Jesus standing before Pilate in John 19 is more than a historical moment. It is a profound revelation of God's love, power, and the nature of true sacrifice. Jesus was rejected, mocked, and condemned by the very people He came to save, and He allowed it all to happen. His silence before Pilate was not weakness but the fulfillment of prophecy and a demonstration of where real power truly comes from. All human authority exists only because God permits it, which is why prayer for our leaders matters more than political strategy. When we place our ultimate trust in political systems or human approval, we risk betraying the very things we are trying to protect. Jesus absorbed rejection so that those who trust in Him will never be rejected by God. His suffering was the labor, and the church is the fruit, and He walks with us through every trial we face.
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Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.
! They came up to him saying, Hail King of the Jews! And struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in him.
So Jesus went out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man! When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him!
Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law! And according to that law, he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.
When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, Where are you from? Though Jesus gave him no answer.
So Pilate said to him, You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, You have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given you from above.
Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has to greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him.
But the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. Don't you know that?
So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at the place called the stone pavement. And in there a man is called Gabbatha. Now it was a day of preparation for the Passover.
It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, You hold your king. They cried out, Away with him!
Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, You have no king but Caesar.
So he delivered him over to them, To be crucified. So it is a reading of the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Please be seated. You heard the Apostles' reading, right?
He said, He said, He said it during the retreat. Suffered under conscious poverty. But let me ask you a question. Well, let me ask you to think.
Think about the things we do for other people. Even the sacrifices we make for them. Think about it. Parents will stretch financially to give their children the best education they can.
If a friend needs a transplant, his friends as well as family will see that if they met or match, it gives him, say, a kidney.
A family at church suffers a severe illness, and brothers and sisters will go to their home and clean it and bring food.
A friend's car breaks down in ATL, and you will get in your car, take a day off from work, maybe, and drive to Atlanta to pick them up to get them home.
Some of you have done some of these things. I know we experienced that last one very well. On our way to New City, we were moving from Miami to New City, from Miami to Chattanooga.
Our van broke down at the mouth of the rat, otherwise known as Boca Raton. It was an hour and a half north of Miami.
We broke down. The moving trucks, too, were gone. My family assembled us out of the highway on a Sunday afternoon on our way to our new car here at New City, and we were broke down on the highway.
We had to wonder at that point, are you really calling us for a week? We had to embarrassingly call our church family.
We were leaving. In the middle of worship service. I am calling my former elders and texting them and being, can you please come get us?
We also called the tow truck, and the tow truck beat them to us, but they were willing to come. And they put us up. That night, we slept in different places, but we were able to get ourselves together and make it here to New City.
What we will do for people we care about. Look, I'm talking here. Be quiet. She was talking. Listen, what kind of sacrifices would you make for someone who's been slandering you?
Who's building public opinion against you? Gossiping. They're trying to get you fired or to shame you in front of your community.
Or even worse, worst case scenario, get you killed. Would you make a great sacrifice for such a person, or even a small one, for an entity?
I suggest it can happen. But it can happen only if your primary allegiance is not to your name, not to your popularity, not to your well-being or self-care.
I said primary allegiance. Or to use this biblical word, not to your own glory. Yeah. You see, for the Christian, our primary allegiance is to a king and a kingdom, not of this world.
Amen. Amen. God suffered for us, even in our place, when we were his enemies.
Yeah. Paul says in Romans 5, for when we were his enemies, Christ died for us. Yeah. Let that sink in for a minute. When we were enemies of the cross, enemies of God, slanderers of God, haters of God, disregarding God, Christ died for us.
What was it? What kind of love is that? We suffer for him because Jesus loves us, and he suffered for us, even whenever, even when we were his enemies.
What? What? I guess we have to ask ourselves, is he truly worthy of any sacrifice or privilege? He may ask us to give up for his glory.
Amen. Amen. Amen. We must remember that his suffering empowers and inspires our suffering for him.
Yeah. And maybe he's been suffering for others in his name. He suffered for us. That's what we saw. For love's sake, the king is tortured for us.
For love's sake, Jesus is unjustly condemned for us. Three things a day. For love's sake, the king is rejected and hated for us.
