WEBVTT 00:00:00.260 --> 00:00:02.660 I want to invite you to Matthew chapter 27. 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:05.520 If you've got a Bible with you this morning, if not, feel free to grab one in front of you. 00:00:05.880 --> 00:00:11.580 Matthew, chapter 27 is where we're going to be, and we are going to go into a new series starting this week as it relates to Easter. 00:00:11.760 --> 00:00:19.760 Just so you know, if you'd like to just anticipate the road ahead for us, the church family, the month of March, we're going to be diving into Resurrection Sunday, Easter, 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:21.840 whatever you like to call that event. 00:00:22.880 --> 00:00:26.920 but we're going to deal with the statements of Jesus as he hung on the cross. 00:00:27.020 --> 00:00:34.060 Jesus gave seven profound statements while he was on the cross as it relates to the resurrection and 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.420 the and the death of Christ. 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:41.940 And so we're going to be looking at that over the next few weeks, palm Sundays, the next Sunday following that is Resurrection Sunday. 00:00:42.360 --> 00:00:46.180 We do a large event afterwards as a church family at 1:00 this year. 00:00:46.220 --> 00:00:47.470 We're going to be doing that in Willow Park. 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:49.260 In the past we've done that in Wein's Park. 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:50.980 We take thousands of eggs. 00:00:50.980 --> 00:00:52.240 We scatter them all over our field. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:53.920 There's prizes that are there. 00:00:53.980 --> 00:00:56.970 Kids actually can win some cash too, but we let our kids go crazy. 00:00:57.480 --> 00:00:58.400 We feed you. 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:03.060 By the way, if you want to come to that event, I want to invite you to bring either a dessert or chips. 00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:04.870 All right, so we make it a simple meal. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:07.140 We usually fix hot dogs, hamburgers, something like that. 00:01:07.620 --> 00:01:08.880 And if you want to contribute to that. 00:01:09.160 --> 00:01:11.160 Chips or a dessert would help us out. 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:12.210 And you can bring that. 00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:15.320 And we just invite family, friends, neighborhood, whatever. 00:01:15.460 --> 00:01:16.230 Thousands of eggs will be scattered. 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:19.740 We'll give directions in the following weeks on how to get there. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:20.680 So you can invite people. 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:26.580 And I'll tell you on that Easter Sunday for you as parents, as adults, so you don't miss out. 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.390 We know that secretly as you watch kids going around getting those eggs, you just want to jump in on that. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:37.900 So to help you with that craving to get that lucky egg, we're also going to be giving away some, some things 00:01:37.900 --> 00:01:39.760 for the adults as well. 00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:42.900 So you don't want to miss the service because that's where that will take place. 00:01:43.160 --> 00:01:43.740 Right. 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:49.220 And so over the next few weeks, we're going to be going through the series together on the statements of Jesus and the month of April. 00:01:49.220 --> 00:01:56.420 We'll be focusing a series on family, what God has designed for family, how to look at that from a biblical approach as it relates to 00:01:56.420 --> 00:01:59.550 marriage, relationship of parents with children. 00:01:59.820 --> 00:02:01.920 And so that'll be the month of April for us. 00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:04.500 And so that gives you an idea of what to anticipate. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:12.980 But as it starts with this series relating to red letters, the statements of Jesus as he hangs on the cross, he 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:14.980 makes these seven profound statements. 00:02:15.100 --> 00:02:17.960 We're going to be looking at just a couple of those each week. 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:23.340 And I just want to start with the simplistic approach to what the cross represents for us as Christians. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:30.680 Explain why we make it as such a big deal for us, why it's a reason to rejoice and then end. 00:02:31.100 --> 00:02:32.940 Why does that matter for us today? 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:37.740 What is the big deal as it relates to me and my relationship to God? 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:45.470 And I want to tell you, as I've studied for this, in preparation this morning, as I was going through this on the inside, I am pumped. 00:02:45.820 --> 00:02:48.420 I cannot contain just the excitement. 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:52.440 The first song that we break out with today talking about the cross of Christ. 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:59.430 I'm rejoicing in spirit after studying this and as we go through this together in Matthew chapter 27, I hope you join. 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:00.820 Join me in that. 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:08.510 And when we talk about the cross, as we think about what happened as it relates to the cross, I want us to connect in this first half in discussion. 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:10.520 I want us to relate to this emotionally. 00:03:12.420 --> 00:03:14.640 God created us holistically as a being. 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:18.960 He calls us to love him with all that we are, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:20.760 Everything about you. 00:03:20.760 --> 00:03:26.740 I want us to understand what it means within, within the cross, as much as our minds can grasp it. 00:03:26.740 --> 00:03:31.920 I don't think everything that happens at the cross, we can completely conceive what takes place there. 00:03:32.480 --> 00:03:37.580 But as much as our lives can relate to, what Jesus endures is important. 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:46.200 Because as we relate to this in a personal way, on the end of this, I'm going to connect it to us theologically, and 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:53.360 I feel we get much more from the text when we can relate to what Jesus endures here and 00:03:53.420 --> 00:03:58.100 in our human understanding, emotionally, mentally with our hearts. 