Matthew chapter 26 and verse number 45, have a look at that, verse number 45
Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest.
Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed.
The title for the sermon tonight is The Son of Man is Betrayed.
I mean, Jesus Christ himself, Christ the Messiah, the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, betrayed by man.
What a thought. But let's pick it up there from verse number 30.
So if you remember from last week, we left off the Lord's Supper, they had finished that, now they're going on.
And it says here in verse 30, And when they had sung in hymn, they went out into the mounds of olives.
Now you know why we sing hymns.
You thought it was just some tradition, we come to church, we open up our hymn books, we just sing hymns because that's what everyone does.
No, look, we see in the Bible that after they had partaken of the Lord's Table, they went out and they sang a hymn. Praise God.
Now I'd love to know what hymn they sang. I don't know what kind of hymn they sang there.
I'm going to quickly read to you from Colossians 3.16.
The Bible says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
You see, hymns, singing hymns or singing psalms, singing spiritual songs, is a command of God.
You say, well, I don't have a good voice. It doesn't matter if you have a good voice or not.
You're commanded to sing praises to the Lord. Why? Why is it important? Because it says they're teaching and admonishing one another.
You know, when you sing a hymn, that's your turn for a teaching ministry in the church.
We open up those hymn books. The reason I love the old hymns, the reason we don't sing the hill songs or the vineyard, whatever groups are there, whatever the church is, they come up with all their modern songs.
The reason we don't sing them, guys, is because they're empty words. It just sounds like a boyfriend singing to his girlfriend or a girlfriend singing to a boyfriend.
It just sounds like love songs to God, but there's no doctrine. There's nothing deep. There's nothing you can learn.
When we sing songs, it's to teach one another. I remember growing up in my Baptist union church and we sung the old hymns.
Let me tell you something. The preaching wasn't great, but I tell you where I learned a lot of doctrine, just opening up the hymn books and singing those hymns.
There's a lot of things that just sing in those hymns and go, wow, is that true? Is that in the Bible? Then you find it in the Bible and say, wow.
These hymns are actually written from the word of God. Praise God that we have an exciting hymn book with a lot of deep doctrine. You can learn a lot of good stuff.
I'm not saying the hymn books are perfect. I'm not saying it's infallible like the Bible. Of course, some of these hymn writers, they may not even have been saved.
I don't know. I don't know all the story of these hymn writers. But we've got to be careful with the songs we sing as well because some of those songs do contain false doctrine.
But we just need to be aware of that before we choose songs, before we choose our favorites. If you're a song leader one day, you get up here.
Make sure you check out the words of the hymn before you get the whole church to sing it because it might be teaching some false thing.
So you've got to be aware of that. But I just wanted to show you the command there that we're commanded to sing songs and praises to the Lord regardless of how good your voice is.
Regardless. It doesn't matter. You're called to sing praises to God. Look at verse number 31.
Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended. Now who's the them? Again, he's talking to his disciples. He's talking to his disciples who he had the Lord's table with.
He says, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. Jesus is like, all of you are going to be offended one day.
And look, if there's been a time in your life when you've been ashamed to speak of Jesus Christ, someone's asked you something plainly and you've been ashamed.
Or you had an opportunity to preach the gospel to someone and you got shy, you caved in and you didn't do it.
It's because you're offended. You're ashamed of the name of Christ. And that's not a good thing, of course.
But he says this to his disciples, all of you are going to be offended because of me this night.
And look, these guys have been working with Jesus every day of their life for the past three years of his ministry.
And let me just tell you, as spiritual as you think you are, maybe some of you are very mature in the faith.
Maybe you have been serving the Lord for a long time. But if you're in a period of weakness, you may be offended by the Lord one day.
There might come a time when you're called to stand up for the Lord God and be ashamed, be offended and deny the Lord.
We see later in this chapter that Simon Peter himself denies the Lord three times.
But he says to all who are disciples, they'll be offended. Look at this.
For it is written, I shall smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
And what I always tell you guys, whenever it says in the Bible as it's written or as the prophets spoke or something like that,
try to find where it's actually written. What is Jesus speaking about?
And I'm just going to quickly read to you from Zechariah. You can turn there if you want, but it's Zechariah chapter 13 verse 6.
This is what Jesus Christ is quoting. Zechariah chapter 13 verse 6.
The Bible says, And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands?
Man, this is an amazing prophecy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
This prophet Zechariah is prophesying that Jesus Christ the Messiah is going to be wounded in his hands.
Of course, we know that's the crucifixion. What are the wounds in thine hands?
Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
He says, look, I was wounded in the house of my friends.
And if you know this chapter, we read through it, it is one of his friends that wounds him.
It's one of his friends that betrays Jesus Christ, and that is Judas Iscariot.
But then it says in verse 7, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, that shepherd being Jesus,
and against the man that is my fellow, save the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered,
and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
So they smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
And this is of course what we see happen. Jesus Christ will be smote.
Jesus Christ would be arrested, and the sheep will scatter.
Now let me just say something important about church.
I am not the head of the church. Even though I'm the pastor of this church, I'm not the head of this church.
The head of this church is the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm an under-shepherd under him.
