No Apology, Now What?

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And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. You know, some of the deepest wounds you carry will never be acknowledged, at least on this side of heaven. No apology, no closure, no resolution.

So now what? Welcome to Truth Talk Live. I am Peter Rosenberger, eight six six three four eight. seventy eight eighty four eight six six thirty four. Truth Some of the deepest wounds you carry may never be acknowledged.

So let me ask you something right out of the gate. Think of a time, not hypothetical, real time. Would someone hurt you? Deeply. And they didn't make it right.

They didn't even try. Maybe they didn't even acknowledge. They didn't come back and say, I see it now. They didn't try to fix it. They didn't recognize it.

or even seem to care. Maybe they wouldn't maybe they couldn't. But either way, it never came. You got that moment in your mind?

Now my question to you is. What did you do with it? We hear a lot of apologies these days, don't we? Not real ones, I mean the other kind. I'm sorry if anyone was offended.

That wasn't my intention. I regret how this was received. Yeah, you see that a lot with political pundits and on the news, and they're calling for this particular. Politician to apologize and so forth. Do you?

Do you ever is there a a a politician's apology? For example. that comes to your mind as a really sincere one? That you're like wow this guy really gets it This woman really understands. the damage that they did.

I I can't think of one that comes to mind. We've gotten very skilled at saying words that sound like accountability. without actually taking any accountability. But that's not what I'm talking about today. I'm talking about the kind of wound that doesn't get a statement.

There's no cleanup. Press release, there's no spin, just silence. or, worse, more of the same. I've talked to several caregivers over the last few days. um who have been shaken by this very thing.

someone they love, a husband, a wife, a a parent said sing said some things to him that were were cruel. And they were cutting. They were. completely out of character. I I saw one of the text that came to one husband taking care of a wife who has Um significant cognitive things going on.

as a precursor to some dementia. I I remember a um A friend of mine whose father Uh she leaned in, he was in a hospital bed, and she leaned in and he grabbed her scarf she had around her neck, and and try to choke her. And This guy, I knew this father, knew this family very well. This father is one of the kindest men you've ever, ever seen. And She said, It was so difficult because it was my daddy's face, it was my daddy's voice.

But this is what I'm hearing, this is what I'm seeing, this is what's happening to me. And and there was no moment When they were able to sit down and look you in the eye and say, Okay, I see what I did and I'm sorry. I see how much this hurts you. I'm sorry, the moment isn't late, it's not coming.

So now what? What do you do in that situation? What have you done in that situation? Are you carrying that right now? I mean, right at this moment, are you carrying that?

where somebody has wounded you terribly. And you are almost in in a state of paralysis. And and you may be having to take care of them as they do it. Or, you know, they may Have just gone on with their life and not realized what they have said or not cared. And not realizing, by the way, is not an excuse.

If somebody has grievously wounded you. It's one thing if there's an accident. But it's a different thing when they say things that are cutting because that's reflecting their character. And it's a whole different thing if they have dementia or they're impaired in some way. But sometimes people know exactly what to do and how to do it, and they don't care unless they're caught at it, and then they express remorse.

But that's a little different, isn't it? You see how complex this gets, how muddy this gets. And you can see, you know, again, to go back to the politicians, I'm sorry if you were offended.

Well, that puts it on me that somehow it's my deficiency that has created an offense here. as opposed to something you did. Can you imagine if somebody came to you and said, I see what I did to you. And I just groan. I am so ashamed of what I have done to you.

And I, you know, we see these scandals erupt all over the place. in public life. But you don't really hear any accountability, do you? But do we hear this in the church? Do we hear this in Bible studies?

Do we hear this in small groups? Do we hear this? In our own home, do we model this? Do we even know how to apologize? D does the word sorry mean anything any more?

I've taken the stance in my own life that I don't even try to say I'm sorry. Because I don't know that the word means something. I just I use different words. When I have and by the way, I have a lengthy experience at having to learn to make amends. But that's called sanctification, and it is a painful process.