00:03:59.480 --> 00:04:06.060 And when that happens, the idea of theologically what takes place impacts us in our core. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.480 It's not just words on a page, it's not just intellectual understanding. 00:04:11.380 --> 00:04:18.579 But when it comes to the cross, the cross of Christ or the cross in general, anyone who was crucified, it was seen 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:22.560 as a horrific, despicable event. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:29.810 Jesus himself was mocked while he was going to the cross and the pain that he was to endure. 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:37.900 So it's not, not not that Jesus endures physically at the cross, but positionally in the way that he had identified himself before Israel, 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:39.330 before this world. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.420 He is mocked in that position as he is going to the cross. 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:50.480 And if you look in chapter 27, beginning in verse 37, where I would start to point this out, but it happens even before in verse 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:52.640 27, where Jesus starts to be mocked. 00:04:53.180 --> 00:05:00.380 But in verse 37 of chapter 27, you see these statements of Jesus that they begin to throw back into his face. 00:05:01.080 --> 00:05:02.470 And in verse 37 it says this. 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:09.020 And above his head they put up the charge against him, which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:17.080 And in verse 38, at the time two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left, and those passing by were hurling 00:05:17.080 --> 00:05:23.120 abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, you are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:24.460 Save yourself. 00:05:25.280 --> 00:05:27.520 If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:32.800 In the same way the chief priests also, and the scribes and the elders were mocking him and saying. 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:34.700 He saved others. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:37.310 And he cannot save himself. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:39.490 He is the King of Israel. 00:05:40.460 --> 00:05:44.280 Let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:49.660 So they understood Jesus's claims and the claims that Jesus made. 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:53.520 They're now they're now reversing these claims and hurling them as insults as Christ. 00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:59.620 As he is enduring this pain and torture, they mock him as king by hanging a sign above his head. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.320 And Jesus declared his authority as king. 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:05.870 In fact, the father declared Jesus as king at his baptism. 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.040 When he quotes Psalm chapter two. 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:12.100 At Jesus's baptism, Jesus identifies himself as Savior. 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:17.160 His title, Jesus Christ is the saving King or the saving Anointed One. 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:19.930 And they're mocking him as Savior, saying he can't even save himself. 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:22.430 And they mock his identity as priests. 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:27.590 When Jesus is proclaiming that he could destroy the temple and in three days build it again. 00:06:27.700 --> 00:06:34.920 And Jesus no doubt did at his crucifixion, when the veil was torn, the presence of God leaves the temple, and the Bible shares 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:36.460 with us that it now indwells people. 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:40.200 It's no longer these this building, this elaborate building in which was built. 00:06:40.460 --> 00:06:41.980 Jesus now indwells his people. 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:47.080 Jesus, we know, fulfilled these roles as prophet, priest, and king. 00:06:47.080 --> 00:06:48.290 He's also Savior. 00:06:48.440 --> 00:06:55.560 And yet they take these words in which Jesus expressed in his message, and they mock him in it positionally and not just 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:57.010 positionally, as Jesus mocked. 00:06:57.480 --> 00:06:59.480 He's also tortured physically. 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:08.540 When you think about relating to this text as if everyone that you care about, the people that you've grown up around in your life, 00:07:08.640 --> 00:07:15.640 the ones that you've come to grow near personally if you care about them, they are either absent from this 00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:20.550 event or they're coming to you to mock you and spit in your face. 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:23.980 And Jesus as he endures torture. 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:27.740 Matthew 27 tells us some of these things in verse 26. 00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:31.140 He is lashed by the cat o'nine tails. 00:07:31.140 --> 00:07:37.740 It was it was this whip that splintered out into these branches of nine extensions. 00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:43.420 And on these extensions would have been bone of sheep or these hard metal balls. 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:50.700 And when it would hit the body, the metal ball would soften the flesh, and then the bone would tear into the flesh 00:07:50.700 --> 00:07:52.400 and expose it. 00:07:52.400 --> 00:07:57.830 And repeatedly you would be lashed until you were cut to your own bone and it would be exposed. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:07:59.600 Jesus is lashed. 00:07:59.760 --> 00:08:06.940 It tells us in chapter 27, verse 29 and 30, that a crown of thorns are embedded into his head, inches long, nailed into 00:08:06.940 --> 00:08:08.460 his skull. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:15.680 And Isaiah 52 and verse 14, it says, he is beaten beyond recognition in chapter 27 and verse 30 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:16.450 of Matthew. 00:08:16.700 --> 00:08:18.360 He is spit upon. 