The Resolutions of Our Lord - John 17:25-18:11

2:35I am simply amazed at this individual named Jesus, an individual that has crossed this earth, that has set foot on this earth like no others, no other. And I would like to take our time this morning and just look at this individual. I read to You a little bit earlier from Mark chapter 10, verse 32. And I want you to, again, bring these words to your mind. Mark chapter 10, verse 32. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. So there's Jesus walking up to Jerusalem, and there's something in his stride that just struck awe in his disciples and all who were following him.

3:34They were amazed. And Jesus was, he was not cowering, he was not shrinking back, but he was a man that with a resolution to go to Jerusalem and to do in Jerusalem what he what his father had sent him to do. He was a man of great resolution. You know, when I was growing up, I have some fond memories of the old human cannonball splash. You guys remember that? Going to the swimming pool and you the human cannonball, and then you jump next to someone and make a big splash, right? Well, I remember my older sister and swimming, and she would do the cannonball splash. I was a little guy, and I remember the cannonball splash, and that would create a wake. And then my older brother would. Do the cannonball splash, and that would create, and I would bounce around. And I learned that if I'm going to navigate these waters, I'm going to need to know where those cannonball splashes are going to happen because inevitably what they did impacted what I did. And I learned that sometimes you can, if there's a right cannonball splash, it can help you swim to get to where you want to go. But it could also have the opposite effect. It can ruin you. And back then, we didn't have the six feet separation rule. So, I mean, some of those cannonballs could get pretty close. And really, well, such is life where we live in the wake, if I could say it like that, we live in the wake of other people's resolutions. I think we are more impacted by other people's resolutions than we may think.

5:30I grew up in the Rocky Mountains because my father resolved to provide for his family. And he chose such a place where he thought would be good for his kids and would allow him to do what he was called to do. He resolved to provide, and that was the means. And so I grew up in the wake of that resolution. We live in the United States of America because of the resolutions of our. Forefathers. They have impacted us.

6:05In fact, the resolutions of people close to you impact your life a great deal. Whether it's a parent, the resolutions of your parents really make a big impact on your life, or your spouse, or maybe the resolutions of your child or children, or a resolution of one of your teachers or your boss. These resolutions really impact your life. And in fact, I think we see it now: the resolutions of our governor or of our president really impact the way we live. And so we need to be mindful because just like those human cannonball splashes impact, we need to be paying attention to what drives, what are the resolutions of the people in our lives.

6:57Well, there's one individual that has done more to shape this world. There's no one more than our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He, His resolutions, He is the one that has all authority. All has been given to Him and what He resolved. To do has impacted this world, has impacted every human life, has impacted what's going to happen in eternity. And you need to know a little bit about this individual and the resolutions that drove him, because as we celebrate Palm Sunday and as you spend time reading these narratives, perhaps at your home this week, it's all driven by a man whose resolutions are simply amazing.

8:05I want to talk a little bit about that. What are the resolutions in your life? I remember Jonathan Edwards, 19th year, or 18th year, 18, 19 years old, wrote down some powerful resolutions. I mean, as 18 years old, he's just Jonathan Edwards with been taught. But then, inner end, you take that teaching and you mix it with a holy resolve and a great man, a man who shaped certainly the spiritual environment of early America. Jonathan Edwards, at a very young age, wrote 70 resolutions. Let me read to you a couple of them. And this is a young man.

9:00Resolved that I never do anything, that I do never to do any manner of thing, which, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God. Resolved never to let one moment of time, but improve the most, improve it, most profitable the way I can. Resolve to live with all my might while I do live. Resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Resolve, resolved to resolve. That's what took the young potential and made it into a reality. And he says all of this, and he bases all of this upon the fact that he cannot do anything. And he says this: being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions so far as they are agreeable to his will and for Christ's sake. So the resolutions of this young man set the spiritual tone for this country in many ways.

10:19What resolutions do you hold? What are the resolutions that define your life of who you are? And what you're going to become, and who is going to be impacted by your resolutions. And so, as I spend some time this morning just thinking about this individual, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the resolutions that drove him, we would do wise to focus on what drove him, what had he resolved in his heart, because inevitably, your world is going to be shaped, is shaped by him. And like any wake in a swimming pool, you can either swim with it or you can swim against it.

