Right so Matthew chapter 26, a great chapter of the Bible there isn't there, there's a lot in there, famous things going on there.
We were in Matthew 25 last week and we're kind of moving on from there.
If you remember though, just a quick recap, we looked at the parables which followed on from the second coming and rapture being described in chapter 24.
And there was a parable of the ten virgins with five having oil and five not,
the lamp being the word of God, the oil being the Holy Spirit, the virgins being the potential bride.
We saw then the similarities with Matthew 7's account of false prophets from verse 21 onwards.
And it's a funny thing now isn't it, because you're reading these passages and it's, you know we're just going through the Gospel of Matthew aren't we,
and you can't just, you can't avoid it because I think sometimes people think,
ah these guys they just want to preach on false prophets all the time.
Thing is it comes up in like most chapters of the Bible doesn't it?
It's part, that's the Bible, you know, and people get uncomfortable about it sometimes,
but that's what the Bible says and here, you know, you can't deny that similarity there.
And then we saw really how that parable, as with the description of the servant at the end of chapter 24 and the other two parables in chapter 25,
are all picturing the saved and really the rejected.
You know, and you could look at, you know, kind of rejected, unbelieving Israel or the Jews,
but you could also just look at kind of a picture between the saved and the false Christians.
And the next one was the servants being given their Lord's riches picturing for me the word of God with the one talent enough for salvation,
and he rejected it and buried it and was pretty hateful towards the Lord with it as well wasn't he?
And then we had the final picture of the sheep and the goats,
with the sheep being soul winning believers that have therefore made it through the tribulation.
Verse 35 said, for I was an hungred and you gave me meat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in,
naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came unto me.
And they're all pictures of salvation.
Every single one of those descriptions is a picture of soul winning, a picture of salvation, as we see throughout the gospels.
And the goats for me being the false prophets, really you could say masquerading as soul winning Christians perhaps,
because I was thinking about this after, I was thinking, so you know it's something just in life and whether it's people claiming to be,
you know, saved pastors, preachers or it's kind of infiltrators in one area or another where it's soul winning groups,
churches, are these people going to suddenly disappear in the end times?
Are they going to suddenly just go and get the mark of the beast?
I don't think so, because they're there for a purpose really aren't they?
So they're going to continue through, they're going to be claiming to be fleeing and everything else,
whilst trying to stitch people up, you know, and everything else.
And then at the very end, at the very end, we're going to see then them being separated like the sheep from the goats.
You know, if you turn a bit, Matthew 13, 13, the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus said,
let both grow together until the harvest, the tares being described as children of the devil.
And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather you together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn.
And that's what's to happen to these people, but at what point?
Well, I think ultimately in those end times, you're going to see it right at the end there, at the rapture.
And then you go, wow, what happened to this person?
That's when the goats and the sheep being separated. That's what I see there.
Matthew 25, 46 said, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
And like within the bundles to burn them.
I mean, here, whether or not, you know, these, you know, these guys then kind of die pretty quickly, maybe in the wrath or maybe not, I don't know.
That's what's eventually going to come for them anyway.
And then from there, we're going to now go into Matthew 26.
And it's now we're going on to sort of new stuff.
We're going away from his teachings now and more into into kind of the events at the end of his life.
So Matthew 26 and verse one says, and it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings,
he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.
Let's pray before we continue with this chapter. Father, thank you for this great chapter of the Bible.
Please fill me with your spirit now, Lord. Help me to preach this just clearly and accurately, boldly.
Help everyone to just have attentive ears and be able to just pay attention to what your word's got to say.
Lord, help all these things to be done in Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen.
OK, so we're two days before the Passover and Jesus knows what's to come, doesn't he?
In fact, we see shortly that the betrayal has already happened.
He did say here, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.
And I think, you know, the betrayal has already happened.
We're going to see that in a second.
Verse three then says, Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest,
who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him.
But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
So this is kind of full on conspiracy time, really, isn't it?
It just, just, you know, I heard this kind of said a long time ago, you know,
that many of the key events in history have involved some conspiracy of other, haven't they?
This is a conspiracy. I mean, this isn't, they conspired to kill the Son of God.
It's always just like a few guys, you know.
I mean, the world would kind of picture it as if this did happen, you know, and obviously Jesus was the Son of God.
A few guys, you know, wearing dresses and sandals and everything else, being a bit mean to this guy, claiming to be the Son of God.
But what's the reality of it? The reality of it is, is that the Son of God was here on this earth,
and the leaders of what was God's nation, the people, I mean, it's not just some.
You've got the chief priests, the scribes, the elders of the people.
They're at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
and they're consulting that they might take him by subtlety and kill him.
That is a massive conspiracy, isn't it? That is a big conspiracy,
that stuff being whispered about in the shadows to basically do something wicked to the Son of God.
And the reason I say that is because, look, you know, obviously I preach sometimes and try and,
look, we want balance in life, don't we? Caiaphas say this a lot, you know, you just want to get a good balance.
And you'll get some that go really far one way, where everything in life is a conspiracy.
You know, the reason there was traffic is because it was a conspiracy, you know, to stop you,
you know, to whatever it is, or the reason, whatever, you know, everything.
And then you get some that go the other way, though, and it's like, there's no such thing as a conspiracy.
You must be nuts if you believe such a thing. Well, this is a big event in history, isn't it?
And this involved a big conspiracy, right?
So, anyway, so where are we? Like I said, you've got all these different types, all these different leaders here.
It's an interesting point here as well. Look, they're planning to kill God.
And all these people in this high position, these high positions, obviously there's a lot of false prophets here and stuff like that.
These people are reprobates, yeah? These people are God haters.
They're conspiring to, like, a plot to take by subtlety.
And just to do that to anyone, you've got to be pretty wicked.
Now, I'm not saying you're necessarily a reprobate because you're conspiring to commit murder,
but when it gets to the point when you're conspiring to commit murder against the Son of God,
I mean, now we're talking about wicked God haters.
And they're kind of, you know, and if you think about it,
and I've just thought about a few of the descriptions of these people, they're filled with all unrighteousness, aren't they?
I mean, to be in some group plotting how to take the Son of God by subtlety and kill him,
you've got to be filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, maliciousness, they're full of envy, aren't they?
Murder, malignity, they're haters of God.
And they're just off that list in Romans 1, at the end of Romans 1,
you just see all of these just ticking these boxes just in this factor line of what they're doing.
