There are all kinds of seasons in our life. We have all kinds of seasons. We have happy times, joyous times. Birthdays are kind of like that. We have frantic times where we're running around and we're busy and we don't have time to get everything in. We have challenging times. We have exhilarating times. And of course, we have relaxing times. Relaxing times sound pretty good, don't they? We want more of those relaxing times. But there are also dark times. There are also dark times. Times of loss, sadness, pain. Times when circumstances are beyond our control. Things are just spinning out of control and we have to just ride it out. We would like to end the dark time, but we can't. We just have to hold on tight. Intense periods of loneliness. Rejection. Those are dark times. And our human nature doesn't seek out the dark times. In other words, no one wants to go through a dark time. We understand that. We seek those other times we talked about. We seek the happy times. We seek pleasurable times. That's why we spend big money on entertainment. There's a reason Jerry Seinfeld is a multimillionaire. He makes people laugh. We want that. We seek out relaxing times. People go for spa treatments and hot stone therapy, whatever that is, or aromatic oils to help us relax. Those are the times we seek. Although we don't seek dark times, they are a part of our life. Everybody goes through dark times. Jesus went through dark times. As we go through today's passage in Luke chapter 22, we're going to see Jesus going to the garden. We're going to see Jesus being betrayed. This is not only the darkest time in Jesus's incarnate ministry. This is the darkest time in the gospel of Luke. This is the darkest time in the entire Bible. This is the darkest time in the entire redemptive history of God. Dark times. It's a dark time for Jesus. It's a dark time for Peter. It's just a dark passage. It's all it's completely dark. But as we look at these dark times, in regards to Jesus's dark time, we can say two things. Number one, this dark time was necessary. This dark time was necessary. We're also going to see how dark times are necessary for us. Number two, this dark time provides us with a guarantee. We're going to see what that is. This dark time was necessary and it provides us with the guarantees. We're going to break this into three sections. The garden, the betrayal, and then Jesus is being denied by Peter. Let's look at the first section. This is 39 through 46 in the garden. And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow and said to them, why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. A dark time on the garden. So we start with verse 39. It says, as was his custom, he went out to the Mount of Olives. Remember, this is the time period Jesus is done with his Galilean ministry up north. He's now down to Jerusalem to complete the work that the father has set before him. So he's in Jerusalem. And he spent the day teaching, proclaiming that word-based ministry in the temple and in Jerusalem. But at night, he would withdraw to the Mount of Olives, and they would do some open-air camping out, and they would lodge there. In fact, Luke 21, just a little earlier, tells us that every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the Mount Olivet. So this was his custom. This is what he did while he was in Jerusalem. Now, this is important because why? Judas is looking for a chance to betray Jesus, and he told the authorities that he's going to find a place away from the crowds, in secret. Judas knows that this was Jesus' custom, that after teaching in Jerusalem, he went out and spent the night on the Mount called Olivet. What better place? Out of the eyesight and out of the vision and out of the perception of the crowds, what better place to betray Jesus. But we also need to understand Jesus knew that. He's here for a reason. Jesus at any point could have said, you know what guys, not tonight. I think we're going to spend the night somewhere different. But no, he goes to the same place where they've been spending the night as was his custom. He wanted to be there when Judas shows up with the soldiers and betrays him. He wanted to be there. This is all part of the plan. We need to understand that. At no point was Jesus caught off guard. At no point was Jesus saying, well, this didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. This is part of the plan. Jesus could have avoided being arrested that night. He chose not to. And it says, and the disciples followed him. Yes, disciples follow Jesus. That's still true today. Notice that Judas is no longer with the 12. Judas has gone off. He's going to show up in a little bit with the soldiers, but he's not part of the disciples that are following Jesus. Verse 40 says, pray they may not enter into temptation. What kind of temptation would the disciples be tempted to be entering into? Betrayal. Jesus is about to be confronted by this this force of Roman soldiers and temple guards and he's going to be arrested and he's going to be led away and people are going to be scattering they're going to be running for their lives because they don't want to be caught up in that whole being arrested and executed and killed scenario so they're going to scatter Jesus wants them to remain strong and faithful so that during these times when they see Jesus going down, they're not tempted to say, I'm out. Remember, everything starts to happen rather quickly at this point. He's going to be