11:13And so, I want us to play this morning as we prepare our hearts for next week as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. I feel like it will be profitable for us to spend some time thinking about the resolutions of our Lord, because the resolutions of our Lord provide the context for the resurrection of our Lord. And so, that's what I want to do this morning. So, I just we looked through the passage we did this morning. I want you to see seven resolutions of our Lord so that we will let them impact us in a good way.

11:55Resolutions of our Lord. First resolution. He resolved to make his father known. That was his resolution. Look back at the end of this prayer. We get to the end of this prayer in John chapter 17. We've been working our way through this for several months. And now it gets to the very end. O righteous Father, O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And I have made your name known to them and will make it known to them, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.

12:43He resolved to make his father known. In fact, you could say that is the overarching resolution of his whole life. Father, I have made your name known to them and will make it known. Note that he refers to them as righteous Father. He doesn't say holy father, which he does in other places, but this is the unique place where he says, oh, righteous Father. In other words, he recognizes that God acts and does something because it is right.

13:24He's not asking for, okay, I'm your son. Do this. He's not looking for any kind of personal favoritism here. Saying, Father, I know you do things that are right. And what has he just said? Look back in chapter 17, he says, The glory which you have given to me, I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are one. He says, The world has not known you, O righteous Father. The world has not known you, yet I have known you.

13:53Oh, righteous Father. In other words, it's like he resolves to do things on the basis of what's right. And Father, it is right that I have given my glory to these. It is right because they have known that you have sent me. And it's right that the world doesn't know you. Your judgments are right because they have closed their eyes. But these, these have known that you have sent me. But notice what he said. I have known you, yet I have these, the world has not known you, righteous Father. Yet I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. How do you begin to even know the Father? Well, first of all, you got to know who the one the Father has sent. And if you close your eyes to the obvious, listen, this Jesus. Jesus is unlike any human in history. Even a casual understanding of history would reveal this.

15:10You must know that the Father has sent him so that you will listen to him. These disciples did believe. Notice at this time, he doesn't say that they have known you. No, they have known that you sent me. And then he says in verse 26, and I have made your name known to them. So that's what I've been doing all my life. This is what this is. This is something in the past. I have made your name known. I have made known your essential character, your essential being. I have made you known. I have revealed you to them. And then he says, and I will make it known. I will do this in the future. I will continue to do this. That is his resolution. I will make you known. I have made you known, and I will make you known. That is the resolution of our Lord to make his Father known, to make our heavenly Father known.

16:21And certainly, in this context, he is talking about what's coming next. It's a disposition. Yeah, he's always going to be making the. Father, known, but specifically in this context, he's talking about the cross. He's talking about the grave. He's talking about the resurrection. I will make it known. And he wants to do so because there's a couple of results that come out of knowing the Father. Look at verse 26. So that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. Two results. That the love with which you loved me. Now, think about that. Father loving the Son. That's a pretty strong amount of love, right? We have no way to even be able to begin describing the very beginning of it, let alone its comprehension, its full scope.

17:22So that the love with which you have loved me may be in them. Notice he doesn't say on them. No, the Father already loves them. It's already made that clear. He's talking about the Father's love in them. And you think about this. This is really the conclusion to everything that was said in the upper room discourse. If you go back to John 13, where does the whole thing start? Chapter 13, verse 1, the whole upper room from 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, the prayer. And then it ends. And it concludes in verse 26.

17:58But look at where it begins. In chapter 13, 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. You see that love? He loved them to the end. That's where the whole thing began, and it ends on that theme: that he wants the Father's love in them toward one another.

18:29This is evident. Notice the whole theme of love begins in chapter 13:1, but Jesus goes on to demonstrate what that love looks like. Listen to verses 13 and 15 of chapter 13. You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you should do as I did to you. So he demonstrated with that love. Love is the one who love necessarily puts one down to elevate another. The one that you cannot love if you are asserting yourself. It's by nature, the very disposition of love is the posture of a servant. So not only did he begin, this whole thing began on love, and he disappeared. Demonstrated love, he also commanded love. Look at verse 34 in chapter 13. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, so that you love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So he demonstrated love, he commanded such love, and now here at the end of chapter 17 and verse 26, he makes it possible for them to love. And how does he make it possible? By making his father known.

