Matthew 26:31-75
On July 19, 64AD, the city
of Rome caught fire, and the fires burned for 3 days and nights. As soon as
they’d get the fire put out in one place, it would spread to another only to
reignite where they has just been fighting the fire. Rumors swirled about how
the fire started. Many blamed the deranged Emperor Nero. He liked to build
things to bring more honor to himself; many thought he started the fires to get
rid of buildings he didn’t like so that he could rebuild them. In an effort to
save his own life, Nero blamed the Christians. They were already distrusted
within the city of Rome and therefore became an easy scapegoat. The citizens of
Rome did not understand Christianity and many of their practices. For example,
they thought the Lord’s Supper was cannibalistic. Even the holy kiss was
misunderstood as a public sign of other gross practices they assumed were part
of Christianity. As a result, persecution came easily. This time however, they
got very “creative,” shall we say, with their physical persecution. Nero
himself helped with the persecution. Along with having Paul beheaded, Nero
would roll Christians in pitch and use them as torches around his garden. He
would sew them into animal skins and turn hunting dogs loose on them. Crucifixion,
racking, hanging all became more and more common forms of persecution. Shortly
after this started, Peter wrote his first epistle, encouraging the believers to
stand firm in their faith in the face of the trials. Where did he learn this
bold confidence? Wasn’t he the one that swore to a measly servant girl that he
wasn’t a follower of Jesus?
Let’s pray and find out.
Last week, we finished
with Jesus and the 11 disciples leaving the upper room and heading for the
Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. Jesus wanted to go to a quiet place to
pray. I’m sure all of us in times of great trial have sought solitude in order
to pray and express our concerns with God. As we’ll see later, Jesus was in
great distress over the coming events, as any human would be. Luke, a
physician, actually describes a rare but documented phenomenon to show us just
how pained Jesus was. Jesus being fully God knew exactly what lay ahead, but
being fully man His flesh wanted to avoid it at all cost. But on the way, He
warns the disciples that they will fall away.
Then
Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me,
for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into
Galilee." Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I
never will." "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this
very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." But
Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown
you." And all the other disciples said the same. – Matthew 26:31-35
Jesus quote is from
Zechariah 13:7. As we’ve seen all along, Matthew is trying to portray to his
Jewish audience that Jesus is the Messiah, so he throws in Old Testament
prophecy all throughout the book to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of
those prophecies.
[As a side note, there was
a professor of mathematics at Pasadena City College named Peter Stoner. He
calculated the probabilities of any person fulfilling just 8 Messianic
prophecies. It was 1 in 10 to the 17th power, or 1 followed by 17
zeroes, or 1 in 100 quadrillion (100,000,000,000,000,000). By
comparison, if you played the Mega Millions Jackpot, your odds of winning are 1
in 302,575,350
(three hundred two million, 5 hundred seventy-five thousand, three hundred
fifty). To also help put this in perspective, many scholars
estimate that the total number of humans to have ever lived is only about 110
billion. But Dr. Stoner didn’t stop with 8 prophesies. He went out
to 48 prophesies and beyond. At 48 prophesies, the odds of one man fulfilling
that is 1 in 10 to the 157th power. You can do the math to figure
out the probability of all 332 Messianic Prophecies.]
But this time, Jesus told
the apostles exactly how this particular prophecy will pertain to them as well.
They are going to forsake Him. John tells us that this was the second time He
had discussed this with them. Again, Peter refused to believe Him then. This
time the others began to agree verbally with Peter. This was the same Peter who
had earlier in John 6 asked Jesus "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life.” Essentially Peter told Jesus, “You know, Lord, You’re right
about most things. You’ve got that salvation thing down, but You’re wrong about
me. I’ll never leave You.” Mark records that Jesus warned Peter that Satan had
asked to sift Peter like wheat, trying to separate the bad from the good,
trying to prove that Peter’s faith wasn’t real.
As they are walking, they are headed for the Garden of Gethsemane, the
Garden of the Olive Press. This was one of Jesus favorite places to retire to
when He needed alone time with the Father. He left 8 disciples near the
entrance and went a little farther in with the inner 3. He left Peter, James,
and John behind asking them to pray for Him during His great sorrow. Let’s pick
back up in verse 36.
