[0:00] This time we're going to turn to the Gospel of John, Gospel of John and chapter 12. And again, if you have the church pew Bible, that's page 1079.
[0:14] That's the red pew Bible like this one, page 1079, John 12. Last Sunday we looked at one of the predictions that Jesus made concerning his death in the Gospel of Mark.
[0:26] How he was very forthright and very clear about what was happening, what was going to happen to him when he went to Jerusalem. That he was going to suffer and die and recognize what that meant for us.
[0:37] And I want to pick up on another one, another place where Jesus talks about his forthcoming death, which is much closer to the time. It's in fact following either the very same day or within a day or so of Palm Sunday.
[0:50] And so we're going to read John's account of Palm Sunday and then immediately following that a few more verses too as to what happens when Jesus talks openly about his suffering and death.
[1:03] So John chapter 12, Gospel of John chapter 12, beginning at verse 12. And here we have John's account of that day. The next day, the great crowd that had come to the festival, that's the Passover feast, heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
[1:22] They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel! Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it.
[1:34] As it is written, Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. At first, his disciples did not understand all this.
[1:47] Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
[2:03] Many people, because they'd heard that he'd performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.
[2:17] Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. Sir, they said, we would like to see Jesus.
[2:31] Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
[2:43] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
[2:56] Anyone who loves their life will lose it. Well, anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me.
[3:07] And where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me. Now my soul is troubled.
[3:19] And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No. It was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.
[3:32] Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered.
[3:42] Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out.
[3:56] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
[4:07] Well, let's come to a time of prayer together before we think about these events in the life of Jesus and what they mean for us because they are very, very helpful to us.
[4:20] We need to pray, please, for the Lads family. That's Mark and Barbara Lads from the Congregational Church, Westcliff. Many of you will know that Barbara's father died just a little while ago, I think earlier this week.
[4:34] And both Mark and Barbara, some of the family are over in Northern Ireland for that. So please pray for them. Heather Yule, her mum is very unwell.
[4:45] It's Ferguson Heather. And she is being treated with cancer. And it would be good for us to remember them in prayer as well. As I said, this morning we had a lovely time with...
[4:59] Please turn, if you would, with me to John and Chapter 12, the verses or the passage we read just a little while ago of John's account of Palm Sunday and then particularly the events immediately following that.
[5:14] We don't know exactly whether it was that same day or whether it was a day or two later. Certainly it was during that, what we call Easter week. Now I'm not sure whether you're one of those people who wears your heart on your sleeve.
[5:33] You're the sort of person who openly shows how you're feeling in any given situation. You find it very hard to put up a mask or a veil, as it were.
[5:45] Are you somebody who shares things upon your heart with your friends, your family? Perhaps with anybody who's willing to listen or perhaps it takes a lot for you to do that.
[5:57] Perhaps you're more guarded, more careful because you've been hurt, because people have abused that openness you've given or have taken advantage of you being so transparent.
[6:12] Well, in these verses in John and Chapter 12, particularly verse 27, we find the Lord Jesus, in one sense, opening his heart to his disciples and to those who are gathered there.
[6:22] We get a peek, as it were, inside his very soul, inside his heart. We get to see something of what's going on in the secret recesses, in the secret depths of his heart and life.
[6:38] Jesus says, Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Now, although we hear the words of Jesus, there's no way we can fully plumb the depths of what he meant by those words.
[6:55] We can't fully comprehend what he meant for us to understand, but we do see something very helpful here in his openness. We see something very useful for us, comforting for us, encouraging for us as he opens his heart.
[7:16] Now, Jesus didn't do that often. He wasn't someone who every moment spoke and opened his heart. Often he only did that on very particular occasions.
[7:27] One other occasion, of course, was just in a chapter earlier, in Chapter 11, where we find Jesus at the graveside of his dear friend Lazarus, openly weeping.
[7:38] Openly weeping. Those around about him being quite concerned. And John making the, giving us an insight himself into what Jesus really was going through.
[7:54] For we're told in verse 33, when Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. It's the same word there, troubled.
[8:05] Disturbed within his own soul, disturbed. And upset within his own heart. There's other occasions as well when we read of Jesus really showing sometimes sorrow, sometimes distress, sometimes wonderful joy.
