Ron Houben - Class 3: Out of the Depths

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Thanks, Jamin. Brothers and sisters and young people, I thought we would start by just doing a little bit of a recap. And there was a slide that I never put up early on in the first session, and it may work quite well as a bit of a recap.

2. 0:16

   We've suggested that Jesus' seven sayings from the cross, which spanned the time period from the morning to the evening sacrifice from 9am to 3pm, are typical, really, of the life cycle of a disciple in the Lord. They present to us the aspect of our life before our Lord and the ever-changing things which take place as we develop a spirituality before our God.

3. 0:43

   And as we said, the first statement, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It's a statement of mercy. In our wilderness of life in 2012, this is the first stage of any disciple. It's the recognition of mercy in our lives that God has saved us from our sins and the means by which he has done that through Jesus Christ.

4. 1:07

   And that should provoke in us a responsibility and an action in terms of our love and care towards others. The next statement, an incredible statement of hope. Truly I say unto thee today, with me you will be in paradise. As we said, the whole emphasis on that statement of Jesus is to be with him.

5. 1:32

   And if we are with him, then access to the tree of life is made open. A wonderful statement of hope in terms of being freed from our sins. And not just freed from our sins, but freed from the guilt that sin brings. So once we understand God's compassion and willingness to save, the vision of future redemption becomes our sure hope.

6. 1:54

   Then we look yesterday at that incredible statement of love that Jesus portrayed from the cross. Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. And as we develop in the truth, it's our development in terms of our family relationship that we develop. We discover that really, we leave our natural father and mother and we cleave unto the bride of Christ.

7. 2:19

   And this becomes our family. And it becomes a new bond and a new fellowship that we have. And we truly understand God's mercy. But inevitably, as in every development of any disciple that has ever lived, when God begins the good work, he will finish it. And in order to finish it, there are times when we will be in daylight.

8. 2:47

   And then times when we will be in darkness. And these were the three sayings of Jesus during the day, between 9am and 12pm. But then came three hours of darkness. And it was at the end of the darkness that we get the next four sayings. And they epitomize these four sayings, our Lord's trust in God.

9. 3:11

   And the saying we're going to look at this morning, on the surface, appears to be a statement of despair. Appears to be a statement where Christ sees himself as forsaken by his God. But we're going to see that that couldn't be further from the truth. That Jesus is in fact, like all his sayings, drawing attention for others to look at the power of his words.

10. 3:35

    And the statement is more for those around the cross than it is for himself. His trust never wavered. And through our life, we will inevitably come across a time in our life, or times in our life, when every human vestige of hope will depart from us in terms of solving our solution. And the only answer to our problems will be God.

11. 3:58

    And that will be the making and breaking of us as a disciple. It's how we react in those situations. Do we turn to our own arm, our own hand for the solution to our problems? That we pour out our heart and soul to God. And inevitably, there must come those times. And if we go through those trials, and we overcome those trials and trust in God, there becomes within us.

12. 4:22

    And as the elderly this morning, as we were there, were up first thing in the morning to do their readings, the insatiable desire, hunger and thirst for God's word. And it seems that you see this so much as the faithful disciples grow older, that their whole trust is on the word of God.

13. 4:45

    And it becomes their desire more and more as they grow older in their life. And they've seen the way God's worked in their life. And they've come to trust that his word has been the one that has guided them all their lives. And their enthusiasm, their hunger and thirst, insatiable thirst, for his word becomes evident.

14. 5:07

    And then ultimately, of course, that statement, it is finished. The triumph of every faithful disciple to know, once he understands that God truly will never leave them nor forsake them, the conviction, the triumph to know that they have been promised the reward and inheritance, and they are assured of that inheritance. They know it in themselves because of their love and trust for their father.

15. 5:35

    And ultimately, of course, the life is given back to God. God has begun a good work and he finishes it. And into thy hands I commit my spirit. And our entire lives are given back to God. And that is the seven sayings on the cross. That is the life cycle of every disciple in the Lord.

16. 5:53

    And it is our discipleship in 2012. So I just want to come back briefly because we raced through this bit on woman behold thy son and son behold thy mother because I've forever been getting behind time. And we see this was Jesus' statement of love. And as we said, for both Mary and for John, it was a very powerful statement.

