Take your Bibles and turn to Luke 18. I'll read the text here in a moment. But before I do, I want to remind you, perhaps something that you already know, that the Lord Jesus, throughout His ministry, it was clear to Him where He was headed. I mean, before the Romans knew anything about what they were going to do, and before Judas knew what he was going to do, and before the chief priests and the rulers and the scribes and the Pharisees knew what they were going to do, before the drama of all the details of Christ's trials and his scourgings and his ultimate crucifixion, before any of that happened, Jesus knew every single detail that was going to come his way. In fact, the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all three Gospels record three separate times when he informed his disciples about the details of his up-and-coming death. As Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, He's been winding His way down from village to village from the north of Galilee, working His way slowly over a number of weeks and a few months down to Jerusalem. Nobody ever had to drag Him to that. Nobody had to pull Him across. into Jerusalem. He was never swept into Jerusalem by the euphoria of the crowds, or he was never sort of encouraged to move towards Jerusalem because all the pilgrims that were going to Jerusalem at this time of year to remember the Passover were pushing him along. That was not the case. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and he knew why. And I say that because there's a lot of so-called scholarship out there, pseudo-scholars and critics and skeptics, who argue that the death of Jesus was an unplanned and accidental event, sort of a tragic misfortune, that Jesus was such a good man with a good plan that turned bad. I mean, the Lord Jesus was kind of, they say, he was naive, or well-intentioned, and he wanted to elevate the religious consciousness of the Jewish people with his ideas, but he failed, and he went too far with the religious leaders, and he kind of made them angry at him, and they killed him. And it was such a misfortune, they say. When all along, his death on the cross is the focus, it is the plan. It's his intention. Jesus was not a victim of events that went awry. Nothing could be further from the truth. And so those so-called scholars and critics do not know what they are talking about, like so many issues that you find writers and seminary professors in different liberal seminaries talking about today. In fact, all throughout the Old Testament, it is known, for instance, a well-known passage, and we'll look at this here in a few moments, but not right now, Isaiah 52, the end of 52, and all throughout the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. What a wonderful text that is. It almost reads like the fifth gospel. It's almost as though Isaiah was actually there to see Christ on the cross, although he wrote it 700 years before the fact. over and over again in the Gospels themselves. For instance, in John 6, verse 38, Jesus tells his disciples, he says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And he knew in detail what that will was. Or over in John 12, verse 27, Jesus says, now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, as he's getting, in John chapter 12, he's within a week of going to the cross. And there's, in a human sense, he's feeling The weight of it all bearing down upon him, knowing what was just ahead of him. Should I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Later on in Luke 24, we'll eventually get there. I love this passage in Luke 24. He's speaking to the two disciples of his on the road to Emmaus, and they finally, he's giving them literally a walking Bible conference. As they're walking down the road, they get fed, kind of like better than anybody who's ever gone to any Bible conference has ever gotten fed. Jesus said to them towards the end of that time He says Oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures and He had that conference with him at that point. Jesus repeatedly spoke of his coming death. Sometimes it was cryptically and not well-defined, but other times, such as in our text here this morning, it was detailed and well-defined. In Luke 24, a few verses down from what I just read, Jesus said to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, that's the Old Testament, must be fulfilled. or way back in Luke 5, going back in time, Jesus said to them, you cannot make the attendance of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days. That's a little more cryptic there. That's not as clear, but yet he's referring to the fact there's gonna come a day when he will be taken away from them. Or in Luke 12, verse 50, this is also a little more cryptic, because Jesus says, I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. You say, what is he talking about? What's so distressing about a water baptism? He's not talking about water baptism. Baptism simply means to be immersed. He's going to be immersed in a situation that is very, very, very difficult. And