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:25.940 He's nailed to the cross in Psalm 22 and verse 14, it tells us his bones are out of joint or out of place. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:33.580 And the irony of all of this, as Jesus endures this pain at the cross, is that the creation? 00:08:34.860 --> 00:08:35.679 Is abusing. 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.620 Its creator. 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:46.860 Matthew chapter 27 and verse 45 and 46 is really want to what I want to focus on this morning. 00:08:47.020 --> 00:08:51.470 But as these events take place. 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:54.680 In verse 45 of this passage of Scripture. 00:08:54.780 --> 00:09:02.080 It gives this description of the environment around as Jesus is hanging from the cross. 00:09:02.160 --> 00:09:08.720 And it says this in verse 45, now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 00:09:11.020 --> 00:09:15.340 Some translations will go ahead and tell you what time this is according to our clock. 00:09:15.400 --> 00:09:17.930 But according to the Jewish clock, that's the way this is translated. 00:09:18.420 --> 00:09:22.700 And so for the Jewish clock, the day began when the sun came up. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:23.920 That's hour one. 00:09:25.140 --> 00:09:27.190 Typically that was 6 a.m.. 00:09:27.300 --> 00:09:32.860 And so when they give times like this from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, it's six hours past 6 a.m., which is around noon. 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.340 From noon to three. 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:39.540 It's describing this darkness that comes over the land. 00:09:39.540 --> 00:09:46.540 And no doubt, this event is the greatest event in history and at the same time is the darkest event in 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:46.740 history. 00:09:48.920 --> 00:09:55.960 This event was considered so dark that when you go back into history in the first century, not only do you find 00:09:55.960 --> 00:10:03.020 Christians writing about the event and the darkness that take place, you also find historians that aren't Christians writing about this 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.200 event that took place. 00:10:05.400 --> 00:10:10.760 There was a man by the name of Thallus and Flag and both considered historians in the first century. 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:17.820 Neither of them Christian, who wrote about the darkness that existed over the world at the time Jesus was crucified. 00:10:19.670 --> 00:10:21.660 And just like anyone that denies. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:26.680 The identity of who Christ is, they attempt to explain it away. 00:10:28.400 --> 00:10:29.060 Apart from Christ. 00:10:31.040 --> 00:10:38.140 Can I tell you in my life, being agnostic or atheist before coming and placing my faith in 00:10:38.140 --> 00:10:39.200 Christ in college? 00:10:39.580 --> 00:10:46.680 One of the things that really helped me on my journey and expressing my faith in Christ and trusting in him, had nothing to 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:47.620 do with the Bible. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:57.100 It was me skeptically thinking that the Bible was something fallible, written by men who just kind of took a guess at something 00:10:57.100 --> 00:10:59.240 that they created, and people started to follow. 00:10:59.560 --> 00:11:06.780 And it wasn't until I started looking at extra biblical writings related to Jesus that I started to recognize there is something happening 00:11:06.780 --> 00:11:07.930 here. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:15.420 When you go back into the first and second century and you see the amount of people that aren't even, aren't even Christian, don't even claim to be Christian writing 00:11:15.420 --> 00:11:16.680 about Jesus himself. 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:17.540 It is. 00:11:17.800 --> 00:11:22.980 It is profound how many people have some sort of expression or reaction to Christ. 00:11:24.520 --> 00:11:31.740 And it was the study of those circumstances related to Jesus that started to point to the validity of the Bible 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:39.360 for me and help me on my journey, and some of which would be statements made by Thallus and Phlegon as it related to Christ in his crucifixion 00:11:39.760 --> 00:11:46.780 and the second century, there were two individuals, Origen and Julius Africanus, who got a hold of these. 00:11:47.260 --> 00:11:52.580 These writings by these individuals, and from a Christian standpoint, began to reflect back on the crucifixion of Christ. 00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:56.720 And this is what Julius Africanus said to thallus in his statement. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.220 As a historian it said this upon the whole world. 00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:02.040 There came a most fearful darkness. 00:12:03.540 --> 00:12:05.840 Many rocks were split in two by an earthquake. 00:12:05.880 --> 00:12:08.420 In many places in Judea, and other districts were thrown down. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:15.800 It seems very unreasonable to me that thallus and the third book of his histories, would try to explain away this darkness as an 00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:23.120 eclipse of the sun, for the Jews celebrate their Passover on the 14th day, according to the moon, and the death of our Saviour falls 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.340 on the day before the Passover. 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:28.720 But an eclipse of the sun can only take place when the moon comes under the sun. 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:33.140 How, then, could an eclipse have occurred when the moon is directly opposite the sun? 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:36.700 When the Jews would celebrate the Passover. 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:43.860 They follow the lunar calendar, and according to the lunar calendar, it is impossible for an eclipse to take place in order 00:12:43.860 --> 00:12:46.160 to create darkness on the Passover. 00:12:47.540 --> 00:12:54.580 And Julius Africanus, as he's reading the writings of thallus, as he's trying to explain away the happenings of darkness over the world, his explanation 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:56.700 is that it's obviously an eclipse. 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:00.220 Jesus can't be who we think he is. 