I hope you have your Bibles because you don't have a screen, so you're wrong. Verses 6 and 7. Pilate seems that bringing out a brutalized Jesus would somehow satisfy the mob.
They had already said we want him dead. And now he has him tortured. And in verses 6 and 7, they bring him out. In verse 5, they bring him out.
He hold the man. In 6 and 7, Pilate is hoping against hope. And yet, it didn't work. The Jewish leaders once again whip up the crowd.
And they go, crucify him. Crucify him. Can you hear them? Can you see them? They're in the crowd. Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him. He's a surrenderer.
He's a blasphemer. He's a crucifer. They're working with the crowd. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Against Jesus. Can't they call him for his death? An innocent man, they want him gone.
Specifically, they say he's worthy of death for calling himself the Son of God. Or, as they put it, making himself the Son of God. In other words, they were saying Jesus was lying about himself.
That is the heart of the hatred of the religious leaders. That's what their heart, that's what belief drove them mad.
That he would, a man, call himself the Son of God. But this is what John predicted. John had told us in chapter one.
The story of Jesus, John 1, 10 and 11. It said, he was in the world, and the world was created through him, yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
John set us up for this. Yeah. Pretend you're, remember, John's writing to Greek-speaking Christians in particular. And remember, they heard the gospel lightly.
And John's giving them particulars. Read it as if you're hearing it for the first time, really clearly spelled out to you. So John tells us what's going to happen in the beginning, and now he's at that place where he chose.
Say, yeah, I told you. Yeah. I told you they would reject him. But the problem is he did speak the truth. He is and was the Son of God, and God in human flesh.
His life demonstrated his uniqueness. But holiness is a threat. The holiness of God is a threat to sinners. His holiness shows us up.
It makes us look at ourselves. You can't look at Jesus. You should look at Jesus as much as possible. But when you look at Jesus, you can't help but then look at yourself.
Right, right. And that's what's supposed to happen. Because you realize that you're not like him. Right. I don't, I, maybe, hopefully prayerfully.
As a Christian, you want to be, but you become aware in certain areas of your lives. Right, right. Like you're just not like him. His holiness revealed their sinfulness.
His perfection revealed their imperfection. And it's still true today. And it's unsuffering. Jesus today is tolerated by many.
Across the world, our Jesus, the Lord of glory, the biblical Jesus, is tolerated by many. Until his holiness makes demands. Right, right.
John heard of a book called, What Jesus Demands of the World. I love that title. Because God is very demanding. He is not, he's not democratic.
That's right, that's right, that's right. I know that's news to some people, but I'm here to tell you, God is not a, he's not democratic. In other words, you don't vote to determine where the kingdom goes.
Amen, that's right, that's right. He doesn't give suggestions. Maybe you should think about it. Maybe, you know, comes, he comes out, you wash my hands, I wash your hands.
None of that stuff, he doesn't do that. He's holy. And so he, his way makes demands. It says, follow me.
And Jesus says, follow me. He comes among us, follow me. Behold me, see me. Love me, because I love you. Follow me.
That's not a request. That's a command. And that is terrifying. And puts us off.
Because we see him, and we recognize, oh my gosh, I don't want to follow you. Because you're holy. You're not like me. I don't want to be.
But sometimes you, I don't want to be like that. Jesus dying for his friends. Jesus dying for his enemies. Oh my goodness. Jesus dying. Who wants to be like that?
Pick up your cross. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. That's his message to the world. Wow. That's his message to his disciples. This puts us off.
And it put them off. And they rejected Jesus. And he allowed them to do that. He allowed them to hate him and to reject him. Listen, family. He is rejected.
He is hated by humanity. So that those who trust in him will never be rejected by God. Do you see it? He is rejected.
He allows it to happen. Right. Amen. But you who trust in him can know for sure that God will never reject you.
Amen. Amen. If he, heavenly speaking, if he went to all the trouble of the cross, and you were his enemy, why would he ever turn his back on you now?
That's right. I don't know. That's right. The world will reject you the more you look like him, though. That's right. We've been seeing that in John 17, the prayer.
