The Lamb Before the Slaughter (Matthew 26) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: Alright, we are almost done with the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew, chapter 26 is where we're at.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

So turn the arrhythmia in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26 Now.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

As I was studying this passage, I was reminded of Avengers end game, and I

did some research because Avengers End game, I think of Avengers End game.

My, my only thing I didn't like about it was that all the characters.

Don't get much screen time right, because there's so much going on.

Right.

They gotta tie in all these plots, they gotta tie in all the infinity stones,

they gotta tie in all these things.

There's so much going on.

It's like, okay, I, I wanted more of that and I wanted more of

that, and I wanted more of that.

But the point is that it's like this grand finale, right?

It's, it's the like 10.

10 years of, of movies that have built up to, to one movie.

Right.

And that's kind of what's happening here in the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew is, is taking all of these things that have happened in the

past 25 chapters and he's bringing them all into to one moment.

And so I'm not gonna be able to read all of these verses, but I,

I want to just give you guys an overview of what we've got going on.

So these are all the verses we're gonna cover, and this is kind of

my brief summary of each section.

Okay.

So the first part, Matthew 26, if you wanna follow along in

your Bibles, you can do that too.

The first part starts with when Jesus had finished all these sayings, everything.

So it's almost like this is it.

Jesus is done teaching.

Now he's, he's here to do what?

He's, what The main task he has, which is to go to the cross and and die for sin.

That's the main thing.

So Jesus, he's finished all these things and he tells his disciples

in two days it's gonna be Passover.

Now, Passover, Jewish Festival, think Exodus, right?

Exodus, they had to, um.

To lay the lamb and put the blood over the door, right?

So the angel of death would pass over them and so that the firstborn wouldn't die.

So the lamb died instead of the firstborn, right?

That's Passover, if you remember that from, from your time in kids' ministry.

So in two days that feast is coming up and the son of man, that's

Jesus talking about himself, will be delivered up to be crucified.

So Jesus says, look, I'm gonna die.

And then the next few verses we, we see the chief priest, the Jewish

leaders, they're like, you know what?

We want to kill Jesus, but.

We don't wanna kill him yet because there's all these people in town

for this festival, for the Passover festival, and that'll be crazy, right?

If we kill Jesus during the festival.

There's gonna be all these people here.

They think he's a prophet, they think he's a teacher.

Maybe they like Jesus, they're gonna get upset.

It's gonna be crazy.

And the reason they don't want it to be crazy is because the

Romans are in charge, right?

And the Romans, if they saw a bunch of Jews going crazy, they'd

be like, all right, we gotta take away more of their stuff.

We gotta send the police in and, and beat them up to make sure

they're not being crazy anymore.

So that's why the Jewish leaders don't want to make a commotion

or an uproar as your Bible.

Might say, but they've decided to kill Jesus.

So that's that first section.

Then we, we zoom into this place called Bethany, and Jesus is staying

at this guy named Simon's house.

And this woman comes up to him and she dumps this really

expensive oil on his head.

And that is like the idea of anointing, right?

She's anointing him with oil, but in her mind, she's just showing

Jesus how much she loves him.

But Jesus says, actually what she's doing is she's preparing me for burial now.

You're like, what?

What does that do with anything?

Well, Jesus, he's like, look, I'm gonna die.

Right?

Jesus knows he's gonna die.

He knows he's going to the cross.

And so what happens is when someone was gonna die, right?

Dead people smell bad, right?

And so what Jesus is saying is She's putting all this nice smelling perfume on

me so that I don't smell bad when I die.

So she's preparing me before I die.

That's what's going on in those verses.

And then we, we.

Fast forward to Judas.

Now Judas, he's decided to betray Jesus.

So he goes to the chief priest and say, Hey, I wanna, I want Jesus dead.

How much will you pay me if I give him over to you guys?

And they, they tell him and they give him a price.

And he says, all right, sounds good.

Let's do that.

So that happens.

And then all these other things happen, right?