[8:24] Jesus was truly a very real man who was unafraid to show his emotions when it was right to do so.
[8:37] It's becoming less so, but it certainly has been the case, and still can be the case, that for any man to show his emotions is considered unmanly.
[8:47] Men are to be, especially English men, stiff upper lipped, not to show any concern or care. It can be the same with Christians as well.
[9:00] Sadly, as Christians, we can be, if we're not careful, a little bit unchristian. When somebody is in tears, or weeping, or struggling, we can think of it, perhaps, that their faith is not mature.
[9:14] Or that in some way, they are showing disfaith, unbelief in God. How encouraging it is that immediately we have before us the example of the Lord Jesus, who was truly human, in every way, body and soul, whilst being truly God, in a way that we fully don't understand, 100% God, 100% man, one who perfectly had faith in his Father at all times, one who was certainly not, in any way, lacking in faith, but who is troubled in soul, and says so.
[9:50] It's a great mystery for us to understand how one who is truly man, and truly God, could have lived amongst us, but we know that it's true. We know that it is true that God himself became a human being, like us, in every way, apart from sin.
[10:08] This is the great and wonderful story, if I can put it that way, this is the great central pivot of our faith, that the God that we come to worship, and believe in, is not a God of the ivory tower, he's not a God who stands aloof from the world, he's not a God who looks down, as it were, from his throne with a scornful eye, but he's the God who's entered into our human experience.
[10:29] He's the God who himself has rolled up his sleeves, got stuck in, muddied his hands. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[10:41] In Hebrews, elsewhere in the Bible, it tells us, since the children have flesh and blood, he too shed in their humanity. And later on, it tells us, he was made like his brothers in every way.
[10:54] Don't think that when God came into this world, somehow he was able to rise above the troubles and the sorrows and the griefs of this life. Don't think that in some way God is indifferent or unconcerned, or somehow just sort of wrings his hands in a pathetic attempt to be upset or tuts when he sees what's going on.
[11:15] Our God is the God who experiences, feels, and is touched, yes, even with our infirmities, the Bible says. So Jesus says, my soul is troubled.
[11:29] My soul is troubled. But why? Why was Jesus troubled in soul? What is it that has troubled his soul so much that it rings, as it were, these words of confession, these words of openness before his friends and those who are there?
[11:47] Well, it's quite clear, isn't it, as we read through, as we read through, that what Jesus is talking about, the reason his soul is troubled, is because he's been talking about his imminent suffering and his death upon the cross.
[12:01] There in verse 24. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, talking about himself. And later on, of course, we know, verse 33 reminds us, he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
[12:17] Jesus is saying to the disciples, I'm going to die, as a seed must fall to the ground and be buried to produce more seed, more grain, so therefore I too must die, because from his death will come life, from his death will come fruitfulness, from his death will come great blessing.
[12:35] So Jesus is talking about the death that he is to face. That is why his soul is troubled. But then, when we think about it, there have been many people who face death, as we said before, with a stiff upper lip.
[12:51] Many people who have faced death, even today, continue to face death with courage, stoicism, even untimely death, even a violent death.
[13:02] Yet they haven't broken out in this, what we might think of as self-pity. These expressions of grief and distress, my soul is troubled. When you read through church history, when you read about people like Stephen, the first martyr, you find them not facing death with expressions of grief or sorrow.
[13:25] In fact, the martyrs in the first century, many of them went to their death singing the praises of God. Those who face terminal illness, who have faith in the Lord God, often even welcome death, knowing that it is that gateway.
[13:40] As David, as Paul rather said, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. So do these emotions that Jesus expresses here, do these emotions expose him as being less courageous, less brave, less trusting?
[13:57] No, no, certainly not. We must not come to that conclusion because that's completely false. Rather, instead of exposing some fault or flaw in Jesus' character, these words show us the very depths of the purpose of his death.
[14:13] They show us the very real understanding of what it meant for him to go to the cross and what was going to happen at the cross when there he would face the judgment of sin which God has reserved against us.