We've been seeing that throughout. The more you look like Jesus, you will also be rejected. But that's okay. He was rejected before you.
That's right. You walk with him. Matthew 5, verse 12. Blessed are you when others revive you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Yes. Yes. You're in good company.
He'll never reject you. It will be pain. The pain of that, of human rejection is real. It's real. It's real. Okay? I'm not minimizing what that pain feels like.
Ah, but no. Let this soothe your soul. He was despised and rejected. Amen.
Amen. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It is one from whom men hide their face as he was despised. And we are still to nod.
For you. Isaiah 53. For you. You're okay. Second, for love's sake, the king submits for us.
He submits. This is my father. Verses 8 through 11. Again, Isaiah 53.7 says it so well. He was oppressed and afflicted, and he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter. Like a sheep silent before her shearers. He did not open his mouth. This is it. This is it. Right here. Father had heard that Jesus claimed to be a king.
He refers to it with this language time and time again. Though I'm sure it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. But he seems really spooked by something. They said he claimed to be the Son of God.
The text says at that point, Pilate became even more afraid. And went back in. Now listen. To be even more afraid implies he already was afraid.
Afraid of what, we should ask? What is Paul afraid of? Maybe the perversion of justice. Maybe. He found no fault or guilt in Jesus. We studied that last week. Three times he kept saying, I find no guilt in him.
His conscience and fear of what Buddhists and Hindus call karma was probably on his mind. Yeah. But here's the thing.
It was getting out of hand. He was concerned about disorder. He was concerned about a riot. He had to keep things calm.
But Son of God. You know the Greek and Roman myths, right? The Greek and Roman myths. You know about Hercules. All those stories.
It was a myth, right? They're not true. Many of them were denigods. Right, right. You see, in their mythology, which they believed to be true, many of them.
Not all of them, but many of them did. So, you know, Zeus would get turned on by earthly women. And Zeus would come down and, hey baby.
And they were doing that. In their view, their gods would come down and have children with women. And so there would be these demigods. Hercules and others. These, I think he was one.
I'm not sure. There were all these demigods running around. So, Polly knows the stories. And he was one. And in the back, he's superstitious. In the back of his mind, he goes back in and says to Jesus, where are you from?
Yeah, yeah. When I was dating Sandy, I didn't know she was from Jamaica. She has the accent when she wants to.
And she speaks the language fluently. But she usually doesn't have an accent. I see your mother. And I called her house one day. Her beautiful mother answered the phone.
With this thick accent. And I was like. And I think they're right. Signed up, sign up his phone and said. She goes in the phone. I said, Sandy. Y'all are not from around here, aren't you?
Genius, I know. That's what Polly is doing. Y'all are not from around here. He got his piece up. Y'all are not from around here, aren't you? Are you from, watch this.
Mount Olympus? I mean, he's wondering. Remember, he's superstitious. He's a great Roman at that period. He's thinking Jesus might be some kind of demigod at this point. He's scared out of his mind.
Plus, on top of that, his wife sent a message to him and told him. You see this in Matthew 27 and 19. His wife told him, I had a dream.
Come on, somebody. I had a dream. And I'm all going to put it down about it. And it tells me, tell you, don't have anything to do with that man.
Because I've suffered all night. I couldn't sleep because of him. So now, he's got all this stuff coming at me. And he's getting really nervous now.
And, hey, where are you from again, bro? I know you're caught up in dreams now. Be careful with that stuff. I'm not saying, God, don't speak.
But the word of God is much clearer. Don't take your dreams away. If you've got a dream, test it with the word of God. Test it by the word. Amen. That's all I'm going to say about that.
But, she was right. Jesus was a righteous man. Pilate should have nothing to do with in this way. Who or what is this guy?
Where are you from? Jesus says nothing to him. Like a sheep before a sheep. He says nothing. Pilate is looking at him. He can't believe it.
You know who I am, right? That's what he says. He says, you know I have the power to crucify you or set you free. And you're not going to talk to me? You ain't going to talk back to me?
You're not going to give me any information. You're not going to tell me who you are, where you're from. Don't you know your own people want your day? Help me help you. That's what he's doing.