20:08You see that? Christ had to remove the competition that was among these disciples. They're talking about who's the greatest. They're like, I'm not going to wash those feet. I'm going to wash that feet. No, he, and right going up to Jerusalem, they're talking about who's the greatest. Now he had to end that competition among his disciples. Competition is about self-love. That's what it is. It's about loving yourself. It's not at all like his father's love. They didn't know his father. Oh, they knew a lot, but they had a lot more to learn.

20:56We have to ask ourselves that question. Do you love people? Do you really honestly love people? Do you love people in this church honestly? I mean, do you ask yourself, be honest with yourself here, please? Do you love people with the kind of love that Jesus modeled here? If you do not, the reason is because you do not know Father God. Those of you who cannot serve, those of you who make life about yourself or have to assert yourself, get your way across to the detriment of others or just for the promotion of yourself, you don't know the Father.

22:03And John is crystal clear on this. Listen to what he says in 1 John 3:10. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. In other words, he's like, it's not hard to figure out who the children of God and who the children of the devil are. We seem to have trouble with that today. John didn't. He said, anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of the world. God, nor the one who does not love his brother. And the kind of love that John is talking about here is this kind of love. He was in the upper room. This is what really impacted him. That's why he's also known as the apostle of love, because he talks so much about it. And it's not some warm, mushy feeling. It is determined, resolute, resolved service for the well-being of somebody else.

23:08He goes on to say, no, I don't have the virus. I just have a little run. John also goes on to say, in 1 John 4:7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves God or loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. It's that simple. You do not love. You do not know the Father. And Christ's resolution is for you to come to know the Father.

23:55That's why he does what He does. And the second result of that, and you look at the back end of. 26, and I in them. Jesus is present in the hearts of those who know his Father. Do you know the Father? Then you're walking with Christ. Do you not know the Father? He is not present. So that's his resolution. He resolved to make his Father known, and then His action demonstrates this resolution. Look at chapter 18 and verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, the words we're just talking about, this resolve, he went forth with his disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden in which he entered with his disciples.

24:47He went over the ravine of the Kidron. If you, Mount of Olives, have you ever been there? You know, a bit separating between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount is the Kidron Valley. And there was a brook, a ravine, a seasonal ravine or torrent of a stream would flow through there and certain times of the year dry up. But during this time, it's interesting to note and just observe that there would have been, certainly the language John uses suggests that there was a stream. And certainly what was going on at Passover, this is also the drainage channel.

25:30Of what's happening on the Temple Mount. So you have all manner of sacrifices going on. You have a time that it's very likely that much of that water that he would have crossed in that stream would have been filled or would have been certainly have significant trace amounts of sacrificial blood. But notice the geographical movement. Jesus goes into the garden when he spoke these words. So he says, I am going to make your name known. Let that set in your minds as a tone for what's coming next.

26:15I am going to make your name known. I have already made it known to them, and I will make it known to them so that they will have your kind of love in them for one another, and that I will truly fellowship and be in them. But he goes into the garden. And the term go into the garden, it suggests probably a walled garden or something, a definite boundaries and movement into the garden. So Jesus resolved to make his father known. And after saying these words, he goes into the garden. That's where we'll pick up, in other gospel accounts, you'll pick up the whole prayer of Gethsemane and what's happening in there.

27:10But he desired, resolved to make his father known. He resolved to make his father's utter hatred of sin known. And boy, that crucifixion is going to do that, right? He's going to make his father's commitment to rid the world of sin very known. And he's going to make it known that his father is right in bringing judgment down upon sin. And at the same time, he's going to make his father known. He's going to make his father's surpassing love for humanity known.