how distressed he was, on a human level, it was distressing. Over in Luke chapter 13, verse 32, Jesus said to them, go and tell that fox, he's talking about Herod here, if you go back into the context, go and tell that fox Herod, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach my goal. What? That's kind of cryptic there. So there were times he spoke cryptically of his coming death and resurrection. Then there were other times he spoke very, very clearly and very detailed. Just depends. When you're reading through the Gospels, you're going to see this. over in Luke 17, verse 25, but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Again, that's a reference to what he's about to undergo. Luke chapter 9 verse 21 and 22, but he warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised up on the third day. That's a little more detailed there. Okay. In Luke 9, verse 44, that these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man is going to be delivered, or literally betrayed, into the hands of men. Okay, says it again there. So, we come to our text here, where once again, Jesus very, very clearly outlines, he predicts, he foretells, He prophesies what's going to happen. And I will remind you that they're entering into Jericho at this point. They're just a few miles from Jerusalem. They're just literally a few weeks from his death and crucifixion at this point. And the disciples are oblivious. I mean, Jesus has told them and he's told them But as we're going to see here in a moment, it just didn't connect with them. It didn't connect. He needs them to know, at least to remember his words so that after he has died and been resurrected and rose again, they will remember this. that he said, he told us this was gonna happen. Even though at the time we didn't get it, we didn't wanna get it. We just wanna let this slide under the rug. We don't even wanna ask questions about it. Because it's too distressing to think, see, they think Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and he's going to assume messiahship at this point. I mean, the grandeur of Messiah, the reigning Messiah. He's Messiah, but He's going to reign as foretold in the Old Testament. Jesus has to remind them, no, that's not the plan, guys. I don't want you to be stressed out. I want you to understand ahead of time, I know exactly what's going to happen. And so, in verses 31 through 34 of the text, follow with me as I read these words. Verse 31, And he took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be delivered up to Gentiles, and will be mocked, and mistreated, and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him, and the third day he will rise again. And they understood none of these things. And this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. This passage is One of the most complete of all the specific predictions of Jesus about His death and resurrection, this one is really the most complete of all the ones that He said. And He said it quite a few times. As I said, sometimes it was cryptically, but other times it was just flat-out clear and understandable. This is one of those passages that's very, very clear. There are four points this morning, and we're gonna see these four points. We're gonna see, first of all, the divine plan, and you have an outline in the back of your bulletin. We're gonna see the divine plan, we're gonna see the drastic extent of his sufferings, we're gonna see the divine energy over his sufferings, and then we're gonna see the diminished understanding by the disciples of His sufferings. First of all, we see the divine plan of suffering in verse 31. Now, I remind you that ever since Luke 9, verse 51, Jesus is on His final journey from Galilee in the north, working His way down to the south. He made that transition in Luke 9, verse 51. And now he's in Jericho, which is, what, 10 miles from Jerusalem, just north of the Dead Sea. Jericho is very, very low in elevation. Jerusalem is very, very high in elevation. So the trip from Jericho to Jerusalem is going to be basically walking almost straight up a hill. And Jericho is down just really not too far from the Dead Sea, which is like the lowest, if I'm correct here, the Dead Sea is like the lowest place on Earth, topographically. There's no place on Earth that is lower. It's below sea level there at the Dead Sea. I want to be there someday, and it's on my bucket list for Phyllis and I to get over there. And I'm just waiting for all this stuff over there to clear up so that we can pay the fare and get over there. But so far, no one's doing that because of all the shenanigans that are going on over there. So we have the divine plan here in verse 31. And again, the 12 disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. And they're going there like everybody else. There's crowds of people making their way from all over the place to Jerusalem because it's the yearly Passover event. And everybody goes to Jerusalem. And the disciples are with them, and Jesus is with them. And little did they know that Jesus