17. 6:14

    Simply because of what Simeon had said to Mary right at the time when Jesus was born, that this child was set for the fall and rise of many in Israel. And yea, and a sword shall pierce thy side also. And we mentioned the fact that Mary is the only human, the only disciple that had ever lived that was 100% convinced that the man that stood before her was the son of God.

18. 6:39

    She had no doubt. Every other disciple, every other person had doubts at times in their life. Is this the son of God? But Mary would have no doubt, would she not? Because she knew how she became pregnant. And she knew that this child, this man in front of her, was truly the son of God.

19. 7:00

    And it was a powerful thing for her as she stood at the foot of the cross to see her son being crucified. And of course, John, who had desired care of his mother, to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in his glory, was now there before Christ in his glory.

20. 7:22

    This was the father glorifying the son. And could John really want to be in that position now as he looked to the right and left hand of Jesus and saw two criminals being crucified with Christ? And it was a powerful thing that John, this disciple that was forever competitive, was ever desiring to be the greatest in the kingdom of God, and the greatest amongst the other disciples, would now see what it would take to become the greatest.

21. 7:49

    He must humble himself. And he was going to take on the care and nurture and responsibility of looking after the Lord's mother. Well, it's an amazing picture, isn't it, of Christ on the cross.

22. 8:06

    To see a person on one side who was casting in and at his face. It says he reviled him. So the one thief was reviling him and saying, you know, if you're the son of God, save yourself. If you think about it, that, in fact, was exactly the same statement of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

23. 8:32

    Has God said, thou shalt surely die? He doesn't really mean it. Has God said, this is the path that you must take? You don't have to die. Save yourself. Come down from the cross. And it was the same saying that was coming from all of those around Jesus. He was surrounded by serpents.

24. 8:56

    Now, I had to put this slide up. I found it in some old files just yesterday. I had to put this up because this is especially for mother-in-law and for James. This was drawn many years ago by Davy Saul for me. And I just love that slide. I think it's a great picture of the brood of vipers there.

25. 9:21

    But this is what was happening. The serpent was everywhere in front of Christ. And that's what they were saying. If you're the Son of God, you do not have to die. Save yourself. And remember, he had the power. God had given him at his disposal twelve legions of angels. And they would have been there at his beck and call, ready to come, to vanquish that evil right there, at his command if he so wanted to.

26. 9:47

    And the temptation was there right before him all the time to prove he was the Son of God. And God would have responded. God had given him that power. But of course, Jesus knew that this was not the Father's will. And despite the fact that that serpent reasoning was all around him, and it was beautiful the way in which God then has this other malefactor beside him that comes with this incredible statement.

27. 10:19

    And there on the other side of him was the picture of a man who saw the way to the tree of life and suddenly turned to Jesus and looked at Jesus and said, remember me. It's remarkable, isn't it? You think about that man and you compare him to Cain. Cain was the first seed of the serpent, wasn't he?

28. 10:43

    And he was a murderer. And he killed a righteous man. This man being crucified by Jesus was guilty of the same. As we showed yesterday, he was a murderer, like Cain. And God said to Cain, look Cain, if you do well, there's a sin offering lying at the door. You can still be saved.

29. 11:03

    And Cain said, my sin is greater than I can bear. And so God exiled him to the land of Nod. And off went Cain to Nodiland, far away from the paradise of God. Far away from the tree of life. He was exiled away from the tree of life, away from the cherubim. Access to the tree of life was denied this man.

30. 11:26

    Why? Because he didn't believe he could be saved. Whereas this other thief turned around and said, Lord, remember me. And all of a sudden, this man has found the path back to the tree of life. And I was talking after my session yesterday with somebody, and it was really, it was a powerful sort of discussion that we had.

31. 11:52

    And I hadn't seen this point before in terms of Jesus saying to Mary. We link the fact that Mary, in saying woman, Jesus was referring to her as the seed of the woman, as Eve, the mother of all living. And he was the seed of the woman being crucified before her very eyes as the seed of the woman.

32. 12:14

    He was crushing the head of the serpent right there and then. And right before her very eyes in this situation, Jesus now turns around and says to her, woman, behold thy son. Do you know, that's exactly what God did with Eve, didn't he? Because she had two sons,

33. 12:35

    seed of the woman and seed of the serpent. And the seed of the serpent rose up and slew the seed of the woman and came, killed the seed of the woman and killed Abel. And so she had another son called Seth and said, God hath appointed me another son in place of this, the seed of the woman.