27:57You know, I don't know when we will meet again as a body, but I do know how I would like to meet again. I don't know when, but I do know how. My vision is that when we come together again, that we will be a church characterized by this kind of love for one another. That was our Lord's resolve. And I would say between now and when we assemble all together again, that you take this challenge to begin to love one another with this kind of love. And I don't care if the meeting is just two people, let every single meeting we have between now and we and the time we all gather again, let us be good stewards of every single meeting and let us characterize knowledge of God, the presence of Christ, as demonstrated by sacrificial servant love to one another. Let's let every meeting we have, small, two, three, four, five.

29:10Let's let every single meeting be characterized by this kind of love. Look, if we can't be a good steward with these small meetings, if we can't meet in small settings for each other's benefit and profit, we're not, when we come together, don't think that we're just all of a sudden going to magically love one another. And I would encourage everybody, don't just love the people that you have a natural affinity with. Ask God to give you a love for everybody in this body. And let that love, first of all, let God reveal Himself to you. Ask Him, God, I don't love like this because I don't know you. Be honest.

29:56This was his resolve. You can fight against it, but this. Is where he's going. If we cannot love and do not love in a setting of 10 or less, you're not going to love in a setting of 200. Listen, our competition with each other needs to end. And I say this, I know Emmanuel's got, we do love each other. I do see that. But I think we can grow in this. May our competitions with each other end. May our competitions with other churches end. And may we all assume the posture of servants. And I mean foot washing servants.

30:37That was his resolution. And I know what you're thinking. There's no way he's going to get through seven of these. Yes, I will. Then they do go quicker. But so important to see that overarching resolution of our Lord to make his father known. Second resolution. He resolved to face his adversary. He resolved to face his adversary. Look at, again, geographical movement. First, we saw Jesus go into the garden. Now here comes Judas to the garden. Look at verse 2. Now Judas also, who was betraying him, knew the place for Jesus had met there with his disciples. So Judas was. And it's interesting how John depicts him here, the one betraying him. He's always considered, John relates him as in the act of betraying. Now, Judas, the one who was betraying him, also knew where the garden was, right? He also knew because he had often met there with his disciples. Verse 3: Judas then, having received the Roman cohort, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. But notice here, Judas received the Roman cohort. It's Judas that received the Roman cohort.

32:11And so he leads them. Cohort, tenth of a legion, 600 people, 600. Now, some people, some argue that a smaller detachment of that, maybe 200, or even some reduce it further than that, would still constitute part of the cohort or the cohort, a small detachment. But I don't think it was a small number. A cohort is a large number. Even a detachment would have been that which was sufficient for the task. And keep in mind what's happening here. There are a lot of people from Galilee there, some of the zealots, some of the Jewish hotheads, as they Would call them that were ready to take up action. So you have, they've got to send enough people to catch the to contain an uprising. And so I think it was a pretty significant detachment. Maybe it doesn't have to be 600, but I would consider it's a large number because they're going to take him and they're prepared for whatever resistance that they may have to face. And so there's a significant amount. But Judas receives them. And they come with lanterns and torches. And why lanterns? Okay, lanterns, you can see it's a full moon. So there's some light, but why lanterns? Why torches? Well, obviously the lanterns, you need some kind of light. The torches, why torches? Well, if you have to go on a manhunt and you're going to start combing the Mount of Olives at night in olive groves, guess what? You're going to want some light. So I think they're probably expecting a manhunt or ready for it. Certainly they're armed for it. So Judas then makes his way to the garden with a Roman cohort.

34:22Then again, look at some beginning in verse 4, another geographical movement. This is Jesus coming out. Of the garden. So you have Jesus going to the garden, into the garden, then Judas coming to the garden, and now you have Jesus coming out of the garden. Verse 4. So Jesus, knowing all things that were coming upon him, went forth, and has went out, went out of the garden, and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, I am he. And Judas also, who is betraying him, was standing with them. It's interesting how John paints this picture. There is Judas. Judas is the one who has received the cohort. Judas is the one who is standing. The one betraying is the one standing. He has taken his stand with them. That would be a good way to look at it. There was Judas, having taken his stand with Jesus' adversary. That's the posture of Judas. But don't fail to see the ultimate adversary here. We already know, right? Remember in chapter 13, verse 7, after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Judas, Satan entered into him. Look at what it says in chapter 14, verse 30. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of this world. Is coming and he has nothing in me, but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me. So here he is. Two spiritual realities.