I am a pastor, that just means shepherd, but I'm under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me just encourage you to be in church, because it is within church, if you can have a man of God,
and I don't like saying that about myself, but obviously I don't want to lift myself up any more than I need to.
But it's important for you to be in the house of the Lord.
It's important for you to be under a shepherd, under a pastor, that preaches you the word of God,
because we can see the principle there. If the shepherd's not there, the sheep will be scattered.
And you need to be careful, because there might become a time in your life when you say,
you know, it's probably better if I get out of church. It's probably better if the church is just not doing it for me.
Well, if you leave the house of the Lord, if you leave the authority that God has given you in a pastor,
you may very well be scattered. I mean, you may very well become a lost sheep, okay?
And then it's probably going to take you a long time to get back where you used to be, you know, spiritually,
where you used to be in the faith, okay?
But this is a principle that we see, a prophecy of Christ, that he would be betrayed by his friends.
He would be wounded by his friends.
Verse number 32, Matthew 26, verse 32.
So once again, Jesus Christ just reinforcing the fact, look, I'm going to rise again, all right?
The disciples, I mean, honestly, he just keeps going over their head.
He says, not only am I going to be smitten, but I'm going to rise from the dead.
And he says, look, I will go before you into Galilee.
We're going to get into this chapter later on, but this, what Jesus Christ is speaking about here
is after his resurrection in a mount close to Galilee, this is where over 500 disciples see Jesus Christ at once, okay?
We know after his resurrection, he came and, you know, he appeared to many.
You know, sometimes he appeared to one, to two, to different groups,
but this is the biggest group that he appears to in that one point, and that's in Galilee.
So he's reminding the disciples, look, just remember Galilee.
That's where I'm going to show myself to all of you.
And then verse number 33.
Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
I love Peter's heart. I love his attitude.
He says, look, if everyone else is offended by you, Jesus, not me, all right?
Jesus just finished saying that they all will be offended.
Who are going to believe Jesus Christ's own Peter?
You know, as well-meaning as Peter was, you know, we see that he definitely is one that was offended by Jesus Christ.
But look at verse number 34.
Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
So before, you know, the morning breaks, when the morning breaks, you know, the roosters crow, you know, crow out, you know,
and before that you're going to have denied me three times already, Peter, all right?
He says you'll never do it. You're going to do it three times, Peter.
Three times this very night, this very night, you know.
And verse number 35, Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.
Likewise also said all the disciples, okay?
So it says, look, I'll even go to death for you, Jesus, and I still won't deny you, even in death, okay?
Now, Simon Peter often gets, you know, we look at him, he gets recorded for saying those words.
You know, we kind of look at that and go, wow, what an embarrassment kind of thing.
But then look at the end of verse 35, it says, likewise also said all the disciples.
So all the 11 disciples that remained, not, you know, Judas had gone out to betray Jesus,
but all of them said the same thing, you know.
We'll die for you, Jesus. We'll never deny you, you know, even unto death, okay?
Now, look at, if you can keep your finger there and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, please.
1 Corinthians chapter 10. Keep your finger there.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12.
Now, I don't know how you measure your spirituality.
I don't know if you consider yourself pretty mature
or if you still consider yourself a babe in Christ, okay?
But there is a reminder here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12.
It says here, wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall, okay?
Here's the thing, guys, many that believe they stand strong for the Lord
and many that believe I will always proclaim the Lord, you know?
The Bible says, look, take heed, pay attention, lest you fall.
And let me tell you now, guys, in my Christian life, I've seen many godly, many good men
that you'd think they would never fall.
You'd think they would always proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ.
You'd think they would never shame themselves in some horrible sin.
They will always be in the ministry.
This is what happens. The Bible's already warned us that those that stand up strong,
hey, when they don't take heed, when they don't listen, when they start to relax,
when they start to compromise, they can fall in a really bad place, you know?
And I need to remind myself as a pastor, hey, I'm supposed to set an example for you.
How much more then should I make sure I don't fall, okay?
Because it can hurt, especially young believers, carnal Christians,
it can really hurt people in the faith when they see godly men fail.
But let me tell you now, godly men will fail around you.
I hope I never fail you, okay? But it's possible. I don't want it to happen.
I'm trying hard that it doesn't happen, but it's possible.
And when those godly men, those good examples fail you,
what effect is that going to have on your life?
And again, people give up.
People say, well, if this pastor can't do that,
if this man of god can't stand for the Lord, what chance have I?
Or you know what, the church, I knew it. It's a bunch of hypocrites.
Why am I even trying to be in church? Why am I even trying to walk in the ways?
No. Look, the key to this, guys, is to always set your sight on Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ will never fail, okay? Never fail you.
He will never forsake you, okay? Man will. Pastors will.
Men of God that you look up to will fail you, I promise you this.
Just jot it down, all right? Write it down somewhere,
and when men fail you can go back and see where it was written, okay?
Because it's going to happen, and you need to remind yourself this, okay?
But you need to remain faithful unto the Lord even when other men fail you.
Matthew 26, please. Matthew chapter 26.
Matthew 26 verse 36.
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane,
and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
So the two sons of Zebedee, if you don't know, that's James and John, okay?
So this is his inner three, Peter, James and John,
were sort of the closest apostles that he had.
They're also the same apostles that saw the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, okay?
And notice that he goes to pray.