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:00.490 It's an eclipse. 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:07.940 And Julius Africanus goes back to his statement and reasons through why this can't be true, and why fallacies approach to this 00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:11.140 explanation doesn't make any sense apart from. 00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:14.870 What's happening to Christ. 00:13:16.260 --> 00:13:19.810 Origin, as he explained the same way goes back to and statements. 00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:22.770 Julius Africanus also commented on it, but this is what origin said. 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:30.180 He said the darkening of the sun took place at the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus was crucified, and the great earthquakes which took place. 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:34.800 Fleg, and I believe, has written an account in the 13th or 14th book of his chronicles. 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:38.520 And he's saying, if you don't believe what I. 00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:46.480 What I'm saying, you can go back to your own historians that don't even acknowledge Jesus and just read from their account that this event 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:48.440 impacted the world. 00:13:50.780 --> 00:13:51.550 And it still does today. 00:13:53.680 --> 00:14:00.780 And the beauty of all of this, as you think about what Jesus endures on the cross, both positionally being mocked by those he 00:14:00.780 --> 00:14:08.080 had lived his life around both and physically being tortured to a degree that he's unrecognizable beyond what any human being has 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:09.320 ever faced. 00:14:11.060 --> 00:14:11.480 When, man. 00:14:12.920 --> 00:14:14.010 Was at his worst. 00:14:16.060 --> 00:14:17.320 God was at his best. 00:14:19.420 --> 00:14:23.500 And Jesus hanging on the cross, one of the most profound statements, he says. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:25.580 Father. 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:28.980 Forgive them. 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:30.970 I don't know what they're doing. 00:14:34.380 --> 00:14:41.540 Significance of this text as it relates to us in our being, as those 00:14:41.540 --> 00:14:43.150 who pursue after Jesus. 00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:48.560 There is importance with all that we are, all our heart, all our soul, all our mind. 00:14:48.560 --> 00:14:53.700 As we think about this Easter season, this Resurrection Sunday, to pour everything into this. 00:14:53.780 --> 00:14:59.200 Because if there's someone that needs to rejoice over what Jesus has done, it's you. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:08.100 Now, as we looked at what happened, I just want to explain and still connect to us emotionally as to as 00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:09.620 to why this took place. 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:15.880 And I want to do so as we look at verse 46 and what Jesus says, why does this happen? 00:15:15.900 --> 00:15:20.180 Because in verse 46, Jesus asks the same question why? 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:29.340 And he says in verse 46, about the ninth hour, which is 3:00, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, now feel this emotionally 00:15:29.400 --> 00:15:35.660 when it says, Jesus cries out, this text is relating to us emotionally and so and so. 00:15:35.660 --> 00:15:38.640 If you just read it as some theological concept, you miss the words. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:44.180 But what this text says, this word for cried is it's saying to us that Jesus shouts this statement. 00:15:46.300 --> 00:15:51.720 Jesus is declaring this statement to everyone around the cross and not just those that are there. 00:15:51.900 --> 00:15:55.300 It's written in Scripture as a declaration for all of us. 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:59.920 So these words that he's about to say need to ring true within our hearts. 00:16:02.280 --> 00:16:03.220 He's screaming. 00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:05.100 He's shouting with a loud voice. 00:16:06.680 --> 00:16:06.780 Ali. 00:16:07.920 --> 00:16:08.260 Lee. 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:10.710 Lema sabachthani. 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:14.620 Which means my God, my God, why? 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:16.830 Why have you forsaken me? 00:16:17.880 --> 00:16:18.420 Why? 00:16:20.940 --> 00:16:22.540 Why did Jesus endure? 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:25.280 The hardship of the cross. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:32.840 In this passage when Jesus is crying out to God. 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:39.980 I think one of the most profound things in this statement, as you think about the events of the cross, as Jesus 00:16:40.160 --> 00:16:45.940 endures the physical torture that people bring against him, never once does he complain. 00:16:48.560 --> 00:16:51.080 But it's when the father forsakes him. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:53.260 He cries out. 00:16:56.660 --> 00:17:00.760 What uniquely happens here. 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:01.930 That it's at this point. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:05.260 Jesus Christ. 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:11.750 When I read this statement, I think to myself, man, if you ask me now, at what point are you going to cry out? 00:17:11.800 --> 00:17:15.400 I would say, well, in my pansy flesh, right? 00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:17.180 Way back. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:24.859 But it's not until this moment that Jesus shouts and cries in a statement. 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:29.860 And when you look at the way Jesus refers to the father, I think it begins to give us indication as to why. 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:32.040 Because in Jesus's statements. 00:17:32.060 --> 00:17:34.660 And we're going to look at this in Matthew 26, in just a moment. 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:38.960 But when Jesus is making this statement, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:44.720 You can note in the Gospels when Jesus refers to the father, it's never it's not. 00:17:44.820 --> 00:17:48.960 Excuse me, I shouldn't say never, but it's not in this generic term theos, which is God. 00:17:51.060 --> 00:17:53.430 And Jesus chooses a more intimate word. 00:17:55.260 --> 00:17:55.400 Abba. 00:17:57.760 --> 00:17:57.980 Father. 