arrested in the garden and then within 24 hours, he's going to be dead. So Jesus is on the way to the cross to be executed. during this intense time of being arrested and sentenced to death and executed, the disciples were facing a very real temptation to wonder, what's really going on here? Because the cold, hard reality is this man who said he is the Messiah whom they believed in is now being taken away like a common prisoner and is being killed. And at that time, they're going to be challenged and they're going to be wondering, Is it true? Can all these people be wrong? So they're going to be tempted to be denying Jesus. That it doesn't make any difference anymore if they follow Him or not. After all, He's dead now, right? They're going to be tempted to tap out. I'm done. So that's the temptation that they were going to be faced with. And also not to nod off while they were praying. That, too. That's going on. Verse 41, it says, and he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. This is a collapsed version of the garden prayer. Remember, we have the Gospels for a reason. They provide another vantage point on Jesus's life and ministry. So we've got Matthew, Mark, John. The other Gospels provide an expanded account of the garden prayer and those kind of back and forth between Jesus. Remember, he goes back a couple of times and finds them sleeping. We've got a collapsed version here in the Gospel of Luke. Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. What cup? His suffering and death. bearing the righteous wrath of God for sin, experiencing the full horrors of hell. Now, we do not understand exactly how that happened, but we do know this. Jesus experienced, whatever Jesus experienced, and it starts now. We need to understand that. It's not just on the cross. It starts now. As he turns his attention to what is coming before him and he begins to enter into what it's like to become a condemned sinful person as he becomes starts to enter in and become the sin substitute. It starts now. We don't know exactly how the horrors of hell and how an eternity of hell for all the elect are poured out and focused intensely on Jesus Christ. But we do know that's exactly what happened. And he's beginning to enter into that. That's the cup. If there's any other way, the powers of darkness, satanic attack in the extreme designed to prevent Jesus from going through this. That's what this garden prayer is about. Mark tells us, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remember, Jesus is now entering into this final phase as he heads to the cross and becomes the sin substitute. He is approaching his death and execution, yes, as the Son of God, that hypostatic union never ceases, but also as the condemned one, also as one who is going to certain death without the shielded and protection that God offers through his grace. He's going to his death knowing that he's going to die and then experience the horrors of hell. It's a dark time. An understatement. It's a dark time. Yet not my will but yours be done. Oh, wow. So let's put this perspective. What was the first Adam's response to God's command? What did Adam and every single man and woman after him say? My will be done. That's what Adam said. Yes, I know you created me. I know you created me in your image. I know you set me in the garden. I know you gave me this creation mandate. I know I am to worship you and live out my personhood as your image bearer and co-region in this world that you've given me. I understand that I'm under your lordship and I am to live it out. And as represented by that command not to eat of the tree, that's a command, but it also represents my heart posture before you as you are my God and I am the created creature. But in the end, he says, no, my will. I will eat of that tree. Every person after him, including you and me, has said, my will be done. And what does Jesus say? Not my will, your will be done. Jesus expresses the perfect sonship, perfect obedience. There's that active obedience. There's that righteousness that we could never attain right there. And he does that for you and me. Verse 43, an angel showed up to strengthen him. Why? Because his physical body was giving out. Remember, Jesus is fully God and fully man. His human physical body was exactly like our bodies, yet without sin. And his body couldn't take it. He was giving out. The angel showed up to give supernatural strengthening so he could continue down this path. Verse 44, being in agony, Jesus is willingly moving forward and committing to the cross. It's been said that this garden prayer was the committing, was the giving over of the soul, the turning point of offering himself. And the cross was the offering of his physical body. But here at this point, He is relinquishing and giving himself over. Not my will, but yours. If there's any other way, no, there's not. Okay, then I'm doing it. I'm going to give myself over. He is in agony. It says that he was experiencing sweat turning to drops of blood. This is a real thing, by the way. This is a medical condition. Hematidrosis. It's where the capillaries of the sweat glands rupture. Sometimes the sweat can be kind of tinged red. Sometimes it's dark red. Sometimes it looks just like blood. This is a medically documented condition. Guess what brings this on? What's the onset of this condition? Extreme stress and acute fear. There are medically documented cases of this happening to people on death row before they go to