Say, why is he praying? It says here, because he's sorrowful and very heavy.
Jesus Christ knows what he's about to suffer.
Jesus Christ knows that not only is he about to face a very torturous physical suffering,
not only is he going to take on a spiritual suffering,
take on the sins of the entire world upon himself,
and that he would also be separated by God the Father.
Remember, God the Father forsook Jesus Christ on the cross,
because God can't allow sin in his sight.
God can't stand sin, all right?
And so when Jesus Christ took the sins of the whole world upon him,
wow, what a view for God that he had to forsake.
God the Father had to forsake the Son.
And this is why he goes to pray.
And of course, Jesus Christ came and set the example for us.
When you're sorrowful, when you're heavy-hearted,
when you're going through troubles, what are you going to do about it?
I hope you go out there and pray.
And if you've got three good friends around you,
or if you're just one good friend, you know, your husband, your wife,
you know, friends that you can trust,
hey, say to them, can you pray for me?
I'm going through a hard time. I'm going through the difficulty.
Jesus Christ wanted the same thing.
He had his friends with him there, you know?
So he went to pray and seek assistance from God the Father.
And look at verse 39.
And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying,
Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
And so we see a little bit of the humanity there of Jesus Christ, okay?
And he says, look, if there's some other way, God,
you know, let this cup pass from me,
that cup referring to his sacrifice,
that cup referring to him taking on the sins of the whole world, you know?
And I'm going to quickly read to you from 1 Peter 2, verse 21.
Actually, before I read that, I just want you to see
how Jesus Christ responds to his own request, right?
His own desire, his own desire for this cup to pass,
he says, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt, okay?
Just a few things there, guys.
Number one, we see that Jesus Christ has a separate will to God the Father, okay?
Yes, we believe in the Trinity once again, guys.
We believe the Trinity, three persons, three distinct persons,
and you see Jesus Christ has a separate will there to God the Father.
Now, just because he has a separate will, okay,
does that mean Jesus had a contrary will to God the Father?
No. He says, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
You see, the will of Christ was always in a perfect alignment
with the will of God the Father.
Jesus Christ was always in perfect obedience.
The works that he did, the miracles that he did,
well, he did it because God the Father asked him to do that,
asked him to carry out that work, okay?
I just want you to see that, okay?
There's two separate wills there between the Son and the Father.
We believe in the Trinity.
Three persons, yet one God, okay?
But even though that's the case, we see that Jesus Christ had his will
perfectly aligned with the will of God the Father, okay?
And the lesson for us, I'll quickly read to you from 1 Peter 2, verse 21.
It says, for even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps, okay?
So just as Christ went to suffer for us,
you know, he's left us this perfect example.
And one example we see here, guys, is that we all have our own wills, okay?
And let me say to you, your will quite often is not aligned with the Father's will.
It's not aligned with God's will, okay?
It's perfectly understandable, okay?
We have the flesh.
We'll have a look later on how the flesh affects our lives, okay?
But the call, the example, the way we're meant to walk,
the example that Christ left us is that we would set our will
to be aligned with God the Father.
You know, even if it's something difficult,
even if God asks you to do something challenging,
you know, you say, well, Lord, not my will, but thy will be done, okay?
Just like the words of Jesus Christ, you need to learn that about your life, okay?
Stop resisting the Lord and start doing things in accordance to what he wants.
And look, as you mature in the Lord, as you grow spiritually,
you're going to discover that your will will progressively become more like the will of God, okay?
Sometimes the will of God is so contrary, I don't want to do that, Lord, okay?
But as you mature and as long as you're growing, as long as you're maturing,
you'll start to notice you will have just been a little closer to the Lord's will
and sometimes your will will be exactly aligned with God's will, all right?
I mean, think about when you're soul winning, okay?
Not so much when you're not having success,
but when you're having success, you're getting the gospel out.
The person bows their head, receives Christ as Savior.
I mean, is it not your will right there that this person gets saved?
Is it not your will right there to rejoice and be thankful for this opportunity
that you're able to see someone enter the kingdom of God?
At that point in time, your will is perfectly aligned,
because the Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance, okay?
So, you know, as you grow in the Lord, you'll notice your will become more aligned with that of God.
Look at verse number 40, Matthew 26, verse 40.
And He comeeth unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, all right?
So, He says, look, you need to watch with Me, come with Me, support Me,
and He finds them asleep, you know, He's best friends, all right?
During this hard time.
And saith unto Peter, What? Could ye not watch with Me one hour?
Now, look, I feel bad for him because I can sleep anywhere.
If I'm tired, if my eyes are heavy, it doesn't matter where I am, I'll sleep like a baby.
I just know, if I was one of these disciples right there, I would have fallen asleep.
I know for sure, it would have happened, all right?
So, they couldn't even watch one hour, they fell asleep, okay? It was a long day.
Verse number 41, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.
The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Now, this is such an important doctrine.
You have to nail this down, guys.
I would call this, if I could make up what are fundamental doctrines in the Bible,
this is one key fundamental doctrine in the Bible, guys,
that you have a flesh and you have a spirit if you're saved, okay?
And as the Bible says here, the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Meaning the flesh is not willing, okay?
Now, please keep your finger there and go to Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7.
A lot of Christians mess this up.