himself would be the Passover lamb this time. They didn't catch that. Jesus himself would be the Passover, because of all the years of observing Passover with lamb after lamb after lamb, or critter after critter, now comes the final perfect sacrifice. It's God himself who's gonna go and be taken as the sacrifice. But you know what? In Judaistic theology in their day, And here's a quote from some book written by Emil Scherer. He's a 19th century writer. He said this. There was no place in Jewish messianic theology for a sacrificed, a dead, or even a risen Messiah. No place in Jewish theology for a sacrificed, dead, or risen Messiah. It just was unheard of. They saw Messiah simply coming, and perhaps preceded by a time of tribulation, and He would simply quell that tribulation and establish His glorious kingdom right then and there, defeating all the Gentiles, vindicating the Jewish people, and the nations would would come together to fight against Messiah, but Messiah would destroy all those nations, and Jerusalem would be restored and made new and glorious, and the dispersed Jews scattered all over the world would return to Israel, and Messiah would reign forever and ever. That's what they saw. And they were hoping, many of them were hoping, Jesus, on His way to Jerusalem, would now bring in this glorious reign of Israel. They didn't see a suffering Messiah, they only saw a reigning Messiah, but yet the Bible, the Old Testament specifically, talks of a reigning Messiah, but it talks of a suffering Messiah as well. They want to block out the one and accept the other. Sort of, kind of like hodgepodge or theology, or when you go into an eating place and you go into, you can choose what you want to eat, what's that called? a smorgasbord, like a buffet, buffet theology. I take a little of this, I'll skip that, and I'll take a little of this, and I don't want that. That's how people do theology today. And Jesus didn't, reminds them that's not the case. Because all throughout the Bible, if you go all the way back to Genesis three, you find the first inklings of this reminder of what's required to come to God and have your sins covered. You remember back in Genesis 3, for instance, Adam and Eve messed up royally. They disobeyed God, and God was the one who brought about the first death of a critter so that they could be clothed in animal skins. That's back in Genesis 3, where we find the first sacrifice, the first death. May I suggest that was the first death? that ever took place on the face of the earth was God taking the life of an animal. Prior to that, there was no death of critters, no death of people even. That comes a little bit later, because of Adam and Eve's sin, man began to die as well. But prior to the death of that critter that God himself killed so that they could have animal skins, there was no death. That goes contrary to what you hear today with all the teaching of evolution that says that death is always part of the system, that death is what brings about us moving up to the next level. There's life and death and life and death. There's always been life and death, life and death. And man sort of proceeds up the evolutionary ladder. That's evolutionary teaching. But that's not biblical teaching. So the first death was in Genesis 3 after the fall of Adam and Eve. But in the very next chapter, Genesis 4, it's Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. And we learn there that an animal must be used and not a plant. Abel brings a sacrifice, which was accepted. Cain brought the produce from his field. That was not acceptable. It was rejected, and Cain got angry. We know later he knocked off his own brother because it caused so much strife. And so we learn in Genesis 3 that there has to be a death. In Genesis 4, it has to be an animal. It has to be an animal, something with blood in it. Then we learn later on in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham is told to take his own, his only son, up to Mount Moriah, Isaac. And to kill him to put him on altar and kill him that had to have been horrific I put myself in Abraham's place. I said I I couldn't do that. I Couldn't do that. But Abraham was willing to do that and Just as Abraham placed his own son on the altar is about ready to plunge the knife into the very chest or wherever he was gonna aim that knife God stopped him Dead, right? I mean, dead, that's probably a poor use of words. Stopped him fast from plunging the knife into the life of his son. And it says that God himself provided a ram out of the thicket. So we learn in Genesis 22, God himself will provide the sacrifice. It has to be a sacrifice of blood. It has to be an animal, not a plant. And in fact, the Lord himself will provide the sacrifice. Then when we get, oh yeah, and just to remind you, well, before we get there, The next passage I want to go to is in Exodus chapter 12, and it's the time of the plagues in Egypt in the days of Moses. And we find we get to the tenth plague, remember. And God was going to take the firstborn of every household in