And look, the Bible never gets anything wrong, does it?
It describes these people to a T, and then we see this historical event
basically just being a great example of these types of people.
But they fear the people, don't they?
They fear the people.
Because these people, they want the control, they want to keep their power, don't they?
So they fear losing that, so they fear the multitudes.
Because they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Now, verse 6, it says, now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper.
Now, this is a village, it's described as 15 furlongs, or basically about two miles,
just under two miles outside Jerusalem.
Bethany, if you remember, is where Lazarus, Mary and Martha live,
and we looked at this kind of a bit closer when we went through the Gospel of John.
Simon the leper, well, he's either a leper or he has a bit of an unfortunate nickname.
I'm guessing he's a leper, right?
Verse 7 says, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box,
a precious, a very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at me.
Now, who was this woman? Well, turn to John chapter 12.
But keep a finger, obviously, in Matthew's Gospel here,
because John 12 also records this story.
And you're thinking, why only John chapter 12?
Well, because the Gospel of John goes into great detail at those kind of last few kind of hours,
you know, before Jesus Christ is arrested, which covers several chapters.
But John 12, I mean, the Gospel of John is the same point here.
It says in verse 1, John 12 and verse 1, John chapter 12, verse 1,
Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
So which is it? Is it six days before or two days?
Well, for me, Matthew's account is just stating something that happened when he was in Bethany.
You just quickly look at what it said in Matthew's account.
It said in verse 6, are we seeing these things?
He says, so let's go back. He says in verse 1,
It came to pass when he finished all these sayings, said unto his disciples,
You know that after two days is a feast of the passover.
So we're two days out and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.
I jump forward to verse 6, it says,
Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the Levith,
so it's now just telling us the story of when he was in Bethany,
because Bethany is actually on the way to Jerusalem.
But in Matthew's Gospel account, we've already seen what's been going on at Jerusalem.
So now it's telling us about what happened, by the way, when he's on the way there.
So back to John chapter 12 with that in mind, where it said,
Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany,
and then in John's account we then see him enter Jerusalem after that,
where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
So verse, where are we? We're verse 2, but just a point on this.
Okay, this, like I said, it occurred before, it's probably in between Jericho in chapter 20 in Matthew's account,
and then entering Jerusalem in chapter 21.
And like I said, it is on the route between Jericho and Jerusalem.
Just if people are interested in that sort of thing and like to marry it all up, I find that stuff interesting.
Verse 2 then says,
There they made him a supper, and Martha served,
but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
So they're at Simon the leper's house,
Martha is serving, Lazarus is sitting with him.
Verse 3,
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard,
very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair,
and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
In Matthew's Gospel we see that it's also on his head.
Then verse 4 says,
Zen-seth, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him.
Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
Feeling he's Simon the leper's son, but maybe I'm wrong there.
Well, I mentioned this event the other day,
when we looked at the difference between fundamentalism and extremism,
and we see, if you remember, we just looked at it briefly,
but it's Judas with his fake holiness.
Okay, so Judas is like claiming to be so holy,
that he's just so upset that what on earth,
this really expensive oil, you know, being poured over Jesus Christ,
why wasn't this sold and money given to the poor?
Now, by this point, by the way, if you look at this,
Jesus has had it poured on him and his feet wiped with her hair.
I'm assuming he's probably already had it poured on his head, maybe hasn't, right?
But she's wiping it with her hair as well,
so it's not that suddenly she's like poured it on him
and then Judas has to try and cut in, yeah?
We've already seen that she's wiped it with her hair,
because it said anoint the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
Okay, so that obviously took several seconds, if not a lot longer.
And if Jesus Christ had a problem, he had ample time to say something, wouldn't he?
So Jesus Christ could have stopped her and said,
no, wait a second, this is very expensive stuff, don't waste it.
So what's Judas doing? He's undermining him too.
And it's a point here and it's something that we have to understand,
is that when these people do this stuff,
when they're trying to criticise and try and do their holier than thou stuff,
so often they're trying to undermine the leadership.
Jesus Christ is the leader here. Jesus Christ didn't say anything.
And obviously we've dealt with this before,
we'll continue to deal with these sorts of people that are like,
well, I wouldn't have done that, all right?
And that's basically what he's saying, isn't it?
He's going, I wouldn't have let this happen,
because I'm basically holier than Jesus Christ.
And these people, like what I preached about the other week,
really they're doing the same against Jesus Christ.
He starts the people who are like, well, you know,
the Bible might say this, but I'm taking it to here,
because I'm more holy than God.
And like I said, look, people can be influenced,
we're going to see in a second,
people get influenced by this sort of stuff as well.
So I'm not saying that anyone who does any sort of holier than thou,
that's it, they must be like a Judas Iscariot.
But Judas Iscariots do this stuff a lot,
because they're trying to undermine and discredit leadership.
They're trying to undermine Jesus Christ.
They're trying to put the Bible here and them up here.
They're trying to put the God-ordained leadership here and them up here.
And that's exactly what Judas Iscariot is doing here.
So he's trying to, well, you know, why on earth was this?
Look, if Jesus Christ had a problem, Jesus Christ would have said something, right?
So is it because they care?
Is it because Judas just really cared about this?
Well, of course not. Verse 6 said this.
He said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief
and had the bag and bear what was put there in.
Then said Jesus, let her alone.
Against the day of my burying has she kept this,
for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always.
Now, in this account, in this Gospel account,
we're going to see something separate in where we are in Matthew in a second.
But Jesus is basically reproving Judas, isn't he?
Now, he does it in a gentle way, doesn't he?
But he's basically reproving him.
And it's the only time we actually see, I think, Judas reproved, really, in the Gospels.
Jesus reproved him.
Now, go back to Matthew 26, because we see the same story
and then we see kind of, you know, a different viewpoint
or at least some other information on it.
Notice what Judas' response results in when we see the Matthew account of this.
So verse 7 says,
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment
and pulled it on his head as he sat at me.
But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation,
saying to what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.
And like I preached the other week,
this is sadly a result of the holier than nails, isn't it?
So the we're holier than Jesus types, they influence others.
So the disciples are joining in.
We see from John's Gospel account, it was Judas, really.
Then it seems like the others, it is definitely plural,
the disciples here are kind of like,
yeah, what on earth, yeah, yeah, you know,
yeah, let's try and sound as holy as Judas, because they influence others.
