 Whenever I think about what a person is doing, when I see someone doing something good, something bad when they're in the midst of something, and I try to figure them out, understand them, I'm always trying to place myself in the place of their mind. Try to get an idea as to what they might be thinking, what they could be going through. Now, obviously that is an impossible task to try to put yourself in the position of the person going through something what they're thinking, what's on their mind. What must they be feeling at that time? Well, when I think about Jesus, and obviously this is the week that we think about more often than not than him going to the cross, it makes me think about what was he thinking? What must have been on his mind? I know what would have been on my mind, but then again, I'm not God, I'm not Jesus. And so I'm thinking to myself, what in the world could he possibly be thinking? There must have been a million things in his mind. And then we start reading the passages, and we do actually get a bit of a glimpse into his mind, but even before he goes to the cross, we get a chance to understand a little bit of his thought process as well. We used to do this thing when I rented my investment firm and we would teach people how to kind of emulate or mimic people in their buying habits and so forth, and we would talk about the main, the four dominant personalities, analytical, driver, amiable, expressive, and we said, and one of the last questions was, what do you think Jesus was? Well, he was certainly a person who was interested and concerned about the people, but he was also a person who was interested in the task. And I'm pretty sure, this is just me, no, not just me, according to scriptures, he was focused on the task. Now, in him being focused on the task, he was also necessarily focused on the task because of the people. And one of the things that had to be in his mind, which is why you see the title of this particular video, what in hell was Jesus thinking about? Because he must have been thinking about hell. And I don't necessarily mean from the vantage point of him being in hell, no, I mean from the vantage point of the people. There is a reason why Jesus came and there was something that he was trying to stop. I've got four daughters. Love my daughters of death. And as a father, I'm always concerned about them. And all my daughters are, they're beautiful daughters, obviously, because they look like their daddy with just hair. That's all. Little less on the mustache, little more on the hair. But these girls are always on my mind when they go someplace, even when they're in the house. But the other day, we were working out and we were outside and my daughter, this was five something in the morning. And she decided to go one in the middle of the workout which she should not have done. But she decides to go for a quick walk, a quick jog, a quick walk. Now it's dark outside. Naturally, me as daddy, I'm bothered. What in the world are you doing, walking away at night? Now it's not night, in an hour or so, the sun will be up, but it's dark outside. And I don't care where you are, I don't care if it's a good neighborhood, bad neighborhood, a lot of ladies find themselves in trouble, even if they're just jogging in their own neighborhood because it's dark. So just as a father, I'm concerned. Why? Because I don't want any hurt or harm to come upon my child. And so what did I think? What I thought of immediately was where she was walking to, the place that she was going and what could possibly happen. My mind immediately went to the worst place, the worst thing that can happen because it's my child. I love her. Do you think it's any less of a concern for God in his thoughts about us? And really in his thoughts about all of creation. Clearly he is concerned about his creation and about his people. And so the reason why he came, obviously, he didn't want anybody to go to hell. Now I wanna look at some passages and I wanna see if you see something in the passage. Matter of fact, in one of the Gospels, he said, we're gonna look at Luke. He says something that the other Gospels in speaking about Jesus here, doesn't mention. So let's go to Jesus' prayer. Jesus is in the garden. And a question that comes up is, was Jesus really filling this whole getting crucified stuff? I'm getting ready to go. Matter of fact, before he gets crucified, he's going to be beat. He's gonna get the 39 minus one lashes with the cat of nine tails. If you've seen the passion of Christ, it's still heartbreaking just to see that. Matter of fact, how many of you all watched The Passion of Christ and knowing why he went through what he went through, even while watching a movie and you can't change the outcome, you were angry about the people beating him and wish that you could be there to do something? Me too. And so before he's going through all of this stuff, he's concerned, it seems like, is he so concerned that he's like, wait a second, Lord, maybe we can figure out something else to do. So let's go to the passage in Luke 22, I'm sorry, yeah, Luke chapter 22, verse, let's start in verse 40. Verse 40, when he arrived at the place, he said to them, that is the other disciples that he took with him, the three. He said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. Okay. Wait a minute, wait a second, wait a second, hold up, stop, wait a second. And I keep my eyes on a lot of different things. One day I'm gonna actually show you what I'm looking at. There's one, two, three, four, five, there's