Then
Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to
them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of
death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Going a little farther, he fell
with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may
this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Then he
returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Couldn't you men keep
watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that
you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak." He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is
not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be
done." When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes
were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time,
saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them,
"Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son
of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my
betrayer!" – Matthew 26:36-46
Isaiah 53:5 said Messiah
would be “a Man of Sorrows and familiar with suffering.” Here, we see this
sorrow and suffering. If you read the accounts in all 4 Gospels, you would understand
just how great this trial was for Jesus. Luke said that He was so grieved, that
an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen Him. He was under such stress that
He began to sweat drops of blood. This is a documented, albeit very rare,
condition. The blood wouldn’t have just been on his forehead, but His entire
body would have been covered in blood. His physical body was under maximum
stress.
But what was causing such
anguish? Was it the coming physical pain? Was it the floggings or mockeries or
unjust trials? Was it the loneliness of being abandoned by His closest friends
and followers? No, He was anticipating experiencing the Father’s will and
embracing becoming the sacrifice for sin, becoming the sin bearer. He was to
endure all the wrath of God toward sin. He was to receive divine punishment. He,
who had no sin, was to be made sin for us.
The term “cup” is almost
always used to describe the wrath of God (see Psalm 11; Psalm 75; Isaiah 51;
Jeremiah 25; Jeremiah 49; and Lamentations 4). Jesus alluded to this when James
and John came to ask to sit one on His left and one on His right. He asked them
if they could drink the cup He was to drink. Jesus was to endure the full wrath
of God so that the redeemed don’t have to endure that same wrath.
Jesus had left Peter,
James, and John to go pray by Himself, but asked them to pray with Him and for
Him. The first time He came back He warned them that they needed to pray not
only for Him, but also for themselves and the temptation to come. But, in their
overconfidence, they fall asleep again. The third time Jesus comes back, He
just lets them sleep and goes back to pray.
Three times He stops
praying about His own anguish, but only because He is concerned for the other
three. He knew that they should be praying for themselves, and He kept going
back to them to encourage them to continue praying. But they are exhausted, and
Luke tells us they are sleeping due to their own sorrow.
After the angel
strengthened Him, He went back to the inner 3 for the last time. As He is
waking them up, Judas arrives.
While
he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large
crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders
of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one
I kiss is the man; arrest him." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said,
"Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus replied, "Friend, do
what you came for." Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and
arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew
it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all
who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father,
and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But
how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this
way?" In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a
rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every
day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this
has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled."
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. – Matthew 26:47-56
Judas is always listed as
“one of the Twelve.” In the 4 lists of the apostles in the Bible, he is always
listed last. His name means “Praise,” but yet none of us would even name our
dog “Judas.” He sold Jesus for the price of a slave, and gave a sign so that
those unfamiliar with Jesus would recognize Him in the dim torch light.
I do have to make a
correction from one of my previous messages. I said that blind Bartemaus was
the only named recipient of one of Christ’s miracles. I forgot that we are told
the name of the servant who lost an ear to a foolishly overconfident, fast
acting apostle.
But Why did Jesus not slip
out the back of the Garden and escape? He knew Judas was coming. From the
Garden on the Mount of Olives He could probably see the torches coming across
the Kidron Valley toward them. Why did He get up and walk toward His betrayer
and executioners? Hebrews 5 gives us an answer.
During
the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard
because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience
from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in
the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:7-10
He was fully submitted to
the Father and fully committed to our redemption. It was foretold in Genesis 3,
and He was here to do it. He knew the Father had promised that His body would
not see decay, and He knew the Father had power over death to raise Him, so He
willingly laid down His life as the once-for-all sin sacrifice.
Continuing on in our
passage for today, we follow Jesus to his first trial. Jesus had 6 trials in
total starting around midnight or so and going on until He was crucified around
9am. First, He was taken to Annas’s house where they decided to try him for a
capital crime. (I won’t get into who all these people are. If you go to the
transcript blog, there is a message in April of 2017 titled “The Courts Could
Not Hold Him.” In that message, I explained who all these names were and their
relationship to one another and their historical significance. Clemson
Community Church: The Courts Could Not Hold Him (clemsoncc.blogspot.com)) Then,
He was sent across the compound to Caiaphas for His second trial. This is where
Matthew picks up the story.
Those
who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers
of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance,
right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the
guards to see the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were
looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.
But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally
two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy
the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'" Then the high priest
stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this
testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained
silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the
living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God." "You
have said so," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: From now on
you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and
coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and
said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look,
now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" "He is worthy
of death," they answered. Then they spit in his face and struck him with
their fists. Others slapped him and said, "Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who
hit you?" – Matthew 26:57-68
This is Jesus second trial
at the house of Caiaphas. He was Annas’ son-in-law. Most likely, their houses
were very close to each other, if not within the same compound. Capital trials
were not supposed to take place at night. At least 2 witnesses were to give
testimony. The accused was never to be questioned directly. And the verdict was
not given for at least 48 hours in case new evidence came up clearing the
accused. All of these Jewish laws were trashed in Jesus’ case. This trial was
between 1am and 3am. He was questioned directly, and the verdict was given
immediately.