They think the moment they get, well, some of them, some of them think the moment they get saved,
the flesh is gone, all right?
The old man, you know, those desires to sin, those desires to self, you know,
the selfish desires, they're all gone now.
I'm a new man, I'm saved, you know?
I'm going to walk now in newness of life 100% of the time.
You know, I'm never going to struggle with those old sins.
No, that's not how it goes, guys, okay?
Jesus Christ points to them, you have the flesh and your flesh is weak, okay?
Spiritually, you're driven to pray with me.
Spiritually, you were driven to support me, but your flesh gave up, okay?
And this is the truth, guys.
We live in this fallen human flesh.
We live in this sinful nature.
You need to learn this, okay?
You need to get this doctrine because there's going to come times in your life,
maybe it's already happened, when you commit sin, when you fail,
and you're like, am I even saved?
Why did I fail?
Why don't I seem to be growing in the Lord?
I tell you why, because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, all right?
Look at Romans 7 verse 14.
Romans 7 verse 14, the Bible says,
For we know that the law is spiritual.
This is Paul speaking, right?
Probably the best Christian example we see in the Bible.
He goes, but I am carnal, sowed under sin.
Paul says, look, I'm a carnal Christian.
I have problems with my flesh.
Verse 15,
For that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
He says, look, I want to serve God.
I want to do what's right, but I'm not doing it,
and the things that I hate doing it, I'm doing them.
You know, he's realizing, right, that his flesh is weak.
His flesh is sinful, you know, and he fails.
He fails in life.
Verse number 16,
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Now, this is important for you to understand, okay?
When you're born again, when you're saved, you have the new man, that's the spirit, okay?
The new man, the new creature, that's the spirit,
but when you sin, it's not you that does it, being that new man, that new creature.
It's not the spirit that does it.
The spirit remains perfect, sinless.
He goes, but sin that dwelleth in me.
And where does sin dwell in you?
It's in the flesh, okay?
It's your flesh that does it.
It's your flesh that sins, but the new man remains sinless, okay?
This is why you can never lose your salvation, okay?
You can never lose it because the flesh never had it.
This flesh is not going to heaven.
Get used to it.
One day, God's going to give you a new body, praise God.
This flesh is not saved, okay?
It's going to die.
It's corrupted, but the new man is saved.
The new man is sinless, and this is why you can never lose your salvation
because the new man never sins.
It's perfect, okay?
That's why it enters into heaven without any sin.
Look at verse number 18, Romans 7-18.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
For to will is present with me, and how to perform that which is good I find not.
So another false doctrine that you have, you know, every religion says,
what must I do to be saved?
What must I do to go to heaven?
Be a good person.
Do good works, right?
But what does Paul say in verse 18?
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Because in my flesh I can't do any good works.
There's not enough righteousness in me to get saved.
He recognizes that, right?
Verse 19.
For the good that I would do not, sorry, for the good that I would, I do not.
But the evil which I would not, that I do.
Again, he says, look, I'm doing the evil that I don't want to do.
Verse 20.
For if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
He goes, look, when I'm doing right things, the flesh is still there.
The evil is still there.
The desire to sin is still there.
You need to get, you just need to understand this, guys, okay?
This is a challenge.
You know, working the Christian life is a challenge.
You know, we talk about fighting the devil, okay?
It's awesome.
We have to fight the devil.
We need to fight the worldliness, okay?
We need to fight against the world and the philosophies of the world.
Yeah, but you know, there's a war inside of you, okay?
There's a war inside of you between the spirit and the flesh.
Don't forget that war.
Verse number 22.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Hey, the inward man, the spirit delights the law of God, okay?
This is why, you know, the part of you that doesn't want to be in church, that's the flesh.
And when you're in church and you're enjoying preaching, you're enjoying singing the songs,
that's the spirit that delights in it, okay?
Like soul winning.
You don't want to get out there and knock doors and it's a cold weather or whatever.
It's too hot.
You know, that's the flesh.
But when you're out there doing it and you're loving it, hey, that's the new man.
You're always going to find this battle in you, okay?
The flesh versus the spirit.
And look at this, number 23.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, okay?
So, I just wanted to show you that because a lot of people misunderstand that.
So, one important thing when you read through your Bible, you need to keep in mind,
there's the flesh and there's the spirit.
There's the new man and there's the old man.
Because sometimes you're going to read things in the Bible where it says,
you know, he that is born of God sinneth not.
You go, well, I still sin. Am I born of God?
Yeah, the new man is born of God. The new man never sins, okay?
But the flesh sins, okay?
Just get used to it.
I'm not saying just, you know, like, I guess what I'm trying to say is just realize the reality of life, okay?
Until the Lord comes back and resurrects us, you know, in a new resurrected body, okay?
Just get used to the reality of life.
But also don't get to the point where you're like, well, if that's the way it is, I'll just continue sinning.
No, we ought to try to continue walking in the flesh, you know, and not giving into the spirit.
I mean, sorry, giving into the flesh.
Did I say the wrong way? Sorry.
Walking in the spirit and not giving into the flesh, okay?
All right, let's go back to Matthew 26.
Matthew 26 verse 42.
If I ever say silly things like that, just correct me, okay?
Men, feel free to correct me when I say the opposite thing, right?