seven things that I'm looking at. Seven things, really eight things. Actually nine things when you think about it. I'm looking at the screen. If I have notes up, I'll look at those. I don't happen to have any notes today. I'm looking at the gadgets in front of me. I'm looking at the stream health and so forth. I'm also looking at the chats. And I see something in the chats and it just shocked me. Just shocked me. Sheila, you mean to tell me you have not seen The Passion of the Christ? How could that be? How could, I would say, I would recommend go watch it. Go watch it. I know some folks can't watch it, go watch it. I don't like movies with subtitles, but that particular one, well because you know what's happening. And so it just does something to me. And at this point in time, we had taken a bunch of, I'm one of the associate pastors, we'd taken a bunch of the kids and the younger folks at the church and some adults to go see it. We went to a couple of different theaters and had the entire place. And it was just rough. It was just rough. But anyway, that being the case, let me go back to this. I just saw that and I just, I couldn't imagine. I couldn't imagine not seeing it. So Sheila, make sure you watch it. Anyway, when he arrived at the place, he said, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw. So not very far away. And he knelt down and began to pray, which tells you the importance of prayers if Jesus has to pray that he's praying. But there's something special that he's praying about saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup for me yet, not my will, but yours be done. Now the question is, why is Jesus asking? It seemed like Jesus asking, can you figure out something else to do? Can you figure out a way for me not to have to go through this? If there be any other way, are you, if you are willing? Notice what he says though. And I want you to pay attention to that. How, how he actually says this. He says, if you are willing, remove this cup. What does that say to you guys if you hear Jesus make the statement? Now, Jesus, it seemed like this is what you came here for. We'll look at some passages in a second, but what would go through your mind if you hear Jesus makes it, if you hear, obviously no one heard him. Now we have the benefit of having this revealed to us through, in this case, through Luke and the other writers, obviously through the Holy Spirit. But if you hear this, if you know this, what would be in your mind? Matter of fact, what if you were there at the moment, if you could have actually been there to be a fly on the wall, I guess in this case, a fly on the tree? Okay, Nelan says it hits humanity, but what about, wait a second though, but this is also God though. And you know what you came here for, but you said, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. What do you all think that Jesus meant by asking if you are willing? Does that convey to you that maybe Jesus was willing? That if the father was willing, then the son would be willing? You know what, yeah, let's figure something out. Let's, cause this is gonna be rough, this is gonna be tough. And we're gonna talk about exactly what is happening, but what do you think that Jesus meant by saying if you are willing? What do you think? Matter of fact, here's a question. Do you think he was asking a question? Do you think he was making, do you think Jesus was maybe even making a request? Was he asking a question? Hey, is there another way that we can do this? Was he making a request? Could you let's figure something else out? Well, the answer to both of those is no. He was not asking and he was not figuring a way out. Let's go back to it. I wanna pull something up. He says, if you are willing. His father, if you are willing. Now this word for willing, there's another Greek word. There's another Greek word that means if you are willing, if you want to, if you wish to. This is the Greek word phelo, which is I desire, I wish. But this word belay from the Greek word bulamai is if you have planned to, if you have caused to be, if you wanted to be, if you have willed it to be. Are you with me? For some people, well, I don't see the difference. Well, here's the difference. Meaning that if there's another way that you have planned it, if there is another way that you have willed it to be, if there's another way that you want it, then let's do it. But whatever it is, your will be done. Jesus is not, and by the way, there's no one there to hear this. So us finding out is because God wants us to know this. Now, in this, what he's actually saying is, and this is for the benefit of the hearers, and we're gonna see another passage, famous passages about Jesus, that is not him concerned or worried, but it's really for the benefit of the hearers to know why he's doing what he's doing. Now, is there some agony in what Jesus is going through? Sure, as a matter of fact, we're gonna read in a second that it literally uses the word agony, and the Greek word is agonia, which is, I'm in agonized, I'm in pain. These droplets of blood are coming out, what is it called? Lord, I can't even remember the title, the medical term, hematosis, I think it's what it's called, when you are in such agony and pain and you're sweating profusely that the blood vessels, droplets of blood starts coming out through your pores. And this is what we believe is happening here with Jesus. So let's go back to it and finish reading. He says, if you have desire, if you have planted, if you willed it, remove