[14:27] we see the awfulness of what it means to fall into the hands of a holy God. See, Jesus' death wasn't a natural death.
[14:38] It wasn't a normal death. It was a unique death, an unrepeatable death in which he, the perfect God-man, was made sin for us.
[14:49] The Apostle Paul, as he writes about Jesus coming into the world and suffering and dying, says just that.
[14:59] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. When Jesus speaks about his soul being troubled, there is that sense in which now at the beginning of the Easter week, as the day is drawing very close for him to go to the cross, there is a sense of the weight of our sin crushing down upon his soul.
[15:25] There is, in one sense, we might think of a premonition of that very cry that was wrung from his heart when on the cross he cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When for that moment, for those hours in history, God himself was separated from his Son and the Son from the Father.
[15:46] When God could not look upon his beloved Son because upon his beloved Son was the ugliness, the filthiness, the blackness of your sin and mine. There Jesus was treated as a sinner by the holy and just God.
[16:10] Let's remember this, dear friends, when we ourselves go through times of trouble, when we ourselves go through times of suffering, they can be immense, they can be very, very great.
[16:22] They can be so great that at times we feel as if no one has ever had to suffer as I've suffered. No one could surely feel the pain of my heart as I feel it because it is so overwhelming.
[16:33] I feel as if my heart will break into pieces on the floor. Let us remember that there is one who even now is at God's right hand who has borne such inner struggles and pains himself, who has known the depths of sorrow and grief even beyond anything that you and I can go through.
[16:55] We do not have a God who is insensitive to these things. And it's only because the Lord Jesus was willing to suffer and have his soul troubled and to bear your sin and mine that we ourselves can have the comfort of being able to come to God in prayer and receive from him comfort and receive from him help in our times of suffering.
[17:22] For in the the the the right later on in the Bible in Hebrews in chapter 4 it reminds us of this because of Jesus' suffering because he understands what it is to feel these things we're told.
[17:35] Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And that's the example here we have not only have the example of Jesus being open and bearing his soul as it were and being honest about how he's feeling about things you can't hide anything from God anyway there's no point but also we see Jesus praying when his heart is troubled when his soul is troubled he prays.
[18:06] So what about us? We do know troubled times we do know times when we feel our soul is troubled distressed upset how should we pray?
[18:18] How should we pray? Jesus reveals that he's not exactly sure if I can put it that way how to pray rather there's a conflict that goes on within his heart he says this what shall I say?
[18:32] what shall I say? Now again we mustn't misunderstand the words of Jesus we mustn't misinterpret his words we mustn't confuse them in one sense as if Jesus is somehow saying well I will go to my death no I won't go to my death yes I will no I won't as if there is some sort of a confusion but at the same time we need to recognise that here Jesus is expressing the fullness of his humanity that like any human being he is repulsed at the thought of what faced him that like any human being any person that we would draws away his soul shrinks from such an awful thing that he should be counted as sin for us and bear the wrath of God against him like us his natural response is to pray father save me from this hour isn't exactly how we feel isn't that the sort of prayer we pray when we're in the pit when we're in trouble when things are difficult isn't our first prayer
[19:35] God help me God get me out of this God rescue me God save me why would we expect anything less from Jesus doesn't his honesty here actually exalt him doesn't his honesty here show us again that he is not some sort of insensitive robotic machine that somehow he has come down from heaven against his will to rescue us from our sins that somehow he's under some powerful control which means that he's unable to go willingly to the cross or to work things out for himself that somehow he's brainwashed no all these things show us that here is someone at complete freedom and liberty who has within his power the power to say no I will not go to the cross for these people or yes I will because though his natural aversion just like ours would be father save me from this hour his immediate response at that thought is no my soul is troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour no speaks to his own self don't you have to do that at times
[20:56] I know I do don't have to tell yourself no don't do that don't think that way it's a very good thing to speak to yourself do you know that David did it why are you downcast on my soul talks to himself it's not a sign of madness son of sanity talking to yourself telling yourself off correcting yourself we need that we need to do it ourselves not just for others to do it here's Jesus no I'm not going to say father save me no I'm not going to turn away from the cross no I'm not going to turn away from bearing the sin of the world upon me no I'm not going to fail to complete the mission for which I came into this world and for which I took on human nature and for which I have been speaking of again and again I'm going now what does he say he immediately checks himself no it was for this very reason I came to this hour this time the very reason that Christ was born into the world the very reason he took on human nature the very reason that he lived as he did those 30 or more years was this that he might go to the cross that's his destiny and he knew it a destiny that he chose you and I don't have destinies that we can choose we haven't the power to choose when we shall live or how we shall live in that sense or when we shall die