Matthew 26 verse 42.
So Jesus Christ goes back and prays a second time, and now you see a different prayer.
Instead of asking for the cup to pass, he says, well, if that's the only way, Lord, thy will be done.
He's accepting of the fact that he's going to die on the cross, okay?
He's accepting of the fact.
Now, you might be wondering, why has he got this renewed strength?
I just want to show you this, just out of interest, okay?
Keep your finger there.
Go to Luke 22.
Go to Luke 22 verse 42.
Luke 22 verse 42.
The book of Luke explains to us why Jesus Christ now is strengthened, okay?
Luke 22 verse 42.
The Bible says, this is Jesus Christ praying the same prayer, saying,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Okay?
So we see the Father sent an angel to Jesus Christ to encourage him, to strengthen him.
Hey, you know, this is the mission.
This is why you came to the earth.
Whatever spiritual strengthening Christ needed at that point in time,
this angel was able to provide that to the Lord, okay?
So that's, when we look back at Matthew, now we know why he's got this renewed, you know, strength.
It says, yep, we're going to go through it.
Now, again, just a reminder there, the example of Christ, when we come to the Lord in prayer,
the Lord will strengthen you, okay?
The Lord will strengthen you.
The Lord will find an answer, a way for you to be able to walk in his ways,
a way for you to complete the task that God has given you, all right?
Matthew 26, verse 43.
Then he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
And he left them and went again, and went away again, and prayed the third time.
So he comes again.
He's still sleeping.
So he goes and prays again, right?
Saying the same words again.
He's just encouraged, saying, yep, Lord, I understand.
This is my call.
I'm going to do it.
Verse 45.
Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them.
Now, this might confuse you a little bit, but look what he says to the disciples.
He says, sleep on now and take your rest.
So he lets them sleep.
But you realise he's not really telling them to continue sleeping,
because it says get up.
Look.
Sleep on now and take your rest.
Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Look at verse 46.
Rise, let us be going.
Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
You go, what?
Jesus just told them to keep sleeping.
Now he told them to get up.
Here's the lesson, guys.
Here's the lesson that we can take out of this,
is that these disciples lost their opportunity to serve the Lord,
to minister unto Christ, to be a friend, a support for him.
Because look, it's kind of like he's been a little bit sarcastic or a bit ironic.
They were, yeah, just sleep on now.
But you've got to get up now.
You know, it's like, you know, it doesn't matter anymore.
You might as well just sleep through the night.
You weren't there for me, disciples.
You weren't there for me.
And just the thing there, guys, is that when you have the opportunity to minister to Jesus Christ,
and again, how do we minister to Christ?
Let's minister to one another, serving one another, serving the body of Christ,
getting out there and doing the works of God.
When you give up those opportunities that are presented to you,
you might as well just sleep on.
You're going to miss out on those opportunities is what I'm trying to say.
Sometimes you may be given an opportunity to serve the Lord,
and you say, well, Lord, I'll do it later.
Well, later may never come.
That was your opportunity right there to serve the Lord.
That was the opportunity of the disciples to pray with the Lord,
to watch for something so significant, something so historic that Christ will be crucified.
They sit through it, and Jesus Christ says, well, you've lost that opportunity.
And please, if you get an opportunity, I'm thinking about the Gospel right now,
you get the opportunity to give the Gospel to someone, please don't chicken out.
Use the opportunity that's given to you.
Don't sleep. Use it because that opportunity may not come again.
If you have a loved one that you want to see saved,
God may very well open up something for you to give them the Gospel.
If you don't take that, that might be your last chance to be able to do it.
So please, use the opportunities that Jesus Christ gives you.
Verse number 46.
So the chief priests and the elders, they did not come.
The religious leaders did not come to arrest Christ,
but they sent their servants, they sent their, you know, others.
What's it say? Just a great multitude there.
From, it says from the chief priests and the elders, right?
Verse 48.
So of course, the one that betrays Jesus Christ was Judas Iscariot.
Now keep your finger there, go to John chapter 6, please, John chapter 6.
John chapter 6. I just want to show you this about Judas Iscariot.
John chapter 6.
Now, the reason why, the reason Judas Iscariot had to kiss Christ
is because Jesus was not this long-haired, blonde, blue-eyed, with a sun above his head.
You know how he's depicted in the paintings?
You know, I mean, if that's how Jesus looked when he was walking the earth,
why would Judas have to point him out, okay, to those that are coming to arrest him?
No, Jesus looked like any other Jew of the day, okay?
He was born from Mary. He was, you know, from the tribe of Judah.
You know, so he looked like a common man, and Judas Iscariot had to point out
to those that were coming to arrest Christ, gave him a kiss on the cheek,
this is the one that you need to arrest.
But I want to show you this about Judas Iscariot, which kind of blows my mind a little bit,
but of course, we know that the Lord knows all things, okay?
And in John 6.64, it says,
But there are some of you, this is the words of Jesus,
there are some of you that believe not, okay?
Now of course, Jesus Christ had people that followed him that believed,
he had others that followed him that believed not.
Look at this,
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not,
and who should betray him. Okay?
Was Judas Iscariot a believer? No. Okay?
Jesus Christ says he knew the one that would betray him,
it was the one that believed not. Okay? Believe not.