this cup from me, not my will, but yours be done. Now, an angel from heaven, listen to this, an angel, and Luke is the only one that points this out, an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him, and the word for strengthening him in the Greek literally means to strengthen him. How so? We don't know, we don't know, but obviously there was a purpose in this angel. And of course angels are ministering spirits, and so they're there to serve, just like when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, the angels were there ministering to him at that point in time, because also again, in this state that he's come in, he has come in a lower state. As a matter of fact, to keep this in perspective, in Philippians 2, where he says, being found in an appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And so he just, excuse me, he comes this way, as a matter of fact, the Bible says, he emptied himself, and he humbled himself, he did that. Obviously this is all in concert with the Father, without question. And so he does so for a specific reason, going back to this in the garden. And so at his weakness, he has come down, he is in the form of a man. He has taken on and appeared to us as a man. He's still God. Now, to what degree has he emptied himself of? The Bible does not tell us. We're not sure how this worked. How much of himself has he emptied, or how much of his godly prerogatives has he set aside voluntarily? Again, he can pick them up. He's God. If at that moment, if he wants to destroy the earth that he could do, he's God. He is God. So there's something going on where this angel is here, ministering him or strengthening him. How so? We don't know. We don't know. Is the angel giving Jesus a pep talk? Don't know. So I don't think so, but we're just not told. We just know that an angel shows up, just like we're not told when he's in the wilderness fasting and angels are ministering him. We don't know in what way. We have no idea. But it's just interesting to know that that is the case. So now angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him and being in agony, pain, he was praying fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. When he arose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow and said to them, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Now, obviously we know this happens a couple of times and so we don't need to read this again, but this question is brought up again. So he didn't ask this just once, okay? He asks this again. And so the question is, why make this statement? As a matter of fact, again, it looks like Jesus is bothered by what's going to happen. Well, I imagine so. What's getting ready to happen? One, before the actual crucifixion. Two, the actual crucifixion itself. Well, then three, what is happening that we can't see with him and God? We'll get to that in a second. But if we recall when he's on the cross, John 19, I'm sorry, Matthew 2746, look what it says, verse, after, well, verse 45, after the ninth hour or about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice in verse 46, la, la, la, la, ma sabachthine. And now we have it recorded in Aramaic and we have it recorded in Hebrew. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus asked a question. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Well, we know when something has the word why in it, that is because it's a question. Now, just because you ask a question does not mean you are actually asking a question. I know that sounds a bit tricky, but let me see if I can explain a little bit better. Just because you ask a question does not mean that you're asking a question. We'll have a rhetorical question. I'll ask a question, I'm not asking for you to answer it. When I ask a question that I don't want you to answer and there's no one, by the way, to answer because remember, he's saying this on the cross. He's not getting ready to get an answer. As a matter of fact, it's not as though he didn't know the answer already. He's not looking for, it's not as though he was confused and in a state to where he just didn't know what was going on. What he's asking, oh, by the way, the people hear him. In this case, they hear him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Before I answer the question, let's go to verse 47. He says, those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying this man is calling for Elijah. And the reason why, because the words are similar, Elias and Eliyoy, which is my God. And then Elijah, which is also the Hebrew word for my God. Actually, my God is Lord. But they think that he's saying something else. So they can hear what he's saying. Well, what is Jesus saying? Asking the question, he's asking a question where the answer is already implied. If not, it will cause us to ask the question, why is God forsaking him? By the way, we need to know what he just said. What do you think he meant by forsaking him? As a matter of fact, in the chat, if you all can tell me, what do you all think that Jesus meant when he says, why have you forsaken me? What is meant by forsaken? And that has been an issue. It shouldn't be an issue of great concern or debate because we understand what the actual word means, but why have you forsaken me? Well, the word for forsaken, literally means to leave, to leave behind, to desert, to forsake. The Hebrew word that he's quoting out of Psalm 22, Asav also means to leave behind, to desert, to forsake. And so he's asking the Father, my God, my God, why are you deserting