All of these things are, are going on in the lead up to the cross now.

What we're gonna see, because I don't have, I don't have time to

go through all of these sections, but there's three things I think

Matthew wants us to know about Jesus' death and, and the lead up to it.

Okay?

And these three things all show us that Jesus is the right guy.

Jesus is the Savior.

He's the one that we need to trust.

He's the one who's come to die for sin.

Jesus is the right one.

Jesus is worthy of your trust, and I think he has that same message for you tonight.

He's, he's put all of these scenes together, all of these

things that Jesus is doing.

All these things that people are doing to Jesus, he's doing all of that.

He's, he's pulling it all together at the end of his book.

So, you know the most important thing about Jesus, and that's that

Jesus is worthy to be trusted.

So our main point tonight is to trust Jesus as the Savior you need.

That's the main point.

That's the main takeaway from this sermon.

Trust Jesus as the Savior.

You need.

Jesus is he's, he's the guy.

He's the right one to save you.

No one else is worthy of your trust in that way.

That's our main point tonight.

Maybe you're thinking, I don't need a savior.

Or maybe you're thinking, I don't know if Jesus is really someone

that I want to give my life to.

I don't wanna make all my decisions in relationship to Jesus.

I wanna do my own thing.

Matthew is gonna tackle all of those objections tonight in our passage.

So keep looking with me at, at Matthew 26, Matthew wants us to know

that Jesus is worthy of our trust.

And the first thing he's gonna do is he's gonna show us.

That Jesus is someone you can put your confidence in that Jesus is someone

who, who you can say, you know what?

Jesus is in control.

Jesus can do everything.

Jesus knows everything.

Jesus is someone that I can trust with my life because he's got all

these other things under his control so surely he can take care of me.

And so our first point tonight, build your confidence in Jesus to save you.

Build your confidence.

Jesus to save you.

Now, it sounds really similar to our main point and that that's

the idea is Matthew is trying to tell us that Jesus is in control.

And so he's gonna give us all of these details that show us that

Jesus is the one in control.

Now it's kind of like, I don't know if you, you remember this?

Um, but there is, I was thinking about, man, what's someone that like.

You wanna count on, right?

And I was like, man, the kicker on a football team is the guy

you want to count on, right?

Or the closer on a baseball team, you send that guy in, you know it's done right?

The cowboys, I remember this one game very specifically.

Their kicker missed four extra points in one game.

So, you know, score a touchdown at the end.

Touchdown six points.

Most people think it's seven.

The reason is 'cause you're supposed to be able to make the extra point, right?

You're supposed to be able to make the extra point at the end of the game.

Now this cowboys kicker, he missed it four times in a row.

Every time he missed it.

Now, imagine if that guy was your kicker and you're losing 27 to 24

game on the line, and you're like, all right, we got in the field goal range.

We're gonna send our kicker in to try to tie the game.

How are you feeling about that guy?

You're like, do we have, can we just, can we just throw it?

Like, do we have to kick it?

Right?

That's how you're feeling in that moment.

You wanna put your confidence in someone that is in control

of the situation, right?

You wanna put your confidence in someone that knows what they're doing.

You wanna put your confidence in someone you can count on.

That's what Matthew is showing us about Jesus.

Now, I showed you that big slide with all the things that happen.

This section of Matthew 26, the the first, honestly, almost the whole

chapter is filled with things that Matthew wants you to know about Jesus

and showing that he's in control.

Look at, look at all this.

So remember that first part about Jesus knowing what's gonna happen.

He's like, oh, in two days I'm gonna go and I'm gonna die.

Jesus is doing this on purpose.

Jesus isn't like surprised.

He's not like, oh, oh shoot, I have to die.

I didn't know that.

He's not like surprised by that.

He's not like, oh man, I'm really scared.

Uh, I don't know what's gonna happen to me.

No.

He knows exactly what's gonna happen.

Right?

And now if you look closely, look with me at verses three through five, okay?

Right here with the chief priests and, and the elders.

Verse verse three of chapter 26.

