The Lamb, Betrayed and Unjustly Arrested

Transcript

Good morning Saints. Very happy to be with you today. I don’t know about you all, but I really look forward to our worship services. This wasn’t always the case. Obviously when I was an unbeliever this wasn’t the case, but even as a Christian this wasn’t always the case. Worship with other Christians wasn’t as fulfilling, as satisfying, as joyful as it ought to be. And there were seasons where to my shame I came to church, I carried out my ministry, I sang, I prayed somewhat begrudgingly. And the Lord has helped me see the folly of that kind of worship and how it’s really not worship at all. But I have a lot of you actually to thank for the renewed joy that I have in coming to worship with the people of God. So I look forward to these Sunday mornings with you all. I look forward to

hearing your voices as we sing. I look forward to praying with you all. I look forward to worshiping by opening the Word of God together, studying, being shaped by it. So thank you all for being such good brothers and sisters to me and my family and for loving me so well and giving me a home that’s so sweet to come to. I really love you all a lot. I was just thinking about that before I came up here. Grateful for all of you. This morning, Saints, we find ourselves again in the Gospel of John and we’re going to be looking at chapter 18 as Pastor Thomas noted this morning. We’ll look at the first 12 verses where we’ll see the Lamb betrayed and unjustly arrested. If you have your Bible and you’ve opened it to John chapter 18, I want to invite you to stand if you’re able for the reading

of the Word of God. John chapter 18, we’ll read the first 12 verses. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron where there was a garden which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told

you that I am he. So if you seek me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, of those whom you gave me I have lost not one. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. This is the word of the Lord Saints. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Keep your Bibles there. We’ll be bouncing around that text a little bit. Make sure to follow along as we look through this portion of Scripture. Would you pray with me Saints? Our gracious Father, would you

The Awful Betrayal

still our hurried anxious hearts and help us to focus on Jesus. Lord, would you use my weakness to point to his immense strength this morning. In his name and for his glory I pray. Amen. Injustice is something to which each of us reacts viscerally. It upsets us. It bothers us. It stirs something in us which longs, which yearns for the wrong to be righted, for fairness and for truth to prevail. This is the case for a lot of what happens in our world. We see a lot of injustice all around us. But many of us, and I think rightly, are particularly upset when we hear of people being unjustly punished. The innocent treated as if they were guilty. Bearing the consequences of actions that they themselves did not commit. Between the years of 1989 and 2024 in the United States, 3,645 people were exonerated after being falsely accused of a crime

in serving time in prison. 3,645. The average time served for those exonerated was nine years. Nine years of their lives for something they didn’t do. The longest sentence of an exonerated man was a man who served over 48 years for a crime he didn’t commit after being exonerated and released in the year 2023. He went to prison in 1975 and he came out an aged man in the year 2023 for something he didn’t do. This gets even worse when you think about the fact that 202 of these were exonerated from death row awaiting execution. And 25 people received posthumous exonerations after either dying in jail or being executed. Again, for a crime they didn’t commit. This is absolutely tragic. It’s unjust. It’s wrong. It’s heartbreaking. And we react this way because we know that this isn’t right. People shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s crimes, right?

And yet, how else would any of us be made and right in God’s eyes if it weren’t for the unjust arrest, the mockery of a trial, and the horrific murder of our Lord Jesus in our place? How do we make sense of the fact that this reality that I hate is the most important part of my story? This wrong is the only way that I’m made right. As the wonderful hymn says, in my place condemned he stood. We’ll be exploring that topic just a little bit this morning as we look at the unjust arrest of our Lord. Coming out of his evening with his closest friends in the upper room, after his high priestly prayer, the Apostle John tells us when Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Brook Kidron where there was a garden which he and his disciples entered. After a long evening