34. 12:55

    And here was Jesus being crucified right in front of her, the seed of the woman. And he turned to her and said, woman, behold thy son. And he gave to her another son in place of himself. And it's a beautiful picture of really everything that was taking place in the garden. Well, the record says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

35. 13:24

    Have you ever thought that that is the only real example of a tree of life? An active tree of life in the Word of God? This dead stick, a pole, and they put a serpent on a pole and they hung it up. And if the people looked at that and never took their eyes off it, they would be saved.

36. 13:48

    As soon as they turned away from that, they would die. And here was Jesus crucified in the midst of them on a dead stick, on a dead pole. He was truly the tree of life in the midst of them. Well, we come to our next statement. Our statement which we said is a statement of trust where he says, Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabachthani.

37. 14:16

    But we need to kind of, I suppose, look at the background of this. Matthew says that it came at the end of this three hours of darkness and that there was darkness from the sixth hour to the ninth hour or 12pm to 3pm. And in the midst of all of these jeers and all of this crying of these people to say, he saved others, he's south, he cannot save.

38. 14:41

    And as people came down to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover, there were the chief priests and they were casting it in his face. They were making sure that everybody would not be swayed by the sign that hung over his head saying, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. If he was the king of the Jews, what's he doing up there?

39. 15:03

    If he was God's son, what's he doing up there? If he trusted in God, surely God would deliver him if he delights in him, if he's his beloved.

40. 15:16

    Well, in the prophecy of Amos, there's an interesting little statement about the darkness and it's worth having a little bit of a look just for, I suppose, a connection to this.

41. 15:31

    Amos chapter 8. Amos chapter 8 verse 9, It shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day. I'll cause the sun to go down at noon and I'll darken the earth in the clear day.

42. 15:52

    Well, that's exactly what happened, of course, in the crucifixion of Christ. And here is an underlying prophecy pointing forward to what was happening at the cross. Verse 10, I will turn your feasts into mourning. Of course, it was Passover time. All your songs into lamentation and I'll bring sackcloth upon your loins and baldness upon every head and I'll make it as the mourning of an only child.

43. 16:14

    The mourning of an only child and the end thereof is a bitter day. And then he says, Behold, I will send a famine on this land and they shall wander to and fro throughout every nation and pronouncement of judgment that was going to happen upon that nation because they crucified the only son of God.

44. 16:33

    And Amos picks up this story of God's anger bringing this darkness during the brightness of the day. Some have suggested that it's an eclipse but this was Passover. This was time of the full moon. You never have an eclipse in the time of a full moon. It just doesn't happen. Not a daytime eclipse.

45. 16:51

    This was no eclipse. This was a supernatural darkness that God brought upon the land at this time. And you can imagine all the jeering, all the words that were being spoken all of a sudden went silent as this darkness came around and came down upon the earth. They were reminded of course of the darkness upon Egypt, the firstborn of Egypt that was slain when God's darkness and the angel of evil went forward and slew all the firstborn of Egypt.

46. 17:19

    And this darkness was so dark that it was felt and there was silence in front of the cross. Silence for three hours. Nothing's recorded for that whole period of three hours. And at the end of that three hours Jesus cries this statement. Now, there have been all sorts of things said about this statement and some of the most horrific things come from church commentaries about this statement in terms of the fact that God truly had to forsake his son for a time because of his holiness and this was, well, then they talk about how this was how God's nature could not be seen associated with Christ at this time so this was God himself being crucified but the God part of his crucifixion couldn't be there so the God part of his humanity was taken away for a moment.

47. 18:18

    And there's just crazy stuff written about it from church commentaries all trying to get their head around what was being said. Sadly, I think that we've got lulled into that and there's been some statements really, I think, within our own community that have been somewhat confused by this and it's been suggested that at some stage God had to withdraw his spirit from Jesus and as he was approaching death because God's spirit is holy and Jesus was man and at some stage he had to withdraw his spirit.

48. 18:50

    Well, there might be a possibility of this but there's no scriptural proof of this. There's no, you have no evidence to show that when God gave his holy spirit to somebody that he had to count down and say, righto, 15 minutes before he dies I need to get that spirit back now otherwise it's going to be associated with a dead man.

49. 19:11

    You've got nothing in the Bible of that sort of thing. Man's spirit, his breath, returns to God when he dies. Why can't his holy spirit have done the same thing? You know, Stephen right before the point of his death it says was filled with the holy spirit, looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the glory of the father and it says they rushed upon him, took him out and stoned him.