But there are things that you learn to say that because you really do care about how wounded this person is. But has that happened to you? Has somebody cared about how wounded you are because of something they did. Or are you still carrying it? I don't.

Many people who are taking care of an aging parent who abused them as a child, and now that parent is requiring full-time care. And it is a very difficult place for that person. Scripture doesn't dodge this. By the way, Romans. Uh and Paul uh Paul writes in Romans As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

as far as it depends on you, which means some things don't depend on you. to live at peace with some people.

Some things are outside of your reach.

Some things are outside of your control.

Some things are outside of your ability to fix. Including getting an apology out of someone who isn't capable of giving one. It's hard enough to give one get one out of somebody who is unwilling to give one, but th then they may not be even capable of it. What do you do with this? And this is where.

as we go into this Easter weekend. It speaks into something that a lot of people don't want to face. On the cross, Jesus said, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. They weren't apologists.

They weren't repenting. They weren't they they weren't doing anything. in any way Recognize That they What they were doing was wrong and what they were doing was Horrific. In fact, they were cheering it on. They were not lining up to make amends.

They were still doing. And yet he didn't wait for their apology to act. Isn't that interesting? That he didn't, you know, a lot of people say, well, I actually heard a pastor say this one time. That there can be no Forgiveness without repentance.

And it was during a church conflict, and I actually confronted him on this afterwards. He was moderating this thing. He was supposed to be some kind of big expert on this. And I pulled him aside and said, that's not accurate. You could forgive without somebody repenting.

Jesus was asking his father to do that and those people hadn't repented. There are people who have released All types of forgiveness on people who are in jail that have never asked for it. There are people who have done this for people who are in the grave. Forgiveness doesn't mean it doesn't matter. That's not what forgiveness means.

Forgiveness means you're going to take your hands off of someone else's throat. I believe. That judgment to God. You could forgive. But can you be reconciled?

And we're going to talk about that when we come back. 866-34-TRUTH 866-348-THREST. 7884. Maybe that's something you've been carrying for a while. If so, this is the time to talk about it.

866-34-TRUTH. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34 TRUTH, 866-348-78. 84. We're talking about apologies, forgiveness, repentance.

All of these things go on. We see such caricatures of this in our culture. Where you'll get, you know, one politician will say, Well, that guy needs to apologize.

Well, he's not going to apologize. I mean, w what to what end? I mean, what what's he gonna say? You know, he came out and said something that well let me let me put an example for this. Jimmy Kibble, you saw this the other day.

When he said about Mark Wayne Mullins, is now, he said, now the guy running Homeland Security is a plumber. You know, well, Mark Wayne Mullins Was an MMA fighter. His father ran a plumbing. He was a plumber and had a company. And then his father got very sick.

And so Mark Wayne took it over and built it into a very successful business. I mean, a big business. And then he ended up using his platform as a very successful businessman to run for Senate, became a senator. And now Trump has tapped into be the uh Homeland Security Secretary. And Jimmy Kimmel came out and just basically derided the whole thing.

He just kind of condescended to being just being a plumber. And then he's having to go back and walk that back. Because a lot of people got outrageous.

Well, I didn't mean to have felt, you know, that kind of stuff. How, how. Sincere does that sound to you? I mean, does that do you feel like Kimmel Uh understood the the how offensive what he did was. Or is he spinning it?

I mean, does that does it come across as sincere? Does it come across as authentic? Does he recognize that what he's done is show an enormous amount of condescension to people who are plumbers? He basically and he reduced in his mind and into his audience Mark Wayne Mullins is this guy who stepped in and did something absolutely astonishing, showed tremendous leadership skills, work ethic, skill sets, everything else.

Now he's in the Senate and he's done an enormous amount of work there. And Trump tapped him to do it.

Now the President of the United States thinks he can do it. That's not the point. The point is, Jimmy Kimmel got backlash from it. And so everybody called for him to apologize to plumbers or this or that, or he tried to go out there and spin it and salvage what little of his reputation. Who knows?