together with his disciples, Jesus along with them heads to a garden to rest before this vast Passover celebration that’s going to consume the whole city, that’s going to draw in people from all over. Isn’t it interesting? And I don’t know if you’ve ever paid attention to this, but isn’t it interesting that all of this is happening in a garden? The end of the ministry of our Lord, the beginning of him accomplishing the work of salvation on our behalf happens where else but a garden, just like where the story started. In another garden, where the first man and the first woman disobeyed God and chose their own way. And now, God the Son obeys God the Father to fix what Adam and Eve and each of us really broke, but what was initially lost and broken in a garden as well. So Jesus’ hour finally comes, this hour which he would reference over the course

of his ministry multiple times after having served others, after having given himself in every single way, after teaching everyone he encountered the word of God, the hope of God, the truth and the reality of who God is, after bringing hope and healing, after performing countless miracles, after showing immense humility, after giving a voice to the voiceless and living his way in the best way possible for a human being, he’s met with this scene. And looking at the first part of John 18, we’ll consider this unjust, wicked arrest in three parts. First, we’ll see the awful betrayal of a friend. Second, we’ll look at the quiet surrender of the I am. And lastly, we’ll look at the Lamb of God, man’s substitute. Look at verses two and three first, where we see the awful betrayal of a friend. As Jesus and his disciples arrive at this garden, Judas is also already on his way there. Now, if you’ve studied the

Gospels or have read through the New Testament at some point, you’ll notice that John doesn’t include a very well-known aspect of Jesus’ final night before his betrayal. And that is his time in the Garden of Gethsemane, that time of prayer, that quiet time, that time when, while praying to his heavenly Father, trying to keep the disciples away, asking them to pray with him, alongside of him, Jesus is so distressed that he sweats blood. Drops of blood pour out of his pores. But John, he jumps right over that detail. John jumps straight into Judas’ betrayal. And more importantly, eventually, what he jumps right into is Jesus’ reaction to this whole spectacle. Now, you may be asking yourself, why is this the case? Why would this detail be skipped? It seems fairly important. It gives a lot of color to this whole scene. Now, each Gospel writer had to choose a focus for his account. Each Gospel writer had to choose

what to include and what to exclude. Certain things to omit from this story, and highlighting other things so as to paint the broader picture, so as to give the picture that they think is needed from their perspective. And John writes at the very end of his book, in chapter 21, verse 25. Now, there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. This is stated in another way, along with the purpose of his writing this account of the life and ministry of Jesus, seen in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in

his name. So John had to be selective. And led by the Spirit, this is the part of the story he chooses to tell. And this is just a very short aside, but this is one of the criticisms you’ll hear railed against the gospel writers, actually. People say, oh, their stories don’t match up perfectly. There’s details in this one that seem kind of important, or stories about Jesus, or somebody that he heals, or something that he does that the others don’t include. And how you have to think about this is not in terms of things being missed, and things being kind of glossed over, or mistakes made, but parts of a puzzle. Pieces coming together to complete the picture. And the Holy Spirit inspired these men to write in the way that they did, and to highlight the details that they highlighted, in order to give you a very specific part of that picture. And John,

in giving us this scene, specifically wants to highlight how Jesus reacts to this whole thing. What is Jesus’ response to what’s happening around him? So how does Judas know that this is where he’d find Jesus? Of all places that he could go, of all the places that he can bring this group of people that are going to come and arrest him, how does he know to bring them here? Well, they used to spend a lot of time in this very garden. This was a familiar place for them, a place of rest, a place of solitude. Jesus knew that this is how Judas would be thinking, that this is what he’d do. Don’t forget that Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him. He spoke of it just a little while ago, so you’d think that if he didn’t want to

be betrayed, if he didn’t want to be arrested and handed over to be killed, he would have gone somewhere else. He would have gone somewhere unfamiliar. He would have gone somewhere where Judas wouldn’t think to take these people who are going to come and arrest our Lord. So what does Jesus do? He walks right into their hands. And notice another thing that’s missing from this whole scene is that infamous kiss from Judas, where he says, the one that I kiss is he. All of the other gospel writers note it, and it is an important detail, but John omits it. But the point there is that what should have been seen as a sign of friendship, what should have been seen as a sign of closeness, was instead a picture of betrayal, making what Judas did all the more heinous. It would have been easier for him to just point from a distance, not come up close to your friend, kiss