A lot of people sort of wonder about Judas Iscariot.
Was he saved? Was he unsaved? He was definitely unsaved.
He was definitely unsaved, he did not believe on Christ,
which is an amazing thing because, again, he was one of the twelve.
Jesus Christ appointed him, Jesus Christ gave him a position as an apostle of Christ.
You know, he was out there apparently doing the works.
I mean, the other guys didn't know that Judas Iscariot was the one that would betray Christ.
Okay? But he was definitely unsaved, he was definitely a non-believer.
You know?
Anyway, back to Matthew 26 please, Matthew 26 verse 49.
Matthew 26 verse 49.
And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him.
And Jesus said unto him, Friend.
So he calls Judas friend. Remember in Zechariah,
the prophecy that he would be wounded in the house of his friends?
Well, he calls Judas his friend here. Okay?
Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him.
And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword,
and struck a servant of the high priest and smirt off his ear.
So you may remember they took some swords with them,
and one of the disciples here drew out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants.
Does anyone know who that man was that drew out the sword?
Mounted.
Sorry?
Mounted.
Sorry?
Wasn't that Mounted?
No, of the one that drew out the sword, the disciple.
It was Peter.
It was Peter. Yeah, yeah.
All right, the Gospel of Matthew doesn't say it was Peter,
but we read about that in the Gospel of John.
So yeah, Simon Peter.
Verse 52.
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place,
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
that thou shalt presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
So what Jesus is telling Peter here, you know, he just cut off a guy's ear.
He goes, look, the instructions of Jesus is not for us or his disciples to become vigilantes.
Of course we live in a corrupted world.
Jesus Christ was being arrested without any cause.
People were betraying Jesus Christ, and just like in those days,
Jesus was not expecting them to take up the swords and defend Jesus Christ.
There was no need for vigilante behavior.
And same thing today, guys, when we see corruption in this world,
we're not called to take justice in our own hands.
If someone has done you wrong, and you can't get it fixed,
then the Lord says leave it up to him, that he'll take vengeance on our behalf.
We're not to take revenge on people.
If we see the lawmakers not carry out proper justice on criminals,
it's not for us to take it upon our own hands and punish people.
This is where some countries in the past have made a mistake
where they've mixed church and government into one,
and then they're just executing everybody around the place that doesn't agree with them.
That's obviously the Catholic Church did a lot of that kind of stuff in the past,
but we're not called to do that.
Now, Jesus Christ did tell them to take up a sword,
and there's nothing wrong with self-defense.
But no one was going after Peter.
No one was just coming after Christ, and Christ had already accepted the fact
that he was going to be arrested and be taken to the cross.
And then also notice that it says here to Peter,
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
I couldn't believe the number. I quickly typed in on Google,
how much is a legion in soldiers?
Do you guys know how much is a legion?
Up to about 5,000.
It could be anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000,
but the average was about 5,000.
So let's say it's 5,000 soldiers.
He says there's 12 legions of angels.
So that's 12 times 5,000.
That's 60,000.
He says, look Peter, I could call right now 60,000 angels to defend me.
And this just reminds me, we can't see the spiritual realm.
We see the physical realm, right?
But the Lord has angels, right?
The Lord has appointed angels for his believers, for his people.
He's got these armies out there.
We ask the Lord to protect us.
There's nothing wrong with that.
We should ask the Lord to defend us, protect us,
and just keep in mind that the Lord can send down his legions of angels
that protect you even when you're going through some tough trial.
If the Lord wants to deliver you out of the hands of an enemy,
if he wants to deliver you out of the hands of the devil,
he may very well just be able to do that through the spiritual realm,
but it's hard for us to grasp that.
Peter couldn't grasp it, but Jesus Christ explained this to him.
Just to remind the guys, sometimes you don't need to defend yourself.
Sometimes you can just call on the Lord.
He can send those legions of angels at your disposal.
But verse number 54.
Jesus Christ forsook him and fled.
Exactly what Jesus Christ said.
The shepherd and the sheep will flee, basically.
They'll be scattered.
That's exactly what happens.
They take Jesus and the disciples and say,
Look, I'll always be there, Lord, with you.
I'll never get offended.
I'll always stand with you.
I'll die with you, Lord.
They run.
They're afraid.
They're afraid and they flee.
Exactly what Jesus Christ spoke about.
And I just want to show you what was said there by Jesus in verse 56.
He goes that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Now, there is a doctrine out there in some Baptist churches
that teach basically that Jesus Christ's dial on the cross was plan B.
I mean, it's just crazy, okay?
I'm not saying everyone that...
Basically, it's people that hold to dispensational theology.
And I'm not saying all dispensationalists believe like this,
but many of them do, okay?
And the idea was that Jesus Christ came for the Jews.
The Jews rejected him.
So he goes, Well, if you rejected me,
you know, you don't want me to be the king over you.
You don't want me to bring in the kingdom today,
I guess I'm going to have to go and die for the Gentiles or something, right?
They say, Well, Israel rejected him.
Therefore, he had to go and die on the cross now.
Now, look, Jesus Christ makes it clear
that the Old Testament prophets wrote about this,
wrote about his crucifixion, wrote that he had to die on the cross.