But do you see what I'm talking about, what the what the apologies look like? And we have a culture that screams for that, but what kind of apology is he going to give? What do you think? would say You know, hey, I got this wrong. What do you think the words would sound like for somebody who really understood?

Man, I really blew it here. I I I really blew it. And see, this is the thing we call for people to apologize or whatever, but what we're trying to do is we're trying to, it's all about leverage. Whereas repentance, scripturally, when somebody is broken over their sin, over a mistake that they've made. over a wound that they caused.

You know, there there's not a spin here. You know, Oh my goodness, I what have I done? You know, and you you look at uh Adam and Eve. The first question Posited in the Bible was You know, Adam, where are you? And Adam was hiding and then he said, Who who, you know, what did you do?

He's what it was the woman. You know, it deflected. He wasn't broken up about this. He wasn't repenting. It wasn't me, it was her.

You gave her to me, Lord. He said, Well, it was a serpent. Wasn't me, it was the serpent. And then contrast that with David. Who sinned his sin I mean, the the guy not only committed adultery, But then he committed murder, premeditated murder.

And when confronted with it, what did he do? And Nathan said to him, You know, thou art the man. And David just came undone. There was no spin there. And it it's a painful chapter.

often includes some of the most painful things. About the human condition. In fact, he not often does it throughout all of Scripture to show just how messed up it is. But look at the difference. Look at the difference of the approach.

And then, of course, you look at Psalm 51. where David just lays it out. And you go to the guy that's In the Jesus is mentioned, the tax collector that's beating his chest in the temple, saying, You know, Lord. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Versus the Pharisees say, Oh, well, I'm glad I'm not like that guy.

You know, do you see the attitude of the heart?

Well, what if you're in a situation where somebody's done this to you and they're unwilling to even try to make amends? Or they're even Uh Uh unable. as so many people are these days. That are dealing with all kinds of impairments. I'm looking at this thing, you know, with Tiger Woods.

And he put out a statement yesterday, and he said, you know, the seriousness of, he recognizes the seriousness of this.

Well, I don't know if he does or not. He said he does in his words, and I'm sure he had some people that helped him put that together. But This thing is is extremely serious. And how do you make amends for that? And anybody in any kind of recovery program will tell you that part of the recovery program is learning to make amends.

taking ownership of things. Are there things in your life that you're wrestling with that people have done to you? And they're not taking ownership. for whatever reason. And as I said, I'm mad.

work with family caregivers, some of them can't take ownership.

Some of them just can't.

Some of them are going are gone.

So what do you do about that? What is how do you live with this? How do you make peace with it? What does that look like? And do you get stuck in that?

And scripture takes these things very seriously. And I talked about the pastor, there was a pretty ugly church conflict. And this pastor got up, and he was wrong, just simply wrong. At least, I showed him this thing. He said, you can't have.

forgiveness without repentance. And I thought, Well, where is that in Scripture? Because I see plenty of places where people forgive. where they weren't repentant. They didn't turn from it.

They may have felt remorseless, they may have felt sorry. But they weren't repentant. And I look at what Joseph did with his brothers. This is a perfect example. They were just afraid.

They thought he was going to kill him. Justice said no. He had already released that to God. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Forgiveness is something so much different.

I see this a lot when I see it on the news when there's a terrible tragedy. And somebody has, you know, just this. You know, like a killer has done just unspeakable things. And the family would come out in front of all the cameras and light and said, We forgive him. And I I'm not doubting their sincerity at all.

But I also know that the process of forgiveness. Is one that has to sometimes be walked out. It takes time. It takes a lot of help sometimes. But forgiveness doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

And it doesn't mean that there aren't going to be consequences. It just means you're taking your hands off of somebody else's throat. Can you do that? If they don't ask? Are you able to do that?