They make others then.
And this is, like I said, part of the mode of operandum as well.
Part of it is to make people just turn into these extreme nutters, you know.
And like people are like, if you think about it, take a step back.
They were basically reproving Jesus Christ as well.
They're going, how dare you not say anything?
Basically, you know, yeah, what on earth, indignation.
They're like annoyed, they're angry about it.
I mean, that's bizarre, really, isn't it?
But that's the influence of people like Judas Iscariot.
Okay, then verse 10 says, when Jesus understood it,
he said unto them, why trouble you, the woman?
For she hath ruled her good work upon me.
For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always.
And by the way, just a quick point on that,
ending poverty ain't ever going to happen, it sounds like, does it?
Because it says here, ye always have the poor, okay?
For ye have the poor always with you.
Okay, look, however many kind of, you know, mega rich celebrities
trying to tell you to part with your cash and not their cash.
You know, look, we're always going to have the poor there
and a lot of the time those things are an absolute scam
and just making themselves richer.
But anyway, let's not go off on that
because it's going to turn into a long sermon
if I go down that sort of rabbit hole.
Right, verse 12 says, for in that she hath poured
this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Now, what's interesting is that Mark's account,
and I think it's either Luke's or John's as well,
I think one of them has Judas.
Mark's account has the disciples estimating its cost at 300 pence.
Okay, now, if a penny's a day's wage, 300 is a year's wage, okay?
You're talking somewhere like 30,000 pound-odd worth of this ointment.
That's a good ointment.
I don't know what makes ointment worth 30 grand.
But I'm sure there's stuff out there that is worth this, yeah?
I don't know what they'd call it nowadays.
Okay, so this is some very expensive stuff, okay?
Now, you're going, oh, I could kind of sympathise.
But still, Jesus Christ allowed this.
In fact, the anointing for his burial alone was clearly worth this,
for him not to have reproved her and stopped her, prevented her, okay?
Jesus Christ's anointing alone, let alone his death, burial
and resurrection was worth 30,000 pound-odd in nowadays, you know,
sort of money, that was worth this family heirloom,
it seems, or whatever it was, this ridiculously expensive oil
that they had kept in their house that he was like,
yeah, my anointing's worth that, yeah?
And maybe this is also a picture of the value of salvation.
Like we spoke about last week, oil being a picture of being anointed
with the Holy Ghost, you can't put a price on that, can you?
You could say that.
And obviously, Jesus Christ isn't being filled with the Holy Ghost,
but there's constant pictures in the Bible.
Maybe there is a picture, because you can't.
Can you put a price on your salvation?
If someone had said to you, well, you know, if you hadn't got saved,
you would have had an extra 30,000 pounds,
because life events would have changed
and you would have had like this extra money or something,
would you go, oh, man, 30 grand.
No way would you.
In fact, nothing like it.
Could you ever put a price on it?
No.
And here's what's interesting with this as well.
Well, before we do, let me just mention,
because this is why I think we see this kind of picture in Matthew 13.
Turn there if you like, as you're in Matthew anyway.
If you remember, we looked at some of those short parables
and Jesus highlighted the value of salvation
when he said in verse 45, Matthew 13, 45.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man
seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had and bought it.
We looked at just how that's kind of like basically the value of salvation.
It would be worth doing whatever you had to do to find a way of getting saved,
but ultimately salvation comes from just putting your faith in Jesus Christ.
Amazing.
What an expensive gift it is.
What a great value gift it is.
But aside from that, aside from all of that,
just how willing was Mary to give this, whatever it was,
why they had it, I don't know.
Maybe they're a very wealthy family, I don't know.
But how willing was she to give that for the cause of Christ?
Look, she was willing to give, I reckon she was willing to give everything.
She was willing to give this ointment worth a year's wage.
The point being that how many Christians can't give a day a week to the Lord Jesus?
They can't give two days a week.
They can't give some of their time,
they can't give like a bit of time to go and do something for the Lord.
Most believers out there can't even turn up at church.
Most believers out there cannot even turn up at church,
and this woman was willing to give a year's wage's worth
of some expensive treasure they had in their house just to anoint him.
And look, so often nowadays people are trying to work out
how they can somehow earn more money to have more in their life
rather than how can I do stuff for the Lord?
And she was willing to give it all, I think.
And remember that it was Mary that Martha complained about, because why?
Do you remember when Martha complained about Mary?
Because she prioritised the things of God over the menial tasks.
Luke 10, 39, that says,
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.
And she's then complaining, going,
I'll tell her to come and help me with the chores.
But Mary wanted to sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word.
And it's Mary, really, if you think about it, that's on the ball about what's about to happen.
It seems like a lot of the disciples of the 12 at least, 11, you know,
Judas is kind of, you know, let's not count Judas,
but they seem to be a bit kind of still just shocked, confused about everything,
even though he keeps telling them what's going to happen.
Whereas Mary seems to be on the ball, she's anointing him for his burial.
And what's the result?
Well, he said here,
And that's not saying when you go out and preach your gospel, by the way,
you need to tell everyone about Mary.
But it's talking about the whole thing, the good news of Jesus Christ,
the whole story of Jesus Christ.
It's in three of the four gospels and it's probably been read billions of times.
This passage of the Bible has been preached behind pulpits probably millions of times, isn't it?
And how amazing.
And really she's, and think as well, just think for her in eternity,
because she was willing to give what she had.
She was willing to give whatever she had to the cause of Jesus Christ.
And what a great lesson we can learn from her, can't we, that?
And she prioritised the things of God over things of this world.
She was the one anointing Jesus Christ for his burial.
She was anointed you.
And that's a great thing to know for eternity, isn't it?
OK, then verse 14 then says,
Remember we saw that this was sort of six days before, yeah?
So this is when Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests.
And said unto them, What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you.
And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver.
And for that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
And hence verse two, like I mentioned earlier, it said,
Ye know that after two days of the feast of the Passover,
and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.
Because we've just gone back in time slightly.
He's mentioned this event at Bethany.
Judas has already betrayed him, but he's seeking opportunity now.
And look, like I said, it started at some point between six days and two days out.
And it kind of feels like it was on the back of this ointment incident, doesn't it?
Verse 14, it said then, didn't it?
So we've had this whole ointment incident where Judas is trying to holier than thou.