We really had a look at Zechariah, that that was prophesied, okay?
That he would be wounded there in his hands.
And if you guys can keep your finger there,
let's go to Matthew 13 just very quickly.
Matthew 13 verse 17.
Matthew 13, you guys are in Matthew already,
so Matthew 13 verse 17.
Matthew 13 verse 17.
Jesus Christ says,
For verily I say unto you,
that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which ye see,
and have not seen them,
and to hear those things which ye hear,
and have not heard them.
He says, Look, the prophets of old,
the righteous men of old,
wish they could see what you see.
Christ, they're walking the earth 2,000 years ago, right?
Because they wrote about it. They knew about it, right?
Now, they did see for a glass darkly.
They didn't have everything pictured.
Of course, the Holy Ghost moved in these men to write these words.
They didn't necessarily know exactly what they were writing.
I mean, if you read the book of Daniel,
at the end of the book of Daniel,
Daniel asks, God, can you tell me what I just wrote?
And God says, No, close up the book.
Sometimes these guys just wrote things
because they're being moved by God,
but they wrote of Jesus Christ.
Now, how much more then
should we enjoy the fact that we have the entire scriptures?
We've got all 66 books of the Bible.
Not only, okay, we weren't there to see Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago,
but we have it all recorded.
We have the Old Testament prophets,
we have the stories of Christ,
and even after Christ,
all the things that occurred,
and we have the book of Revelation
that tells us what's going to happen at the end of the world.
Man, please pick up your Bible and read it.
There are good, faithful prophets before you
that wish they knew what you know today.
You say, I don't know much.
You probably know more than a lot of Old Testament prophets knew.
Okay, praise God for the privilege that you've been given.
Matthew 26 verse 57.
And they that had laid hold on Jesus
led him away to Caiaphas the high priest
where the scribes and the elders were assembled.
But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace
and went in and sat with the servants to see the end.
Now the chief priests and elders and all the council
sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death,
but found none, yea,
though many false witnesses came, yet found they none.
They couldn't find any reason to persecute Jesus Christ.
They had these false witnesses come,
but it just wasn't working out.
At the last came two false witnesses and said,
This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God
and to build it in three days.
Now did Jesus say those words?
The Bible says here that there were two false witnesses that said this.
Now Jesus Christ said something similar to this,
but he didn't say that if you destroy the temple of God
that he will build it up in three days.
I'll quickly read to you what Jesus Christ said.
It's in John chapter 2 verse 19.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was the temple in building,
this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.
The temple of his body.
So the words Jesus Christ said, look, if you kill this temple,
referring to his own body,
I'm going to raise it up in three days, on the third day.
And they took that to say, well,
Jesus Christ said destroy that temple, the physical temple,
and he will raise it up in three days.
That's the false witness.
They've taken the words of Christ and twisted it just a little bit,
and they're using that to persecute Jesus Christ.
Verse number 62.
And the high priest arose and said unto him,
Answer us thou nothing?
What is it which these witnesses against thee?
But Jesus held his peace.
Now let me just say a few things here.
We see that Jesus Christ would not defend the accusations.
And this just proves a couple of things.
Some people are very defensive about themselves.
If someone says something nasty about them,
someone says something false about them,
some people just can't handle it and they have to respond immediately.
You know, sometimes the right answer is to hold your peace.
Sometimes the right answer is just not to say anything.
Let the false witnesses expose themselves for the lies that they are.
Sometimes that's the right approach.
The other thing that we see here is that,
and this is a lesson even for today,
now look, I think you should not comply to the authorities,
the police and the government and things like that,
but you need to be careful sometimes with the people that you talk to.
Because the government, this world does not care for the Bible.
They don't care for the positions that you hold,
the things that you believe.
And sometimes, and I know this is true,
this is documented, everybody knows this,
sometimes the police will ask you questions
in order for you to incriminate yourself.
They don't have anything against you,
but they'll ask you questions,
well where were you at this point in time,
all these kind of things, so you can incriminate yourself.
The right way, the justice system ought to be
that you're innocent until proven guilty.
It's not that you should prove that you're innocent, no.
It's your accusers, it's the witnesses that need to prove that you're guilty.
So all I'm saying is, learn the lesson of Christ.
Christ kept quiet, he didn't have to defend himself,
the false witnesses were exposing themselves for the lies they were,
and he knew, they have to prove that I'm guilty,
not I have to prove that I'm innocent, no.
So take that lesson, we see that even a lesson with Jesus Christ,
that you've got the right to remain silent is what I'm trying to say.
Anyway, verse number 63,
But Jesus held his peace,
and the high priest answered and said unto him,
I adjure thee by the living God that thou would tell us
whether thou be the Christ the Son of God.
Now the Muslims, they say that Jesus never said he's the Son of God.
Well right now is when Jesus Christ says he's the Son of God,
because the question is,
tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God.
Verse 64, Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said.
He goes, yep, you said it, you said it.
He goes, you said I'm the Son of God, it's exactly true.
Jesus Christ does claim to be the Son of God here.
And then he says, nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter
shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power
and coming in the clouds of heaven.
And he makes it very clear, right,
that I'm coming again from heaven to the earth in the clouds.
And we saw what that's about there in Matthew 24,
originally at the rapture of the church,
and he comes back to take his saints to be with him forever.