the land of Egypt. Every household was going to lose its firstborn unless they took an unblemished lamb and applied its blood on the door. on the two side posts and at the top of the door, unless that blood was applied to that particular house, any house where that blood was not applied, the firstborn in that house, all the firstborn in that house would die. But we find exactly what happened. All the Jews placed the blood on their door and none of the firstborn of the Jews died. But there was a great wailing in the land of Egypt because they did not do that. In fact, Pharaoh himself lost his firstborn as well. In fact, and then later on, after the exodus, they received the reminder that they had to bring sacrifices of lambs and cattle and whatnot. And so the writer to the Hebrews later on, years later, he said this, for the law, since it only was a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, century by century, over and over again, those sacrifices can never make perfect those who draw near. A perfect sacrifice was needed. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had a consciousness of sins. In other words, a perfect sacrifice was needed. We move on. In Isaiah 53, and I won't look at the text because I'm gonna run out of time, but Isaiah 53 talks about the scene of Christ at the cross. We see in Isaiah 53, it says in verse 5 that He was pierced through for our transgressions. Verse 7 speaks of, that predicts Jesus' silence during His mock trials. He was oppressed, the text says He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth like a lamb that is led to a slaughter, Isaiah 53, 7. And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. Isaiah 53.8 says that he was to be cut off out of the land of the living. Verse 9 says that Christ's grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, prophesying the fact that the dead body of Jesus would be placed in a rich man's tomb, hence Joseph of Arimathea. And Nicodemus, they fulfilled that prophecy. Verse 10 reveals that although Jesus would be put to death by the rendering himself as a guilt offering, yet he would be resurrected, and he would see his offspring, and his days would be prolonged. It gives a hint in verse 10, Isaiah 53.10, of the resurrection of Jesus. Zechariah 12, verse 10, predicts the crucifixion of Christ, referring to him as the one whom Israel has pierced. In John 3, verse 14, it talks about as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, John 3, 14. Or John 10, 11, Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Or in Acts chapter 2, verse 23, Peter spoke of this, all that Jesus did, as the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. It was all predetermined and foreknown by God, Acts 2.23. Or 1 Peter 1.11. which Peter is speaking of the Old Testament prophets who repeatedly predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. You see a suffering Messiah in the Old Testament and you see a glorious reigning Messiah in the Old Testament. You see both. You can't just eliminate or forget one and accept the other. You've gotta take them both. Again, it's not a hodgepodge theology. and other places. Zechariah chapter 9 describes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which we're going to talk about here pretty soon in the book of Luke. Psalm chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 describes the rage of the enemies of Christ. Zechariah 13.7 describes his desertion by his own friends. Zechariah 11.12 describes his betrayal for 30 pieces of silver. These are all Old Testament passages. Psalm 34.20 says that none of his bones would be broken. Psalm 69.21 says that he would be given vinegar to drink, and he was. Psalm 16.10 refers to his resurrection. Psalm 110.1 pictures his ascension. John 1.29 speaks of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All of that because it was the predetermined plan of God according to Acts 2.23. That's the divine plan for suffering. Verse 31. It was intentional. It was purposed. It was determined. It wasn't an accident. Jesus' life wasn't a good life that turned out bad. Jesus wasn't naive and became susceptible to the strong men of the Jewish religious system, the scribes and the Pharisees. No, Jesus determined that his life was going to be a sacrifice for the sins of men and women everywhere. That takes me to the second point. Moving from the divine plan of suffering to the drastic extent of suffering, verses 32 and 33, you see that there. Verse 32 and the first part of verse 33, Describes the extent verse 32 for he will be delivered up to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon and After they have scourged him they will kill him and the third day he will rise again We find that he was going to be first of all handed over to the Gentiles specifically the Romans Why do they have to do that because the Jews had no authority to execute anyone and they wanted him executed and The Jews could not execute anyone at this point because the Romans were in charge. If you wanted someone executed, you