execution. Remember Jesus is essentially at this point, he's on death row. He's going to his execution as a condemned man who will not be shielded from the unmitigated wrath of God. Acute stress. Acute fear. Jesus concludes this time of agonizing prayer. He's committed his mind and soul to being the sin sacrifice. Now he's going to follow through with the offering of his body. And the disciples are sleeping. Sleeping for sorrow. We're not exactly sure what that term means. It's an emotional response. Remember, there's spiritual warfare going on. It's late at night. They're emotionally drained. They're sleeping. Their bodies were not able to keep up with the demands. And then verse 46, pray they may not enter into temptation. The temptation to permanently desert Jesus, to fall away. give up. Dark time. Let's look at a dark betrayal. This is 47 through 53. While he was still speaking, there came a crowd and the man called Judas, one of the 12 was leading them. He drew near to Jesus and kissed him or excuse me to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the son of man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour. and the power of darkness. Verse 47 and 48 says, while he was still speaking, again, things are moving rather quickly from this point forward. Start to really move along. But this is late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Take your pick. Depending on if you're a night owl or an early riser. Late Thursday night or early morning. Either way, it is dark. It's a dark time. It says, a crowd came with Judas, a crowd. Later on, verse 51, it says, with swords and clubs. Swords, these Roman short swords, that was the weapon of the Roman soldier. Clubs were the preferred weapon of the temple guards. Remember this kind of temple force that the Sanhedrin could dispatch to take care of business and arrest people and keep order. So we've got a group together. John 18 tells us a band of soldiers and some officers. So it's both. It's not one or the other. It's a combined force. The word for band in one of the parallels is a reference to a cohort. A cohort is a 10th of a legion. A Roman legion was approximately 600 soldiers. So this was around 60 soldiers plus the temple guards. So pretty big force showing up. 60, maybe 100, somewhere in there. 60 plus armed men. And Jesus calls Judas out. so that he knows that Jesus knows what he's doing. Remember, Judas is still playing the part. Judas shows up and kisses his rabbi. Jesus, among other things, I'm sure, says this to make sure that he knows that Jesus knows exactly what he's doing. You're betraying me with a kiss. The word for kiss, again, in the parallels, is multiple, so like a shower of kisses. He wants to make sure in the dark that they know exactly which man to arrest. So he's just kissing Jesus all over as Jesus stands there like the lamb going to slaughter. Bloody and weak. But he wants Judas to know, I know exactly what's going on here. Verse 49 and 51, it says the disciples kind of figure it out. It says, when those who are around saw what would follow, okay, they're starting to put things together. They know this, oh, Jesus is about to be taken. And it says that one of the disciples reached out. Remember, from the parallels also, we were told it was Peter. He struck the servant of the high priest's ear. His name was Malchus, cut his ear off. Jesus ends that with a rebuke rather quickly and heals the man. No, Peter. Not like that. Remember, Peter is still operating under the words that Jesus told him earlier that he would be denying him three times. And remember Peter, Peter does not want that to happen. Peter's response, no, I am ready. Lord, I am ready to follow you to prison. I'm ready to follow you to death. You don't have to worry about me. All these other guys, they might fall away. Not me. I'm going to be there when everybody else leaves. So he's probably jacked up on this desire to maintain faithfulness and zeal for Jesus no matter what. So he's the one that reaches out with the sword. I'll show you my loyalty, Jesus. Even with 60 or 100 armed men, I'm not afraid to fight to the death. There's only 12 of us here, but I'm ready to go. Matthew parallel says this this is Matthew 26 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once and more than 12 legions of angels But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? Jesus is in full control. He said you guys don't you realize I? Could put an end to this like that This is not and this is not a problem for me at all if I wanted to put a stop to it I am purposely entering into this dark time. Verse 52 and 53, just like Jesus asked Judas about betraying him with a kiss in order to make sure that Judas knew that he knew, the same thing going on here. He could bring this to an end at any point, but he lets those who came out against him. And look also, it's not just the soldiers. It's not just the 60 armed Roman soldiers and the temple guard. It also says in 52, it says to the chief priests and officers of the temple guard. So the chief priests, so some of the guys, not the soldiers, but some of the, you know, the bureaucrats, the administrator guys and the Sanhedrin members, some of them had come out just to kind of tag along. maybe to see how things worked out, make sure the plan went forward at night, in the dark, away from the people, so they could maintain their reputation as the righteous and holy ones. But they came out to see how things turned out. So