50. 19:34

    Well, in between that did God suddenly say, oh, I better take that back. Nothing in the Bible is recorded like that. Besides, this word forsaken in Psalm 22 literally means to leave. It's the same word which used when we say for this reason, shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife.

51. 20:02

    It literally means to let go of. It's from a root which means to release, to let go of. And it goes in the face of every other statement. We'll come back to that. There it is. It's the primitive root meaning to loosen. That is to relinquish, to permit, to forsake, to leave, to refuse.

52. 20:24

    But it goes in the face of every other statement in the Bible about what God says about his love for his faithful. You think of them. It's all over the Bible. Genesis 28, very same word, promised to Jacob. Behold, I am with you and I will keep you in all places, every place where you go, and I will bring you again into this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of you.

53. 20:54

    I will not forsake you. That's God's promise to Jacob. God's promise to Joshua. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, I will be with thee. I will not leave thee nor forsake thee. I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.

54. 21:15

    David says it in Psalm 37, I've been young, now I'm old. This is one thing I've seen. I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I've never seen the righteous forsaken. God doesn't do that. Are we to imagine that just because the time was getting close that those verses really applied to Jesus and that he felt that?

55. 21:39

    Surely Jesus knew these quotes. He knew the principle of God being with Jacob, being with Moses, being with Joshua, being with David. God and God and God that's where it becomes so powerful. It's exactly the same for you and me. Let your conversation be without covetousness, be content with such things as you have, for he said I will never leave you nor forsake you.

56. 22:08

    So how are we to understand these words in Psalm 22 and I'm going back because I've got these out of order but coming back to Psalm 22 there's two things I want you to notice. If he was praying directly to God in this statement Jesus would have said Father, Father,

57. 22:31

    why hast thou forsaken me? Every prayer Jesus ever made, that's how he addressed his prayer to God. He could be alluding to Psalm 22 without changing my God to Father. Every prayer he ever addressed directly to his God he addressed as my Father.

58. 22:51

    Why in this anguish would he turn around and say my God, my God? It's clear he's deliberately quoting this not as anguish for his direct statement to God but to draw everybody's attention to the psalm. There's no doubt that's what he's drawing. Now the other thing is, and this is a real key thing, did you know he changes the Hebrew in Psalm 22?

59. 23:18

    He actually changes the Hebrew in Psalm 22. The word forsaken, the word Jesus uses is different. Sabachthani is not the word azabtani or azabtani. It's a different word. That's the word in Psalm 22. Jesus uses a different word when he quotes this. Elai elai lama sabachthani and this is the word he uses which is very interesting.

60. 23:49

    Sabach. It literally means, it's from a root, literally meaning to entwine or to wrap together. That's interesting, isn't it? The root of the word azap in Psalm 22 means to release and to let go. The word Jesus uses, although he's going back to Psalm 22 without doubt, is a word which means to wrap together, to entwine or to hold.

61. 24:20

    Very interesting. The root is actually quite the opposite in terms of what he uses. And it's very interesting where it's used. I'm going to be getting pretty sticky here. That's right.

62. 24:44

    There's a few people there that are dying in the back. That's not a bad idea. Wrong shirt to wear this morning. So the word which Jesus uses in this psalm, the noun version of the verb he uses is found in Genesis chapter 22 where it says, Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behind him a ram was caught in a thicket.

63. 25:24

    Isn't that interesting? That's the root of the word that Jesus used when he said, the word thicket, caught in a thicket, means to be ensnared in thorns. In fact, the word is only used about five times in the Old Testament and in all cases it has relationship to being entwined in trees or brambles or thorns.

64. 25:51

    Now here was Jesus on the cross, crown of thorns on his head, spikes through his feet, spikes through his hands, no way he could move with his hands, no way he could move with his head, no way he could move with his feet. And there he is like a ram, caught in a thicket, entwined and sneered, wrapped about.

65. 26:10

    And he draws their mind back to Genesis chapter 22. What a chapter. What a chapter to take their mind back to, isn't it? behold, the Lord will provide a lamb for his offering, said Abraham to Isaac. The Lord will provide for himself a lamb. That's what he said in Genesis chapter 22. And then he turned around and found a ram caught in a thicket, which obviously was not what was intended by that statement that Abraham made to Isaac.

