A Journey of Loneliness (Part 2 of 2)

Well, it's a joy and a comfort for us to know that our Lord is faithful and our Lord

is good and our Lord can be trusted.

That is vital for us to know and to believe.

It's an anchor and a shelter for the storm in a very mixed up world.

In a world where so many leaders will disappoint us and will betray our trust.

Welcome to Encour the Truth with Jonathan Griffith, some Steve Hiller, glad you've joined us

today and we're continuing a message that we began last time looking at a journey of loneliness

and Jonathan, as you pointed out in our previous broadcast, we want to feel that connection,

need to feel that connection with those who have walked through pain before.

Sometimes that pain comes from people that we thought we ought to be able to trust.

What are leaders do fail?

What do we do when that pain really seems to knock us off balance?

Well, of course, there will be many in this world who disappoint us and who violate our trust.

That's just the reality of living in a fallen world.

But as the Bible presents the person of Jesus Christ to us,

it presents Jesus to us as one who is entirely trustworthy,

one who understands us in our weaknesses,

one who has walked the dusty trail of life in this world,

but has done so with complete integrity and with full trustworthiness.

And as we encounter others who fail us,

and in fact, as we fail others too, as we will,

I think it just drives us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to delight in His faithfulness.

And I think it deepens our trust in Him.

He is the one leader and the one ruler we can look to and we can trust entirely.

Well, we're going to continue to look at this today from the Book of Luke,

or in chapter 22, focusing in on verses 39 to 62.

So grab a Bible and meet us there as we continue the message,

a journey of loneliness.

Here is Jonathan.

I love those words of Fanny Crosby.

I've quoted them before who captured this so well.

You'll know them, what a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear,

what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged.

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share

and how he has shared them in the garden at the cross?

Jesus knows our every weakness.

He really knows them.

Take it to the Lord in prayer, isn't that wonderful?

That Jesus, the human being, can sympathize with us.

It is a wonderful, it is a life-changing truth,

but of course, it is not the only,

or even the primary significance of Jesus's humanity

here in the passage, even greater than the fact

that he can sympathize with us,

is the truth that because he is a human being,

he can actually save us.

This takes us back again to that prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah, as we know in that passage,

speaks of a coming servant who will take the place of sinners,

he will bear our guilt, he will die in our place.

The scriptures make it clear in so many places

that God's penalty for sin is death.

And so if sin is to be paid for,

if God's standards of justice are to be met,

a death for sin must occur.

That is a basic biblical principle.

But the idea of the Son of God coming to earth

to die for our sin, paying our debt,

bearing our judgment, it poses a very, very big

and basic problem.

For surely the Son of God, the divine Son,

the eternal Son, surely he cannot die.

Surely God does not die.

And it's true, isn't it?

As the eternal God, he cannot die.

But as God become man,

as God incarnate, well, he could die

and praise God, he did die.

And so here in this garden, in this night of agony,

we are reminded of the saving truth

that Jesus has indeed become man.

He has become a true human being.

And he's done so that he might die in our place

and die for human sin.

Here is a moment of vivid and dramatic confirmation

of the humanity of Jesus.

We see it here in the garden as clearly

as we see it anywhere else.

Now Jesus, of course, is fully aware of all that is to come.

Notice again, the words of his prayer,

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.

Repeatedly in the Old Testament,

the cup is the cup of God's wrath poured out in judgment.

The language is actually used that way

just a little bit before that servant,

Song and Isaiah in chapter 51 and verse 17.

The prophet says this,

rise up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk the cup of his wrath,

you who have drained to its dregs the goblet

that makes men stagger.

You see, the cup of God is the cup of his wrath.

It is a picture of his judgment.

To drink of the cup is to face and absorb

the very anger of God for human sin.

And as Jesus prays in the garden,

he knows that at the cross,

he will drink deeply of that cup.

He will drink the portion reserved for you

and the portion reserved for me.

And as a true human being,

well, he is able to be our substitute.

He is able to drink that cup.

He is able to stand in our place as one of us.

He is able even to die.

In these hours approaching the cross,

we are reminded and we are shown

that Jesus is truly human,

able not only to sympathize and empathize,

but able even to save.

Next, we see that as Jesus approaches the cross,

he is truly faithful.

We all long for leaders whom we can respect

and leaders whom we can trust,

leaders who are somehow greater or finer than we are,

people to whom we can look up in a world of politics

with each new election that comes.

