If you would take your Bibles now and turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. If you're using the Pew Bible, it's found on page 846. So this evening we continue in our series in the Gospel of Mark, in particular in this center section, which we call the way section. While on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the way of the cross. that this is the life of discipleship that Jesus calls all of his followers to, that they must follow after him in all areas of life, denying themselves and taking up their cross, in marriage, in matters relating to children, and even as we see this evening in matters relating to our possessions. So tonight we come to that most familiar of encounters in which Jesus meets we know of as the rich young ruler. So please follow with me. We'll start in verse 17 and read down to verse 31. Hear now God's holy word. And as he, that is Jesus, was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept for my youth. Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come Follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man or rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, See, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. who are first will be last, and the last first. Amen. It's a reading of God's holy word. May he write its truth upon our hearts. Let's pray together again. Father in heaven, you have told us what it is that we are to seek. Lord Jesus, you said in your word that we are to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all the things that we are so anxious about will be added to us. You've told us to seek your face. And so Lord, we come again this night to seek you, to seek your kingdom. We ask that you would reveal it to us, even in this word tonight. Reveal yourself to us, we pray. In Christ's name, amen. When the Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him when the kingdom of God would come in Luke 17, Jesus replied this way, the kingdom of God comes not with outward show. Neither shall they say, lo, it is here, or lo, it is there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. In other words, he's saying that the kingdom of God, that is the kingdom that Jesus Christ ushered in to the earth during his first coming, was not like any of the kingdoms of this world. Now, certainly there were similarities. There is a king. There are subjects of the king. But the kingdom of Christ is radically different. The things that are important to King Jesus are not the things that are typically important to the rulers of this world. The values of the kingdom of heaven are not the same as the values of the kingdoms of this earth. Indeed, you could say that the kingdom that Jesus ushers in is what we might call the upside down kingdom. For you see, He turns things on their head, even as this passage ends. He says, the last will be first and the first last. Now such truths about the kingdom of God are difficult to grasp. And in fact, they're impossible to accept on one's own. Recall how all along on this way to Jerusalem, we've seen that even the 12 disciples have had a hard time understanding the values of the kingdom of God. That's why Jesus has been continually teaching them and reorienting their minds and their attitudes towards his heavenly kingdom. He's working in them to teach them to treasure the things of heaven more than the things of earth. And that's what we see Jesus doing again here in this encounter with what we call the rich young ruler. And like the earlier account or encounter with the Pharisees in the beginning of chapter 10, what happens is there's this encounter at first. And there in 10, at the beginning, it was Jesus encountering the Pharisees and asking the question about divorce. But then the episode ends by Jesus drawing aside with his disciples alone. It's a similar thing that happens here, which again points to the fact that in this way section, the emphasis is on Jesus opening the blind eyes of his disciples to see and to understand the kingdom of God. Well, tonight I want us to consider this episode by looking at three different questions. Now, two of them are explicitly stated in the text, and one of them, though not explicitly stated, is implied. So what are the three questions I want us to consider? First is the question of the young man. He says, What must I do to inherit eternal life? That's the section found in verses 17 to 22. Focus on that question, the answer Jesus gives. And then the next question, the disciples ask, then who can be saved? Verses 23 to 27. And then the last section, verses 28 to 31, the question is this, is it really worth it? It's not the explicit question, but it is the question that's behind what's being said. So let's consider these three questions and the answers that we find in the text as well. So first, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, first consider the man who asks this question. We don't know much about him at the beginning of this encounter. He's only described as a man, there in verse 17, who ran up and knelt before Jesus to ask this question. We learn that he's a young man from other accounts of this episode. For example, Matthew is the one in his gospel who says that he was a young man. We learn from Luke's record of this account that he was also a ruler. The only thing that's mentioned here is that he's a