Is that something you've given any thought to? Is that something that is worth considering. On how do we live? Do we carry bitterness and grudges? You know?

How many of us do that? I heard a pastor one time tell me that resentment. And rage in that regard, with resentment, is one of the most delicious of all sins because it makes us feel powerful. When we know that we're not. And that's an enticing sin, isn't it?

to just carry that resentment. And I've seen people who carry it and they were just so bitter. And here we are going into Easter weekend, and I think it's so appropriate to have. that conversation because well look what our Lord did. Tell me your thoughts on this.

866-34-TRUTH. That's how you call in, 866-348. 78 84. This is Peter Rosenberger, and this is Truth Talk Live, and we will be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. If you want to weigh in on the topic here, we are talking about forgiveness, repentance, apologies, all of those kinds of things that we hear a lot of in our culture. But do we really understand them? Do we understand the cost?

That's involved. The cost to ask for forgiveness, the cost to extend forgiveness. and it's all about humility. And it is an act of faith. You know, and I can look at a lot of scriptures about uh forgiveness and you'll you'll see that and and uh uh Ephesians says to put away bitterness and forgive as Christ forgave me.

Colossians says the same thing. Jesus said, If I don't forgive, I have no business basically asking for forgiveness.

Well, that sounds pretty clear. Luke 17, Jesus said, If your brother repents, forgive him.

So, which is it? Do we have to wait for them to repent, or do we have to, you know. And this is what I had this conversation with this pastor. What if they never repent? Are we off the hook?

What did they never ask? Do we Carry the grudge? I know a lot of lot of people. who struggle with this. because their parents are past the point.

cognitively, or even maybe even living, that they can ask for forgiveness. They hear that their minds are gone? Or They're gone. And and I I go, for example, to many cases where the situation is a family member was abused by their parents, and then the parents have a debilitating stroke or something like that towards the end of their life. And then that Abused child who still hasn't worked through some of those wounds.

is in a position to take care of this parent. And the parent remains Clueless. maybe intentionally, maybe medically. Who knows? But we still got to deal with that.

We still have to learn to walk in a healthy manner. And how? How do you release somebody? What does that look like? And I I I I mentioned in the last block about Joseph.

And what he did with his brothers. I mean, what they did was horrific to him. It cost him thirteen years and who knows the anguish he spent in prison. And yet he looked at them and said, What you meant for evil, God meant for good.

Now, what is Joseph modeling there?

Well, there's a doctrine in the church called the lo the doctrine of divine concurrence. That God is superintending all these things. Do we believe that? That nothing happens to us that is Not filter through his hands. Do we believe that?

And and I I land on the side because I believe Scripture teaches this very clearly: that yes. that there are no errant molecules, that God's not surprised by anything. I mean, there's nothing that's catching him unawares. We can we agree on this?

So what is he allowing? And I go back to the night that Jesus was betrayed.

Now to morrow night is what is celebrated around the world in many places on Maundy Thursday. And Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples. But there are two people that betrayed him that night. Did you know that? By the way, the number to call 866-34-TRUTH-866-348.

7884. Stu tells me I always got to put the number out there.

Sorry about that, y'all. But there were two people that betrayed Jesus that night. One was Judas. The one was Peter. And with Judas Jesus said to him, What?

Whatever you're going to do, do quickly. But with Peter. What did he say? You remember? He said Simon, Satan has asked for permission.

To sift you. But I have prayed for you. Didn't say he prayed for Judas. He didn't say Satan asked for permission. In fact, if you read on later on to the text, it says that he was a child.

Of the devil, he belonged to the devil, he was a devil from the beginning. But he said to Simon, He said, Satan has asked for permission. to sift you. But I have prayed for you. And when you come through this.

Strengthen your brethren. That scripture, I cannot shake it. That's one of those scriptures that just land on my heart. Maybe because my name is Peter. I don't know.