There is this collective hope, isn't there?

That a new leader will step onto the stage

who will not have the failings of his or her predecessors,

the weaknesses of others,

the foibles of their peers,

but it doesn't take long, does it?

For the illusion to be shattered.

For disappointment to set in.

We all long for the ideal leader

and we persist in this hope that such a person exists.

Here in these final scenes of the life of Jesus,

one truth that Luke wants to drive home for us

is that Jesus is uniquely faithful among human beings,

uniquely marked by integrity and by godliness.

As he approaches the cross,

he does so as one characterized by a faithfulness to God

that is not found in anyone else.

In fact, the contrast here between Jesus and his followers

is really very stark when we look at the details.

At the opening of the scene in verse 39,

they're still following him, they're still with him,

and in a sense they are entering into this new time of trial

alongside him.

He urges them to pray as you'll remember

that they won't fall into temptation.

On one level, he's perhaps speaking of the temptation

to succumb to sleep as it's evening and they're tired.

He wants them to stay awake and to pray with him

and perhaps for him.

But this language of temptation here,

it signals for us that there is a bigger spiritual battle

going on, the stakes are high.

Jesus will soon speak in verse 53 of the hour

when darkness reigns and so the disciples,

they need to be on their guard,

they're entering a dark time.

Jesus walks beyond them and he turns to prayer himself.

He knows that he needs the Father's help.

He knows his own need.

He knows the frailty of his own humanity.

And he wrestles in prayer that night.

He lays down his own will before the Father

and declares, not my will, but yours be done.

And having wrestled in prayer himself,

he goes back to those disciples and verse 45

and what does he find?

They've given way to sleep, exhausted from sorrow.

We look on them, yes, with a degree of criticism,

but I think we also sympathize as well.

In fact, we can imagine doing the same thing ourselves, can't we?

We can in prayer, growing tired,

allowing the emotional burden of all that's taking place

to overwhelm us.

And so against the backdrop of these weak disciples

and where weak disciples aren't we,

Jesus stands out in contrast, a model of faithfulness.

But that contrast, it only grows stronger.

It only grows starker.

Next comes Judas, a supposed friend of Jesus,

one of the 12 as Luke takes pains to remind us in verse 47

and otherwise unnecessary detail.

One who has been with Jesus and listened to Jesus

and observed Jesus in his miraculous and his gracious work,

but now having been offered money

to lead the enemies of Jesus to the place where he stayed,

to the garden at the foot of the mount,

now he betrays Jesus with a kiss.

Faced with a choice between loyalty to Jesus

in the face of opposition or saving his own skin

between honoring the Lord or enriching himself,

Judas chooses the easy course, the self-serving course.

While Jesus proceeded to the cross in faithful obedience

to the Father, Judas, all the while he is lining his pockets

through betraying his Lord, what a contrast.

Others around Jesus now decide that the only way

to deal with the situation is actually through violence.

And so one strikes the servant of the high priest

with a sword and he cuts off his ear.

It's a natural approach, I guess,

from a worldly perspective.

But Jesus won't pursue the way of violence

in an utter grace he heals his enemy.

Isn't it a wonderful picture of all that he's about

as he goes to the cross?

And so again, Jesus stands in stunning contrast

to all those around him, gracious, godly,

submissive to the will of the Father.

And then finally comes our friend Peter,

promising faithfulness, vowing loyalty.

But when the question comes, are you with this man?

When a lowly servant girl of no power or account

challenges him, he buckles, he denies Jesus,

he denies him then again, and he denies him a third time.

Jesus is loyal to the Father, even to death itself.

But Peter, in some ways the lead disciple,

in some ways the representative of all the disciples,

now he lacks the courage, even to acknowledge Christ

to the servant girl, and he denies his Lord.

Failure, sin, rebellion, widespread unfaithfulness,

all around, but at the same time,

at the very heart of the narrative, one who is faithful,

one who is true, one who is a beacon of integrity,

and of godliness.

You're listening to Incarra the Truth,

which I think Griffiths, in a message called

a journey of loneliness.

Now we're gonna pause right here, but stick around.

We'll get back to the message in just a moment.

You know, as we kinda enter into this Easter season,

maybe it's got you thinking a little bit more

about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

And you've got some questions about that.

I mean, a man, a dead man coming back to life.

I mean, who's gonna take that kind of claim seriously?

Some might even argue that Jesus never died on a cross,

and there's supposedly conflicting accounts

that could make the empty tomb seem suspect.