me? Why are you leaving me? Why are you leaving me behind? Why have you forsaken me? We obviously know because we know the story that this isn't permanent, but this is for the moment. Now, what we don't know is for how long? We don't know. Well, what we do know is there is some sort of separation to what degree we do not know, but that's literally what the word means, both in Greek and Hebrew. So there's some sort of separation to what degree we don't know or for how long we don't know. Well, that may explain also why Jesus is in his agony because something's gonna happen that's never happened before in the history of Goddom. God, like the kingdom or Christendom, like Goddom. In the history of God's existence, here we've got a time where the Father has forsaken the Son. It's never happened before, never will happen again. To what degree don't know for how long? Well, I can imagine just the thought of that. Also, that necessarily means that would, would that also heighten the pain? Because do we think that, now we don't know, now this is me and us trying to get into his mind, do we think that God has somehow lessened the pain that Christ was gonna go through? Do we think that the hurt, the agony, not just the, by the way, one of the worst parts about being in prison, one of the worst parts about being in prison isn't the prison, it's not that. It's not what can happen in prison. One of the worst parts about being in prison is mentally, spiritually, emotionally, what you go through by simply being separated. That is one of the worst parts. It's just agonizing, it's painful. And so here we have possibly the same thing with Jesus. So now, that being stated, he's saying, why have you forsaken me? Why have you left me? Why have you abandoned me? That's gotta be hurting to think about it, but then when it actually happens, and at the time that it's happening, he's in an extreme amount of pain. You all have heard before where we get this, the term excruciating comes from this out of the cross. The term that is derived from is a term that means out of the cross, this excruciating pain that he's dealing with, one, the actual beating, the pain, the hurt. Again, this is why I actually, I thought a lot about the movie, The Passion, because of all the movies that I've seen where they've shown Jesus being beaten, that one was pretty gory. That one was pretty gory, and someone asked, well, did you think it was that bad? Well, I imagine it may have been worse. I'm pretty sure these people didn't have deadly accuracy with their whips, and so they hit the exact same spot every time, but you've got these shards of glass or bone that stick it into the body, into the flesh, and pulling the flesh to where you can even see flesh, underneath the flesh, the meat. And so these are the things that are a big issue. Here we've got, in order to try to figure out what in the world is this man having to go through? Now, we'll get to this issue, again, why we call this, why this video is titled, What in Hell Was Jesus Thinking? Because I want to make the bigger point. Now, Jesus asked the question, my God, my God, why? Why, why, why, why in the world? Well, do we think that Jesus didn't know? Well, it can't be that as a matter of fact. Let's look at some passages. One passage in Hebrews 12, 12 says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected for our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So in other words, yeah, he knew this was coming. As a matter of fact, he went joyfully. One of the other parts, that's why I like the movie, where he actually embraced the cross. Now, I don't know that to be the case or not, but that's one of the parts of the other video of the movie where Jesus is actually holding onto the cross. I could imagine that. Now, we don't know that to be the case. Obviously, when you do a movie, there's gonna be some creative licensing that's gonna take place, but that happened in the movie. And I can see that. And from this passage, he wanted to do so. Remember, when Jesus got here, even as a boy, he said, did you not know that I would be about my father's business? Did you not know that? Now, the Bible also tells us this, that we read, matter of fact, let's read it again. Let's read it again, Philippians 2.8. He said that he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross. Now, he knew what he was coming for. He knew what he was coming for, and he makes a statement. He does it voluntarily because he says in John 10, 18, he says, no one takes my life away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. So I'm gonna take, I lay it down. And by the way, I'm gonna pick it back up. Which also may speak to, we know this, when he was risen, we know for a fact at that point in time, there was no forsaken in him at that point in time. He was not forsaken by the father. Again, we don't know how long. We don't know how long. But then we go back to the passages. We look at chapter five, verse 17 of Matthew. He makes a statement. He makes a statement. He says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. So he's coming to fulfill something. Somebody said, wouldn't it be for three hours? Well, I don't know. Don't, we don't know. Have no idea. So he says, his reason for coming to this, and Matt, this is in chapter five. This is early on. I came to do what? To fulfill the law. What does the law require in being fulfilled? That there must be this, well, two things. Yes, two things, two things. One, there's gotta be this pronouncement of all sin on Jesus. Remember