man, and we find out at the end of the section in verse 22 that he was a man of great wealth, for it says that he had great possessions. Now this young man would have been one who had prestige in the eyes of the world and also in the Jewish culture of his day. After all, he was a man of means, and he was a man who acquired these means, this wealth, early in life, at a young age. And in the Jewish mind, remember, wealth was tied to blessing from God. If you had wealth, it was assigned to the Jewish mind, the Jewish observer, that you had been blessed by God. After all, There were statements in the Old Testament like Proverbs 10 verse 22, the blessing of the Lord makes rich. And so many clung on to those kinds of verses. And so he would have been seen as someone who's blessed of God and someone who has it all together. In other words, he would have been the perfect candidate to become a disciple of Jesus. So the disciples would have thought. And even more than that, look at the question that he asks. He comes and he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? How often did someone come up to Jesus and ask that kind of question? More often he's dealing with Pharisees and scribes coming up with questions to try to trap Jesus or trick Jesus. But no, that's not the case here. He asks, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Shows he has spiritual questions on his mind, he's thinking about Eternity, eternal things. I mean, how often do you have someone come up to you and ask that kind of question? What must I do to inherit eternal life? It's not every day. He's dealing with the issues of ultimate salvation. That's what eternal life means here. In the text itself, it's synonymous with phrases like being saved or entering the kingdom of God. This is the question that he's asking. And you can see by his actions, it says that he ran up to Jesus and that he knelt before him. There's a sense of urgency that he has, and even a sense of sincerity. He kneels before Jesus. He wants to know the answer to this all-important question. You can say it this way, if ever there was a person who was ripe, a ripe evangelistic opportunity, here is the man. But notice how Jesus answers this question. What does he say? What does he do? Well, you know, first of all, he doesn't pull out the four spiritual laws and start going through that, nor does he ask the man to say a prayer, repeating after him, or any such thing. No, he directs him to certain things, and the first thing that he directs him to is none other than the character of God. That's what you see there in verse 18, isn't it? Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. So you see, as Jesus so often does, He responds to a question with a question of his own. Why do you call me good? And it can seem at first as though Jesus is deflecting and not actually answering the question. And sometimes that was kind of what he was doing when he was dealing with the Pharisees or the scribes, turning their question on its head because he realized they weren't sincerely asking. But that's not actually what's happening here. It's not that he's not answering the question, he actually is. Because this man has asked him about eternal life. You remember how Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer in John 17. And in that prayer he talks about eternal life. What is eternal life? According to John 17 three, this is eternal life, he says, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. In other words, the essence of eternal life is knowing God. It is to have fellowship, relationship, communion with the triune God, to know who he is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to know what he is like, to know his character. But see, the young man did not really understand what eternal life is because he did not really understand who God is. So the first thing Jesus does is point him to the character of God and say, literally to him, no one is good except one, God. You would know what eternal life is and how to inherit, you must know the one who is good, you must know God. He's saying to him, God alone is the one who is perfectly and absolutely good. You call me good teacher, but do you know what the word good even means? You need to come and to see that there is one God, and this one God is unique. He's unlike any other. You need to see his uniqueness, but also his beauty and his glory. Same thing is true in our own day, isn't it? This is really the first thing that sinners need to come and understand, is who God really is. A right understanding that he is not a God of their own making. Too often, people in our own day do not think of themselves as people made in the image of God, they think of God as made in their own image. That they think of him as just a reflection of themselves. just maybe a little bit more powerful or a little bit larger. But like them, you know, maybe concerned about some things, but not too, too concerned. Surely he'd be very, very quick to just look the other way and not make too big a deal about things. That's how so many in our own culture, our own day think of God, but that is not who God is. No, he is the God who is good. That means he's the God who defines what is good. Our culture thinks that we can decide what's good or that God calls good whatever we would call good. What our society calls good, what the