He really wants the money himself.
But he's trying to look all holy and everything else.
Now he gets reproved, doesn't he?
So he gets reproved by Jesus.
And then he goes on to the chief priests and betrays him.
And yes, he was the son of perdition.
Yeah, he was a devil from the beginning.
Satan enters into him, we see eventually.
But these wicked people still try to justify their wickedness, don't they?
It's like, what tipped Judas over the edge was the first gentle reproof we see throughout the Gospels.
This is the first time, unless anyone can correct me on that, let me know afterwards.
Don't put your hands up if you do.
That would be a bit awkward.
But okay, however, for me, that's the first time we see Judas get reproved.
And then he goes straight off to betray him.
I mean, and that's, again, we see all these descriptions of these types of people.
And Judas was a good, he was a great wolf, you know, like as wolf.
You know, if you're kind of putting it on the wolf scale, he's up there, isn't he?
However, Judas, what was it that tipped him over the edge was being reproved.
It was getting reproved.
And this is a thing that obviously we'll see with time as well, and we've already seen with time,
is that when people get, people just can't take being reproved ultimately by the word of God.
And look, and I'm not saying, you know, when you get something from,
because sometimes it will be that I've seen some sin and I need to preach it.
Sometimes it would just be that, look, the Holy Spirit's talking to you through the word.
Some people will come up to me after some and say, oh, man, were you thinking about me?
And I'm like, I wasn't actually. Sometimes, yeah, I was.
Sometimes I wasn't. But what should be the result?
The result should, look, I'm not saying you're going to get up and go, hey, thank you, I really needed that.
Look, sometimes you're going to be a bit sore for a bit.
But what you shouldn't be doing is going off to try and then betray, you know, whether,
here obviously it's the Lord and other people do that with preachers, pastors,
with all sorts, they'd just be like, I just can't believe I'm going to find a way to bring that person down.
And that's kind of quite, well, obviously there's a sign of wickedness here.
But I reckon, you know, there are some believers which will do that.
People that just, you know, there are people maybe that have left this church where they got like a gentle reproof
and that's the last time you see them. You know, bizarre, isn't it?
And obviously it's a bit of a red flag if that is you, because it's like, well,
that's kind of a description of Judas, isn't it, you know?
So, OK, he knew that he was a thief, didn't he?
And here's a funny thing with this as well, is that really like, and we said this before,
these holier than nails, they're usually hiding their own wickedness, aren't they?
So he knew he was a thief, he knew he wanted the money, yet he probably,
you can imagine him getting all worked up like, how dare, I can't believe, you know,
that Jesus Christ let this kind of 30,000 pound, in inverted commas, you know,
whatever it was, you know, the equivalent, 300 pence, you know, bottle of spike,
nah, be poured over his feet and his head, you know, he obviously doesn't care about the poor or something else,
and then they're trying to like, they think they've got something, you know, they really want,
that's why I'm justified in getting him killed.
It sounds bizarre, doesn't it?
Yet, these people are out there, aren't they, trying to justify their attacks on churches,
trying to justify their attacks on the men of God, trying to justify, they've got some justification
why? Ultimately because their pride is hurt, their pride is hurt and the devil just uses it
or whatever it is that this guy knew what he was doing, but it's weird.
And what was the goal of the betrayal? Well, Luke 22, 6 says,
But he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
Now, because I remember reading through the gospels at the beginning, just thinking like,
what was the point in all that kind of, what's he, what are they paying him for?
Well, the point is, is he's trying to lead them to a place where Jesus Christ is going to be
not surrounded by the multitude thronging him because then they wouldn't have got away with taking him
and arresting him, they probably would have got stoned or mobbed, you know, or something else.
So the point is that he knows that they then go to this garden and everything else
and he kind of, you know, leads them to a place where he knew that they would be going to, right?
Okay, and the point was to be able to take them when there was only the 12 there
and not, you know, mobs of people and everything else.
That's the point, to betray them, sorry, to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
So he's full of iniquity, yeah, he's a thieving holier than thou,
he's sneaking around acting like one of the disciples, looking for an opportunity to betray him to destroy him.
Okay, and again, we've seen this behaviour, we'll see this behaviour going forward,
we've seen it in good churches, we'll see this time and time again,
it's people that come in, they act the part, they look the part,
but they're sneaking around just trying to find something, anything they can.
I mean, you get people that even, they get kicked out of church,
they're still listening to you preaching, trying to find something.
Just want anything, anything to try and discredit you
and try and take something and just steer it another direction, you know,
and try and make out like you said, something like, what weirdos, isn't it?
It's so bizarre, isn't it?
It's like, why don't you just let people preach the word of God,
but sadly, this is what people do, right?
And obviously, you know, here it's to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ.
So now, 2 Peter 2.13 says of these types of people, you don't have to turn there,
we're going to stay in Matthew 26, it says,
and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to write in the daytime,
spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.
So they sport themselves with it.
They're getting pleasure from the fact that they're deceiving you whilst feasting with you.
It's so messed up, isn't it?
And we see this example with Judas Iscariot, verse 17,
and it says now, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread,
the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him,
where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
Judas knows what he's doing, he knows that he's trying to betray him,
he's trying to betray the Son of God, yeah?
He's been outsolding with these guys for like three and a half years.
I mean, you know, it's not that he's like, oh, he's just some guy,
look, he knows, he's rejected him, don't get me wrong, he hasn't put his faith in him,
he's a reprobate, yet he knows and he's going to go and sit with them
and he's going to go and eat with them and he's going to go and,
at least he's planning to go and partake in the Passover,
and really, he just wants to betray him.
That's bizarre, isn't it?
But that's life, that's the truth,
and when you start getting involved in real church work and stuff,
you just, wow, you see this stuff playing out.
Now, it says, no, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread,
the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him,
where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
And he said, go into the city to such a man and say unto him,
the Master saith, my time is at hand,
I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.
Now, you know, you're thinking, wait a second, how did they decipher this guy?
Well, Mark 14.13 makes it a bit clearer what they're looking for.
It says, and he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
and saith unto them, go ye into the city,
there shall meet your man bearing a pitcher of water, follow him.
So the point is that he's bearing this pitcher of water,
they see this guy, and possibly what was used for John's account
of the washing of the disciples' feet, maybe.
Verse 19 says, and the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them,
and there they, sorry, and they made ready the Passover.