had to go through the Romans. So that's why he's handed over to the Gentiles. It's interesting that all this, the timing of everything is perfect. The Romans are in charge and they take control of this, all in the plan of God. Jesus would be mocked, verse 32 says, and mistreated and spit upon. I mean, the detail, what is spoken of here is amazing. Jesus knew every detail. We speak of the omniscience of God, meaning he knows everything. He knows, he knows it. In fact, he purposes things to happen. For instance, we find in other places in Scripture, we find in John chapter 2, that he had a knowledge of people's hearts. He knows what's in men, John chapter 2 speaks of. I can't go, I'm just going over this so fast. We find in another place he knew the precise location where a fish with a coin in its mouth that Peter could catch and pay his taxes with. That'd be kind of a nice gig to have. I'll just go fishing and I'll pay Uncle Sam what comes out of the fish's mouth. Thank you very much. That'll save me a few bucks. but Jesus knew the precise location. We find on another occasion, he's speaking to the woman at the well in John chapter four, and he knew, having never met her before, that she had had five husbands, and the man that she was currently with was not her husband. He knew that. Well, how does he know that? Well, he's God, he's omniscient. On another place, In Luke chapter 19, he knows where the colt would be that he would ride in during his triumphal entry. He knew where that colt was located. And so he tells his disciples where to go to get this colt so he could ride in on this colt, this donkey, and it would be borrowed. And so he tells his disciples where to go pick it up. On another occasion, he knew where the disciples would meet a man carrying a pitcher of water who would show them the place where they would eat the Last Supper. They needed a room. And they, Jesus knew where the man, there was a certain man, he knew where that man was, that he would have a room that they could use for the Last Supper. He tells his disciples, go meet this man at such and such a place. He knew that. In Luke 21, we find that Jesus knew that Jerusalem would be destroyed in just four decades after his death. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Jesus knew that was gonna happen 40 decades, excuse me, four decades, 40 years before it happened. Jesus is all-knowing, and his sufferings can be summarized in five headings. He suffered by the disloyalty of others. He was betrayed by Judas. That's a kind of suffering on one level, when you're betrayed by those who you think are closest to you. Or he suffered by the rejection of his own countrymen. And even ultimately the father turned his back on the Lord Jesus Christ when he was on the cross. Remember when Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was rejected by his own countrymen. But worse, he was rejected for a period which must have seemed like an eternity by the father himself. He was humiliated by all the mockings and the mistreatment and being spat upon, all the humiliations of undergoing the kangaroo courts, the fake justice that he had to endure, the humiliation of all that. That's actually the fourth point, the injustice, the fake justice, the pretend justice. which has plagued men from the beginning because men are judged by other men who are sinners as well. And so you have fake justice when men do not purpose to stand on truth. And finally, Jesus suffered bodily injury where his body was literally scourged with a whip that not only had the leather bits, but in the whip was placed pieces of glass and sharp stone so that when that whip hit his back, it would wrap around his trunk and literally tear the flesh so that he looked like a piece of hamburger before he even went to the cross. The scourging itself, many times, was enough to kill many men. Just the scourging, before they even went to the cross, they would die just from the scourging. And there's all kinds of things we could say about the crucifixion itself. And I'll talk about this. I'll share that on another time. But the crucifixion itself was a horrific way to die, a slow, painful death that basically you would die from asphyxiation. You couldn't breathe. And so the person who was being crucified would have a little thing placed below his feet, a little pedestal. And if he wanted to breathe, he had to push up against that little pedestal. And as he does that, his back, which has already been beaten and scourged, rubs against a rough piece of wood so that he can get a breath to live a little longer. And you push up, and your back rubs against that over and over again. Slowly, you begin to ebb away, but it takes seemingly forever for a person being crucified. So we see we see the drastic extent of his suffering. But thirdly, this morning, also in verse 33, we see the divine energy over suffering because this is the glorious part. At the end of verse 33, after they kill him, the last phrase in verse 33, and the third day he will rise again. predicted in the Old