The chief priest and the elders, they gathered in the place the, the palace of

the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted together in order to

arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

But they said not during the feast, lest there be an up or among the people.

Now, when do they actually arrest Jesus?

During the feast or after the feast, they actually end up

arresting him during the feast.

They make this whole plan, let's wait till after.

And their plan is literally gone like in 10 verses.

Their plan's gone, but Jesus, he's in control.

His plan is exactly what it's supposed to be.

His plan in verse two, right?

You know that after two days, the Passover is coming and the son of man

will be delivered up and crucified.

That's Jesus' plan.

His plan is under control.

Their plan changes.

This next part with the woman who anoints him with oil and

prepares him for burial, right?

Jesus says she's doing this to prepare me for burial.

No one else knew that.

Everyone was like, what are you talking about?

Jesus?

Jesus knows what's happening.

He's in control.

Moving on, even to the next part, Jesus and his disciples,

they go to this, this room.

He's like, all right, when you get there, let's look with verse 17.

Now, first day on lemon red disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have

us prepare for you to eat the Passover?

Right?

Disciples are like, where do we go?

What's happening?

Jesus said, go into the city to a certain man.

Say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand.

I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

Does that sound like Jesus knows what's going on?

Does that sound like Jesus is in control?

Does that sound like Jesus is worthy to be trusted?

He's got a plan.

He's executing the plan.

He's doing everything that he says is gonna happen right then.

He also knows that Judas will betray him.

We see that later on in the the next few verses here.

Verse 2025, they're talking during dinner.

The disciples and Jesus are talking and he says, truly, I say to

you, one of you will betray me.

And then eventually Judas is like, is it me?

And Jesus is like, you said it.

So Jesus even knows who's gonna betray him.

So Jesus is in total control of this situation.

And then we go on and we see more of what Jesus knows.

And then this next part is something that I really wanna show you about how Jesus.

Is worthy of your trust.

Okay?

So verses 49 to 54, when Jesus gets arrested, okay, so Jesus, he's

praying in the garden and then he's like, all right guys, it's time.

And then Judas, he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, rabbi.

And he kissed him.

Now that is just like a cultural thing that they did, right?

Jesus.

Jesus and Jesus aren't like making out.

This is like a friendly thing, right?

This is what they did.

This is like, you know, bro hug.

This is what they did back in the day.

Okay?

Verse 50.

Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do.

Right?

You know why you're here.

Jesus isn't messing around.

He's like, Judas, you know why you're here.

I know why you're here.

Right?

This is like, you know when you're, when you're like trying to sneak

something around your parents and they're like, look, we both

know what's going on here, right?

That's what Jesus is doing to Judas.

Then the soldiers, they come up to Jesus.

They laid hands on Jesus.

They arrest him and then.

One of those.

Imagine, okay, imagine you're like one of the soldiers, okay?

You're like, all right, we gotta arrest this guy for whatever reason,

you know, they said he's causing trouble, so we're gonna arrest him.

Okay?

So you go to arrest him and his followers are there, and one of the followers takes

his sword out and like attacks one of your fellow soldiers and cuts his ear off.

Right?

At that moment, you're probably like, we're just gonna kill

all these people, right?

Because they attacked us, right?

This is, this is how it works.

If you're, if you're a soldier and someone attacks you, you're

like, all right, we're coming in.

We're gonna kill them.

Then Jesus is like, hang on, stop.

And then in John, what we see that Jesus does is Jesus heals this guy.

So imagine you're a soldier.

Some dude cuts your friend's ear off, and then the leader is like, hang on, bro.

Don't cut his ear off.

Puts the ear back and heals him.

Now you'd be like, I don't want that, that Jesus guy to do anything to me, right?

Because if he can reattach this guy's ear, he can probably do

a lot worse than that, right?

So this is kind of like the biggest flex ever.

Jesus is like, look, I don't need your help sword guy who we find out is Peter.

He's like, don't you think that I can appeal to my father and he will at once

send me more than 12 legions of angels?