him, and say, that’s the one. Take him. It seems John, again, is trying to show us that what Jesus does in this horrible situation, in this picture of injustice, is that he willingly gives himself up. He freely goes into the hands of his captors. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t blame Judas. Why would Judas do this? Why does this make sense to him? How can you betray Jesus? John 12 tells us that Judas was a thief, that Judas loved money, that Judas looked out for himself, that he stole from the disciples and from Jesus. Was he also maybe disillusioned with who this Messiah turned out to be, the unmet expectations, the desires that never came to pass? After Judas left the meal in the upper room, he went to the Jewish religious leaders to strike up a deal. He was done. He’d checked out. How much are you gonna

pay me if I give him to you? And what was the price that he agreed to? 30 measly pieces of silver. Most estimates would put the value of those coins, depending on purity and everything else, considered somewhere between $100 and $500 in today’s money. Not an insignificant sum, but not a sizable sum either. The sum of silver, the sum of this silver is important, however, because not just because of how much it’s worth or how much it would have been worth to the people at that time, but it’s important because in Exodus 21, 32, 30 shekels of silver is the price that’s listed to pay for a slave, to the owner of that slave, if an ox should kill it. Throw away money. Hey, I’m sorry I destroyed your property. Here’s 30 pieces of silver for your troubles. Moreover, in Zechariah 11, the Israelites paid the Prophet Zechariah 30 pieces of

silver for his work done as a shepherd in their midst, and when they paid him this sum, this was seen as an insult. So God tells Zechariah, toss the coins back. Throw them back into the temple. The price of a dead slave, the wage of an unwanted shepherd, that’s what Judas took to give up his friend. Now notice, Judas doesn’t come for Jesus alone. The assortment of people he brings with him is important. The soldiers and some officers from the chief priests, a rare collaborative effort of church and state. Try to imagine this scene. You have soldiers, the clanging of armor, the lights, the chatter. When you read this text, how many people are you picturing are coming up this hill, up to this garden? I’ll tell you, when I remember reading this story, in my mind this is like maybe two dozen people or so, 30, 40 at most, something like that. Now Roman

soldiers wouldn’t normally be hanging out in large numbers in Jerusalem. This wasn’t an important outpost for them where they just had large parts of their infantry stationed, but during feast days and Jewish holidays they would come in large numbers so that they can control the crowds and make sure that the people don’t rebel. Having a large amount of soldiers to draw from, the state sent a band or a cohort of soldiers. And this number, most scholars estimate, is somewhere around 600 men. Picture this scene, 600 soldiers. Then also consider the fact that our text tells us that the temple officers came alongside of them. And then possibly a hundred or so temple officers that would have been carrying out the religious duty of the religious leaders at that time, making sure that everything is done in the right way. And as this massive crowd starts moving towards the garden, what

happens when a crowd starts moving or a line forms? What’s going on over there? You have people wandering towards that crowd. You have people showing some interest or some curiosity and linking up and seeing where these people are headed. So I think it’s not insane to estimate that roughly a thousand people came to arrest Jesus that night, or at least to watch the arrest of Jesus. Conservative estimate, maybe 700. This was anything but a covert mission. Jesus and the disciples would have been standing in the garden and they would have seen this crowd with the torches and the noise coming their way, this mass of people moving through the night towards them. This is a chaotic scene. Quite the team Judas assembles to arrest his friend who’s never done even an ounce of violence towards anyone. Can you imagine what the disciples must have thought

when they saw this whole thing unfolding before their eyes as they’re scrambling to try to read this scene and they look in the crowd and in the middle of it is Judas walking and standing with the crowd of people who’ve come to arrest Jesus. Can you imagine their anger, their sadness, confusion? Moreover, can you imagine what must have been going through Judas’ mind as he stands there looking at his rabbi, looking at his group of friends? What does he think? What does he feel? Doubt? Regret? Fear? Or at this point is it just hard-hearted resolve? When Jesus responds to the question of the crowds who’ve come to arrest him, we see something devastating in this text. Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. Judas chose sides. He was done with Jesus. He wasn’t even contemplating the possibility that he’d made a mistake at this point. It’s so incredibly sad. So close, yet so far. He heard all the right