He's trying to give Jesus to help him so he can get Jesus off the hook. And Jesus just hooks at him. And then he makes a big mistake here.
He starts to smother himself. I have authority. See that? There you go. Human authority. Come on, people. I see you back there. Amen. Human authority.
I have authority. Don't you know who I am? I have authority to release you or crucify you. And you, hey, I'm the man. I'm in control. I have the power.
You've got nothing. You better talk to me. There you go. Boom. It's crashing and burning. Right. Because Jesus looks at him. This is the teaching of me and the whole Lord's family.
Jesus looks at him and says, you have no authority here. Listen. Jesus. Okay, Lord of the Rings, man.
Jesus pulled a Gandalf. Before Gandalf. Y'all know who y'all? Y'all saw the movie? Remember when the ball rod is coming across the bridge?
Come on. Come on, somebody. This is the first movie. Coming across the bridge at the end. And Gandalf stands there alone. Oh, he was so cool. Look at all the trails.
And he's still here with that staff. He says, go back to the shadow. You have no power here. Boom. I mean, that's what Jesus was telling Pilate.
Gandalf got it through Jesus. You have no power here. It's been granted to you from above.
That's where power comes from. Come on, people. Where does power come from? From above. Right. Amen. He's a politician, y'all.
That's it. That's it. Where does power come from? From above. Tell it to your mayor. That's right. Tell it to your congressman, your senator, and your president, his cabinet.
Remind yourself. Stop giving away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away away and though they will power they will that power under the authority of God they will go as far as he allows don't mean we can't say no we can't say that's wrong don't mean that at all but always remember go to bed at night resting in the fact that power belongs to the Lord Jesus is teaching us that he's teaching it to us so we can remember and then he says something to Pilate now watch this see sovereignty yet freedom and responsibility watch
God is sovereign all powers in his hands Pilate you are the only authority you have so God has given it to you however the ones who turn me over to you have the greater sin now watch this greater sin that means Pilate is sinning right right other people have greater sin right right they're all being held accountable even though God is sovereign right are you with me God's sovereignty does not remove our responsibility amen amen we are still held accountable for our sins even though God is superimposing and guiding all of human nature all of human life all of history including your story so his desire is in but you are still responsible for your sin right amen who is he talking about has a greater sin Israel there are several opposites there are several possibilities
Caiaphas yeah yeah Herod yeah Jewish leaders yeah Israel yeah yeah all of the above I think yeah yeah the greatest sin were the people who turned him over right right because Pilate was not Jewish he wasn't looking for the Messiah they were right he didn't have the law they did yeah they were responsible they had the greater sin family the more you know of the word of God as Christian people when we when we dis God and do our own thing we have the greater sin not saying God is not forgiven because he is we're saved he's forgiven but understand the nature of it the more you to whom much is given much is more than we've been given everything amen that's right Jesus is telling him in Proverbs 21 a king's heart is like streams of water in the Lord's hand he directs it wherever he chooses yeah that's why we pray for our leaders that's why we pray we never stop praying
I don't care if your guy didn't win who cares pray pray for those who did win pray for them not against them because they're going to pray for them some of their policies yeah we have to pray get some of their policies but pray that God would move hearts I pray for our mayor I pray for our president I'm like Lord you've got to do something because my arm is too short here I got one vote out of millions but it's a good vote I'm going to take it but I have more resources than a vote amen I'm going to get stoned we have more resources than both things that's right that's right prayer that's right amen that's right prayer that's exactly God takes the heart of the king the president the senator the mayor whoever he returns yeah focus focus do stuff though you know why he did it because God was going that's happening to me