Now, when the evil was come, he sat down with the twelve,
and as they did eat, he said, verily I say unto you,
that one of you shall betray me.
And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them
to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
So they're not saying, oh, yeah, Judas has been given off red flags for ages.
They're like, oh, yeah, I always had Judas pegged.
They're completely just can't even work it out.
They're like, Lord, is it I?
I mean, they're even questioning themselves instead of Judas.
Okay, you know that's a good rule, isn't it?
When you're like, is it me instead of Judas?
It's nuts, isn't it?
But anyway, and the answer said,
he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall betray me.
So, you know, this is, for me, this is kind of a picture,
I think, of someone, you know, seemingly partaking the word of God
in the bread of life, at least seems to be like a partaker and everything else.
But I don't know, but either way, you know,
when you kind of put them all together, you see this way, he's explained this,
he that dips his, you know, dips in the, you know, the sop into the dish
and obviously it's Judas Iscariot.
He then says in verse 24, the son of man goeth as it is written of him,
but, whoa, unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed,
it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Why? Because he's twice dead, yeah?
It's good for that man if he had not been born.
Then you get these idiots who like to think that he got saved
or something at the end, or Judas repented, so that meant,
oh, he repented of his sins, so that's all right.
No, no, it's better for him that he had not been born, yeah,
because he's going to be burning in the lower steps of hell, right?
Then Judas which betrayed him answered and said, Master, is it I?
He said unto him, Thou hast said.
And the nerve of it as well, he's just gone to them, yeah?
He's just gone earlier to the chief priest,
he subscribes to everyone else, he's covenanted with them for 30 pieces of silver,
and now he's sitting in front of the Lord Jesus Christ going, Master, is it I?
Sporting, yeah, with their deceivings while they feast with you.
Unbelievable, isn't it?
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread.
OK, so, I don't know, when you kind of look and you compare with the gospel,
I think at this point most likely Judas is, this is where he goes, OK,
and he's gone and he goes to,
and then I think that the Lord's Supper's kind of done without him there, OK?
And we're going to look at this in more depth when I preach about the Lord's Supper,
but it then says this, it says,
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it and break it,
and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.
For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day,
when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
So here we have the Lord's Supper, and remember that this was a Passover meal,
that he's now changed into the Lord's Supper, hasn't he?
OK, remember they came to eat the Passover,
OK, this was like, they've come to eat this meal,
he's now going, right, we're actually going to do the Lord's Supper.
And we're going to look at this in depth in a couple of weeks,
but, because like I said, we do it yearly,
but we believe it replaces the Passover,
where Jesus Christ fulfilled the Passover himself,
but being a replacement, so it's not the Passover, he fulfils it, he is a lamb,
and if you think about it, once the Passover, really, they were having the unleavened bread,
they were having the grape juice, and they were having the lamb, Jesus Christ is a lamb,
and then we see a continuation with the unleavened bread and the grape juice.
And, you know, I believe it's pretty clear,
but I know that a lot of people believe different things,
and I'm not trying to knock people that don't,
because I know there's a lot of different people with different views on this,
but, look, here, well, in fact, Luke 22.19 says this,
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
This do in remembrance of me, they've been meeting up yearly for the past however long,
for the Passover, he then changes it, there's no more lamb, he is the lamb of God,
the Passover is a picture of Jesus Christ, yeah,
of having the blood of the lamb upon your doorpost, yeah,
it's you that gets, that's now saved, like that's a picture of salvation,
he dies on the cross, and then he says this do in remembrance of me,
that's why we believe it's just a continuation of the Passover.
Now, the bread and grape juice, okay, so you've got the fruit of the vinyl cup,
it's a picture of Jesus Christ's body and blood being given for us, yeah,
now, it's a picture of that, it's not some funny weird voodoo type magic,
where it suddenly changes into his blood and his flesh,
that would be really weird, wouldn't it, yeah,
there's a lot of pictures that Jesus Christ gives in the Bible,
and if anyone's wondering what I'm talking about, I'm talking about Catholic transubstantiation,
where they believe it actually changes into his flesh and blood,
and you have to eat, I don't even know how they work this out,
I don't know what sort of flavourings they're putting on those funny little white wafers,
I don't know what they're doing, and with their fermented alcohol,
that they think somehow represents the sinless blood of Jesus Christ,
anyway, let's not go down that one either, we'll do that in a couple of weeks' time,
but, okay, so, remission, he said in, where are we, he said in verse 28,
for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins,
remission here means, in this context, forgiveness or pardoning, isn't it,
and it's remission of sins, it wasn't just some sins, you know,
he didn't say, which is shed for many for the remission of just your old sins,
which is shed for many for the remission of only the softer type sins,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins, okay,
the blood of Christ takes away all your sins, past, present and future,
and last point on this, he did say, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom,
and I reckon that fresh heaven fruit juice is going to be good, isn't it,
oh yeah, the heaven grape juice, new heaven grape juice, I'm looking forward to that,
yeah, anyway, because there is a difference, isn't there,
when you have like fresh grape juice and it's like proper stuff,
I mean, that's different to your kind of grape juice drink, isn't it,
with all the aspartame and everything else, whatever else you add to it,
okay, anyway, and when verse 30 then says, so we see this,
and like I said, I'm going to preach on this in a bit more depth
in probably a couple of weeks time, preparing us for our Lord's Supper here,
but verse 30 then says, and when they had sung an hymn,
they went out into the Mount of Olives, you ever wonder what they sang,
anyone ever wondered what they sang, I don't know what they sang,
but they did sing a hymn, didn't they, they didn't rap or chant a hymn,
it did say, it did, didn't it, it did say when they sang,
anyone seen that nonsense false revival thing going on,
wouldn't they call it the Asbury revival, anyone seen this nonsense going on,
if you haven't, look this stuff up on YouTube, yeah,
so there's all these, is it a university?