[22:31] Christ did the unique person no rather we know that Jesus destiny was in his own hands and his choice was determined by himself that's the fact Jesus says this himself earlier on in the gospel of John talking about his death he says this the reason my father that's God loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again no one takes it from me that I lay it down of my own accord I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again so when those Roman soldiers arrested Jesus when they took him before the court when he was beaten when he was nailed to a cross at any one time he could have easily said no I'm not going to do this he wasn't he wasn't powerless in their hands at every moment of the occasion of Good Friday he was in complete control of what was happening he knew it was his destiny he knew it was God's will he knew it was part of the plan that God had made from before the world to rescue sinful broken humanity and to restore us to the God who made us from whom we turned away in our sin this hour
[23:55] I came this is what it's all about his disciples didn't understand it nobody understood it but he understood this is exactly as it was meant to be and yes we know that there was still the inner conflict within him because we see it at Gethsemane again not my will but yours be done yet here we find that again and again when that conflict is raging within his choice is always to do the right thing he is in complete control of himself his body his mind his soul don't we find ourselves in times of conflict within when we are troubled when we are going through times of great sorrow when we are facing all sorts of hardship isn't there a battle within our souls isn't there a battle within us a struggle within us times when we want to pray
[24:56] Father Father save me from this hour get me out of this mess and once again dear friends let's recognize that for us to struggle in that way to find ourselves in one sense conflicted within is not un-Christian or un-Christ like we are not perfect people dear friends we are not the complete package and we won't be till we get to glory we still will struggle with self and with sin and we still will struggle in times of grief and sadness and difficulty and it is not wrong to because Christ gives us his example that he has done so don't believe the devil the devil is always there to accuse us he's always there just waiting to tell us what awful useless terrible believers we are of how we're failing our Lord and letting him down but he's a liar remember a liar look at what Jesus went through when you find yourselves in those situations of conflict within in times of struggle when you're saying in one sense
[26:08] Lord save me in another sense Lord I trust in you in the midst of what's going on then realize that here Jesus has set us an example that these things are not wrong but we're not to stay in those circumstances continually that's the great thing not only does Jesus go through these times of conflict and with them as he faced the suffering and the awfulness of bearing our sin but also he came through them and we can too we can be comforted by the fact that Jesus came through and we can come through when we are pulled this way and that inwardly when our hearts are troubled when we're going through times when we feel ourselves overwhelmed there is help for us and it's help in that one place that Jesus find help it's in prayer prayer we're not just to learn from Jesus but we're to learn from his prayer that's the first thing he does notice he prays my father father after his resurrection of course
[27:19] Jesus said to his disciples I'm returning to my father and your father that's the wonderful thing about being a Christian my God and your God in John chapter 20 being a believer being a Christian being one who follows the Lord Jesus we are made children of God we are brought into this wonderful relationship with God where we can call him father more than that in Romans chapter 8 we're told that when we pray we're to pray Abba Abba is the Aramaic name for dad or daddy we're to pray to a God who is personal we're to pray to a God who is intimate one whom we can call father he's not an impersonal force that fills the world he's not some impersonal God who only cares for certain people he is our heavenly father he's the one who is the most perfect dad now there are some of us here who have the great privilege of being dads it's the most powerful word in the universe dad isn't it or daddy when our children say daddy we're suddenly putty in their hands suddenly when they call us daddy we melt with a tender love for them and if that word is daddy called out from trouble or distress or heartache then not only are moved inwardly but we are moved outwardly their call of daddy it moves us to come to their aid and in one sense there's not a lot we can do we're almost driven aren't we by that word now if that's how we dads that's how we feel towards our children though we are selfish sinful poor fathers how much more then will God our heavenly father come to us with grace and mercy and love and respond tenderly to those children when they pray