I told you that story years ago in Miami somebody cut me off my whole family in the car we're on the highway I'm doing 70 he's doing 75 okay so anyway this dude Carl this guy I mean I'm on the I'm going on an accident he decides hey I'm missing my accident what I mean I'm right there I'm like oh no my whole family's in the car see there's one thing you mess with me but when you mess with girls my father that's just not good at this guy cut me off I'm going to shake the brace off him he stopped at the light he stopped at the light he blew so I'm pulling it up next to him saying it's going Canada Canada she always heard it Canada Canada she said it's going
Canada Canada I'm like Mom not a man hand was come on fellas not a man hand was this push my butt pulled up what happened he went hmm I said I looked at him I said yo man what you doing look we're presents we out on the road together we gotta be careful I couldn't hit you that is not what I wanted to say I didn't mean to say that I really didn't it was not even in my mind and think me Lance what I wanted to say I can't say it for the ladies I wanted to say you idiot what's wrong with you I will kill you I was so angry he put my family at risk and God grabbed my tongue he said I can do that for his people he can certainly do that for the work sometimes they make prayer
Sandy was praying she was and she was she was praying because in Miami they get the fist fights over automobile stuff prayer Jesus was telling us that God's sovereign over all the affairs of humanity even the affairs of the son of God going to the cross God was totally in control Jesus was totally in control alright last thing for love that the king is hypocritically I gotta say that word hypocritically betrayed to death for the last time you know Judas had betrayed him Peter had betrayed him this is the final this is it this is the last and final betrayal this is the Jews this is the Jewish leaders I mean talk about perjuring yourself on the stand these guys they committed suicide theologically ethically they committed suicide on the stand this is verses 12 through 16 first they say if you release this man you're not Caesar's friend everyone who makes himself a king opposed to Caesar here's the thing they weren't Caesar's friends they hated Caesar they wanted nothing to do with Caesar they wanted Caesar gone like yesterday and now they're pulling the friends of Caesar card yeah yeah now it is said
I have some information that the second emperor Tiberius Caesar did create this title friend of Caesar read that in some of my literature some people debate that it happened that early but it seems truthfully that there was a title friend of Caesar and so and this title had you know it had space it had status to be considered a close confidant of the Caesar to have this ear to lose that here's what research says to lose that losing the status of friend meant political ruin exile or death so if that was the title at that time and they're playing that card Pilate was like oh at the very least it meant you're not loyal to Caesar at the very least either way it's about loyalty loyalty and if you're not loyal to the Caesar you get gone this is remember that's not that's not America
Caesar Caesar is tyrant he's emperor his law is life or death thumbs up thumbs down no questions so Pilate's going oh he knows he's being manipulated but he can't wait you ever feel you ever feel manipulated by someone and there's nothing you can do to get out of it you know you're you're trapped and you've got to go along with the manipulation I hate that that's a horrible place to be you feel bullied now you know how Pilate felt I'm not champion Pilate don't get me wrong I'm just saying put yourself in his shoes he's caught on a political dilemma he can't lose that status but the Jews the religious folk what are they doing they're saying
Jesus made himself a king he's the enemy of Caesar don't you know what you're going to do Pilate he'll do it man he'll do your business Pilate's going oh man okay he sits down just deceit but he still tries one last time behold your king here we go again behold your king and they do the last and final rejection last and final betrayal away with him crucify him crucify your king we have no king but Caesar listen listen this is what happens when you make politics king that's right that's right that's right say it what happens when you think the way to advance the kingdom of God is political yeah it is not not even close to right they're telling us hey
John is showing us right here whatever you think is most effective most influential most powerful that's where you're going you're going to identify with that if God is most powerful you're going to identify with him if what happens in our voting moves and what not I used to live in Washington D.C.
we lived in the city I lived a mile and a half from the White House I lived in the valley of the beach as it were I love my don't get this wrong I lived in the swamp we lived there we heard the rhetoric year after year 11 years we lived in D.C.