in the atonement, the scapegoat is moving, and the scapegoat has to have all the sins placed on his head and sent into the wilderness. We don't know how far, where, or what happened. But I would say this. I would not want to be of all the sheep on the planet, the two that I would not want to be with the scapegoat or the sacrificial offering. Don't know what happened to him. But, because he's literally bearing all of the sin. Well, Jesus is going to do the same thing. Well, what is God going to do to sin? He pours out his wrath on sin. That part is understood. So I don't know if, and I'm just in my mind just wondering, is he even maybe even intensifying it? Don't know, I do not know. But I do know this though. The next portion that Jesus has also understood about this atonement is that the shedding of blood is required. The pouring out of the blood must be required and then God accepts the sacrifice. God accepts the sacrifice. Now, Jesus knows it, which is why he says why he came to fulfill the law. Now, he says also this, because I want to look at, make sure that we understand why Jesus came, that he also knew, because I don't want to leave here thinking, I want anyone thinking that Jesus was afraid, Jesus was scared, Jesus was just unsure. No, he knew. As a matter of fact, he says in Mark 10, 45, he says, for even the son of man, and this is him saying, telling to his disciples what's going to happen, he says, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom. He also makes a statement in Luke 18. As a matter of fact, I want to put this up as well. He says, then he took the 12 aside to his disciples and said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the son of man will be accomplished. All of those things, we're gonna go back and look at what one of the prophets said about him. All of those things will be accomplished. And I don't know if they were well versed on what the prophet that says is gonna happen but with the son of man, but he says, those things, all of those things will be accomplished. He says, for he will be handed over to the Gentiles. That's an insult, by the way, to be handed over to the Gentiles because we as Jews, we don't like the Gentiles and vice versa. And he will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. Now, first of all, the mock part, okay, but the mistreated part, Jesus, you really undersold this mistreated part. They mistreated, mistreated. Wow, that's a light way of putting it, huh? To be mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, after any you ever been scourged, I'm pretty sure you have not. After they have scourged him, then they will kill him. And look what he says, on the third day, he will rise again. But the disciples understood none of these things and the many of this statement was hidden from them and they did not comprehend the things that were said. What's the point of having the words if you're not gonna read them? What's the point of having, of course, in our case, having the Bible if you're not gonna read it? Now, let me just say this, let me just deviate for just a second. One of my big pet peeves is the fact that we have the book and we don't read it. One of my big pet peeves is that we will have the story, we'll have what's told, what's laid out and we'll still lean onto our own understanding. Well, I think this, I think that, but it literally says this. One of my greatest frustrations, I don't mean frustration to the point where if I had hair, I pulled my hair out. But when I read comments and folks will say, after having gone through a Bible study and looked at the scriptures, pulled them out, well, I disagree. Why do you disagree? Well, I just think I feel this way. Well, or obviously we have this issue when we deal with a lot of folks who are talking about being demon-possessing so forth. You're demon-possessed, I'm not. I'm telling you how not to be and you tell me you disagree and you don't give me a scripture. I'm literally giving you the scripture. It is so frustrating to have the Bible that you can read and glean from and don't use it. You have these things and you don't use it. Do you know one of the greatest regrets in prison is thinking about the things that you could have done but didn't do? Do you know what's gonna be one of the greatest regrets? If not, matter of fact, not if not, the greatest regret in hell that you could have and you did not. You could have and you did not. That's a problem. You don't have to be in hell. That's gonna be the big issue. Just like we're sitting around in prison looking at each other, you know what, you really had to be here. You brought yourself here. You could have not stole. You could have not molested that child. You could have not killed that person. You could have not embezzled. You could have not lied. You could have not done all those things. We know it can be done because most people in society didn't come to prison so we know it can be done. And then we know it could be done that you could have placed your faith in Christ but you didn't. Now, truth be told, you all know where I stand that any and everybody could just that nobody will and so what does God do that He does something which is to our heart. But nobody's gonna be in hell if I couldn't. I could not. You made me this way. Uh-uh, no, no, no. God did not create you in a way. I don't think that He created you in a way and told you to do something that was impossible. Because again, we see people in the Bible who have believed but then you know what? Their heart was really