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:01.500 This word of connection. 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:04.700 In unity. 00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:09.740 And yet now at its most desperate point. 00:18:09.940 --> 00:18:11.620 No longer is the word ABBA. 00:18:14.340 --> 00:18:17.120 But it's the term theos or god. 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:21.020 What's happening as it relates to Christ. 00:18:21.300 --> 00:18:24.580 For him to cry out on this cross and connection to the father. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:33.800 And I don't think there is a theological expression or way I can describe what happens here on the cross for 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:36.700 us to get it completely between Jesus and the father. 00:18:38.060 --> 00:18:45.140 And I thought this week, just considering in my life anything I can relate to this as it relates to death, 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:47.670 as it relates to pain, as it relates to suffering. 00:18:48.120 --> 00:18:52.710 And the best thing in my life I could come up with is what I saw my mother go through just a few years ago. 00:18:54.780 --> 00:19:00.500 You know, in my life I've had the fortunate blessing of not really being around many people within my family who have died. 00:19:01.800 --> 00:19:04.260 All of my grandparents, but one is still alive. 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:08.860 In fact, just a few years ago, my great grandmother died. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:12.170 She was like about to hit 100 and she passed away. 00:19:13.620 --> 00:19:20.720 And a few years ago, my grandfather passed away and I had 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.560 I moved to Utah a little over ten years ago. 00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:31.670 And when I moved from Utah, my mom did something very important for her parents. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:39.820 She actually got to a place in life where she had a little extra income, and so she bought a house for them close to her because as they got older and age, she that she 00:19:39.840 --> 00:19:41.660 knew that they needed care cared for. 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:46.130 And as they got older, my mother, I watched my mother draw my grandfather closer. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:55.580 He eventually loses the independence, doesn't have a license, but fortunately, the place that my mom was able to purchase allowed him to still walk within the small 00:19:55.580 --> 00:19:57.840 town that we lived in to all the places that he enjoyed. 00:19:57.840 --> 00:20:01.090 There were just a few blocks from the house, and so he began to do that. 00:20:01.260 --> 00:20:07.340 And eventually he loses that freedom to the point where he got to a place in life where he needed some personal care. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:15.740 He started to lose his mind a little bit, so much so that I remember the last time I saw him, the only, only words he could say was, I 00:20:15.740 --> 00:20:16.060 love you. 00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:18.490 And he would say it all the time. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:19.840 I love you, I love you. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:22.100 And. 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:23.960 Eventually. 00:20:24.040 --> 00:20:28.450 He passed a few years ago and I got to go in and lead in that funeral. 00:20:28.940 --> 00:20:34.780 And it just so happened that I had another speaking engagement on the East Coast a couple of months later, and I remember I went in for the funeral. 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:40.640 I was there for the family for that week, and it was a time of rejoicing over what my grandfather was. 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:45.200 He was a godly man and at the same time weeping over the loss a few months later. 00:20:47.100 --> 00:20:52.480 Come home, and my mom is still enduring the hardship of that. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:55.040 And she had drawn her father close. 00:20:57.040 --> 00:20:57.900 And I just look at her. 00:20:57.940 --> 00:20:58.960 I'm like, mom, are you going to be okay? 00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:03.100 You could just see on her face and in her demeanor, she wore that loss. 00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:12.440 And all she said back to me after just a couple of months is she just said, there is this hole in my heart I just can't fill. 00:21:14.020 --> 00:21:17.040 Her father that she loved as a girl, she just reflected back. 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:17.640 At times. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.540 Her dad would just pick her up in her arms and. 00:21:19.820 --> 00:21:21.150 And now that's gone. 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:29.980 You know, I think of that illustration and I'm not saying in that Jesus has the 00:21:29.980 --> 00:21:37.020 same relationship with God the Father as necessarily we would look at it between between 00:21:37.020 --> 00:21:39.680 a parent and a child. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:43.440 But there is something about that bond, that intimacy is there. 00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:48.180 There is a closeness that God created that relationship for. 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:53.270 I know not all of us get to experience that, but that's why God designs that relationship. 00:21:54.040 --> 00:21:59.020 And when Jesus is saying this in this moment, this word for forsaken. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:03.720 It literally can be translated abandoned. 00:22:05.800 --> 00:22:13.040 And so you think about in these moments what Jesus is saying about the father, the reason he's screaming within his being, 00:22:13.100 --> 00:22:14.920 the reason he hasn't complained to this point. 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:21.260 But now but now he cries out, it's in connection to the relationship to the father. 00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:25.980 It's unbelievable what's taking place in this moment. 00:22:26.300 --> 00:22:33.620 And when Jesus is saying this statement, he's prophetically stating what's written in Psalm chapter 22 and verse one, this quote, My 00:22:33.620 --> 00:22:35.530 God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:22:35.780 --> 00:22:38.600 Is a quote from Psalm chapter 22. 