36:15The ultimate adversary here has taken the posture of a disciple, and he comes with a Roman cohort after Jesus. And here's Jesus. And he went forth from the garden. They didn't need those torches. It's not going to be a manhunt. In fact, he comes forth like a champion ready to run his race. He comes forth. There are two spiritual realities that are in contention here: God and anti-God. Those are the forces that are colliding here. Two very different resolves. One holy, another one evil.

37:03So here it is. Satan comes against Christ, comes against God and his Christ. And what is his game plan? He wants to find something sinful in Christ, something anti-God in Christ, something that would be wrong for the Father to love. Because the Father said, this is my beloved Son. And so here is Satan coming. To find a charge, he wants to find something that can stick, that can call into question God's goodness for loving Christ. He wants to find something not right about Jesus, and he wants to find something not right about Jesus loving his disciples who are sinful by nature.

37:50And so it's as though Jesus' response comes out. It's like he's not afraid of the adversary. And neither will his disciples be once he has had his finished work in them. Once they knew his heavenly Father. Well, notice one more geographical movement. The Roman cohort moves to the back and to the ground. So when he said this to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. I am he. He says this three times. John wants you to make sure you get this. I am he.

38:35They fell, drew back and fell to the ground. So here's Jesus. Think about this. The one who has already said, I am the way. I am the only way. I am truth. I am the truth. I am light. I am the light. I am the good shepherd. I am the door. Before Abraham was, I am. I am Jesus of Nazareth. What are you saying? And this the Roman cohort did not expect. They fell, drew back, fell to the ground. Perhaps they expected to find a fleeing peasant, but they were confronted with the commanding presence of one who spoke in terms of his own deity and looked into the very face of evil with the eye and said, You have nothing in me.

39:41And your claim over humanity ends tonight. That was his resolve. As he marched up to Jerusalem, as he went into Jerusalem, he resolved to face his adversary. Yes, I will still continue, I will still get through these. We'll still beat the Methodists to the restaurants. Because I bet you they're not going. It's hard to crack a joke in an empty place. So thank you for laughing. But notice, I want to look at the next. Resolutions number three and number four. They'll come here in the next couple of verses. Notice Jesus' concern for his disciples in verse seven. Therefore, he again asked them, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus answered, I told you that I am he. So if you seek me, let these go their way.

40:53That's what love is, right? By nature, you see the love of the good shepherd who's not occupied with himself, even in this extremely difficult moment. His thinking is about his people. He brokered their release by giving himself up. Sound familiar, right? That's what he does. He gives himself up for their release. Why did he do it? Well, look at verse 9. John tells us, why did he do this? Why did he broke their release? Why did he give himself for them? To fulfill the word which he spoke. Of those whom you have given me, I lost none.

41:34And there are two more resolutions that come out of this in verse 9. First of all, or number three, he resolved to honor his word. Notice that he doesn't, it's no longer to fulfill the word that the scripture says. This is to fulfill the word which he spoke. Jesus has now put his word into the same text. Category of scripture. Mark 13, 31 says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. He resolved to honor his word. Everything he said was true, and he made good. And we have his promises, as Peter refers to them in 2 Peter 1:4 as precious and magnificent promises, promises that he is going to keep. And I would love to spend some time just rehashing these. Just what you said in John's Gospel is incredible. I will not lose anyone. Anyone who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. I will raise them up. Anyone who comes to me and is thirsty, I will give them drink.

42:46I will give them my peace. I will give them my joy. I will give them my glory. All these are promises that cannot and will not fail. He honored his word. That was his resolution. Fourth, coming out of this, you can see that he resolved to take care of those dependent upon him. He was resolved to take care of those dependent upon him. Those disciples were dependent upon him. And so are we. And he's like, okay, you want them? I mean, you came looking for me. You let them go.

43:20And that's evident on the physical side and also on the spiritual side. Listen, what the adversary comes to do, you know what he comes to do to a person? He comes to destroy. Them, not just physically, but spiritually. He comes to destroy a person spiritually, and how does he do it? By exposing their sin and shaming their sin, by making much of their sin, putting it on display. That's what he does. Ha ha! Loves to expose and destroy a person.