Yeah, they all think they're having this great revival,
and what a surprise, they're all like doing crazy Holy Spirit stuff,
jumping up and down, and like to all sorts of just bizarre music,
well, here they sung a hymn, yeah, these guys are like trying to rap along
and all this weird stuff, and I've only glanced at it,
and the people preach, guess what they're preaching,
you've got to repent of your sins, oh, what a surprise,
anyway, they sung a hymn here, didn't they,
so there was no rapping, there was no chanting, they sung,
they sung a hymn, what is a hymn, well it's praise to God,
so for me they didn't just sing a song that mentions God,
they sung praise to God, and the point being that this is just a good example
of what Jesus Christ did with the disciples after some form of worship
or here at one of the ordinances of the New Testament,
and with it it said when they had sung a hymn, they sung a hymn,
it wasn't a special, it wasn't like once Matthew the publican,
kind of lucky because of his old pruning days in the bars and pubs,
he did a special, no, they sung a hymn, because when we're together,
we want to sing together, don't we?
And look, I know sometimes some of these specials can be done,
and if you're wondering what I mean by special,
I remember being at a church before, and they'd do it like every week,
they'd have the choir come up, you know, and you'd all just sit there like this,
and it wasn't that good, and look, it's not the point, is it,
but it was just kind of like, you just want to join in, don't you?
You want to sing along, you want to sit there and listen to other people sing,
it could be nice at other times, but not when you're together in church,
it should be communal worship, shouldn't it?
Okay, so they sung a hymn, and verse 31 then says,
Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended of me this night,
for it is written, I will smite the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
And by the way, we're not going to go there,
but this is from Zechariah 13.7, if you want to put that,
if you're interested in kind of where these quotes are,
Zechariah 13.7, verse 32 then says,
But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
And another place where Jesus Christ makes that claim,
that he will rise from the dead, the resurrection's important, isn't it?
Because if he didn't rise from the dead, then he was lying, yeah?
But he did rise from the dead, and he was seen above 500 witnesses at once,
and obviously we know he did, but another place where he says that,
he says he'll go before them into Galilee,
that's where they were meant to be meeting him,
instead they were kind of hiding out, weren't they, in the upper room.
Verse 33 then says, Peter answered and said unto him,
Though all men shall be offended because of thee,
yet will I never be offended.
Now, Peter's got some zeal, hasn't he?
He's got the right mentality, but it wasn't enough, was it?
It wasn't enough.
Now, some could say, look, it does kind of verge on being a bit prideful,
doesn't it, with Peter?
Because then, look what happened.
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,
that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
And we're going to, next week, we'll see that fulfilled.
Verse 35, Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee,
yet will I not deny thee.
Likewise also said all the disciples.
So, he's just been told, no, actually you will,
and he's kind of still like, no, definitely I won't, you know,
and you could say that he's kind of a little bit full of it, isn't he, Peter here?
But, you know, and look, this is something, you know,
and again, it's something to remind,
because we preach often, I'll mention the pride,
and we've seen examples with people where the pride was completely ridiculous, yeah?
However, just because, look, people will get prideful moments sometimes.
People like, their egos can kind of get up here sometimes, you know,
at times believers can do that.
We all still have the flesh.
The difference when you're talking with kind of just these full-on wicked people
is it's just up there the whole time, yeah?
And it's ridiculous, yeah?
A lot of the time, obviously with the kind of more lame kind of wolf, yeah,
the kind of three-legged ones, the stuff that we've dealt with before.
However, it's true, though, isn't it?
But, however, here, look, Peter's showing a bit of pride here, right?
But it doesn't mean, oh, he must be wicked, right?
Okay, so, but it wasn't just Peter, was it?
All of the disciples claim that they wouldn't deny him,
and then they all end up legging it with kind of John staying the closest,
but he still, it's not like John's in the middle there going,
no, stop what you're doing and everything else,
and Peter as well does follow from afar off,
but ultimately they have kind of denied him and let him just get taken away.
I know there's a bit of swordplay briefly with Peter,
but what's the point, what's my point?
Well, verse 41 sums it up, okay?
Matthew 26, 41 says this,
Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And that's something as Christians we have to appreciate, okay?
We have to appreciate.
We can have the best intentions, okay?
You can have the will to do good, but we have to factor in the flesh.
You have to factor in that your flesh is weak,
because if we don't factor that in, we are going to fail.
If we get up here and think, no, I would like do this to the death,
I would be that tribulation saying, I'm the man, yeah?
I'm going to keep going, oh, I could never fall.
Look, we need to beware, don't we, yeah?
If we think we stand, take heed lest we fall, yeah?
And we have to appreciate that our flesh is weak.
Now, does that mean that we just accept our sinfulness?
Does that, oh, okay, well, just accept it, you know, well, I'm just a sinner.
You know, I accept that I'm a sinner, so I'm just going to sit, yeah?
No, turn to Proverbs 22.
It means that we safeguard against it.
That's the point.
It means that we appreciate, we accept that we're fallible,
we accept that we're sinners, we accept that our flesh is weak,
and then we safeguard against it.
We guard ourselves against our weaknesses, right?
And you have to be aware as you grow, as you grow and grow,
you're going to be aware of what your weaknesses are,
what sort of things you have a weakness towards.
Proverbs 22 and verse 3, Proverbs 22 and verse 3 says,
A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself,
but the simple pass on and the punished.
Okay, simple is not a good thing, okay?
It basically means stupid, yeah?
The prudent man, no, that's a good thing.
Forseeeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and the punished.
We need to recognise evil, recognise where we might fall,
recognise where we have a weakness, where we're going to fall.
Maybe you had, you previously had a problem with drinking alcohol.
Okay, many, look, growing up in this nation, in fact, most nations it seems,
but I don't know, England, it's got to be up there, hasn't it?
Yeah, for like just a nation of boozing alcoholics, yeah?
Okay, growing up in this nation, if you're kind of late to the salvation,
there's a good chance that you might have had some form of problem with it before.
You foresee the evil of meeting up with old friends who will be drinking, don't you?
You should see the evil and go, look, I can't be just meeting up with my old buddies,
oh, well, I might get a chance to give the gospel.
Oh, well, it's all right, we're just going for a meal.
But let's be honest, what's kind of going to be consumed at that meal more than probably food?
The booze.
So what you do, well, you're a prudent man for seeing the evil and hiding himself.
Now, you might go, oh, no, I've just got saved, I'm all right, man,
I know the Bible says not to even look upon alcohol, I'm not going to drink.
But I tell you what, you keep meeting them
and there'll be a time when you start to feel that temptation.
And there'll be a time when you start to think, well, maybe one wouldn't hurt.
You know, well, maybe I'll look, and then the fresher will start to justify it.
Well, you know, if you're a bit more like, act like them,
I mean, Jesus sat with the publicans and the sinners.