So how credible is any of the evidence

for or against the resurrection of Jesus?

Well, that's the question that Leastrobull

set out to answer in his book, The Case for Easter.

He's a former investigative journalist,

and he has taken a look at the claims of the resurrection,

and he's written about that in a book called

The Case for Easter, a journalist investigates

evidence for the resurrection.

This is our thank you gift to you,

as you give a financial gift of any amount this month.

You can find out more or give online

at IncarraTheTruth.org.

That's IncarraTheTruth.org.

Let's go back to the message, again, here is Jonathan.

Failure, sin, rebellion, widespread unfaithfulness,

all around, but at the same time,

at the very heart of the narrative,

one who is faithful, one who is true,

one who is a beacon of integrity and of godliness.

It's a beautiful insight into the character of Jesus.

It is a stunning contrast with all who are around him.

It's a beautiful thing, but why does it matter?

Why does Luke highlight this contrast for us?

Is it simply so that we can have someone to look up to?

Someone to respect a leader whom we can trust?

Well, it's a joy and a comfort for us

to know that our Lord is faithful,

and our Lord is good, and our Lord can be trusted.

That is vital for us to know and to believe.

It's an anchor and a shelter for the storm

in a very mixed up world,

in a world where so many leaders will disappoint us

and will betray our trust.

I don't need to tell you that we're living through days

of widespread crises of confidence in leaders,

political leaders, religious leaders, corporate leaders,

really throughout the Western world,

and it is a destabilizing and an unsettling time.

But here in Luke 22, here we are presented

with one who is worthy of our trust and our confidence.

And what a comfort that is, how we need that.

Let me just say if you're not a believer here this morning,

but you're here because you're wondering

where truth and stability and integrity can be found.

If you are seeking those things,

well, let me invite you just look at the character

of Jesus Christ, observe him as he heads to the cross,

watch how he behaves, watch what he does,

and see and discover that this is indeed someone

you can trust, someone upon whom you can depend.

The character and the faithfulness of Jesus

are a wonderful reassurance for us,

but even more significant here,

the faithfulness of Jesus ultimately it means

that he can actually save us.

Again, think back to the suffering servant of Isaiah

and Jesus' quotation that he would be numbered

with transgressors.

Now what's the point there?

What's going on?

Well, Jesus will identify himself with a guilty people

so that he can step into their place,

into our place and die on our behalf as our substitute,

but for all that to work, for that substitution to work,

and to make sense, Jesus needs to be innocent.

Just think about that for a moment.

Were Jesus not innocent as he heads to the cross,

he would be dying for his own sin.

He would have his own guilt to bear his own death to pay,

but as the man of perfect integrity,

perfect faithfulness to the Father,

a flawless righteousness,

well Jesus goes to the cross as one who is in the position

to bear my guilt and to bear your guilt as our substitute.

Were he not entirely sinless

and entirely faithful?

He could not do the promised work

to work of the suffering servant.

Calvary would ultimately be meaningless,

but his integrity, his faithfulness to the Father,

his moral purity, it means that he is a savior

when he goes to the cross who can actually save.

Proaching the cross, Jesus is truly human.

He is truly faithful and finally he is truly isolated.

There are certain challenges in life

that a person must ultimately face on their own.

Maybe you've been in that somewhat helpless situation

before of accompanying a son or a daughter

to a big exam which they are dreading.

Perhaps their future seems to hang on this one test

and you'd love to walk with them

and you'd love to help them through it,

but they have to face it alone.

Or perhaps more seriously,

you've been in that situation of accompanying

a loved one to the hospital for a major operation.

You can hold their hand only so far

and then they need to go into that operating room alone.

Now we feel something of this helplessness,

this sense of helplessness mounting through our passage.

As we know that the cross is looming,

the cross is approaching and as we see Jesus

losing his friends and losing his supporters one by one.

But as that happens, we sense and we realize as well

that this is something that Jesus ultimately must face alone.

Earlier in Luke's book, great crowds were following Jesus

but now the crowds, they're melting away.

And over the course of these brief events,

Jesus's stearist friends, they slowly disappear,

they betray him, they deny him.

At the human level at least by the time

we reach the end of our passage,

Jesus is really and thoroughly alone.

Yes, mourners will follow him as he carries the cross

but no one can now actually join him in his journey.

No one can share in the work that is before him.

This was predicted of course,

Isaiah said of the coming servant.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows familiar with suffering.