these words are to them too. And Jesus tells them that he understands what's going on. I've taught peacefully in the temple day after day. continued this word proclamation ministry I've been teaching in the temple. Why didn't you come and get me then? I wasn't a threat, and I'm not a threat now. But no, you're doing this at night, in the dark, away from the people. Why? Because it's evil and it's wrong. Jesus wants them to know, look, I know exactly what you're doing, and I want you to understand that what you're doing at night in darkness is evil, He uses the phrase, the power of darkness. He wants these guys to understand you are agents of satanic evil right now. You are being used for satanic evil purposes. Just so you guys know, chief priests, the holy ones, you are agents of evil against the son of God. Dark times. Let's look at the last section. This is a dark time for Peter, verses 54 through 62. Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. And Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, this man was with him. This man also was with him, but he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him. And a little later, someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, Certainly, this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. This is a dark time for Peter. They seized Jesus, led him astray to the high priest's house. Again, the parallels tell it was Anna's father-in-law to Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest at the time. Anna's father-in-law also probably former high priest. It was one of these deals where once you were high priest, the title kind of stuck with you for life. So they had held Jesus or were holding Jesus for a while until they could assemble some of the Sanhedrin for a trial. And Peter followed at a distance. To see how things turned out, sure, yep. But also remember, in an effort to show Jesus his loyalty, he does not want those words of Jesus to come true. To continue to prove his faithfulness. Everybody else might be scattering, everybody else might be running away. I'm going to stick close to my Savior. Peter sat down with some servants and temple guards, maybe some of the same ones who delivered Jesus to the high priest's house, and they sat around a fire, having been let in the courtyard by John. You can read about that in John 18. And Peter is recognized by a servant girl, and he denies it. Time number one. Verse 58, and a second time, someone else accused him of being one of them. One of who? Jesus' disciples. and he denies it a second time. Verse 59, and a third time, certainly this man was one of them, excuse me, certainly this man was also with them, for he too is a Galilean. The Galilean accent as they spoke, remember the people that were around Jerusalem, they were the modern, educated, you know, kind of trendy, you know, in group. The people that were up in Galilee were kind of these backwoods, you know, kind of hicks, lived in the sticks. They had this accent that was off, that was really rural and provincial. It gave them away. Peter had this accent. It gave them away. So Peter, three times, denying his association with Jesus and his identity as one of his disciples. Now the parallels tell us that Peter, in addition to denying him three times on this third denial, was cursing and swearing. And the thing about the Greek verb for that denial and cursing and swearing is that it demands that the one being cursed and sworn at is not the speaker. And I know that's an interpretation, I think, in an attempt to shield Peter and kind of clean it up a little bit, but let's call it for what it is. calling down curses on himself, he was cursing Jesus. So as he was cursing and swearing, this was a desperate attempt to distance himself and deny his association with Jesus. So as he's saying, I don't know what you're talking about, that mm mm man, mm him. I don't know that mm Jesus. And as the words are in his mouth, the rooster crows and he looks and Jesus catches him and locks eyes with him. Can you imagine what a dark time this was for Peter? And he says he went out and wept bitterly. Yeah. Yeah. That had to have been the darkest time in Peter's life ever. Ever. This whole passage is dark. Maybe you're going through a dark time in your life right now. You can testify to Jesus's faithfulness. Maybe you've been through a dark time. If not, you will go through a dark time. Remember, no one seeks them, but they're a part of everyone's life. These dark times happen. There are two things we want to see. First of all, Jesus's dark time was necessary. Jesus's dark time was necessary. If Jesus had not gone through this dark time, then there would be no forgiveness of sins for you and me. If Jesus did not willfully enter into this dark time and become the sin substitute, if Jesus did not willingly enter this dark time and experience the full unmitigated wrath of God, then we would have to pay for our sins for ourselves. We have sinned before a holy God. Adam and everyone after him, including you and me, have sinned. So that sin needs to be satisfied. The justice of God needs to be satisfied. The sin cannot be left unpunished. So it's either Jesus takes it or we take it. And since our sin is infinitely holy and he's an infinitely holy God, that means the punishment is infinite. That's called eternal conscious torment in hell. It's one or the other. Jesus' dark time was necessary. It was necessary for God's redemptive plan. It was necessary so