While this mockery is
taking place inside the house, Peter is outside in the courtyard. We pick back
up with him in verse 69.
Now
Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him.
"You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said. But he denied it
before them all. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to
the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth." He denied
it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!" After a little while,
those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of
them; your accent gives you away." Then he began to call down curses, and
he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster
crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the
rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and
wept bitterly. – Matthew 26:69-75
This series of events took
place over the span of about 2 hours in the middle of the night. It didn’t
happen in rapid succession anywhere near as fast as I read it.
While Peter was sitting by
the fire watching and listening from a distance so he can find out what is
going on, the servant girl recognized him and asked him if he was with Jesus. Peter
denied it. A little while later, another servant girl recognized him and told
the others nearby that he was with Jesus. He again denied the truth, even
uttering an oath to try to make it more believable. Finally, someone else
accused him of being with Jesus. Apparently, his accent gave him away.
The final time, Peter
swears another oath, probably something like, “May God kill me if I’m not
telling you the truth.” It’s always like this with a liar. The more they want
you to believe it, the more adamant they become that the lie is false.
But then the rooster
crowed. And for some reason, Peter glanced toward Jesus, only to see Jesus
looking directly into Peter’s eyes. I can picture that look: the look of
disappointed betrayal. And oh, the sorrow in Peter’s heart! He had refused to
listen to Jesus, and he had done just as the Master had said he would. He ran
away weeping. But the story doesn’t end there. Peter was later reconciled. His
position as leader of the apostles was restored. The first 12 chapters of the
book of Acts are centered on the ministry of Peter.
But Peter had to learn a
valuable lesson that night. He needed to learn something so he could teach us. What
mistakes did Peter make? He was self-confident. “Even if everyone else leaves
you, I’ll die for you.” He’s so confident, that he doesn’t make it a point to
pray when Jesus told him to in the garden. Jesus told him temptation was
coming. Jesus told him to pray because he was weak. But Peter didn’t listen. But,
after his restoration, he charged believers in the face of the fiercest
persecution to that point to stand firm in the faith and to “be prepared to
give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have.” (I Peter 3:15)
Satan doesn’t set ornate
traps for us. He sets little trip ups that cause us to stumble. I’m sure if
Peter was arrested and placed beside Jesus or even in another room and had time
to prepare for an interrogation that he may have endured. Instead, a little
servant girl asked him if he was with Jesus, and it caught him off guard. And
that’s the way it is for us. When we least expect it is when temptation comes.
How do we avoid sin and
resist temptation? I’m going to take the Apostle Paul’s approach in dealing
with this. First, we are going to look at some indicatives, or who we are. Then
we’ll look at imperatives, or how do we behave in light of who we are.
Ephesians chapter 2
starting in verse 1:
And
you were dead…
Dead. We weren’t sinking in
an ocean and someone threw us a life raft. We weren’t terminally ill. We were
dead. Let’s keep going:
And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following
the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once
lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and
the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because
of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches
of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been
saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not
a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:1-10
That’s one of those
passages that you just read and go sit down. But I won’t. I’m not done. We were
dead in sin. But Christ has made us alive, and in verse 10, Paul says we should
walk in good works. We are a new creation. We have been born again with a new
nature.
Turn over to Romans 6. Romans
6:1. Notice how Paul refers to a believer in this passage. He asks a rhetorical
question, and then tells us how to overcome sin.
What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no
means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of
us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we
shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our
old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died
has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will
never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died
he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you
also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do
not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion
over you, since you are not under law but under grace. – Romans 6:1-14
We died with Christ. Our
sin nature was crucified with Christ and was buried with Christ so that just as
He was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life. Our old self
was crucified with Him. I know what you’re thinking. I had the same thoughts
when I first heard this a few years ago. But I heard someone else explain it
more and it makes more sense now. Right now you’re probably saying “but I still
sin. My sin nature is not dead. In fact, it is alive and well.” Hear me out. Look
at your Bible. It’s right here for us. We just forget or choose not to believe
it. We are no longer enslaved to sin. Sin does not have dominion over us. We
have been set free from the bondage of sin.