But There's several things that happened here. One of em is Satan had to ask for permission. And that is incredibly comforting to me. that nothing happens to me. That's willy-nilly, that that's it's just arbitrary.

that Satan has to ask for permission. And that God is sovereign over all of these things. Even people that hurt me. And then he says, But I have prayed for you. What do you What does that say to you?

What does that mean to you when you hear that? We have a Savior who is interceding for us, who's praying for us. Is at the right hand of God, a great high priest, the book of Hebrews says. And then you've got the Holy Spirit groaning on our behalf. There's this constant intercession going on for us.

Now, what does scripture say about prayer?

Well, how about this one? The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man does what? availeth much.

Well, which one of us is righteous? None of us are. But Christ is. It's his righteousness that's all that's important. There's nothing else that's more important than his righteousness.

There's a great old hymn, Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness. See, his blood paid the penalty for our sin. This is what this whole weekend is about. but his righteousness was imputed to us.

so that we have standing before God. And that righteous man. is praying for us. And when we come through. Whatever Satan had to ask for permission to do to us.

Whatever things befall our way. When we come through these things, we are to do what? I take it personally. I think that the scripture is very clear on this, that we're to strengthen the brethren. Paul echoes this again in Corinthians: Comfort one another with the same comfort you have received from the God of all comfort.

Well, what comfort have you received? And I will tell you the comfort we have received when we walk in the Spirit is to knowing that we don't have to hold on to these things. If other people have done things to us, If other people have broken our hearts, betrayed us, wounded us, the comfort we receive is that we do not have to be held hostage to that. We can release them to the judgment of God. We can release this to God.

We could be like Joseph who said, What you meant for evil, God meant for good. We can turn our eyes towards him because this is what he did on the cross. Are we willing to do less? Is it our desire that we would say, okay, that's fine for you, but you don't realize the nature of my wound here?

Well, I I don't think any of us have been crucified. And this is antithetical to the world.

So this does two things for us. And number one, allows us to live. when it's up to us more peacefully. with others. that we don't have to have a tally sheet of what they've done.

Doesn't mean we have to be reconciled with them. If you're in a marriage, for example, where you have a spouse that's been unfaithful. And you do not have to be reconciled with them. That may not be possible. But forgiveness is something different.

That's releasing them to the judgment of God. Taking your hands off their throat. You are not setting yourself up as judge in this situation. You are saying this was done. I have to have boundaries.

I'm not a part of this. any more. I release them to God. I'm not going to sit there and dwell on my bitterness. Yes, it hurt, and I will always have a scar.

But I don't have to walk in bitterness. We can't do this as believers. How can we walk in bitterness? There are people who have done things to you, as you listen to this program, that you're thinking of, and you know, and they were hurtful things. How does it help you to walk in bitterness?

Particularly when we Think about the events of this weekend. Do you remember when Peter got up at Pentecost? He said, This Jesus, whom you crucified. Whom you crucified He laid it on them. They saw this, the weight of what they had done.

And their hearts were broken by the Holy Spirit, and when 3,000 people came to Christ that day. Many of them. How many do you think were in that crowd? who were yelling, crucify him. who were yelling that out to Pontius Pilot.

The same spirit. dwells in us That allows Jesus to pray. Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. That same spirit now. Yes.

Is in us. What does that look like in our daily life and our when we go through things? And we will hurt, and it will sting, and it will bring tears to our eyes.

Sometimes it even brings blood.

So what do we do? How do we live? How do we deal with it? How do we deal with this? And we go back to the scripture.

We may not be reconciled with these individuals, but it is up to us. to live peacefully. That we don't have to nurse our grudges. that our bitterness and our resentment. That stuff kills us.

It is toxic to us. It doesn't mean you have to be friends with them. doesn't mean you ev even have to stay married to them. Does it mean that? But it does mean that you release this to God, that your hands are no longer on their throats.

They may never give you the apology. that you deserve They may never seek to make amends. But I can go through Great box. Not only biblical history, but history itself. Look at Corey Tim Boone when that Nazi soldier.