majority consensus decides is good. Surely that's what God would consider good as well. But the reality is we don't have the authority to say what is good because we ourselves are not good. Only God is good and only God can tell us what is good. So Jesus points him to God, to the character of God. But then beyond that, he points him next to the commands of God. That's what you see there in verse 19. He says, and you know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. Why does he do this? Because it's here. that we find what the good God defines as good. This is where we see his will revealed to us. He turns particularly to the second table of the law, how we're to love our neighbor in that section of the 10 commandments we've considered over this past summer. He looks specifically at the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, and the ninth commandments, and then comes back to the fifth commandment, honor father and mother, But you'll notice he kind of slips in a statement between his stating the ninth and the fifth. He says, do not defraud. Why does he add this? I don't know for certain, but perhaps it's because this sin in particular was a sin that those who were wealthy were especially prone to commit. This word defraud, it was used in context of oppressing the poor. oppression like keeping back a worker's wages or cheating the poor out of their living. It's the idea of exploiting. And the wealthy were prone to such sins. And maybe that's part of the reason he's pointing us out to this young man. But Jesus goes to the law to show the man not only that he would come to know the character of God and know what is good, But part of this whole purpose is he's also showing the man not only who God is, but who he is, that is, who this man is. He wants him to more clearly come to know himself. This is part of the purpose of the law, as we've seen this before, that the law of God, as we've said, is not only a window, it is that, a window through which we can look and see the very nature and character of God, it's also a mirror in which we look into it and see ourselves. See, the question for the young man is whether or not he really knows himself, his own heart before God. Does he recognize the defilement of sin that lurks within himself? Does he see the utter disqualification that he has to be in God's presence because of his own sin. Does he recognize that he is actually one who has broken God's law in every respect? As we've seen, as we went through the law, even as it was understood in the Old Testament, summarized by those two great commandments, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, that it goes beyond just external conformity to what's in the very thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And that was what Jesus was bringing him to understand through the commands of God. Would he see who he really was before God? Or was he blind to the truth that he was a sinner in need of a savior? And we know the answer. In verse 20, he says, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth, so in truth, in one sense, is blind to the reality of his own heart. Like the Apostle Paul, before he came to see really the depths of wickedness in his own heart, he could say, according to the external rules and regulations, even of the Pharisees, I was blameless. And yet he had a heart full of covetous desire. Well, then we see that Jesus brings him not only then to the character of God and the commands of God, but lastly, to the call of God. That's what we see in verse 21. It says, and Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come, follow me. Jesus responds with love. A love that's willing to say hard things. He looks at him and he loves him. He doesn't just turn away. He doesn't decide that he won't pointedly give him the truth. But no, he goes on in love and speaks the truth in love. And what does he say? He is calling him to sell all and follow me. Now in one sense we know Jesus does not actually say these exact words to everyone. He hasn't said to every person that he comes across that they need to sell all that they have and give it to the poor. So that points us to the fact that not all of us are required to do that exact specific thing. You don't have to sell everything that you have in that sense. He's saying this particularly to this young man. And while I say that, while we recognize that, we need to understand in another sense, Jesus does say this to everyone. Because what's he actually getting at? What's he really saying? You can put it this way. He's saying this, you shall have no other gods before me. Your problem, young man, is that you cannot love your wealth more than me and have eternal life. You cannot have anything more than me. If you would have eternal life, there is one thing necessary. You must leave all and come follow Jesus. You must leave behind anything else you're depending upon, anything else you're looking to, and come follow me. As one commentator put it, following Jesus is the one thing that qualifies for entering the kingdom of God and obtaining salvation and eternal life. The problem is the young man loved his treasure on earth too much to give it up and gain treasure in heaven. So it says in verse 22, disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful. For he had great possessions. So the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You