66. 26:48

    The truefulness of that statement is pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. And there was the symbol of Christ on the cross. Now look what it says in Genesis chapter 22. Look at the power of it. Abraham turned around and offered that ram and he said, this place shall be called Yahweh Yara.

67. 27:09

    That is to say, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. in this mount you'll see it. And of course it was on Mount Moriah. This was the place of the crucifixion where these things took place. And in this mount it will be seen. What will be seen? Well, Jesus said to them in John 8 verse 54, I honor myself, my honor is nothing, it's my Father that honoreth me, of whom ye say, he is your God.

68. 27:45

    My God, my God, said Jesus. You say he's your God. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. Everything that took place on that mount with Abraham and Isaac and that ram pointed straight forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no doubt that Jesus was drawing their attention to this psalm and it's highly likely that Jesus quoted this whole psalm in psalm 22 and within the psalm itself psalm 22 is the fact that God would never leave nor forsake the righteous within the psalm itself psalm 22 psalm 22 we have verse 24 for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither is he hid his face from him but when he cried unto him he did hear so the psalm itself answers that first part God truly did answer the Lord in these things so Genesis 22 of course goes on to say that in blessing I will bless thee and I will make thy name great and thy seed he said to Abraham shall possess the gates of his enemies and of course we know that that's a reference to not to seeds of many but as the seeds of one Revelation 1 verse 18 Jesus says I am he that liveth and was dead behold him alive forever more amen and I have the keys to hell and death the enemies of the Lord he possesses the keys to and it's a picture of course of God's deliverance do you know there's something more in all of this and it's in our reading in Psalm 18 what happened in that

69. 29:39

    three hours do you know every offering every offering under the Lord of course was taken by the priests and it was taken into the tabernacle and it was offered there on the offering on the altar and in the wilderness the glory of God came down upon that tabernacle to receive that offering the blood of that offering God would come down and receive that offering every offering under the law pointed forward to Christ did it not every burn offering every sin offering every trespass offering every peace offering pointed forward to the Lord Jesus Christ but now he was being crucified and his blood was being poured out as the perfect offering and it wasn't even in the city it wasn't in the temple there was no holy place in fact he was outside the camp so how was God going to receive this offering Psalm 18 is an incredible psalm that I believe tells you what happened during that three hours of darkness God came down to accept this offering this is the epiphany of the father coming down in Shekinah glory to the cross and look what it says in Psalm 18 the sorrows of death verse 4 compassed me about the sorrows of hell compassed me about and the snares of death and in my distress I called on the Lord and I cried unto my God he heard me out of his temple and my cry came unto his ears and the earth shook and trembled surely this was taking place at the cross the earth shook and trembled and the hills moved and were shaken and there went smoke out of his

70. 31:16

    nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled he bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet he rode upon a cherub and did fly yeah he did fly upon the wings of the wind and he made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him do you know when Moses wanted to see the glory of the Lord in Exodus chapter 34 God said to Moses you can't look on my glory you can't see my face he says go in that rock hide yourself and my glory will pass by there and you can look at the hinder parts of me when Elijah saw earthquake wind and fire in the small voice he came out with his face wrapped in a mantle because he couldn't look upon the glory of the Lord but there was no rock to hide for our Lord there was no mantle to wrap his face up so Yahweh bowed the heavens and came down and he made darkness his secret place and he came down to the foot of the cross to encourage his son in what was taking place and darkness became the enshrouding of the glory of God no one else saw it maybe the thief on the cross who knows it's an interesting thought maybe he heard the voice I don't know but I believe during that three hours of darkness when you look at this saw this is a picture of God's epiphany of coming down to be with his son in those last hours and to encourage him so far from the fact at the end of three hours

71. 32:49

    Jesus saying why have you forsaken me Jesus was closer to his father at that time than he had been since the garden because his father had come down and bowed the heavens to be with his son and to encourage him do you know there's no coincidence at all brothers and sisters in the construction of the psalms there's no coincidence that psalm 23 is next to psalm 22 psalm 23 of course is the most well known psalm the Lord is my shepherd and it's a picture of course of God's care and protection for the sheep of his pasture and it's right along psalm 22 which we know is the Lord Jesus Christ and all his suffering and anguish before his father do you know in Mark chapter 6 you can have a look at this for a minute in Mark chapter 6 when Jesus fed the 5,000 he drew on psalm 23 Mark's record clearly deliberately takes you back to psalm 23 doesn't it in the feeding of the 5,000 how do we know that what's in this chapter what's in the story in Mark's record that takes you back to the feeding of the 5,000 there's a couple of little things in here does anybody know it starts really verse 34 that's probably your biggest hint Jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion towards them because they were like sheep that didn't have a shepherd so all of a sudden you know Mark's record is taking you back to the story of the shepherd and the sheep but he doesn't finish there there's another one in there which is