Stuck his hand out. And he said to her, I decided to become a Christian. I became a Christian. I don't know the exact words he said. But I became a Christian, and she remembered him how abusive he was to her and her sister.

And she was paralysed for a moment. And then she stuck her hand out and took his hand. I don't know that he understood the gravity. of what he was asking of her. He may not have.

But she did. And she did it. As obedience. in humility. to her Saviour.

An extraordinary moment. Corey Tim Boone. When my wife was six years old, she met Corey. Corey led her to the Lord. It's an amazing story.

I have to tell it to you sometime. but an exceptional life. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-3. 7884. This is Peter Rosenberger.

This is Truth Talk Live and we will be right back. Truth talk lie. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger.

Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH-866. 348-7884. If you take a moment, and I would like for you to do so, please, Peter Rosenberger.com, P-E-T-E-R-R-O-S-E-N-B-E-R-G-E-R. It's Irish. My great-grandfather Seamus O'Rosenberger.

No, I'm just kidding. Peter Rosenberger.com. And you'll see a ton of resources out there, including a Caregiver 911 if you're struggling right now. And you're just overwhelmed. You don't know where to think.

It's right there. And then you scroll on down, and you'll see a big picture there. It says Peter Substack. And you can go on to my sub stack. Right there, just click on the button right there.

Just scroll down the page, PeterRosenberger.com, and you'll see Substack, my Substack. and I put video, audio, print, all kinds of things out there for you. And you can Glean a ton of things that I've put out. See, I've been doing this for 40 years. and looking after a woman with severe disabilities.

And there's nothing like taking care of somebody with severe disabilities to to expose the gunk that's in your soul. The reason I know so much about apologies is because I've had to make so many of them. The reason I am familiar with making amends is because I have done it a lot and I have a lot more to do. And you see what's in you when you're under that kind of pressure of dealing with constant crisis and so forth and all those kinds of things. And so I write about these things, I think about it, I look at this mountain every single day.

And I see the plight of so many who are struggling with this, so many who are in bondage to bitterness. over people who in their own family Spouses, kids, parents, cousins, brothers, sisters, it doesn't matter. The people sometimes closest to us can hurt us the most. And I see this, and so I write about these things: that how can we live more peacefully in this? How can we navigate this?

when there's no one coming to address our own wounds. even as we take care of somebody who else is somebody else who is wounded. What does that look like? Are we Are we to stop? Does that give us a pass to say, well, okay, I'm done, I'm out?

Amount. Is that biblical? Is that what we do? Are there certain things that do trigger an escape clause? Like Adultery grievous sin, things such as that.

You know, are those And if we choose to take that, then what does that look like? Are there things that say, you know what, this has happened to me, but I'm still going to stay in here?

Okay, now what does that look like? How do we wrestle with these things? I am not interested in giving. Platitudes to people about this. I want to see it myself.

Show me a picture of this. Draw this out. And I tell this to people. I've gone to many pastors, theologians, and so forth. I said, okay, bring out the big pencils that we used when we were in first grade.

on those big writing tablets, you know, they kind of think I said, bring that stuff out. I mean, bring out the crayons. And show me. Don't don't just give me the words. I've heard the words over and over in my life.

People used to tell me all the time when I was struggling with mightily with things, with with you know surgery after surgery after surgery after surgery with Gracie, and it would just just never seem to end. And they would say things like, well, just trust Jesus.

Well, what does that look like? Show me what that looks like. How does that apply right now? The Puritans, when they preached sermons, Back in the early parts of this country, they would spend a third of their sermon just showing the application thereof of what they just talked about. What does this look like today, right now?

Some of you may be listening to this program riding down the car, and you've had tears in your eyes because you're thinking, I've got to go home to this. What does this look like right now, here? And that's what I'm talking about. And that's what I want to spend time with as much as I possibly can. Because if you don't understand how this applies to you, then what good have I done?