must leave all and follow Jesus. That's the answer. But then there's this next question. Then who can be saved? Verses 23 to 27 is what we're considering here. And this is the question of the astonished disciples. And their astonishment really begins when the young man leaves. Why do I say that? Notice verse 23, it says, and Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus looked around. That's a phrase that's used about six times in the gospel of Mark. And often what it signifies is Jesus has this kind of commanding survey of the situation. He is, in a sense, reading what's going on in his disciples' minds and hearts. And he's looking to see whether they're going to follow after this rich man's example, and if they're going to continue to think like this rich man. Jesus can see the disciples do not really understand what just happened. In one sense, they're thinking, how could you let this man get away? In a real sense, they're thinking like the world. And so they're astonished. But their astonishment grows even greater as soon as Jesus speaks to them and says in verse 23, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Now again, we need to remember that such a statement runs counter to the Jewish mind. Passages like Isaiah 3 verse 10 say this, tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Again, there's passages like this in which the rabbis would say, see, their idea of physical blessing and riches and wealth, it's a sign that you are pleasing to God. Listen to what Sinclair Ferguson says. He says of the disciples' mindset, They're thinking like this. After all, the rich have many advantages. From a human point of view, it seems to be so much easier for them to live lives which please God. After all, they did not have the same fears and anxieties which the poor knew. And they even had time on their hands to spend in religious learning and actions. Certainly of all people in Jewish society, they're the ones that could please God. They're the ones that should inherit eternal life. but their astonishment actually exposes their man-centered thinking. Because see, what they're really thinking is that it's through the merit accumulated by your good works that you could do what was necessary to be qualified for eternal life. That's how they're thinking. It's how the rich man was thinking in one sense. What can I do? What can I do? And so Jesus then even goes on to make an even stronger statement in verses 24 and 25. After they're amazed by his words in verse 24, he goes on and says again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Verse 24 really is a repetition of his other statement, except this time he actually doesn't mention the rich, he just says, children how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. In other words, there's a certain sense in which he generalizes it for all people, it's not just the wealthy. But all, how difficult to enter the kingdom of God. But then he goes on to give this illustration, a camel. It's as easy as a camel going through the eye of a needle. Now some have sought to kind of make sense of this by saying, oh well, the phrase eye of a needle is actually a name that was used to refer to a gate in Jerusalem, a small gate that a camel could only enter through if they got rid of all of the things that were on its back and its burdens and got on its knees and crawled in and then they could actually go through. Problem with such an idea is that there's no evidence whatsoever that such a gate existed or that such a gate was called the Eye of the Needle. That's not the point. No, what he's actually saying is this. He's taking that which is the largest known animal in Palestine, that reside in Palestine, which would be a camel, and the smallest opening known, which would have been the Eye of a Needle. And he's saying it's as possible as that, a camel going through the Eye of the Needle. In other words, he's saying it is impossible, not possible at all. And that's why the disciples respond in verse 26 with exceeding astonishment. You see how their amazement, their astonishment grows as Jesus continually makes statements. And that's why they ask the question, then who can be saved? It's impossible. We'll listen to Jesus' answer in verse 27. It says, Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. It's interesting, isn't it, there in verse 27, it begins the same way as his response, in one sense, to the rich young man. It says Jesus looked at them. I would submit to you that what Mark wants us to understand, just like with the rich young man, he looked at them with love. He loved his disciples, and so he looks at them and he gives them the truth that they need to hear. And he states, you see, it is impossible with man, but not with God. All things are possible with God. You need to come and see that you cannot merit eternal life yourself. And you'll note, this is not the first time in Mark's gospel that Jesus says, All things are possible with God, or something similar to that. Now turn back with me to chapter nine, verse 21. You remember here, Jesus encounters a boy with an unclean spirit. He's an epileptic, we might say. Verse 21, it says, and Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood, and has often cast him into the fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. And that's when the