And so he shows his deity, he shows there that he's the Son of God
coming back one day in authority.
Verse number 65,
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying,
He hath spoken blasphemy.
What further need have we of witnesses?
Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
What think ye? They answered and said,
He is guilty of death.
Was that guilty of death?
Anyway, they're saying he's guilty of death now, apparently.
Then they did spit in his face and buffeted him.
That's they beat him up, they spat in his face.
And others smote him with the palms of their hands,
saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ.
Who is he that smote thee?
So you just see them there, you know, mocking the Lord Jesus Christ.
And just something as a reminder here for you guys,
just for a bit of history lesson,
the Jews at this point in time were not allowed to put people to death.
This is why later on they had to take Jesus to Herod and to Pilate
to get the approval from the Roman government.
Remember, they were under Roman authority.
And that's why they took him there.
And of course the Roman authorities were like,
This man's innocent, why do you want to kill him for?
But they're saying he's guilty of death,
but they weren't even allowed to carry out the death penalty.
Verse number 69,
Now Peter sat without inner palace,
and a damsel came unto him, saying,
Thou also was with Jesus in Galilee.
Now when the Bible says damsel,
that's a young girl, an unmarried woman.
A young lady came up to Peter and says,
Hey, you're with Jesus of Galilee.
I've seen you with Jesus.
Now again, Peter had fled.
Peter was afraid.
Now it's interesting that he got to a point in his spiritual life
where he couldn't even proclaim Jesus Christ to a young girl.
I mean, what's a young girl going to do this to him?
But he says, look, what does it say?
Verse number 71,
Sorry, verse number 70, sorry,
But he denied before them all, saying,
I know not what thou sayest.
I don't know what you're talking about, he says basically.
Look, he had an opportunity to stand for Christ to a little girl.
But he didn't do it.
And then verse number 71,
And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him.
So the word maid is kind of like damsel.
It's another maid, another young lady saw him
and said unto them that were there,
This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And again he denied with an oath,
I do not know the man.
So he says, look, I promise, I cross my heart.
I promise that I don't know the guy.
Verse number 73,
And after a while came unto him they that stood by.
So instead of now two young ladies coming to him,
just others that are standing by,
a group of people now come to him, right?
And said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them,
for thy speech be ray of thee.
Now the word be ray of thee is kind of similar to betray.
But it's saying, look, your speech reveals to us
that you're a Galilean basically.
You're from Galilee, you're from the same place.
You're not from Jerusalem, you're from Galilee,
you're from the same area.
We can tell by the way you speak.
Verse 74,
And he to curse and to swear, saying,
I know not the man.
And immediately the cock crew.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, Before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice.
And he went out and wept bitterly.
That's the end of the chapter there,
but I want you to think about this progression of Peter.
Now we ought to be people that are not offended
or ashamed of Jesus Christ.
He did so much for you.
He was betrayed by his friends.
He crucified for you.
He took upon your sins so you can have
the free gift of salvation.
So we, now look,
whether you do or not, it doesn't change your salvation,
but we should be people that can stand
for the name of Christ.
If someone says, hey, are you a Christian?
Are you a believer?
Are you someone that believes the Bible?
What are you going to say?
I know not the man!
Is that what you're going to do?
Now look, you see the progression.
God will give you opportunities to proclaim Christ.
God will give you opportunities
to speak of your faith.
And sometimes he may start small,
like that, just a young girl.
Why should you be afraid
of a young lady asking you about the Lord?
You should be able to tell them the Gospel.
You should be able to give that person the good news.
You do that, the Lord may send another damsel
to ask you about Christ.
But look,
if you can't do it to the little ones,
if you can't do it to the young people,
if you don't take the little opportunities
that God gives you,
one day when a group comes up to you asking you about Christ,
you're not going to even be able to do that.
What I'm trying to say to you guys
is take the opportunities once again.
The opportunities to serve the Lord.
The Lord's going to help you.
The Lord's going to give you those small opportunities
to start off with.
Give you a slightly larger opportunity.
Look, you start giving the Gospel
to one person.
You're going to never be driven to give the Gospel
to another person.
If you never knock one door,
you're never going to knock two doors.
You're never going to knock a hundred doors.
You're never going to knock a thousand doors.
You need to start learning how to serve the Lord
just a little bit.
Just do a little bit, the little that you can do
and then the Lord will give you opportunities to do more for Him.
But if you don't do the little that He gives you to do,
you're never going to serve the Lord.
And look,
there may very well come a time in Australia
that believers are persecuted for the Word of God.
There may very well come when tribulation comes our way.
When our rights are taken away from serving the Lord.
And you might be thinking,
at that point in time when the word's against the Lord,
I'll stand up for Him.
I'll get out there and preach the Gospel.
If you don't knock the doors today,
if you don't do the small works today,
you're not going to do it then.
You're going to flee just like the disciples did.
So please take the lesson that we can see in this chapter.
Use the opportunities that God gives you to serve
even if it's just to watch and pray.
You have that opportunity to minister unto your brethren,
minister unto the Christ.
Take those opportunities because you may miss out
on those opportunities in the future.
They may never come back for you.
Please take the opportunities that God gives you to serve Him today.
Let's pray.