John Owen, in his book The Mortification of Sin, gave the
example of a man being crucified. When he is first hung on the cross, his cries
are loud and strong. But with time, they become fewer and farther between. They
begin to weaken. They become quieter. There may be moments when he musters up
the strength to give a loud cry, but eventually, they will die off. If we daily
die to self, if we daily hang the old man on the cross, he will at first cry
out with agony and fury. But eventually, he will become weaker. His cries will grow
fainter. Eventually, that old sin will die there on the cross. It will be
harder for us to listen those cries for attention.
Now, the closer we are to
Christ, the more we will see our sinfulness. Don’t let this discourage us. Rather,
we should celebrate all the more our redemption and regeneration in Christ,
despite our sinfulness. We sadly won’t be sinless this side of heaven, but we
should be striving to be more like Christ.
Paul is reminding us that
we are not enslaved to sin. But our flesh wars within us; the world is raging
against God around us; Satan is constantly trying to thwart the work of God. So,
now that we know we are alive in Christ. We are new creatures. How do we avoid
sin? Here are 5 things that we do in light of what Christ has done for us.
First, as we saw from
Peter, prayer. Pray, pray, pray! Believe it or not, the prayer that makes the
most difference in me when I’m trying to ignore temptation is to thank God for
His attributes, focusing on Him and not on my circumstances.
Second, Romans 6:11,
Christ has won the victory, so we should consider ourselves dead to sin and
alive to Christ. I don’t have to give in to sin. The 13th Amendment
was ratified on December 6, 1865. Imagine, as a slave on December 6, 1865, you
are suddenly free. The law says you are free. But that is the only lifestyle
you know. You only know working for someone else. You are their property. But
now, you are to consider yourself free. You are to act in accordance with who
you are a free man or woman. You are no longer slaves to sin.
Third, verse 12; don’t
allow sin to reign in your mortal body to obey its passions. Don’t stay in sin
so that it grows in strength. This is similar to the second point. Again,
remember who you are. Everything in your old self wants to stay in sin, but
remember that you are a new creature. You are reborn in Christ as a free person
who doesn’t have to allow the old to reign in the new.
Verse 13; don’t present
yourself as an instrument to unrighteousness. We are weapons of righteousness,
not unrighteousness. This is similar to Romans 12:1-2. Sacrifice yourself to
God. We are to die to self. Don’t give yourself to sin, give yourself to God. We
have to go to the cross over and over and over again to sacrifice self. Don’t
take him off the cross. This is why we have the Lord’s Supper, to remind us of
His death, burial, and resurrection. This is why we have church. This is why we
have family worship, dads. We need to remind ourselves again and again and
again of Christ’s finished work once and for all.
Finally, verse 14, we are
not under law, we are under grace. Sin cannot have dominion over us. It is no
longer our Master. We don’t live in sin anymore. We are free to choose
righteousness. Our nature has changed.
Peter figured out who he
was. He gave himself as an instrument of righteousness, and look how God used
him. Also bear in mind that we are in a war. We don’t wrestle against flesh and
blood. Paul tells us throughout his epistles that we are in a war against sin. We
can’t relax. Keep up your guard, and daily die to self. And remember, you are
not a slave to sin. You don’t have to obey it. There is nothing wrong with
struggling with sin. We are to struggle and wrestle with it. The problem is
when we give in to sin. When we stop wrestling and warring with it.
If you’ve given in, and
you need to repent, I’ll leave you with this:
“Every Christian at times comes before
the Lord overwhelmed and broken by the awareness of his sinfulness. A person
who never had such an experience either is very cold spiritually or is not a
Christian at all. Nothing is more shattering to a believer than suddenly
realizing he has denied the Lord by what he has said or not said, done or not
done. And yet nothing is more exhilarating to him than knowing God’s gracious
forgiveness of the unfaithfulness after it is confessed.
“It was not until Peter saw the Lord’s
face and remembered the Lord’s words that he came to his sense, acknowledged
his sin and helplessness, and repented. His sin did not make him repent. Many
people are very much conscious of sin in their lives, readily admitting its
reality and its consequences. But until it is surrendered to Christ for
forgiveness and cleansing, the mere acknowledgement of it will only drive a
person deeper into despair and hopelessness and even deeper into sin. Forgiveness
and restoration come only from turning from sin to God...so that, in His
righteousness and grace, sinful men not only will discover the heinousness of
their sin but also the only hope for its removal.”--John MacArthur, Matthew
24-28.
Jesus stands ready to forgive. Don’t make
Him wait. Lay aside your pride, and come to Him.
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