Father cries out, I believe, help my unbelief. Of course, the implication there is one who believes in the God who can do the impossible. And that's what Jesus is saying. Yes, with man, it is impossible. And in love, Jesus is pointing to the disciples' lack, to their deficiency, just as he was doing with the rich young man, pointing to his lack, his deficiency. You can't merit eternal life. You disciples cannot save yourselves. No man can save himself. It's impossible if it's left up to man. But it's not impossible for God. just like the father with the epileptic boy could not heal his son, so man cannot save himself, cannot merit eternal life. But God can, just like Jesus healed that boy. The rich man who loves his riches more than God cannot change his heart and give up his riches to follow Jesus, but God can. The sinner who's dead in his trespasses and sins and cannot make himself alive to God can't save himself, but God can. And that's the point that Jesus is making to them. He's pointing them to the very heart of the gospel, that salvation, eternal life, entering the kingdom of God is all of God and all of grace. And this is what they, and that's what we, must know and must believe. Then who can be saved? Anyone God wants to save. It comes to this last question then. Is it really worth it? Now Peter doesn't actually ask a question, but he does make a statement in verse 28. You can see it there back in chapter 10, verse 28. Peter began to say to Jesus, see, we have left everything and followed you. It says he began to say something. I think he was gonna go on and he's gonna ask a question in a certain sense. Makes the statement. Now what's behind the statement is Peter is saying this. Well, what about us? We're not the rich man. We're not rich men. But we have left all to follow you. Will we inherit eternal life? In the background of this is, of course, the episodes we find earlier in Mark, where Jesus calls these disciples. You remember how he went, walked by the sea, saw Peter and Andrew there in the fishing, in the boat, and says, come, follow me. And they leave all and they come follow him. Same thing with James and John. They leave their fishing boat, their father, and come and follow him. Levi, there at the tax table, he says, come, follow me, and he gets up, and he goes, and he follows him. They've left their families, at least for this time, and they're following Jesus. And in other words, we could say they're even asking this question, Lord, is it really worth it for us to leave all and follow you? Is that what you're really asking for us to leave all and follow you? Is it really worth it? And Jesus responds with what we might say are some of the most comforting and profound words that he gives to his disciples. He says in verse 29, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now and this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. What is he saying? Jesus answers and says, oh yes, it is actually more than worth it. for you will be truly blessed. Not with what this world counts as blessing, but with true heavenly treasure. Now, he says not that there will not be any difficulty now. He even says you'll receive persecutions in this time. So yes, there will be difficulties now, but the treasure of heaven begins while you're still on the earth. He says in verse 30, you will receive a hundredfold now in this time. Houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children. What's he talking about? What's he saying? What is this that you begin to receive even now? I'll submit to you what he's talking about is the family of God. Remember back in Mark chapter three, where his own family is coming to him because they think he's crazy. And what does Jesus answer? Mark 3, 33, he says, who are my mother and my brothers? Looking about it, those who sat around him, he said, here are my mothers and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. He's hearkening back to that teaching. This is what you give. Yes, you may have to break that relationship in a certain sense. You cannot love your own biological father or mother more than me. You cannot love anything more than me. That may mean that their relationship is strained. You may lose aspects of that, but I will give you back a hundredfold in this life. Brothers, sisters, mothers. It's interesting, isn't it, that when he talks about what they receive in this life, he doesn't say fathers. I think that's because he's pointing to the fact that God is father in that family. the family of God, but they receive brothers, sisters now, treasure. Do you think that way? Do you know that experience yourself? That even now already you're receiving this incredible blessing from heaven, heavenly treasure, the treasure of brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Jesus is teaching here. And we can even go on and say this, in a certain sense, because at the end of that list is where he says, with persecutions, in a certain sense, we can say even the persecutions are a blessing. Not because of the suffering itself, but because in them, as Paul said, and through them, we come to know the fellowship of Christ's suffering, as he says in Philippians 3. But of course, that's not all. That's not the only thing. There's also, as he says, eternal life in the age to come. The passage begins by saying, what must I do to inherit eternal