See, the soldiers think that they're arresting Jesus, right?

Who's really in control here.

Jesus is right.

Even as he's being arrested, Jesus is the one in control.

And in verse 54, you see how then should the scriptures be fulfilled?

Jesus is saying, this is on purpose.

Everything that I'm doing here is on purpose.

I've got this all under control.

I am the one who's really making things happen here.

Everything is happening the way Jesus wants, and so that's why.

Hopefully for you that's building your confidence in the kind of

savior that Jesus is, right?

Maybe in your life you're thinking, man, I don't know if Jesus is in control

of, of what's going on with me, right?

Is just in control of my parents.

Maybe your parents are going through a hard time, is just in

control of my, my classes at school.

You know, I'm not sure how this class is gonna go.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to make it into, into this.

College, I'm not sure if I can make it onto this team, or I don't

know how this is gonna work out.

Maybe you're anxious about something or you're, you're doubting something

or you're afraid of something.

Jesus is the one who's in control.

If Jesus is in control of his arrest, Jesus is surely in control of everything

that you've, that you worry about.

See, confidence in Jesus will protect you from anxiety, from doubt, from fear.

All these things.

Think about it, right?

If, if you're anxious, let, let's say, let's say you've got

a big test coming up, right?

And you're like, man, I don't think I'm gonna pass this test.

I've studied hard, I've done my job, right?

I'm not, I'm not anxious because I'm unprepared, right?

That's different.

I'm anxious just because it's hard and I'm not, I'm worried about how

it's gonna go now, in that moment, how does confidence in Jesus help you?

Well, you could say, one, I'm confident that.

My worth is more than just my grades, right?

And my worth is not just my score on this test or my grade in this class.

And I know that because I know that from Jesus, my worth is, is

defined by God, not by my grades.

So maybe that's how confidence in Jesus helps you.

Or maybe you say, you know what?

Whatever happens on this test, right?

Or whatever my parents say about my grade or whatever, my friends think about me.

If I don't do well on this test, I know.

God is in control.

And so whatever happens, it's because God is sovereign and God let that happen.

And if God let that happen, surely it's coming from a good, loving God.

Or maybe your confidence in Jesus is something bigger.

Maybe you're, you're dealing with something like, I don't

know if I'm a Christian, how does confidence in Jesus help you there?

Well, remember that Jesus knows if you're a Christian or not.

Jesus already knows everything about you.

He's in control of everything in your life.

Jesus already knows if you're a Christian or not, and so if you're not sure, but

you're like, oh, I really hope I am a Christian, you can come to Jesus and say,

Jesus, I'm not sure if I'm a Christian.

Will you please show me if I'm a Christian?

Jesus knows He can show you.

He can do anything.

He can reattach a dude's ear on the spot.

He can help you.

Maybe you're thinking, okay, that, that sounds great, but I don't even know if

Jesus, I don't even know if this is true.

I don't even know if, if anything.

I dunno if I can believe what the Bible says.

It's a really old book.

You know, someone at school told me that, you know, the church just put

it all together and the three hundreds and Constantine did this and whatever.

Maybe that's what you heard, right?

And you're like, I don't even know if the Bible's true.

Well, did you notice?

Did you notice stuff like this in this passage?

How then should the scriptures be fulfilled?

There's been prophecies that Matthew is pulling together.

We don't have time to look at all of them, but maybe one we can look at

together right now, we can look at.

Chapter 26.

Let's go to verse 31.

Verse 31.

Jesus said to the disciples, you will all fall away because of me this night.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of

the flock will be scattered.

That's a quote from Zacharia chapter 11.

So

the Bible, their stuff written in the Bible before Jesus lived, right?

All the Old Testament, everything before Matthew was written, before

Jesus lived, and it talks about Jesus.

What Matthew's doing in this section.

He's not just saying, you can be confident in Jesus because he is in control.

You can be confident in Jesus because he really is who God says he is.