things. He participated in the ministry. He experienced the miracles. He saw it happen and he was unmoved. He carried out this wicked, wicked deed. His life and his ultimate fate is the ultimate tragedy. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is the darkest, most wicked thing any person has ever done. To betray your friend, to betray an innocent who’s only ever done good, to betray the one who just fed you, who just washed your feet. Eventually, Judas would come to regret what he’d done. He’d give the money back saying, I’ve sinned by betraying innocent blood. And like in Zechariah’s prophecy, he throws the coins back into the temple. But this wasn’t repentance. It was worldly sorrow. His life ended tragically when after returning the money and not feeling any better, and his guilt just accumulating more and more, overcome with hopelessness, Judas ultimately took his own life. And

then, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy even further, the returned 30 pieces of silver were used to buy a potter’s field for his burial. What an immense tragedy. To have access to eternal life, to eternal joy, and to give it all up because of a love of money, because of your own selfishness. These soldiers and these officials came expecting a fight. They came with weapons expecting him to run, torches to be able to find him when he does. But he went quietly and noncombatively. Why? Because this was the plan all along. He was perfectly in control because his hour had come and it’s now time to go to the cross, which brings us to the quiet surrender of the I Am. How does Jesus respond to this spectacle of a massive crowd and soldiers and torches? Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? He

The Quiet Surrender

knew the horrors that were coming. He knew of the torture, the pain, and yet he steps forward. He gives himself up. Here he’s putting on display what he said in John 10 18. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. And when they tell him who they’re looking for, he responds with a very interesting phrase. He says, Ego eimi. If you’ve been studying the Gospel of John along with us, you’ll know that phrase is translated as, I am. This is the direct translation from the Greek. That’s what that means, ego eimi, which would have been how the Septuagint also translated the Hebrew Bible, which would have been why Jesus intentionally says this. Not, I am Jesus. I am. Consider the various I am statements in John’s Gospel that we’ve already studied. In 635, I’m the bread of

life. In 812, I am the light of the world. In 858, before Abraham was, I am. In John 10 7, I am the door. 10 11, I am the Good Shepherd. 11 25, I am the resurrection and the life. 14 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 15 1, I am the true vine and now, here, I am. The way that Jesus responds to them with his use of the term ego eimi is the same way that it would have been used in John 8 58, which is significant because when he says, before Abraham was, I am, how did the Jews respond to this? Verse 59, they picked up stones to throw at him. Why? Why is this a big deal? The way he says, before Abraham was, I am, the way he used that term is the same way that God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3

14, when Moses asked him how he should answer when people ask him, who sent him? Who is this God that sent him? God says, I am that I am. Jesus responds in this very way. The religious leaders knew what Jesus meant when he said this. The disciples knew what he meant when he said this and now these soldiers, they know. You’re looking for Jesus? It’s me, the I am. As soon as he speaks, the very power of his word, the power of his name sends all these men to the ground, armed and trained soldiers, 600 of them, fall to the ground at the mere word of a Jewish carpenter. It’s almost as if Psalm 27 2 comes to life in this text. When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. You’d think that if the mere words of the man you came to arrest

cause you to fall to the ground, maybe you’d reconsider your mission. Maybe you’d be like, this isn’t what I signed up for. But no, they got up and they persisted with their wicked deeds. Such is the foolishness of sin and rebellion against God. You see him face to face. You feel the power of his word. You touch him and you proceed with your wickedness. But our Lord doesn’t fight them. He doesn’t call down angels from heaven to come to his defense. He doesn’t use his power. He goes quietly with them. He gives himself up to his enemies. He gives himself up for his enemies. The I Am didn’t utter a word in his own defense, but he went quietly all the way to the cross. Why? To be our substitute. To stand in our place. Which brings us to our last point, the Lamb of God, man’s