that you and I can be shielded from the wrath of God. Without it, there is no substitutionary atonement. There is no saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. All that's gone. It was necessary. Just like Jesus's dark time was necessary, we need to understand the dark times in our lives are also necessary. And I want to talk about that a little bit. No one wants to go through these dark times, but we need to understand this. Dark times belong in our life. They belong there. When they show up, we shouldn't push ourselves away and say, well, what's happening here? This is catching me by surprise. I shouldn't have to go through any of these things. I'm in Christ. Remember, Jesus is the ultimate leader. He never asks anybody to go through something that he doesn't go through first. He never asks his followers to do something that he isn't willing to or has already done first. Jesus went through the darkest time ever. It's not like Jesus is sitting up in the throne room of God saying, all right, I want you to leave everything, follow me, leave everything behind. And you need to understand that this is a path of suffering. So there's going to be some dark times in your life. Of course, I've never been through a dark time. I'm Jesus. I don't think I really should have to do that, but you will. No, he doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. He went through the darkest time. He went through a darker time than you and I will ever experience. And then he asks us, follow me. There's going to be some dark times. They belong there. And here's why they belong. God does some of his most refining work during those dark times. We talked last week about Jesus making a long-term commitment in his disciples. He's in it for the long haul. Because he cares for us, he will not only teach us, be patient with us, but he will also prune us. Some of that pruning happens during dark times. There was a man in his late 30s who was married, had children, and he lost his job. That's difficult for anybody. He lost his job. It lasted for several months. He entered this time of discouragement slash depression. And it was a dark time. It was a dark time. He was a believer. He was a follower of Jesus Christ, so he was praying. He was praying for a new job, obviously. He was actively searching for it. But he was also praying for God to reveal to him what he was teaching him during that dark time. He began to pray that God would show him why he was going through this dark time. And he did. God showed him that. It was a time of isolation. He had a lot of time for himself. His wife was working. His kids were young kids in school. So he had a lot of time on his own. God showed him that. God showed him. He revealed to him that during this dark time, he had placed way too much identity in his occupation. He let that become an idol. He let that become what defined him. God revealed that to him as he took the job away. He also revealed to him that he was sacrificing his integrity as he pursued these goals which he had set, which he had not consulted God or scripture about. He was all about money, frankly, career advancement. He had a set timeline. He knew where he wanted to go in the company. He had it all mapped out. God just took it away. But he had been sacrificing his integrity to reach those goals very slowly at first, small things, almost insignificant. Stuff that nobody else really cared about, but he realized it. He was sacrificing his family in order to reach the goal. He repented of those sins and embraced the truth of God during this dark time. And sure enough, God, shortly after that, gave him a new job, not the same job, less money. And this newly reshaped, reformed, refined person who had been pruned by God during a very dark time flourished in this new job. Because he no longer went after those goals. He made seeking God's face, seeking God's approval number one. He found his identity in Christ, not in the world or job. But it wouldn't have happened without the dark time. Understand, that is where God does his refining work. If we find ourselves in a dark time, The question is not, well, God, why did you bring this on me? Aren't I being obedient? Why did you bring this dark time on me? No, the question is, what are you teaching me in this dark time? What are you pruning during this dark time? What do you want me to learn during this dark time? The psalmist says, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Do you hear that in the psalmist? Nobody wants to go through a dark time, but they're there for a reason. Remember, if you haven't been through a dark time, you will. And we need to ask God what he's doing during that dark time. They're there for a reason. They teach us dependency upon God. They drive us to God in prayer. They force us to make way for self-examination. They bring us to a submission to God and His revealed word. They enable us to serve Him more unhindered from that point forward. The dark times are necessary. They were necessary for Jesus. They were necessary for the redemptive plan of God. They're also necessary for us and for our growth as a Christian. Number two, these dark times provide us with a guarantee. And specifically, we're going to zero in. Jesus's dark time, excuse me, provides us with a guarantee. Jesus went through his dark time so that you and I could avoid the darkest time for eternity. We need to understand that. Solomon in Ecclesiastes, for everything, there is a season. There's