If you don't understand why Corey Tim Boone reached her hand out to take that Nazi guard's hand. Then we haven't accomplished the mission here. We're not explaining it well enough. I'll give you another example, Nate Saint. Do you know who Nate Saint was?

He was one of five missionary men, along with Jim Elliott, who were killed. by the very people they were trying to reach.

Well Most of us know that story. Elizabeth Elliott wrote it through Gates of Splendor. And But there's a continuation. I saw this many, many years later when Nate's son. Um was was having to make a very difficult decision here.

And he didn't want to go back to these people, but his aunt, her name was, I think, Marge. had stayed as a medical missionary down there. And he went on to become a doctor, and she asked him to come down there and help with these people. and he didn't want to do it. These are the people who killed his dad.

He didn't want to deal with these people. And I watched a documentary on this, and eventually he relented. She pressed on him, and he came down there. And his heart was so moved by what he was seeing and doing, and the event that happened. More importantly, it was so moved by the work of the Holy Spirit.

That he allowed himself to be baptized in the very river where his father's body was found. From the man who threw the spear. The man who threw the spear baptize him and pray with him.

Now explain that. Without the work of the Holy Spirit. That is not. Cheap forgiveness. That is not cheap grace.

That is costly. But not as costly as the cross. And so As we go into this weekend. Hang on to that part. I make it a practice usually every Easter to watch the Passion of the Christ by myself.

And I just I just weep through it. It's hard to watch it. Still, I've seen it I don't know how many times. It is hard to watch it. But I immerse myself into it.

The sea Um picture. of what this looked like for us. What he did for us. The hymn writer wrote, And from my smitten stricken heart with tears To wonders, I confess. The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness when he's looking at the cross.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts wrote. on which the Prince of Glory died. When we see these things, it doesn't mean that our wounds don't matter. It doesn't mean that our broken hearts don't matter. It means that we have a place to go to with them.

It means we have one who came into our distress. We have a Saviour who understands grief. We have an a Saviour who understands betrayal on a level we can't even process. We have a Saviour who understands being mocked and scorned. We have one.

Who? understands this. and has come to us in our distress. and equips us to endure by keeping our eyes focused on him. The hymn writer wrote, Well, I was here.

I'll go over here. to the caregiver keyboard. Mm.

Now here's the line. And I see it. you Of Earth. Yeah. We'll grow straight Yeah.

Doesn't mean they go away. In the light. Of his glory. In the love. Light of His glory in the light of His glory.

You see the difference there. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. If you've never done that. If you just happen to listen to this program, you think, what in the world is this guy talking about?

Well, I'm not talking about anything in this world. I'm talking about something that is not of this world. This world will never All for you. anything that's going to assuage the the angst that's in your heart. But we have one who said, Peace I leave to you not as the world gives.

The peace I give. And that is what allows you to take the hand. of some one who brutalized you. and shake it. You don't have to be reconciled.

You don't have to be buddy buddy. You don't have to go to their house for dinner. You can just simply take an outstretched hand. It allows Nate Saint Son to be baptized in that river. It allows us to look at someone who said to us hurtful, hurtful things.

that we can forgive. It allowed Joseph to say What you meant for evil. God meant for good. We see this modeled on the cross. We see this modeled by him.

What is our response? What do you do with this now? What is your decision with this? What is your Action step. What is required of us in this moment?

And I'll ask you again when I ask myself. when faced with these very difficult things. Christian. What do you believe? If you believe what you say you believe.

If I believe what I say I believe. Then what is required of me in this moment? And those are Questions that are really worth exploring for us as believers, aren't they? And if you're not a believer and you just happen to turn in, That is the question. What do you believe?

This is Peter Rosenberg. Think about these things as you go into this weekend. When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory dined. If you want more information, just go out to my website, PeterRosenberg.com. R-O-S-E-N-D-E-R-G-E-R, just Google me.

I'm out there somewhere. Thanks for spending the time with me today. I really do appreciate it. I'll see you next week. I'm not sure.