[29:36] Jesus said something very similar I know you know that the very first comfort of Jesus prayer is that he calls upon his father dear friends remember that when you pray when you call upon your heavenly father in times of distress and struggle you are not calling upon someone who whose arm you have to twist you're not calling upon a God who must be coerced or bribed by offers of good deeds but you're calling upon one whose love has no limit whose care for you has no measure whose delight and desire is to do you good yes Jesus prays out of a heart of faith a heart of faith in God his heavenly father heart of faith in God his father who does all things well a God who is at work in every circumstance and situation both the pleasant and the painful father we know that such a prayer lifted up to God is a prayer that he hears a prayer that he delights in we know that
[30:56] God the father hears the prayer of the Lord Jesus and responds to the prayer of the Lord Jesus because we're told a voice came from heaven we know it's God's voice a voice came from heaven I've glorified it and we're glorified again it's not the only time that God spoke from heaven in the presence of Jesus if you read the gospels particularly Matthew you'll find that there in Matthew chapter 3 as Jesus' baptism God the father spoke to confirm who this person Jesus Christ is this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased later on when Jesus was transformed transfigured before James and John and Peter when his glory was revealed to them and they saw him for who he really is the son of God who outshines the sun in the sky then they heard again the voice of the father saying this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased listen to him Matthew chapter 17 and here as Jesus is about to face the cross as he's about to go for the final time to breathe his last as he's going to bear that sin as he's going to do the will of his father to verify that this is Jesus the son of God to verify that what he was about to do was what God wanted to be done the father says I have glorified my name and will glorify it again so Jesus prayer is father glorify your name as his heart is troubled as he's struggling yes he calls upon his father he knows that he will be heard he knows that his father will answer he doesn't turn away from the cross but he sets his face to go to his death with the assurance that through his death
[32:47] God will glorify himself God will be made to be seen to be wonderful now we know that's true of every part of Jesus life in everything that Jesus did he did glorify his heavenly father his life was all about that one goal that one purpose his life wasn't lived to please himself his life wasn't lived that he might be made a significant person in the world so that people would speak well of him or that people will lift him on their shoulders and declare him their king he came into this world to be the one who glorified the father as we thought already in his taking on of himself a human body his humble birth to a carpenter and his wife his being hidden away by the ordinariness of living in Nazareth a bywater in the north of Israel that was all to glorify the father father and when the time was right when the time was proper he revealed himself by his teaching and his miracles that he was God's son coming to the world that by these things people should glorify
[33:59] God and see that God was active and involved but Jesus hasn't finished glorifying God the father his going to the cross was to show that God is a God of mercy and grace who though he hates sin has made a way of forgiveness for sin to glorify God the father his resurrection from the dead showing that God the father is the one who defeats death that we need not fear death but trust God even in the face of that most awful of enemies and even now the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Bible tells us seated in glory in heaven is still glorifying the father by working in his church by pouring out grace into our lives by helping and sustaining and building his church and bringing people into faith in himself so that they might glorify God the father and that one day he will come again and every single person will see him as he truly is not as that pitiful wretched man hanging upon a cross but see him as the God the king the judge of all the earth to the glory of God the father and you and I dear friends as believers what will we be doing in heaven what will we be doing when we are taken into that place of eternal bliss that eternal life in the presence of
[35:26] God we will be giving God the father all the glory because of what Jesus Christ has done to bring us there we shall spend all our days glorifying God praising him for his son the God glorifying saviour Jesus lived his life for the glory of God the father and so he prays father glorify your name in the midst of this trouble in the midst of this sorrow in the midst of his heartache his prayer is father glorify your name do what will bring honour to you there's the prayer isn't it for us when we're torn in conflict when we're not sure what to do when our hearts are troubled when we are in one sense perhaps pulled this way and that what should our prayer be should it be Lord get me out of this problem no God may have brought us into that time of difficulty and trial with a purpose for our good but ultimately for his glory