Testament, Psalm 1610. Psalm 1610 says, the psalmist David wrote, for you, God, you will not abandon, speaking of Messiah, you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. Isaiah 53.9, he would see his offspring, he would prolong his days, again, inferring a resurrection, that he would continue to live. The good pledge of the Lord would prosper in his hand, Isaiah 53.10 says. Again, that all indicates that he would live again after his death. Remember in John 2, verse 19, Jesus said, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. Remember that? They didn't get it, because they thought, well, this temple's been around for 40-some years, and you're going to raise it up in three days? You guys don't get it. Don't get it. Do-do-do-do-do-do. It's out there somewhere. They don't get it. In three days, he's going to rise again. On another occasion, John 12, verse 24, "'Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.'" So, Jesus, over and over again, Paul says that He was raised because of our justification. The finished work of Christ was so complete, the Father accepted it and raised Jesus from the dead. We, as believers in that, are declared righteous or just. One last point. So we've seen three points. We've seen the divine plan of suffering, the drastic extent of the suffering, the divine energy over the suffering. He would be raised from the dead. But lastly, and Interestingly enough, there, that is the disciples, the 12, that's who's the there is, the disciples diminished understanding of suffering, verse 34. And three times in verse 34, it says the same thing three different times. Look at it, verse 34. And they understood none of these sayings. That's the first thing, they didn't get it. The second phrase, and this saying was hidden from them. That's saying the same thing. And thirdly, they did not comprehend the things that were said. So the answer is they didn't get it. They didn't get it. Now why didn't they get it? Because First of all, they had the wrong theology. They had Jewish theology that said the Messiah was going to come in any time now and set up his kingdom, and he was going to reign right now. They ignored all the Old Testament references to a suffering Messiah. They just blocked that out. And when Jesus did talk about it, the numerous times that he did talk about it, it was so shocking. When he would say that he was going to die, nobody wanted to ask a follow-up question. Nobody even wanted to ask. I would think I would say, what do you mean you're going to die? What? Can you tell me? What do you mean by it? But nobody even said that. It was so tragic in their mind and so upsetting, everybody just kept quiet. This is a subject I don't want to talk about. I pretend that I didn't hear that. Luke on my way and think happy thoughts See that that's kind of my explanation of of the disciples Coming face to face over and over again that Jesus says I'm going to Jerusalem to die. I'm going to Jerusalem died They're gonna beat me and reject me. I'm going to Jerusalem die. I Don't want to deal with that They had a diminished understanding of suffering. It failed to fit their messy, anic theology. They expected a Messiah King who would defeat Israel's enemies. Well, we see very clearly here that Jesus predicted his sufferings and his death and his resurrection over and over again. You and I have a text of scripture that is the basis of our faith that is true and can be relied upon. And you and I need to know this book as well as we can know any book that's out there. I mean, we like to read lots of other things, but this is the first thing you need to be reading and catching and understanding. You need to be in this book every day. And if you miss a day, just pick up the next day, because I miss days, okay? There's days I don't do my Bible reading, but not many, not many. And you and I need to be in this book as often as we can get into it, because it is such a rich, fantastic book that is the basis of all that we believe, and we can trust it. It's reliable. It's true. And I want to remind you that all of this, I'm gonna close in prayer, and then we're gonna have a closing song. So if I can have my piano player take her place over there. As I close in prayer, all of this is because we have a God who has history. He's a God of our history. History is literally His story. Have you heard that before? History is His story. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, thank You for Your grace. Thank You for taking care of us. with such truth that we can now rest our weary souls upon. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who did for us what we could never do for ourselves, that He was the sacrifice that you provided. He was the sacrifice that only you could provide. That we could not provide our own sacrifice. We could not even be our own sacrifice. We needed someone outside of ourselves who was perfect, righteous, and unblemished to be the sacrifice for our sins, and you are that one. Thank you, Lord. To you all glory belongs. We thank you in Jesus' name.