00:22:38.780 --> 00:22:45.860 Jesus is fulfilling and the Bible tells us this is one of the things that blows us away, that is a reminder to 00:22:45.860 --> 00:22:48.940 us how important this passage of Scripture is. 00:22:49.040 --> 00:22:55.750 It says in first Peter chapter one, talking about those who proclaim the coming of Jesus and angels. 00:22:55.900 --> 00:22:59.860 It says this seeking to know these prophets who are proclaiming Christ. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:07.040 They were seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating, as he predicted, the sufferings of Christ and the 00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:08.180 glories to follow. 00:23:09.340 --> 00:23:10.900 And then it says this in verse 12. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.040 Things into which angels long to look into. 00:23:15.860 --> 00:23:20.380 I mean the angels themselves watching God bring this redemption for mankind. 00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:27.540 I can't help but even fathom and be amazed by a God who gives his life. 00:23:29.700 --> 00:23:31.180 For you. 00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:33.940 My God, my God. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:38.800 Why have you forsaken me? 00:23:40.940 --> 00:23:42.690 Why did it happen? 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:45.890 What does this phrase mean? 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:55.690 In Matthew chapter 26, I think it begins to paint a backdrop to a complete understanding of why Jesus is crying out in 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:00.680 Matthew 27, the way that he is in chapter 26. 00:24:01.020 --> 00:24:02.300 Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:24:02.780 --> 00:24:04.880 He's got the cross before him. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.440 He's praying to the father. 00:24:06.660 --> 00:24:08.880 And it says this in chapter 26 and verse 39. 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:12.440 And he went a little beyond them. 00:24:14.180 --> 00:24:16.480 And he fell on his face and prayed, saying. 00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:17.720 My father. 00:24:19.540 --> 00:24:20.140 For it possible? 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:24.120 Let this cup pass from me. 00:24:25.060 --> 00:24:25.240 Yet? 00:24:25.420 --> 00:24:26.510 Not as I will. 00:24:28.020 --> 00:24:28.930 But as you will. 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:34.780 Jesus later praised My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:35.000 What? 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:36.560 What do these passages mean? 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:43.760 Well, just for clarification, when Jesus is making this prayer, I don't think Jesus is saying, you know what? 00:24:44.140 --> 00:24:45.190 I don't want to go to the cross. 00:24:46.760 --> 00:24:48.380 That's not what he's saying in verse 26. 00:24:48.540 --> 00:24:55.120 In fact, in Mark chapter two and verse 20, Jesus tells people that he's going to leave them at some point. 00:24:55.380 --> 00:24:57.880 Jesus entire life was about his death. 00:24:59.220 --> 00:25:01.100 Jesus knew the cross was before him. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:06.760 Hebrews tells us, for the joy of the cross, he or for the for the joy of what was ahead, he endured the cross. 00:25:07.100 --> 00:25:09.620 Jesus's life was found in his death. 00:25:09.860 --> 00:25:14.540 Everything in the Old Testament was to foreshadow the one who would come to give his life for us. 00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:22.740 In fact, the entire sacrificial system, an animal was losing its life on an altar as 00:25:22.740 --> 00:25:28.300 a foreshadowing of the one who would come, who is the lamb to give his life for us, the father. 00:25:28.300 --> 00:25:33.800 When Jesus is being baptized, John the Baptist, he declares, Jesus is coming. 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.760 He says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:25:38.080 --> 00:25:41.760 He's indicating that this lamb would give his life for our sins. 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:45.140 Jesus's purpose was found ultimately in his death. 00:25:45.260 --> 00:25:46.780 The atonement for sin. 00:25:46.820 --> 00:25:50.520 And so when Jesus is making this prayer, let this cup pass from me in chapter 26. 00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:52.800 He's not saying, I don't want to go to the cross. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:55.380 So what does he say? 00:25:57.910 --> 00:25:59.970 In the context of this chapter. 00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:04.060 Jesus has just gone into the upper room with his disciples. 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:07.660 And they celebrated the Passover. 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:11.320 Partook of communion. 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:17.380 And the same thing that we honor as a church, the points to the death of Christ. 00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:21.260 When they would celebrate the Passover. 00:26:21.600 --> 00:26:24.820 There was times throughout the meal where everyone would drink from one cup. 00:26:27.080 --> 00:26:34.160 And Jewish custom was that they were to drink deep from the cup, meaning the cup would go around the room and everyone 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:38.160 would take the deepest gulp they could from this cup. 00:26:39.020 --> 00:26:44.820 And as the cup began to diminish in what it contained, at the bottom of this cup was bitter herb. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.960 The last person to drink this cup. 00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:53.210 Had also swallow the bitter herb. 00:26:54.360 --> 00:26:56.620 And you weren't allowed to let this cup pass. 00:26:58.300 --> 00:26:58.720 Until. 00:26:59.820 --> 00:27:01.680 You drank deep from it. 00:27:03.360 --> 00:27:05.500 When Jesus is praying to the father. 00:27:06.860 --> 00:27:08.040 He's reflecting back. 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:09.970 It's a communion. 00:27:12.060 --> 00:27:14.920 The price he's about to pay for your sin and mine. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:21.480 And it's time for him to drink from this cup before he can let this cup pass. 00:27:23.020 --> 00:27:25.680 And at the bottom of this cup is the bitter herb. 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:32.680 Jesus is about to take the last drink and representation of sin. 