a time for every matter under heaven. Remember that? Ecclesiastes chapter 3. The preacher was King Solomon in his wisdom. He's writing out these. There's a time for this, a time for that. You know, I remember what the number one thing is. There's a time to be born and a time to die. Now each one of us in this room have already hit number one. Okay. We've been born. Check that off the list. That means there's only one left. Again, we don't want to really think about that. We don't want to turn our attention towards that very often, and that's okay. We shouldn't become fixated on that. We don't need to become obsessed over it. There's nothing like that. That's not called for. But at the same time, we shouldn't ignore it and pretend like it doesn't exist, or not live in light of our own mortality. We need to acknowledge, yeah, we're finite creatures. We all have our appointments. During the garden prayer, it has been said, Quote, here the forces of hell were let loose in a fury against the incarnate Son of God in order to go as far as they could in destroying him and in particular to deter him from the path of self-sacrifice chosen by him and the Father. That's what was going on in the garden. Jesus was wrestling in this dark time with whether or not to move forward and be the faithful Son and complete this extremely difficult task. But he did for our benefit. He did so that we don't have to face the darkest time of all eternity. Hell has been described as a place of outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Dark for eternity. Here's the guarantee. Because Jesus became our sin substitute, we can be sure that we don't have to pay the penalty for our sin. Let's make sure we understand that. Because Jesus became our sin substitute, starting here, starting in his incarnation, as he entered this dark time, because Jesus entered into that dark time, because he became our sin substitute, that is a guarantee that we do not have to pay the penalty for our sin, ever. Now there's one proviso on this guarantee. It is only for the elect. It is only for those who are in Christ. It is only for those who repent and believe and trust in Jesus their entire life. It is not a general guarantee for the world. In fact, there's another guarantee for those who are in Christ. No, but this guarantee is for those who are in Christ. only for those who are united to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith. And here's why this guarantee works. Because God does not lie, because it is against His nature and character, the possibility of God lying does not exist. Because He is who He is, because God, in His majestic wisdom, has this redemptive plan, because He sent Himself, His own Son, the second person of the Trinity, to complete this work, and because He went through with it, Because God has brought this decreed substitutionary atonement, Jesus' death, crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation, and very soon, it says, return. Because he did all this, it is impossible for those who he sent his son to die for to have to pay for their sin. Jesus did it. God is not going to go through with all this. The cross could not have happened, and then all of a sudden at some point, arbitrarily in the future, God says, well you know what, forget all that. On second thought, there might be another way, there might be something different. On second thought, the elect, the finite number of souls that I have elected from the foundation of the world and eternity past, who Jesus died for, who shed his blood for, and who paid for their sin, and who covered their sin, now all of a sudden that's not going to happen? Now all of a sudden I'm going to remove the blood of Jesus? Now all of a sudden I'm going to change who the elect are? No, it's impossible. The fact that Jesus went through this dark time is a guarantee that your sins have been paid for. This dark time that Jesus went through is a guarantee that no point ever will you have to pay the penalty for your sin. Now, eternity, ever. That is good news, brothers and sisters. Very good news. It's a guarantee. The light of the world went through the darkest time in the history of the world. so that those who are called out of the world can have their sins forgiven. That is good news. Yes, Jesus went through this dark time. It was necessary. It's necessary for us. And it provides us with that guarantee. In Christ, our sins are forgiven. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news of Jesus Christ and we see it even in this dark time. We understand that as Jesus entered into becoming the sin substitute, as he entered in, as he started to experience the absence of the Father's good presence, as he began to have his eyes and mind and soul open up to experience the horrors of hell. We understand that was a dark time. But Father, we acknowledge and rejoice in the fact that it was necessary and we are benefiting directly from that dark time. We are united to Jesus by faith and because of his sacrifice, because of his death because he took the full wrath, the full wrath of you, our righteous God, for our sin on himself. We don't ever have to worry about it. Father, we thank you for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask that we would live in light of the sacrifice made on our behalf. We ask that we would live as those who have been forgiven, fully accepted by our Heavenly Father based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Amen.