The Lamb’s Substitution

substitute. As we consider Jesus as our substitute, I want you to look back with me at verse 1. In verse 1, there’s a brook mentioned. And this seems like an odd detail to include in this text where other things are being highlighted, far more important things than the landscape. This brook that Jesus crosses flows down past the garden and it flows down from the temple. And an interesting thing about this brook, this stream really, is that inside the temple from which it flowed, where the priests slaughtered animals for sacrifices, they needed a drain so that the blood could pour out of the temple. So there wouldn’t be this room where it’s just basically constantly stained with blood. And so as they washed it all out, all of the blood would need to flow somewhere. And it flowed down into this stream. This would have been a lot more blood than usual

given that it was the time of the Passover. And there’s a lot of sacrificial lambs being slaughtered at this time. So John gives us this detail that as Jesus is making his way to the garden, as he’s walking, and he steps over this stream, as he steps over this brook, as the disciples cross over the brook Kidron, which would have been red, bright red, from the blood of sacrificed lambs. Blood shed to atone for sins. Blood shed to cover those who would trust in God for protection and for salvation. They’re all stepping over this red stream, walking into the garden. And as our Lord looks down at this bloody water, I wonder, did he think to himself, there will be no more need of this soon? It wasn’t accidental that John includes this detail. Because this highlights the need for a permanent solution for the problem of sin. Jesus responds a second

time to this crowd. He lets them know that he’s the one they’re after. But this time he’s saying, I need you to let these men go. I’m the one you want. Let these others go. Let these men go. He’s not worried about his own safety here, but he is worried about his disciples. He wants to make sure that they’ll be okay once he’s gone. His life for theirs. Doesn’t this take your mind to just a few chapters back in our study? John 10-11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Don’t hurt them. Don’t do anything to them. Don’t arrest them. They’re not guilty. It’s me. It’s me that you want. Take me. Let them go. And just like he promised he wouldn’t lose a single one, this was to fulfill the word that he had spoken. Of those whom you gave me, I’ve

lost not one. Just like he prayed in his prayer, I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. All of his will be safe. None of his will be lost. All of them protected and secure forever. And then Peter thinks to himself, okay, my time to shine. This is my cue. Once again, he has the seemingly big show of faith and confidence in himself and in his ability to fix the situation. And this, of course, comes shortly before he denies Jesus three times. But he needs to jump on this opportunity to prove himself. Peter, being Peter, pulls out a dagger and takes a wild swing. And he misses. He cuts off the ear of one of the men who’ve come to arrest Jesus. As a fisherman, he likely wouldn’t have had that kind of precision, that kind of

precise aim. So he was probably aiming for the head. He was trying to decapitate this guy. But he misses and he just gets an ear. And it’s this very specific detail. It’s the right ear. And it’s just interesting to me that there’s this height. It’s stuck in John’s mind, I’m sure. He’s like, whoa! You know, he just sees this right ear fly off. And Peter’s like, I did it. Does Peter perhaps see this as an opportunity to prove to Jesus and the other disciples that, no, no, I won’t deny him. I won’t run. I’ll be here. I said I’d lay down my life and I’m gonna do it. It must have hurt to be told by Jesus that he was just about to deny him. It must have been confusing. And so he’s trying to prove himself, maybe. But Peter is stopped by Jesus and told, no, no, no, Peter, this isn’t the way. This isn’t the

plan. This isn’t how it goes. Luke, the physician in his gospel account, writes about Jesus healing Malchus. About Jesus reattaching the ear in Luke 22, 51. This man, Malchus, he gets to experience the power of Jesus in a pretty unique way. He gets to experience Jesus’ last healing. This must have been a fun story to tell his master when he got back from the mission. Yeah, that guy he sent me to arrest, he did something. What we see here, beloved, is Jesus beginning this work of being our substitute. He says, not them, me. And then he stops Peter from defending him. And he gives himself up to the soldiers and the officials, not putting up a fight, not providing any argument. The substitute for the disciples there and after the cross, the substitute for all who would believe in him. But the arrest is just the beginning of the road. Our Lord says, shall I not drink the cup