Maybe if I have a couple of drinks, they're more likely to hear me,
but really, it's got nothing to do with that, it's just your flesh,
your wicked heart trying to deceive you or something, yeah?
So you put safeguards in place.
You go, well, actually, no, when I meet any of my old friends,
it's going to be not somewhere where they're serving alcohol.
It's not going to be round their house, they'll come round for a meal
and they're sitting there boozing it up from before you even get in the home.
For example, if you've had a problem with that,
if that's something that you have a problem with,
I would say, look, you want to avoid alcohol anyway,
you don't really want to be around, you shouldn't be looking,
you shouldn't be hanging around people boozing.
Okay, maybe, especially not Christian,
if he's a Christian, then you need to be cutting him off,
but, okay, maybe you had a problem with,
now, this is something that's common in this world, pornography.
How about that?
A lot of people in this world are going,
well, I'm not going to be looking around going,
oh, it was just, you know, okay, but that, look,
this is a big issue in our world right now, yeah?
And many people have had problems with this.
Maybe, therefore, you would foresee the evil of browsing social media
and put controls maybe on your internet use,
because, look, like, you go on social media,
you just browse through, like, just looking for maybe just,
oh, I wonder what video I should put on it,
and you could never have looked at that stuff before
just because the algorithms will be like, oh, this must be a male,
this must be a male, you know, looking at kind of clips of this
or something like that, and then suddenly, out of nowhere,
you just get some semi-clad woman or worse, you know?
And, look, not just for men, this can be a problem for all,
but, look, if that's been a problem, if that's something that, you know,
maybe the lust of the eyes, you know, lust of the flesh
is kind of something that I might struggle with for whatever reason,
then I need to be sensible on when I'm browsing the internet,
when I'm looking at things.
Maybe put some guards on my computer.
Maybe put some blocks on there.
I don't know how that stuff works, but I don't know how good it is,
but I know there's child controls that surely must be okay.
And, look, again, people need to be aware of this stuff.
Maybe you had a problem with worldly music.
A lot of people have had a problem with that.
A lot of people, they hear those drum beats or that bass line
or whatever sort it was, and they're straight back down
a kind of rabbit hole or looking up that worldly music.
Oh, is it that bad?
Yeah. Yeah.
Like I preached about here a month or so ago,
worldly music will stick in your head,
and it will just make you just start repeating in your head
wicked lyrics, blasphemous lyrics,
lyrics encouraging sin, promoting sin and everything else.
That's a good way to get stuff right drilled into your head, isn't it?
So what do you do?
Well, find maybe easy-to-click hymns.
Maybe you have to get rid of that Spotify account
if that's something you're on. Whatever it is,
you need to find a way of it not being easily accessible.
All this stuff, you want it to not be easily accessible
because it makes that little bit harder.
A prudent man seeth evil and hideth himself,
but the simple pass on and a punish.
Now, maybe for some the air turns blue every time you're angry.
Okay? And, look, that could be a problem for many people.
You know, they're all right.
They can talk pretty clean, and then as soon as they get angry,
bam, then suddenly, you know, they sound like,
you know, they're whatever you want to call it, you know?
And that happens with a lot of people, doesn't it?
And when you're angry, that's when it's hard to control it.
So what do you do with that?
Because that can be a hard one for people.
Well, I would say this, understand why you're angry.
Because it's the anger that's doing it.
It's not, well, if I could just, like,
sellotape my mouth, well, that ain't going to happen.
Okay? So what you do, well, you understand why you're angry
because a lot of the time it will be a pride thing or something else,
and then you have to get to the bottom of what's causing that
or what that issue is, because it's very unlikely
you're going to be righteous anger.
Is the air turning blue while you're talking about
the false prophet down the road?
Is the air turning blue when you're talking about the things of God
and how upsetting it is that people aren't into the things that God knows,
usually when it comes to our pride or something else, isn't it?
Okay, so with that, well, how do we deal with that?
Well, do you know what helps with all of these weaknesses
and what can help with that and many other things is prayer.
It's prayer.
Here's the thing.
If you're in prayer, say I'm driving my car, yeah?
I'm driving my car and I'm not.
Say I'm driving my car and I'm just thinking about other things,
someone cuts me up, et cetera.
Okay, there's probably a good chance I might get in the flesh.
I might get in the flesh,
start shouting something out the window or something.
It could be tempting, can't it, right?
And the way some of these people try, never be.
The way everyone else drives, right?
However, if I'm in my car and I'm in prayer and I get cut up,
do you think the air is going to suddenly turn blue?
But it's not.
Now, I'm not saying you can necessarily live your whole life in prayer.
You could say pray unceasingly,
but I think the point being is to be regular in prayer.
But the point being that when you're in the things of God,
when you're focusing on God, when you're in prayer,
and I believe maybe the disciples wouldn't have denied him
had they been watching and praying that we're going to see in this next passage.
Look at verse 36.
It says, 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,
that's James and John, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Now, we're going to look at this because remember that Jesus Christ
was 100% God and 100% human, okay?
Look, Hebrews 4.15 says, For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Okay, it's not that he can't be touched with it.
It's not, oh, well, he was God, you know, he just kind of,
you know, he's over there.
Look, yeah, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
But Jesus Christ was 100% man as well.
And Jesus Christ was touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was in all points tempted like as we were, yet without sin.
He knew no sin.
And for me, you know, and I've heard our pastor describe it as this,
is that he was suffering death anxiety here, okay?
The anxiety that comes in, and this is a real thing,
where people know they're going to die.
A lot of people suffer a lot of anxiety now.
Here's an interesting thing.
You could be like, you know, well, I don't think I would
because I know I'm going to heaven.
Yeah, Jesus Christ knew he was going to hell, okay?
Jesus Christ knew that he was tasting death for every man.
Jesus Christ knew that as Jones was three days,
three nights in the world's belly,
so shall he be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus Christ was going to hell, and no wonder he was suffering death.
But even without that, even had he not, it's a normal thing,
especially when Jesus Christ knew he was going to die.
He's going to get nailed to a cross.
I mean, imagine if you knew that was going to happen to you
when you walked out of this service, you knew 100%,
that there's a big group of people out there
that are about to nail you to a cross.
I would imagine you're going to have some anxiety, right?
Well...
Verse 38 then says,
Then saith the unto them,
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.