72. 34:37

    a clear reference to psalm 23 exactly yep very good verse 39 he commanded them to make them to sit down by companies in the green grass and what does it say that it could have just said grass or on the ground but Mark's very explicit he made them to sit down by companies on the green grass psalm 22 the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures and so jesus then performs this incredible miracle and he feeds them but you know what happens next the very next thing the disciples go forth in a boat and there's this incredible storm now these guys are fishermen they used to be on the sea and this storm was such that they were utterly and completely petrified they were scared beyond measure and it says verse 49 they saw jesus walking on the sea and they were troubled verse 50 and immediately he said be of good cheer don't be afraid and when he went up into the ship the wind ceased poof stopped bang like that jesus stepped into the boat and the storm just came completely still and it says they were amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered beyond measure this was something that they had never they had just seen jesus feed 5,000 people with a couple of loaves of bread and a couple of fishers what an incredible miracle but this miracle this miracle which jesus done had them absolutely stunned they wondered beyond measure and then look what it says why did they wonder beyond measure because they considered not the miracle of the loaves

73. 36:25

    now why would mark say that you know what was so why they were so confused over this and why they wondered so much as they hadn't thought about the miracle of the loaves what do you think that means well I think it means this the miracle of the loaves is taking you straight back to psalm 23 it's the story of jesus feeding the 5,000 and it's the story of the good shepherd sheep lying down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thy rod and thy staff are there to comfort me and guide me do you know in life it's often that we can see God working in our lives when things are going good when we're lying down in green pastures and things are great and we can say oh you know I've been so blessed God's given us so much and these things have happened but when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we see fear on every side it's hard to see the shepherd beside you in the valley of the shadow of death it's easy to see him beside you when things are going good but when things are going bad it's hard to see the shepherd beside you and they considered not that the same shepherd that would cause them to lie down in green pastures is the same shepherd that will will lead them through the valley of the shadow of death and Jesus knew this of course and while he was going through the

74. 38:11

    valley of the shadow of death and the horrors of darkness overwhelmed him the Lord was his shepherd and his rod and his staff were beside him brothers and sisters young people we must go through this in our life we must go through it some of us probably have been through it in our life to see that when we've walked through the valley of the shadow of death that the Lord is there with us and there will come a time in your life where you will have to cast your care completely upon the Lord and I could say in my own personal life I probably learned this lesson a few times maybe because or had to learn this lesson a few times and maybe it's because I'm just a little bit thicker in the head and God has to take me through this lesson a few times to understand trust in him but I had an experience recently and I've talked to some of you about it but I had an experience which was pretty horrific and it was a situation which was incredibly scary a situation where I was in a foreign country and I was abducted and arrested and I was blindfolded and had a black sack put over my head and was handcuffed and was taken away and was interrogated for six hours and it was the scariest thing of my life and I can tell you that during that six hours I've not been able to see a thing I've been completely in utter darkness and to be treated in the way I was I've never felt closer to my God in my life

75. 39:47

    never ever have I felt closer to my God in my life and never have I prayed so much in my life and for six hours I was continuously in prayer to my God and I discovered that when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death he is our shepherd and he will bring us to the other side if you trust in him he will definitely deliver you and bring you to the other side but it's a lesson that all of us must go through and I know that many people here as we've Catherine and I have spent time talking to a lot of you here have been through a really hard time lately been through times when you know you've almost questioned I suppose our community in a way and what the truth is about because of betrayal and because of the difficulties which you've faced and some of the experiences which have taken place and feeling like you've been isolated put your trust in God there is no doubt that if you're going through a hard time and you're going through a trial in your life right now God's not forsaken you that's his love the greater the trial the more he loves you it's evident that he is putting you through this for one reason only that you will let go of every human hope and turn to him and grab hold of him and he won't leave you nor forsake you very soon Christ is going to come back and we all have to go through this experience in our wilderness and we all have to go through those three

76. 41:26

    hours of darkness in our pilgrimage towards the kingdom but if we can go through that three hours of darkness and turn our heart soul and mind to our father then we'll be able to say at the end of it Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit