time to explain to his disciples what he is about do, that he will die and be raised again on the third day. He stoops down to serve them, washing their feet, in the last meal he will ever have with them on this earth prior to going back to His Father. He explains to them about a New Covenant of grace to come. He wants them to know about peace and grace, about peace that surpasses all understanding and a new life to be lived in grace.
So listen as Bob brings in together many passages of scriptures from the gospels and from some of the epistles of Paul, and of Acts, that brings out a vital message of new life in Christ Jesus. How we as men, though we are sincere, and have a love for the Lord, but realize that we have no power to carry it out. Think about how Peter denied Jesus three times and how all the disciples were all scattered just as Jesus said would happen. We have Peter, who was certainly sincere and wanted to do right, and loved the Lord, who was the one who walked on water when Jesus told him to come out to him on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm. Oh, how we all, at times, have little faith, and we take our eyes off Jesus, who is our life, and we call to the Lord for help.
Think also about the Jews under the leadership of Moses, having just come out of slavery in Egypt, and how Moses gave them the ten commandments as God had written on stone. How they were sincere, sincerely believing they could obey the law. But they were sincerely wrong. They no more could be made right before God by observing the law than any man could. So Jesus walked this earth to show us what true righteousness is, a man who walked in perfect love, totally dependent on God the Father, to show us our own unrighteousness, so we might come to Him for His righteousness.
Think about the day of Pentecost, the day that the Holy Spirit, that Jesus himself promised he would sent after he ascended back to his Father, came to live inside the hearts of men. Oh, what a difference that makes. Here was Peter, before Jesus died and rose from the cross, denying Jesus three times that he even knew him, living in total fear, and then Peter on the day of Pentecost (in Acts 2), now being born again, with the Spirit of God living in him, boldly proclaiming to thousands of people, that the Jews killed the Lord of glory. Oh, what a new life that is, to be able to participate in the divine nature, to live without fear, and speak the words of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to the hearts of men.
So come to Jesus, who is full of truth and grace. To those in Christ, I say to you, like the apostle Paul to the church, grace and peace to you. Though we may not be able to meet together physically, we are one in Spirit. We are members of the body of Christ, born again, and we praise the one who is our victory, having accomplished that for us by his death, burial and resurrection.
Transcript
Let us go on a journey today on the last days of Christ. Follow along in the gospels, of the account of Jesus’ life on earth, prior to his going to the cross.
Mark 11:1-11 (ESV)
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.
So those who were set on their way, and did as Jesus had commanded them, they found a young donkey just as they were told them.
Mark 11:5-11 (ESV)
5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
As he was drawing near at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole magnitude of the disciples began to rejoice, with a loud voice. Many other Jews, followers of Jesus, met up with them, and they too rejoiced.
Mark 11:9-11 (ESV)
9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
Now turn to John 12, with a description of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
John 12:12-18 (ESV)
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
As most of you know, this was right after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This is when people finally realized that Jesus is the Son of God. So here is a man, Jesus, who for three years, performed every kind of miracle you can imagine. At the end of John, you read that Jesus did many more miracles that are not even recorded in the scriptures.
John 21:25 (ESV)
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
All the libraries of the world could not contain the things Jesus did. This book we hold in our hands is a lot smaller than a library. The things Jesus did are of such a magnitude that we have only captured a small bit of it, otherwise he could have never said that statement.
John 12:19 (ESV)
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Here is a man, who raised Lazarus from the dead, and in the midst of doing that, and no one denying that had been done. They knew that Lazarus was dead. They knew he was alive, coming alive after being wrapped in grave clothes. In the midst of this, look at the heart of the Pharisees.
Luke 19:39-40
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
You see the attitude of the Pharisees, the heart of the legalistic Jews, who will not accept anything except their tradition and their own self righteousness, believing they are walking in obedience to a law. Here is Jesus who is proclaiming the grace of God. He just spoke seven woes to the Pharisees (Matthew 23). That, you would think, would expose their hearts so they may turn and believe!
Matthew 23:13
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
Matthew 23:15
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23:16
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
Matthew 23:23
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Matthew 23:25
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Matthew 23:27
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
Matthew 23:29
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
What Jesus did was penetrate all of that religious form, and got underneath the skin where all of us live and said, underneath the skin you are nothing but a hypocrite. You are claiming to be obedient to the law on the outside, but you are not doing what you are claiming to be doing. So what Jesus did, on appearance on this earth, was to neutralize the entire world. He recognized the Gentiles is what we were, heathenistic in all our ways. He recognized the religious world, hypocritical in all their ways. So he was able to say that there is no one righteous, not even one.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
So, once again, even after seeing all of these miracles, the Pharisees were saying, “You should rebuke those disciples.”
Luke 19:41-44
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
Incidently, when Jesus returns to this earth, he is not coming to America. He is coming right back to Israel, and his feet will be planted on the Mount of Olives. Just as he departed physically, he is coming back physically (Zechariah 14:1-4,9).
Zechariah 14:1-4, 9 (ESV)
1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
So Jesus wept over the city, telling them that they did not recognize the Messiah when he came.
Luke 19:42 (ESV)
42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that would bring you peace!
Listen to that. If you had only known what would bring you peace. What are you looking for? Peace. What is Israel looking for today? Peace. You listen to any Jewish program, they will say, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” You are praying for the wrong thing. You better pray for the prince of peace to come back to Jerusalem for until the prince of peace returns to Jerusalem, there will be no peace in Jerusalem. So it is an exercise in futility to pray for the peace in Jerusalem while in denial of the prince of peace. It is only in the day that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord that you will have peace, not only in Jerusalem but in any place we live in this world today.
Philippians 2:8-11 (ESV)
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If you had only known what would bring you peace. The greeting in Jerusalem is “Shalom”, meaning peace. When you read the gospels, you only read “grace and peace be unto you”, and not ”peace” by itself (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2, 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4, Philemon 1:3, 1 Peter 1:2, 2 Peter 1:2, 2 John 1:3, 2 John 1:3, Revelation 1:4). There is no peace apart from grace. As long as you are rejecting the grace of God, holding onto your tradition, you will never experience peace until you come to understand grace. So he says, “if you only had known”.
Luke 19:42-44 (ESV)
But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
They knew not the time of their visitation! Today, the orthodox in Israel is still looking for a Messiah. They knew not the time of their visitation! They denied he was there and are, therefore, still looking for him. That is an interesting thing, that they believe the Messiah is going to come. How is anyone going to know who he is? If anyone was going to know, because you must know that when a man claims to be the Messiah, that he came from the bloodline of David, and that the means of knowing was totally destroyed when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., for all the geneologies were destroyed with it. So the Messiah had to come prior to 70 A.D. even in order to identify him. So Jesus said, “you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Matthew 21:10 (ESV)
10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Luke 19:47-48 (ESV)
47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
The Pharisees were upset that the world was going after him. To each other, they said, “You are gaining nothing. The world is going after him.”
Mark 11:11 (ESV)
11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
That was the time Jesus rode in on a donkey, announced that people recognized him, “Hosannah. Praise be to the Lord”. Now, just a few days later, Jesus went with his disciples to Gethsemane.
Matthew 26 (ESV)
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”
There was a garden in Gethsemane, with a grove of trees. Some of those trees are still there from the time of Christ. Some say they were all cut down by Titus. Josephus records that. When you analyze that, some of those trees were there when Jesus was in garden of Gethsemane. You can see them, if you were over there. Standing over the garden of Gethsemane, you do not have to wonder if you were standing in the vicinity of where Jesus was.
Before this event, Jesus went into the upper room. He would have been in the area of the Mount of Olives. In the upper room is where they would have been introduced to the Lord’s supper.
Luke 22:7-18 (ESV)
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” 13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
John 13:1-11 (ESV)
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
This was the act of the lowest of servants, to wash the feet of people.
John 13:6-8 (ESV)
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.”
Peter said, “Never will you be a servant to me. I will be a servant to you.” Is that not a natural response?
John 13:8 (ESV)
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you,
If I am not your servant, and do not serve you to the ultimate of going to the cross for you, then you have no share with me. So, Jesus said to Peter, “Peter, you do not understand me now, but you will”.
John 13:8-11 (ESV)
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
In other words, if that is the case, Peter said, “just wash me all over”.
John 13:10-14 (ESV)
10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
In other words, as I have served you, so you should serve one another. Recall that Jesus humbled himself and became a servant. And this mindset of Christ should be in you, the mindset you should have, which will be yours in Christ Jesus.
Philipians 2:5-8
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Do likewise. Do not think of how people can be serving you, but how you can be serving others.
John 13:15-17 (ESV)
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
We know, from that point on, a betrayal has taken place. So let us pick up in the garden of Gethsemane. After he did the Lord’s supper, he and his disciples would have returned around the city into the garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus was in this garden of Gethsemane, among the grove of olive trees, he said to them that this very night you will all fall away on account of me. Think of the good news of that. These men followed Jesus for all of this time, through some severe persecution, in many instances. Yet, today, he says, “You will all fall away because of me”.
Matthew 26:30-33 (ESV)
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”
Do you think Peter meant what he said? Do you think he was sincere? Yes, he was sincere with all of his heart that he will never, ever leave Jesus. Peter was saying, “I do not believe that.” Peter always had his foot in his mouth, but the Lord loved him. That is an encouragement to me.
Matthew 26:34-35 (ESV)
34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.
Did Peter mean it? Yes, that is for sure what he thought he would do. Remember when Moses came down with the ten commandments, what did they say? (You can read about this in Exodus. The ten commandments are in Exodus 20. Exodus 19:8 and Exodus 24:3,7 are the responses of the Jewish people. Look particularly at Exodus 24:3,7.) They essentially said, “Oh, we will obey those. No problem for us.” Before they ever brought them down from the mountain, they had built a golden calf and were having orgies (Exodus 32).
That is how much we can do apart from Christ. You can be sincere but also be sincerely wrong. Many times sincerity is an attribute that people have respect in. But folks, it means nothing. You and I can be sincerely wrong. Everybody that stands at an altar to get married are sincere, hopefully, or they would not be there. But they are sincerely wrong, thinking that in the energy of the flesh they can keep this thing together. Just as the Israelites could not keep the law in the energy of the flesh, here is Peter, that has a devotional love for the Lord that is so obvious.
Matthew 14:22-33 (ESV)
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
On on one occasion, here it was on the third watch, three o’clock in the morning, where the disciples are in the middle of the lake of Galilee. Now, here is Jesus walking on water to them. What a sight! Who was it that said, “Lord, let me walk out there with you?” Peter. And he said, “come on”. He got out of the boat, and then all of a sudden starting seeing the waves. When he saw the waves, he sunk, and said, “Lord, help”. What did the Lord say, “Oh you of little faith.” Little faith! What are you talking about. He stepped out of the boat and out on the water. That is not little faith. That is a bunch of faith. Would you do that? Would I do that? Not unless I was on the Salt Sea, and then I would sink? What was he saying? You have enough faith to step out of the boat onto that water, and that was a bunch of faith. But when you got out of the boat and saw the waves, you started sinking. Peter, use the same faith you used to get out of the boat, to get into the boat.
What is that a picture of? You and me. What kind of faith did we have to exercise to step out of Adam into Christ? To leave everything behind and say, “Jesus, I am trusting you and you alone for my salvation. People that have come out of tradition, where you were saved by being a Catholic, or taking the Lord’s supper, or doing ordinances, or saved by Greek orthodox, or saved by anything, and you say, “It is all dung”. You say, “Jesus, it is you and you alone”. So we exercise faith.
Colossians 2:6-7
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
The next day we tun into a problem. We say, ‒Help”. So the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart, ”.Bob, the same faith that you exercise to come to me, exercise in me.”. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him. The same faith that took to receive him, walk in Him. That is what he was saying, almost amusingly. “Peter, look what you did? You walked out of the boat and walked on water. Peter, keep your faith where it belongs. Keep it on.”. Peter was not a man of little faith. He was a man who loved the Lord with all of his heart, but he could not do it.
Now, before we go on, after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, and then after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit of God was sent by God to live inside of you and me, and to live inside of the apostles, and they were literally born again that day. They were spiritually regenerated that day. No man is spiritually regenerated until the Spirit of God lives in you. Prior to that time, the Son of God came upon people for divine service. But only at Pentecost did he come to live in people. Now what was the difference between this Peter we are going to read about that denies the Lord and the Peter that stood in front of those people 50 days later and said, “You killed the Son of God”.
Acts 2:29-37
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”’[f]36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
What was the difference between two, Peter who denied Christ in fear and the Peter who spoke boldly? The Spirit of God living in you, the Holy Spirit of God to take up residence in a person. That is what it means to be born again (See John 3). Was he religious prior to that? Yes. Was he a follower of Jesus prior to that? Yes. Did he love Jesus? Sure. Did he have any power to live the life? None. How come? He did not have the life. That is the condition of the so-called Christian religious world. You have people who are living a life they do not have, pretending. When they do not have life, they are religious. They say they love church, they come to church and give their money, but they do not have a living relationship with God.
So, if you are asking the same question, “What shall we do?” Come to Jesus for life. Here is a small booklet you can read, that goes over in more detail what Jesus accomplished for you and me, and by putting your faith in Him and Him alone, you can have new spiritual life. Be Born Free