He's got all these prophecies about him that Matthew's pulling together and he's

saying, look, Jesus, for it is written.

This happened.

This happened, this happened.

The Bible's the only book with stuff like that.

The Bible's the only book that has that kind of evidence that it's from God.

Right?

And you can do the research.

I challenge you if you're not sure, if you're like, oh, I don't know if, if.

Bible's true.

I don't know if, if God's real, do the research, do your homework and,

and you'll find that God is, God has answers for your questions and so you

can build your confidence in Jesus.

Ultimately, you can trust that he can save you.

That's what this comes down to.

It's we wanna know if Jesus is someone we can trust with our life.

'cause maybe you're thinking, well, I'd rather live for myself than live for God.

In some ways that's a trust issue.

You don't trust that living for God is better.

Than living for yourself, right?

You don't think that living God's way will make you happier than living your way.

You're like, well, I know what's better for me.

I know better than God.

God says, don't do this, but I think if I did that, I'd be really happy.

Or God says, do this, and I know if I did that, I wouldn't be happy.

What you're saying is, God, I don't trust you.

I don't trust you to take care of me.

I don't trust you to look out for me.

I don't trust that your way is better for me.

So.

How can we build our confidence in Jesus?

Right?

Maybe you wanna follow God.

You're just like, I don't really know if doing what God says is,

is really gonna work out well for me in those moments, right?

When you're, when you're afraid, when you're anxious, when you're tempted,

do what Matthew's doing here, right?

Matthew is giving you all of this evidence, right?

We saw that.

All of these reasons, right?

These are, this is all evidence for you to look at and say, man, God is so big.

Jesus is so powerful.

Jesus is in control.

So remind yourself of those things, right?

You can remind yourself and say, well, well, look.

Look what Jesus did in the past.

Right?

Look back.

Look back at your own life.

How did Jesus take care of me my whole life so far?

How did Jesus take care of my friend, my parents, people at church?

I know people in my small group.

You can look around and and build your confidence in Jesus.

But see, the only reason any of this matters.

Because Jesus is the only one who can get you to God.

And that's why ultimately you wanna trust Jesus is because Jesus is the only person

you can trust to get you eternal life to, to get you a relationship with God.

And that's what Matthew does with this section on the Lord's Supper.

So we're gonna zoom in for a bit on just three verses right here.

So look at verse 26 with me.

Okay.

Matthew 26.

26.

So they're eating the Passover meal, right?

Passover meal.

They're celebrating what happened at the Exodus right now As they

were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, he broke it.

He gave it to the disciples and he said, take eat.

This is my body.

He took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink

it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out

for many for the forgiveness of sins.

So.

What Jesus is doing is he's like repurposing the Passover meal

and he's turning it into what we know as the Lord's Supper, right?

As communion.

That's what's happening right here.

He's taking something in the Old Testament and saying, this actually points

forward to what I'm about to do, right?

He's talking about blood now in the Old Testament, what was blood for?

Think of Leviticus.

Think all the books that make you not wanna do the DBR, right?

Those books.

Are about atonement, they're about how does God, who's holy,

live with a sinful people.

'cause remember at the end, how does the Book of Exodus end,

anyone else, the top of their head?

How does the book of Exodus end?

They build this tabernacle, right?

They, they start getting all the instructions for the, for the, for this

big tent that they're gonna live in.

And then it's like God's about to move into the tent.

Now I have a question.

If God is about to move in with you at your house, you'd be like, shoot.

There's a lot of, there's a lot of issues with me, right?

There's a lot, I've got a lot of problems.

If God lived with me, right, you'd probably feel exposed.

You'd probably feel really sinful.

You'd be like, oh, man, if God's gonna live in my, like, in my neighborhood or

in my house, there'd be a, a lot of, I, I'd feel so like, just guilty, right?

All, all the things I think about, all the things I, I've maybe seen

or, or watched or said or felt.

Done.

Right.

I would feel so.

So how does a holy God live with a sinful people?

Well, something has to be done about sin, and that's what

Jesus is talking about here.