Let tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And verse 39 then says,
And he went a little further, and fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
So even in his final hours, okay,
the nerves are really kicking in, and that's normal, isn't it?
His prayer is what?
Not as I will, but as thou wilt.
And that's a great lesson for us, isn't it?
Because so often when we're not about to go through anything like this,
we just pray, as I will, so please do that, give me this,
or whatever it is, change this for me.
But his prayer is not as I will, but as thou wilt.
And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep,
and saith unto Peter, What could ye not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And that was the answer, wasn't it?
Denying the flesh, and here it's the fatigue, the weariness,
and what was the answer was to watch and pray instead.
Be impressed.
If that's a problem, if whatever,
that was just a quick list of common things,
but there are many things that we all have weaknesses towards,
but we need to watch, yeah?
And you could say, you know, by foreseeing the evil,
watch for the evil, and then we should be impressed, shouldn't we?
Praying, praying, praying, because when you're in prayer,
when you're talking to God, you're much less likely to be in the flesh
and more likely to be in the spirit, aren't you?
And that's a big answer if you're focusing on God,
focusing on the things of God.
And another point as well, when you're half asleep,
you kind of have no fight in you.
I know Peter jumped up and started chopping off ears and stuff,
but the other guys, it seems, they fled pretty quickly, didn't they?
I was talking to my kids.
Why are you talking to your kids about this?
You know what I'm going to say?
They were asking me about things with, they were talking about,
we were talking about police chases,
because some police went past on the road up here,
and they were saying, well, what would they do
if someone wouldn't, you know, tell them the answer to this?
And I was saying, well, something they do that they seem to get away with
is something called sleep deprivation.
There's a form of torture, basically,
because sleep deprivation is something that's commonly used, isn't it,
when people are being interrogated and things like that.
Just get them up at random hours and keep getting them up.
And in the end, when you're half asleep,
I'll just do anything you want.
I just want to go to sleep.
And I don't know, you know, these guys, they just want to go to sleep,
and maybe that was part of the problem here, I don't know.
But verse 42 says,
He went away again the second time and prayed, saying,
Oh, my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me,
except I drink it, thy will be done.
So Luke 22, 44, you don't have to turn this, it says,
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground.
Jesus Christ was sweating blood.
He knew what he was about to go through.
He was sweating blood and anxiety about what was about to happen.
And according to the National Institutes of Health,
bloody sweating is called hematohydrosis.
It may occur in individuals suffering from extreme levels of stress
around the sweat glands or multiple blood vessels in a net-like form,
which constrict under the pressure of great stress.
He was under some great stress, right?
He was about to go through, knowing exactly what he was about to go through,
go through an agonising death,
go through then a time in hell just unbelievable,
but even during extreme stress and anxiety, he says, thy will be done.
And again, great example, right?
And verse 43 then says,
And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
And he left them and went away again,
and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
So he prayed three times, didn't he?
And it just made me think about,
and I don't really have time to kind of expand on this,
like Paul about his thorn in the flesh,
his messenger from Satan to buffet him.
2 Corinthians 12, 8 says,
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that's three times, and it might depart from me.
And Paul, like Jesus, accepted the answer, didn't he?
Jesus Christ prays three times and he just accepts, you know,
and obviously it's thy will be done,
and he's going through this extreme death anxiety at this point.
Paul accepted the answer three times,
and something I might look into in the future is quite interesting, isn't it?
We're told obviously to ask,
and we see the picture of someone who's knocking on the door a lot,
asking, you know, his neighbour for help as a picture of prayer.
But, you know, there is something about that three times, it seems as well.
We see that here.
Then verse 45 then says,
Then cometh he to his disciples,
and saith unto them, Sleep on now and take your rest.
And he's accepting it now.
This is, you know, God's will being done here.
Behold, the hour is at hand,
and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
And we're going to look at that next week, what happens at this point.
But, I mean, that's some hard verses of the Bible, isn't it, to see.
Just to remind us, like, what Jesus Christ went through for every single one of us here,
what he did for us.
Jesus Christ went through, you know, not only the death itself,
not only going to the depths of hell for us,
but Jesus Christ went through that anxiety, that build-up before.
And if anyone's ever, like, been in situations where you're about to do something scary or something else,
you know, so nothing like this.
Look, you know how it feels in your stomach, you know.
You know how it feels when you just kind of, you can't avoid it,
you know you're going to have to do, it can be, you just want to go anyway.
You can imagine praying to God, going, look, look, if this cup could pass for me,
nevertheless, you know, thy will be done,
being obviously the Lord Jesus Christ for many of us,
we wouldn't be saying, thy will be done,
it just somehow get me out of this situation.
But, look, he did all of that, he did all of that for every single one of us,
and we don't have to do anything in return for salvation.
All you have to do is accept it, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
However, you know, considering everything he did for us,
considering what he went through for us, you know,
there is stuff we can do in return, isn't there?
There are things we can do, we can choose to do,
and I don't see any reason not to.
But we're going to look at next week about what happens with that,
with that band of men coming.
On that, we're going to go to the Lord and the Word of prayer.
Father, thank you for, well, you know,
just an amazing passage there,
and just what the Lord Jesus Christ went through for us,
and, you know, just what an amazing gift that, you know, salvation is,
like, what an expensive gift that was,
just what was done for us is just beyond belief, you know,
and laying down his life for us in such a horrific way,
we thank you, thank you for that gift.
We thank you for everything, everything you do for us.
We thank you that not only, you know, do we have salvation,
but we also have a loving Father that wants to help us through life
and wants to be there for us and wants to guide us and strengthen us.
In our hard times, we see the Lord Jesus Christ getting strengthened,
and we just pray that you help us to, you know,
sometimes take stock of that and appreciate what it is we've been given for free,
and help us to want to, you know, do things,
do things, you know, whether it's to show appreciation
or to just serve you, Lord, and just to do, you know,
do what we can, you know, while we're here on this earth.
Help us to all just have a heart for that.
Help us to, Lord, to watch and pray, you know,
so that we don't enter into temptation.
Help us to just, you know, be focusing on you more,
focusing on, you know, on your things.
Help us to watch for those signs, for those weaknesses,
those weak points that we all individually have.
Help us to, you know, hide ourselves from the evil,
you know, not to pass on and then get punished.
Help us to have a great rest of the week.
Help us to return on Sunday for another day in your house.
In Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.
.