we lived this stuff we watched the regime changes we watched the effects we saw churches battle back and forth God raises up one president what's him he raises up another president what does this talk on Sunday how many years you served 40 years okay we'll give me 40 here you go here you raise it who's in control amen that's the question don't die they just die power to die get caught get exposed who's in who's in you think God is unrighteous and his plan disposing he's doing what he does where is the real power they thought they could use political power to manipulate poverty in order to achieve watch this kingdom objectives yeah yeah yeah and they end up perjuring themselves yeah they betrayed everything they betrayed
God here's something that hit me I hope I wrote it somewhere I wrote it down somewhere it's in I'm skipping around so forgive me here's where here's where here's where hit me in the name of God you can reject God amen that's right that's right that's right that's right because they were doing this in the name of God they're fighting for God they're fighting for the truth they're fighting for the living God the God of Judaism the God of the Bible they're fighting for him Jesus is a blasphemer in the name of God they rejected the son of God and led to his death in execution in the name of God that's why it's very important that we recognize what kingdom we are of that's right recognize where the power truly is recognize that our life is not in the hands of Caesar amen that's right but in the hands of the living God you go to sleep at night take precautions amen and then run like that put your heart on your lock your doors but know that your life is in the hands of God amen in the hands of Christ yeah some of you may be blessed to go on the mission field and do some traveling wherever you go
I just got back from the MTW board board meeting you may be vice chair but I don't listen to what's happening around the world our people are going into places that I can't even name do for the name of Christ names we can't even use their full names in our reports because they're in places and why because they're taking their families by the way because they know their life is in the hands of the living God and they can take those risks and they look at Jesus if they were counting on the politics of that country or America exerted its influence over that country they wouldn't go but they're not counting on the political sphere to protect them they're counting on Christ and you can take risks for Jesus when you're counting on him but woe unto us if we put our eggs in the basket of human beings trusting in humanity to do the right thing you trust in God right right and we follow him together well family yeah we're just about it who you want to suffer for who you want to suffer for they're people that you are something that you know that you're willing to take a risk for because you love them they're in trouble you're going to be there you know one of the most common but underrated examples of suffering for another women giving birth you take it for granted but if anyone ladies if you've given birth you know what I'm talking about contractions are as my dad would say they are a mammoth hammer you didn't want to cuss so you didn't say something most women if not all will say that that is some of the worst pain they've ever experienced for some of them it's 30 plus hours some of them it's 30 minutes we had one that was 30 minutes
I won't tell you who that was but all of them will say the same thing when I held my baby when I held my baby it was all worth it my baby looked at me and smiled and cooed and felt the baby skin on your skin ladies I know you did as a dad I just love holding my babies Jesus travailed in labor as it were to give birth to his church and the labor pains are the suffering we're looking at right now the birth is the cross the labor pains suffer of the conscious father he's going through labor pains so he can give birth to the church he can bring forth he's the only one he's the only man that ever gave birth and the only man that ever gave birth to his own bride so he can hold his bride the church he gave birth to his church but it took labor pains and it took the final pain of the cross to bring forth the church you and
I out of the womb of God because he did that for us because he suffered in that way remember when you're suffering remember his suffering that's how we deal with suffering that's how we deal with pain whether it's for others or for whoever for God that's how we deal with it we remember when we're suffering and our health and our finances and our family and whatever it may be suffering for the name of Jesus because he took a stand for Christ and they found out about you whatever it is how do we deal with it we remember his suffering his travailing as it were his giving birth to the church we remember it and we allow we go back to in the midst of our pain we turn to him who understands our pain who lives our pain and more more than we could ever experience turn back to him without his love his glory his mercy to be like what happens with an oyster you know the little sands inside the oyster it irritates the oyster remember the oyster is he's in there and stuff is
I can't get rid of it he's painful he's trying to get the sand out of his child he can't get it out so he does he secretes some stuff around it and so that secretion hardens and it makes it more bearable it's still inside but now it's been covered in this thing we call pearls it's been covered in that and it's beautiful it's still inside of him but there's something beautiful there when we go to Christ we allow his mercy and grace and love to be the secretions that covers the pain it covers the trial it was in your home where it covers it so that you can so God can create something beautiful later out of it it's not irritating when you go to him and remember his suffering he soothes soothes and soothes and transforms so when he's done when he's done nothing beautiful comes out of your life are you willing to suffer for him his way for his glory father bless you thank you that jesus suffered for us that we may have life and in times you call us to suffer in his name so we pray oh lord that we would do so with the dignity that comes from him with the grace that comes from him with the faith that comes from him help us lord to give ourselves even to your will that be your will whatever the pain oh god in his real pain help us to look to christ knowing that we're not suffering like you're the beautiful book that only you can do we ask in jesus name may