43:57What does Jesus come to do? Jesus came to cover their shame and his righteousness. So different. The adversary came to accuse. Jesus came to wash. I mean, who would you rather serve? God or the one who's anti-God? And by his sacrifice, Jesus revealed just how much he hates sin, and he does hate sin. Wow. Look at the crucifixion. God hates his father, hates sin on a level we cannot even begin to conceive. He also revealed just how much his father loves humanity.

44:48You need to know his father. He's also given us a glimpse into what the final judgment is going to look like. You can expect God's wrath to be unleashed upon the rebellion. And it will be right. But you can also expect nothing but surpassing blessing upon those who are in Christ. And it is right. Keep going. Verse 10. Notice what Peter did. Verse 10. Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest slave, cut off his right ear, and the slave's name was Malchus. Well, it's evident that Peter was no swordsman. I mean, you can see Jesus. He's like, if I wanted a swordsman, I wouldn't have gone picking my disciples from a bunch of fishermen. You know, no, I think Peter, he's going for the kill here. He's just a poor swordsman and cuts off an ear in the process. He's probably going for his head. But what was Peter doing?

46:06What he was doing was not a faith, that's for sure. Maybe Peter wanted to prove his willingness to die, and this was a good occasion. He had those words ringing in his ear. I'm not going to deny. I'm going to, you know, it was not faith. It was the action of a hot and hasty brain. You see, when Peter was called upon to confess, Confess Christ, he denied him. When he was not called upon, he lashed out. Now, it wasn't faith. And let this example teach us to be mindful of our own fleshly desire to do more than God's commands. Let us moderate our own zeal. Let us bring it under submission of Christ.

46:57Notice Jesus' response. So Jesus said to Peter, Put the sword into the sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink of it? And this resolution, I mean, this response here just brings to mind three more resolutions, and I won't spend a lot of time on them, but they're all in this text in verse 11. Resolution number five: he resolved to trust his father in all circumstances. Here's Jesus saying, look, the Father is the one giving this cup, regardless of what you see. He recognized that it's the Father who is in control of all of this. So he resolved to trust his Father in this and all circumstances. Resolution number six, he resolved to do his Father's will no matter the cost. Jesus knew that it was his Father's will for him to go through this cross, through the cup, to drink the cup. Even though it would come at a high cost, an extremely high cost, and sometimes it is the Father's will for his people to suffer. Look at Jesus' resolution. He was not trying to get out of suffering, he resolved to do his Father's will, no matter what the cost.

48:21And number seven, he resolved to be our Passover Lamb. He resolved to drink the cup. What was in that cup? Everything that was prefigured in the sacrificial lamb. He would have to become the sacrificial lamb that would have to stay the destroying hand of God against all who come to him. You see, the Father had given Jesus, if you look at this, the Father had given Jesus three things: he had given him a people, he had given him glory, and he had given him a cup to drink.

49:12And he resolved to be that sacrificial lamb. So as we reflect upon Jesus and his entry into Jerusalem this Palm Sunday, remember that it was driven by the resolutions of our Lord. He is the one with universal authority. His resolutions impact our lives. How do we respond? What will you do? Are you going to arrange your life in agreement with those resolutions or opposing them? You can't get out of the fact that His resolutions have impacted our world today, impact us at every level of our being, and they impact the future and everything. You do well to pay attention to this individual and what drove him and let His resolutions shape you.

50:24Jesus' resolutions defined him. Let us take on similar resolutions. Let them define us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you desired, you resolved to make your Father known. Father, may we, too, make you known, and in so doing, make your Father known. Father, let us take comfort. That you have defeated your adversary and ours. Let your word shape us. You honored your word. Let that word shape us. Let us trust. You resolve to take care of those dependent upon you. May we trust in your care. And may we care for others.

51:29You trusted your father in all circumstances. Help us to trust as well. You resolve to do your father's will no matter what the cost. May you, by your grace, grant that we would follow you, whatever the cost. You resolve to be our Passover Lamb. We want you to cleanse us. We want you to cover us. And we want to proclaim you faithfully. May you accomplish this in our lives.