on something else. Their heart was really more for something. No, not Calvinist, I'm not a Calvinist but their heart was really focused on something else. You know what, if it wasn't for the fact of all these good looking women out here, honey, I'd be faithful to you. I love you, baby, but did you see what she was wearing? Same thing with a woman. Sweetheart, I would love to be the wife that you want me to be but I just can't. No, this is like a bunch of good looking guys out there. That's how we are. That's what God came for. That's why He died. That's why the Lord died on the cross for that. That's why He made Himself a sacrifice. Now, He obviously knows what's in store for mankind because if you think that what Jesus went through was tough, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait till the human beings have to go through it. Wait till the people who are not God in flesh have to go through it. What do you think Jesus' mind was on? What do you think He was focused on? What do you think was in His mind? What He's always said in His mind? Hell, I don't want you to be held. This is why I'm gonna do it. The Bible tells us in Galatians 3.13, that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law which was sentenced to hell having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree. Well, He got up and hung on the tree for us. He became this curse for us. Are you with me? And so the point that He came for is so that we wouldn't have to deal with hell. We wouldn't have to go through it. Isn't that sad when someone can make provisions whereby you don't have to suffer and you choose to suffer anyway? And you're gonna complain about the suffering. You're gonna complain about the suffering anyway. But look at us. We'll go through it anyway. We'll go through it anyway because that's just who we are. And Jesus tells us that we don't have... He wants to keep us going from a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth where the worm never dies. Was Jesus thinking of hell? Sure He was. Without question, He was thinking of hell. Without question. And He's thought about it so much so that He wanted, He made it so that we don't have to go. The, listen, the easiest win ever. The easiest win ever. Could you imagine? I thought about this before. Could you imagine playing in a basketball game? I saw a game one time. This was, I can't remember the guy's name. I can't remember the guy's name. But this guy was playing with Michael Jordan. Playing with Michael Jordan, games tight. I think the Bulls were down by one or tired or something like that. Maybe down by two. You know what he did? This guy's name is Mud. We don't even know who, I can't remember the guy's name. He decided to take the last shot. This guy decided to take the last shot. What do you think happened to him? Tell you what, sir. I think we're going in a different direction. You're no longer part of our plans. Listen, all you had to do was give the ball to Michael Jordan. Give the ball to Michael Jordan. That's all you got to do. I'll tell you what, give the ball to Mike and the rest of y'all move out of the way. Well, even more so, give the ball to Jesus. It's the easiest layup in the history of the world. Give it to him. No one's Steve Kerr. Give it to him. Give it to, all you got to do is place your faith in him. That's it. All the heavy lifting is done. He makes this statement. He says, in Mark 9.47, if your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast in the hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. So, whatever's causing you to go that way instead of go that way, this way is where Christ is, whatever's causing that. If it is, now, he's speaking figuratively, but he's also speaking literally. If there's something about your eye that's causing you, if your eye is gonna be the cause of you going to hell, cut it out. If your job is what's causing you, if there's something that's holding you back, if it's your cell phone, if it's the porn on your cell phone, or if it's the constant chatter on Facebook and Snapchat and MySpace and Instagram and whatever else they got up there, cut it out. Get rid of it. Lay aside every weight and sin that can easily ensnare you. Now, once you're saved, then these are gonna be just things that's gonna cause your walk to slow up. It's like driving with a break on. But the easiest thing that you can do is just get on the bus. The easiest thing that you can do is just place your faith in him. Because the result of not doing so, so you might laugh at me because I said, MySpace, yeah, MySpace, we're gonna bring that back. The easiest thing that you can do is place your, but you know what it is, and we can tell people that, you know, I think you think that you're gonna miss something and you're not, but, and they all know that, yeah, I know I'm not gonna miss it, but I love it so much. I love it so much so. I love it so much so that, it's just that I'm just not ready. Maybe if I'm getting ready to get hit by a truck, then right before the truck strikes me, I'll place my faith in Christ, maybe. It's not gonna happen. Not gonna, you are so consumed with your life in this world. And so therefore, you can't be with him. You can't be with him. But whatever he's just holding you back, he does not want you to find yourself in hell. He does not want you to find yourself in hell. He knows exactly what's going to happen. How do I know? Because who do you think is gonna sit before you in judgment? Him. Can you imagine, think about this for a second, could you