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:41.200 And as Jesus prepares to swallow this cup, he's praying to the father for the strength to let this cup 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:41.660 pass. 00:27:43.280 --> 00:27:45.580 God, let me drink deep. 00:27:46.460 --> 00:27:51.100 God, let me pay for this sin. 00:27:51.280 --> 00:27:59.180 And when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he is drinking this cup, this 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:01.780 atonement for our sin. 00:28:01.780 --> 00:28:03.940 It's not happening in the garden. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.140 It doesn't happen in any other ways. 00:28:06.260 --> 00:28:08.900 Jesus isn't one of several ways. 00:28:09.100 --> 00:28:14.720 Jesus is taking the depth of this drink on the cross for our sins. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:16.480 Listen, the rest of Scripture says this. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:18.650 And when you ask the question, why does it happen? 00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:25.680 Listen to these verses in second Corinthians 521 he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:27.200 might become the righteousness of God. 00:28:28.080 --> 00:28:30.990 And first Peter 224 I think describes it beautifully. 00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:35.060 He says this he Himself bore our sins in his body. 00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:40.580 Listen on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. 00:28:41.340 --> 00:28:43.710 For by his wounds you are healed. 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:51.900 In first John chapter four and verse ten, it says, and this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and 00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:55.100 sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:28:56.440 --> 00:29:03.140 This word for propitiation gives this idea that God has wrath, and he is pouring this wrath on sin. 00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:09.860 And this wrath in Jesus God has perpetuated it in Christ. 00:29:09.860 --> 00:29:14.180 Meaning God's wrath has been satisfied in Jesus. 00:29:15.580 --> 00:29:17.090 And not only has it been satisfied. 00:29:18.780 --> 00:29:21.480 But this word for propitiation also means you have been reconciled. 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:28.460 And so what Jesus is saying on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:36.250 Jesus is identifying for us that he has taken the wrath of the father on sin, of sin upon himself. 00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:44.360 And the wrath is being satisfied, because on the cross Jesus will say to telesti, which is paid 00:29:44.360 --> 00:29:45.680 in full. 00:29:47.580 --> 00:29:51.320 Why does it happen? 00:29:52.520 --> 00:29:53.020 Jesus. 00:29:54.100 --> 00:29:55.760 As forsaken. 00:29:56.980 --> 00:29:57.380 And the father. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:00.980 Drinking deep from the cup. 00:30:02.380 --> 00:30:04.040 For the reconciliation. 00:30:05.280 --> 00:30:08.240 Of those who put their faith in Christ. 00:30:11.220 --> 00:30:13.920 The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. 00:30:16.620 --> 00:30:23.620 My mom and her father losing his life or moving on in eternity, I should say, and present 00:30:23.620 --> 00:30:31.120 with Christ according to the faith that he proclaimed he has been separated from 00:30:31.120 --> 00:30:33.200 my mother. 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:34.700 That's what that's what death is. 00:30:34.760 --> 00:30:35.350 Death is separation. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:37.230 That's what the Bible talks about separation. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:42.740 And when you think about Jesus on this cross being forsaken, he is taken the penalty of sin. 00:30:43.320 --> 00:30:44.660 The wages of sin is death. 00:30:45.220 --> 00:30:46.660 It's not ceasing to exist. 00:30:46.980 --> 00:30:47.920 It's separation. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:55.160 There's something that's taking place here between the father and son that causes Jesus to cry out, that has never been experienced so 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:56.380 deep within his soul. 00:30:56.580 --> 00:31:01.440 He is shouting it for us to understand that he alone is making this payment. 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:06.720 Not in a garden, not anywhere else, not by any other god or any other means, but he himself. 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.620 The significance of what Christ has done. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.430 John Piper says says it this way. 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:17.420 To be forsaken by God. 00:31:18.780 --> 00:31:20.370 Is the cry of the damned. 00:31:22.280 --> 00:31:26.900 What Jesus is expressing. 00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:30.850 He is literally experiencing hell on earth. 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:37.980 Sometimes when we like to think about heaven or hell, we just we sort of picture it as location within our mind. 00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:42.230 But far beyond location. 00:31:42.780 --> 00:31:46.880 Heaven or hell has everything to do with the gracious presence of God. 00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:50.160 What makes heaven heaven. 00:31:51.780 --> 00:31:53.100 As the presence of God. 00:31:54.520 --> 00:31:57.320 If you're in heaven without God, that is not heaven. 00:31:59.340 --> 00:32:04.920 It's his presence, his gracious presence, and what makes hell. 00:32:05.020 --> 00:32:09.360 Hell is the wrath of God apart from his grace. 00:32:10.820 --> 00:32:17.900 And what Jesus is experiencing on this cross is the wrath of God apart from his grace. 00:32:20.060 --> 00:32:22.000 Jesus is enduring this. 00:32:22.020 --> 00:32:26.840 And that's why John Piper says, to be forsaken by God is the cry of the damned. 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:33.730 And so when you think about the context of this passage, the intimacy of God, this is what someone wrote. 00:32:34.140 --> 00:32:36.760 Every circumstance bespoke the anger of God. 00:32:38.180 --> 00:32:39.660 It was a bitter herb of sin. 00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:43.500 And there was no countering voice this time. 00:32:43.620 --> 00:32:47.320 No word came from heaven to remind him that he was God's Son and greatly loved. 00:32:47.800 --> 00:32:50.880 No dove came down to assure him of the Spirit's presence and ministry. 