[36:33] Father be glorified in my life Lord in my life in this situation I find myself bring about that which pleases you and shows that you are the God who is with me even in trouble to help isn't it a powerful thing isn't it an influential thing when Christians are able to stand up in the face of ordeal persecution the loss of someone that they loved aren't they that's a powerful thing isn't it instead of the world which says shaking its fist where are you God and why have you done this to me the Christian is able to say Lord I don't understand what's going on but I know that you're trustworthy I know that I can trust you in the midst of this and you'll bring me through this like David of although I pass through the which is dependent upon
[37:34] God not just in good times but bad and look at this the father answers that prayer we've already seen that he says I have glorified it and will glorify it again there's a promise from God to his son that the prayer is heard and will be answered and that promise is the same for us you can say well I've never heard God speak audibly you but God has spoken to you in his word he has spoken to you promises that assure you that he will hear your prayers and for those of us who have been Christians any length of time we're able to all of us stand up and say in this situation or that situation I prayed and God answered and he helped and he did something which could only be God but here God assures us that he hears prayer and answers it and notice what Jesus says it's quite peculiar isn't it verse 30 after people had heard the voice of
[38:35] God they were a bit confused they weren't sure who it was they thought maybe it was a thunder maybe they thought it was an angel they heard something Jesus says in verse 30 this voice was for your benefit not mine in other words God is speaking to say that he is answering my prayer not because I need him to tell me he's going to answer my prayer because I know he always does but so you might know that God answers prayer that you might have faith in him that you might have trust in him it was for the blessing of his disciples that those who are with him that God confirmed that he would answer the prayer of Jesus the word of God is for your benefit and mine that's true of all the Bible it's all there for our benefit it's all there for our good but here again in this situation God is saying to us I hear you when you pray in trouble I hear you when you call upon me and ask me to help I hear you when you pray
[39:36] Father be glorified in this situation in my life be glorified even through the trouble I'm going through be glorified even though I'm struggling inwardly and finding myself pulled this way and that you see when we pray in that way when we have that confidence that God hears us and will answer us and we find ourselves suddenly lying in the strong and mighty arms of a sovereign caring heavenly Father suddenly we find ourselves in a place of peace that's what Paul says in Philippians he says don't be anxious about anything he says in Philippians don't be worried about anything but with thanksgiving give everything to God in prayer and the peace of God he says which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus when we place our lives our cares our troubles into the hands of peace confident that he knows best he knows what's right for us he knows what's good for us he knows how to bring glory out of distress blessing out of trouble
[40:54] Jesus entrusted himself into the father's hands as he faced the cross because he knew that the father heard and answered his prayer and of course we know he did didn't we what's Easter Sunday all about except the answer of God to the prayer of his son yes he was glorified death didn't hold him or keep him he came through it victorious glorious because he knew his father could be trusted do you know that do you know that God can be trusted with everything that is on your heart do you know that he can be trusted with every concern every anxiety fear every sin Peter writes to the Christians who are going through a very very hard time cast all your care on him because he cares for you to cast your care on God is to give it to him to hand it over to him instead of holding it to ourselves saying I'll work it out or I'll worry myself sick about it and then hopefully it'll get sorted or it'll all pan out well in the end we cast our cares we give it to
[42:02] God it's not just unburdening ourselves to some imaginary friend we are unburdening ourselves by placing our burdens into the hands of the God who can carry them and can deal with them and with us Jesus' heart and soul were troubled so he prayed let's just take a moment to do that ourselves in the quietness of our hearts let's bring our troubles our concerns to our heavenly father let's ask him to lift them from our shoulders let's ask him to glorify his name in our lives let's sing our closing hymn together hymn that reminds us again that in the Lord Jesus we have entrance into God's presence that we have nothing to fear but he is the one who on our behalf intercedes for us 296 we sing it to the new tune which means we sing two verses together and then repeat the last line if you don't know it you'll pick it up easily stand and sing 296 before the throne of God above don't bear so like if you can aberrant hear with
[43:30] Amen. My name is greater in His hands, my name is written of His heart, I know that why He can be said, no tongue can give me hence depart.
[44:19] No tongue can give me hence depart. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or even imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.
[44:40] To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout every generation today and forevermore. Amen.