imagine if you have to go before him, and he's going to send you to hell. The look on his face, I literally fix it for you. I made it so that you wouldn't have to go there. Yeah, what was his focus? Hell, let's look and see what he knew that he was going to suffer. In Isaiah 33, now obviously we know because we've covered this before, that the Jews as a nation, when they look at this, they'll be looking back. But we can look at this for ourselves and see these are the things that happened. In verse three says, he was despised and forsaken. There's that word again, forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like the one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him. Didn't think, we didn't think much of him. Surely our griefs, he himself bore. He bore our griefs, he bore that. And our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken. Smitten of God, smitten of, wait a minute, smitten of God. So God is the one, yes, God is the one that's doing this. Smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. For our trend, he was crushed for our sins, for our knickly, the chastisement, for our well-being of or of our peace fell upon him. And by his scourging, by his strife, by his scourging, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Look what he says. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that has led to the slaughter and like a sheep that has sidelined before its shears. So he did not open his mouth. Well, he knew what he was going for. I mean, he's God and all these things are gonna happen. So what in hell was Jesus thinking about? You, me, us not being there, the people that would be there, the fact that he made propitiation and he made a payment for those people. Think about that. I paid the debt for you. It was paid for you, you didn't accept it. You didn't trust it. You didn't want it. Go to the restaurant, I pay your bill. Nevermind, I'll pay it myself. Oh, I think this is a trick. I don't think he paid it for me. In the garden, in the garden. So let's go back to the original. In the garden, he makes a statement. He makes a statement. Father, if you have planned, if you have made it so, if you wanted to be, if you have willed us to be, remove this cup, the disciples in their foolishness wanted to remember when James and John and their mother almost got them in trouble. We wanna sit on your right and on your left side. And Jesus says, are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm about to be baptized with? Can you bear the cup that I'm about to drink? No, you're not. Now I'm gonna give you something later. Now you're gonna suffer. But it says, Father, if it's been planned this way, if it's been willed this way, remove this cup. But this is about your, not my will, but your will be done. I have humbled myself for just this reason. And then so when he's on the cross and he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For you, I have been forsaken so that nobody would have to go to hell. Unfortunately, most will. And the easy part though, also, because there are gonna be a lot of people that we know that are going to hell. There are gonna be a lot of people that we love that are going to hell. And all we gotta do now, it's never in our court. We can't cause anyone to come to Christ, but we can at least share with someone what he's done. Because we also, we too, also ought to have our mind while we're heavenly minded. We too, also ought to be thankful for one, the death, the hell that we've escaped. But also remember that everyone else has not escaped that. And what it's gonna require is for them to hear the word. If you do not confess that Jesus is Lord, you shall not be saved. And how are they gonna confess that? On him, they have not heard. And how they don't believe on the person they've not heard. Well, the only one they're gonna hear is with a preacher. You go preach. You also keep in mind, keep an eye out, keep a thought about hell. Sounds, sounds odd, right? Sounds weird for someone to say, if we need to be thinking about hell, not for yourself. But Paul says, because of the terror of the Lord, what do we do? We warn people. We persuade people because of the terror of the Lord. He has entrusted us that same ministry in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, 18, 19. While he was in Christ, reconciling the world, now he's given us the same ministry of reconciliation through work. So while our heart is having bound, we can keep an eye out on who might be on their way to hell and share with them the gospel. Let someone know. It doesn't take a whole lot. It doesn't have to be real clever. You don't have to be the greatest orator ever, but just let them know what he's done for you. And I ask them, if you die today, wherever you've just been eternity, something along those lines, it could be even thinking, it could be with one of your friends, someone that you already have a relationship with, but act like you care and that you don't want them to go to hell. Do just what Jesus did now. He didn't, you don't have to suffer in that regard, which makes it easier. It's almost as though we can do the job of Jesus without having as much skin in the game. We don't have to suffer like he suffered. Pretty easy, huh? Pretty easy, isn't it? So I say, why don't we on this Easter season and this resurrection Sunday, we're gonna think about how good and great the Lord is and we're told, let the redeem of the Lord say, so why don't we say so to somebody else and keep them from having to go to hell? Amen.