The Savior, he would be rejected.

The Savior, he would be alone.

And his abandonment, even by his friends,

it points us to a significant reality and a vital truth.

The saving work that Jesus would do at the cross,

it is a work that he must do alone.

Back in verse 33 at the supper table,

Peter had declared that he was ready to go with Jesus

to prison even to death.

It was a noble declaration, I guess at the time,

even if it proved empty in the end.

Peter initially followed Jesus,

your member of verse 54 from a distance,

as the last of the 12 to disappear before the trial,

but soon enough comes his shameful denial.

And when Jesus turns to look at Peter, verse 61,

perhaps out of the window of the high priest's home

at that tragic moment, well his isolation is confirmed.

Of course, it wouldn't have done any good

if Peter had gone and died with Jesus.

His death would have accomplished nothing.

The loneliness of Jesus, the isolation that he faces

at that great moment presented here so vividly,

so dramatically, it reminds us of this simple truth

that he alone can save.

No one else could go to the cross for us.

No one could help Jesus achieve us.

It reminds us of the basic truth

that we cannot save ourselves.

We cannot contribute in any way to our salvation.

Even the great apostle, Peter,

proved a useless companion on this journey

and in this ultimate work.

Jesus alone can do what we cannot do for ourselves.

He can accomplish what no one else in the world

can ever accomplish for us.

It was his lonely and isolated work to do.

It was his unique task to complete.

It's a simple but vital truth,

and we all need to hear it, we all need to recognize it.

We need to hear it when we're tempted to think

that anything we do could ever contribute to our salvation.

We need to remember it when we are tempted to believe

that our spiritual disciplines or our Christian service

or our kindness to others,

or our giving to the church, or any of those other things

could ever contribute to our right standing

before God the Father and God the Judge.

The only thing that will ever satisfy the wrath of God

for my sin and your sin, it is the penalty of death.

And the image of this lonely man being led away

to his trial and his death,

it reminds us that he alone paid the cost for us.

He has taken our place if we belong to him.

The Easter season confronts us once again

with the realities of the suffering and the death of Jesus,

the truly human and the truly faithful servant

who came to die in my place and in your place,

the one, the unique one who has the power to save.

So as we close this morning, let me ask you very simply,

what is your own response to Jesus Christ?

Have you allowed this servant to serve you

through his death in your place?

Have you allowed the Savior to drink the cup of God's wrath

for you and to bring you the healing that he alone can give?

And if you've done that as many of us have here,

let me ask you, as I ask myself,

is your heartfelt to overflowing today

with gratitude and love for the Savior

who would do even this for you and for me?

Jonathan Griffiths here and encountered the truth

in part of a message called a journey of loneliness.

And if you missed any part of this broadcast

and you want to go back and listen again,

you can do that at encounterthetruth.org.

Well encounter the truth is a listener supported ministry.

It is your generosity that keeps Jonathan's teaching

on the station, on the podcast platforms

and all the different ways you've connected with his ministry.

So thank you for giving to and supporting

in counter the truth.

And as you give a gift of any amount this month, Jonathan,

you've picked out a book that is certainly timely

for this time of year.

It's least rubles the case for Easter.

One of the things we're really emphasizing this month

on the broadcast is the historicity of Easter.

The fact that the message of Easter is not just a fairy tale

or a myth or a legend, but it is grounded

in historical reality.

And that's so important for us to grapple with.

And one of the reasons I love our book off for this month

is that it tackles the issue of the historicity

of the death and resurrection of Jesus head on.

And I think we need to be convinced and reconvenced

of the historicity of these events

if they're gonna change our lives and impact our hearts.

So I'm so glad we're making this book available

to our listeners this month.

I'd love you to get a hold of it,

read it for yourself and give it to others

to tackle this issue of the historicity

of the events that we're discussing this month.

Well, the book is called The Case for Easter,

written by Least Robble, and it is our thank you gift to you

as you give a financial gift of any amount this month.

You can give online at encounterthetruth.org

or called 1-833-99Truth.

That's 1-833-998-7884.

Again, the website is encounterthetruth.org.

You can also write us at encounterthetruth, 2176,

Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, 2CE-081,

or in the US at encounterthetruth,

215 North Arlington Heights Road, number 102,

Arlington Heights, Illinois, 600404.

For Jonathan Griffith, I'm Steve Hiller,

thanks for listening,

and I hope you'll join us next time.