00:32:51.600 --> 00:32:53.040 No angel came to strengthen him. 00:32:53.760 --> 00:32:56.160 No redeemed sinner bowed to thank him. 00:32:57.880 --> 00:32:58.420 He was abandoned. 00:33:01.520 --> 00:33:01.940 Why? 00:33:03.280 --> 00:33:03.820 Why? 00:33:06.280 --> 00:33:07.140 First Peter two says. 00:33:08.360 --> 00:33:12.940 Verse 24, he became sin who knew no sin. 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:14.420 Why? 00:33:15.860 --> 00:33:16.400 For you. 00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:19.020 For you. 00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:27.780 This is rejoicing within our hearts, because the suffering in which Jesus expresses in his life at this moment in physical 00:33:27.780 --> 00:33:34.200 torture, meant nothing but the separation from the father cried in such agony, why would you go through this? 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:35.740 Jesus? 00:33:36.860 --> 00:33:37.060 For you. 00:33:39.900 --> 00:33:47.080 And for us to come to a text like this and say things like, well, Jesus is just one option 00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:52.540 for you in your life, is to undermine or undermine everything that has to do with the beauty of the cross. 00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:58.420 To say that there was any other place in which atonement takes place for our sins. 00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:01.760 Is to undermine the beauty of what the cross is about. 00:34:03.280 --> 00:34:05.080 But listen to this by embracing it. 00:34:05.180 --> 00:34:05.280 This is. 00:34:05.420 --> 00:34:07.620 This is what it means for you in your position with God. 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:11.860 Romans eight and chapter 31. 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:15.380 Paul's reflection then, because of what God has done, he's saying this. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:18.620 If God is for us. 00:34:20.739 --> 00:34:21.989 Who can be against us. 00:34:23.739 --> 00:34:30.760 I mean, when you consider what Jesus is expressing on this cross for you, if you just stop and think, has anyone ever compared 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.820 and love for you in this world? 00:34:34.620 --> 00:34:40.260 Where else would you ever go to be loved this much and experience a God who cares about you this much? 00:34:42.699 --> 00:34:50.719 I mean, what could even compare in the amount of love in which Jesus is expressed here in the depth of his soul over the loss that 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:51.670 he is experiencing. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:56.219 And Paul on that. 00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:58.360 Remarks. 00:34:58.660 --> 00:35:02.380 If God is this passionate for me. 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:09.440 Who is against us. 00:35:09.620 --> 00:35:13.160 The Psalms say it like this In God I trust and am not afraid. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:14.820 What can man do to me? 00:35:16.140 --> 00:35:17.860 I mean, do you know how much I'm loved? 00:35:19.120 --> 00:35:23.820 And do you know how much God looks after me and God knows what's going on around me? 00:35:23.860 --> 00:35:24.780 Do you know what Jesus paid? 00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:30.900 Just so I have the opportunity to place my faith and affection with all I am back to him. 00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:36.810 Do you know if this kind of God, if this is the concern that he expresses for me? 00:35:36.900 --> 00:35:40.080 I mean, what can this world throw at me that God can't handle? 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.550 In Hebrews 13 five it says this. 00:35:46.040 --> 00:35:46.750 Got us sad. 00:35:47.780 --> 00:35:48.960 Never. 00:35:49.040 --> 00:35:49.680 Well, I leave you. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:53.900 And never look at this. 00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:56.280 Will I forsake you? 00:35:59.380 --> 00:36:01.180 Jesus takes your place. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:11.060 He experienced forsaken by the father, so that he could say in Hebrews 13 00:36:11.060 --> 00:36:14.900 that you yourself would never be forsaken by him. 00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:19.280 What kind of love pursues you this way? 00:36:19.500 --> 00:36:23.580 And to what degree could you ever hope to experience a greater love than this? 00:36:25.680 --> 00:36:29.360 So in your heart when you consider the extent of what Easter is about. 00:36:31.340 --> 00:36:38.510 The joy within our souls is to never undermine this cross by saying there is some other way, because if there was any other way, 00:36:38.560 --> 00:36:43.420 I can guarantee this morning Jesus would have never endured what he endured for you and me. 00:36:45.780 --> 00:36:46.340 A lot of passion. 00:36:50.700 --> 00:36:51.340 So what's our hope? 00:36:53.180 --> 00:36:54.890 Don't take shame in it. 00:36:56.180 --> 00:36:57.800 Don't hide it. 00:36:59.180 --> 00:36:59.920 Don't undermine it. 00:37:01.720 --> 00:37:07.560 Don't cover it over and pretend, because Jesus on the cross himself shouts this within his very being. 00:37:08.680 --> 00:37:10.120 And this is what I think about the Easter season. 00:37:10.580 --> 00:37:17.980 This is the reason why I wanted to start here this morning, is that I believe it is the love of God that compels us to love and 00:37:17.980 --> 00:37:19.320 live for him in return. 00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:28.140 And so when we grasp this with all of our being, all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, it takes the affection of everything that we are as 00:37:28.140 --> 00:37:32.100 human beings, and we can place it towards the beauty of what Christ has done for us. 00:37:32.240 --> 00:37:39.380 Because now, in the resurrection of Jesus, no longer is this horrific event defined by just the death 00:37:39.380 --> 00:37:43.620 on the cross, but now it's defined by life eternal, found in Jesus. 00:37:43.980 --> 00:37:51.400 It has gone from the most despicable, darkest day in history to everything that we will rejoice over from now into all of eternity. 00:37:53.600 --> 00:37:55.070 And when you lean into it. 00:37:56.060 --> 00:37:57.060 This Easter season. 00:37:58.800 --> 00:37:59.420 All that you are. 00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:02.870 And all that he has done. 00:38:04.340 --> 00:38:07.160 It gives your heart reason to rejoice and praise in Christ. 00:38:09.270 --> 00:38:11.770 Thank you for letting me be a little passionate this morning. 00:38:12.560 --> 00:38:15.560 But this is something with our hearts we should never let go.