that the Father has given me? He’s obeying the Father. He’s not obeying the soldiers. He’s not obeying the religious leaders. And what is this cup that Jesus must drink? This cup that his father has given him? It’s the very wrath of God against sinners. The very cup that every single one of us was supposed to drink. It’s what was supposed to be poured out on all those who are in opposition to God, who choose their sin over God. And so Jesus says, if I don’t drink it, there is no hope for you. This is the only way we make it back to God, saints. For our sake, he made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2nd Corinthians 521. There’s much ink spilled about the ugliness and the horror and whatever else of penal substitutionary atonement.

What a horrible misunderstanding of the beauty of what God has done to save us. What hope would we have if we don’t have a substitute? What hope would we have if God’s wrath is not poured out on an innocent so that we could be made clean? What hope of righteousness could we possibly have if God’s plan of salvation is not fulfilled? For our sake, he became sin. The father gives the son the cup of wrath, and the son doesn’t buck against it. He doesn’t fight. The son willingly takes it. Why? For the sake of his people whom he loves. He didn’t fight. He didn’t argue. He says, here I am. Take me. Leave them. It’s my time. Doesn’t your mind just go to Isaiah 53? He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a

sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. As awful as his betrayal was, as unjust as his arrest was, this was God’s plan. Why? So that he could be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Friends, we don’t get forgiveness. We don’t get salvation. We don’t get restoration or a future hope without him going this way, all the way to the cross. Where Jesus is headed and what he’s doing is so much more than just a martyr’s death. He goes to take on the full wrath of God in the place of sinners. He’s resolved to finish what he started, a life of perfect obedience and a substitutionary death for his people. When we think of Jesus’ death, we need to remind ourselves, and we need to fight against this idea that he died because he just frustrated some

The Cost of Salvation

religious leaders or some political leaders. His death wasn’t just an example of a better way to live. His death wasn’t just a show of a sacrificial leader. No. What happens here is this is the I Am stepping into the place of his people, taking on the death and the punishment that they deserve so that we could be reconciled to him so that he could fix what none of us ever could. Friend, do you stop to think about what your salvation cost? Or are you used to it by now? Is this just kind of a commonplace doctrinal reality, just a point of trivia? Do you stop to consider what it cost him to save you, what it took to be made right with God? It wasn’t cheap. It took the spotless Lamb of God being unjustly treated, tortured, and killed. But more than that, to save us, he drank the cup of

God’s wrath that you and I should have drank, and he did so willingly because he loves you. Christian, when you come to the table and eat the bread and partake in the wine later today, remembering his sacrifice for you symbolized in these elements, I want you to consider the fact that you get to drink this cup because he drank that cup for you. I want us to take a moment, and in the quiet of our hearts, to pray to him, to talk to him, to express our adoration, our worship, our love of the one who loved us and gave himself for us. And friend, if you’re here and you’re confused by a lot of what I’m saying, and you don’t know Jesus in this way, and you haven’t repented of your sins, I want to encourage you, take this time of prayer and just cry out to God. God, help me see. I don’t see this. I don’t

believe this. Help me see, please. And then after the service, we would love to talk to you, we’d love to pray with you, we would love to answer any questions you have about this Jesus. I believe wholeheartedly this is the most important person you will ever meet. Let’s go to him in prayer. I’ll give you all a moment to pray and then I’ll close.

Our King Jesus, we stand in awe of you, in awe of your sacrifice, of your love, your grace. Words fail us when we try to express all that you are to us. And so our Lord, we ask, would you help us to honor you with the lives that you have graciously purchased and gifted to us? Help us to live in such a way as to make you known, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. We love you, Lord. You are our everything and we pray this in your name and for your glory. Amen.