life? In the end, it speaks of this is eternal life. And you get it not by all you're doing. You get it by coming to me, by following me. It's a gift that I give to you, a gift of my grace. and is what you'll have communion with me and with your brothers and sisters for all eternity. Is it worth it to give up all for Christ? Jesus says yes, a thousand times yes. Even if it means trials now, persecutions now, loss now, yes, it's worth it. And if you look back at the testimony of God's people throughout the ages, like we read in Hebrews 11, Like we read in church history, we can hear that same testimony. Yes, a thousand times, yes, it is worth it to give up all to follow Christ, to take up your cross and to follow him. Let me just give you one example of someone who said it was worth it. Is it worth it? It's a question that missionary Helen Rosevere often asked throughout her life, perhaps, Her story is one that you know well, perhaps not. She was a missionary doctor who was from Belfast in Ireland. And she came to faith and was in Cambridge for a time, involved in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship there. Kept asking different questions of, is it worth it to do this? Is it worth it to do that? And it's part of what guided her to become a doctor. And then not only to be a doctor, but to use the skills that God had given her to bless others and to take the gospel to places where it was not known. So in the forties, fifties, sixties, she went to the Congo and served as a doctor there, various hospitals. She labored for many years, often in great trial and difficulty. And some of the greatest difficulties that she knew of came after Congo was given its liberty or its freedom from the colonial powers. And what happened after kind of the colonial powers left Congo is warfare occurred between the natives, guerrilla warfare, all sorts of things. And many times they would come and attack even in the hospital. There's a particular incident where she was captured by guerrilla soldiers, held captive for a long time. Difficult sufferings. She's beaten. Even had her teeth kicked in by these soldiers. Some of the wicked men even repeatedly violated her. There's one incident after this happened. They even took the only copy of a manuscript that she'd been writing kind of a manuscript about what the Lord had been doing in Kongdo for the last 11 years that she had been there. The only copy that she had, and they took it as they had her there before this group of soldiers, they took it and they burned it in front of her while they would beat her. As she spoke about this incident later, she said in that moment, she asked herself again, is it worth it? Is it really worth it? 11 years of my life poured out in selfless service for the African people and now this. She goes on to describe it this way. She said, the minute I said that, God's Holy Spirit settled over that terrible scene. And he began to speak to me. And this is what he said to me. He said to me, Helen, my daughter Helen, you've been asking the wrong question all your life. Helen, the question is not, is it worth it? The question is, am I worthy? Am I the Lord Jesus who gave his life for you, worthy for you to make this kind of sacrifice for me? And by her own tearful testimony, she told the people she was telling the story to about how God broke her heart, how she looked up into the face of the Lord Jesus, as it were, and said, oh Lord Jesus, yes. It is worth it, for thou art worthy. You see, it is worth it all because Jesus is worthy of all. It's fascinating also when I think about the Gospel of Mark, how Jesus speaks about how God is able to do the impossible. All things are possible with God. There's one other time where Jesus uses that phrase in the Gospel of Mark. If you turn over to Mark chapter 14, you see that phrase which Jesus uses in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Verse 34, it says, and he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. There in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prays, asking God to let this cup pass, knowing that yes, all things are possible with God. This is possible with God. But more than that, he knows that God can do the impossible even in his drinking of the cup. That God can take that sacrifice and use that sacrifice to save his people. That the God of the impossible makes the impossible possible. So Jesus denies himself and follows the will of his father so that sinners like you and me can be his sons and daughters. And the God of the impossible can make the impossible possible that sinners like us can receive eternal life. Christ is worthy of our all. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, what faith you have to trust the will of your Father even there in the garden, even there on that hill when you went to the cross. Lord, we confess in ourselves we do not have such faith in ourselves. We cannot give up the things of this earth that we love and follow you. Lord, you've shown us that our God is the God who makes the impossible possible. And so even this night we would pray, grant faith where there has been none. And for those of us who have been given the gift of faith, increase it all the more. And let us live lives that are worthy of the calling that we have received, the call of the one who is worthy of all. We pray in Christ's name, amen.