So in, in the Old Testament, they would substitute the lamb

or the whatever animal for them.

They would say, you know what?

The wages of my sin is death.

And so instead of me dying, this lamb is gonna die.

That's what the priest would do.

So you put your hand on the lamb and they'd come over and they would.

You know, the lamb and um, the blood would get, would go all over.

And the point was that your sin caused death and that should have been you.

And so you had this vivid representation of my sin did that,

and that should have been me.

And Jesus is saying, that is actually all about me.

That's what I'm about to do.

Jesus is about to, to die to bleed for the forgiveness of sin.

That's what the cross is about.

And, and that's what you need to trust Jesus for so point to depend on

Jesus, for your relationship with God.

The idea here is that Jesus is the only way for you to, to have a relationship

with God, to, to be connected with God.

It's kind of like.

Imagine that you were, imagine you were dating like the, the, the daughter or

the son of a really famous person, right?

Imagine you like this, you know, you just, you didn't know the parents, you just met

this person and you started dating them, and then you found out, oh my goodness,

like their, their dad's super famous.

You know, like, oh, maybe they're, I don't know, maybe they're, let's just go with

first famous person I thought of would be.

Judge.

Let's say their dad's Aaron Judge from the Yankees, right?

Or let's say their dad is, I don't know, let's just, Donald Trump.

I don't know.

Right?

Let's say their dad's super famous.

The only reason you have a relationship with that person,

with that, let's say with Mr.

President is because you know someone they love, right?

You know their daughter, you know their son, right?

That's the only, that's the only way you're connected with them.

You're associated.

With their kid.

So they love you by extension, right?

They, they, they've never seen you.

They've never met you, but because you're associated with their, with their kid,

now they have a relationship with you.

And now they, they care about you, right?

Your connection with Jesus is the foundation for your relationship with God.

That's why you hear about that phrase in Christ, right?

In Christ, it's all over the New Testament.

What does that even mean?

Like I'm not literally in Christ, right?

Just like you can't accept Jesus into your heart.

Jesus isn't in there, right?

You ever heard the story about like a little kid, they go to the doctor to get

an X-ray and they're like, wait, stop.

Jesus might be in there and he won't get hurt.

Like, no, that's not how it works, right?

So you're not literally in Christ, just like Jesus isn't literally in you, right?

So how does that work?

What does it mean to be in Christ?

Well, think about like the term connected to Christ.

You're united with Christ.

You're closely associated with him.

That's what it means to be a Christian.

You're someone who said, I'm, I'm with Jesus.

He's the only reason I can have a relationship with God.

If I was by myself, I would have no reason to have a relationship with God.

In fact, God should punish me for my sin.

That's why all those animals had to die.

'cause I'm a, I'm a guilty sinner.

The wages of sin is death, but because of my association with Jesus.

I trust him because I've, I've put my faith in him because I've

connected myself to him by faith, I can now have a relationship with God.

Now, the additional part of this is that you need blood for forgiveness.

That's what the idea of death.

The wage of sin is death.

'cause God can't just be like, well, you and Jesus are tight,

but there's all this sin.

What's God gonna do about all the sin?

Right?

Think about, let's say, um, there's, there's a judge, a, a, a, a good judge.

And let's say that I, let's say that I, I don't know, beat up

Carson and took all his stuff, okay?

Hypothetical, right?

Let's say I beat up Carson, took all his stuff, and then Carson takes me

to court and he's like, look, Mr.

Judge Lewis beat me up and took all my stuff.

And the judge is like, well, I'm a loving, kind.

Forgiving judge, so you're good, Louis.

Don't worry about it.

You'd be like, what in the world?

Like, what's wrong?

Come on, man, like you're not doing a good job.

Carson would be very upset, right?

Carson, you don't look so happy.

You're supposed to look upset.

There we go.

Right?

That judge isn't being a good judge because he's not doing

his job in the same way.

You can't just be like, oh, hey God.

I'm sorry for my sin.

Forgive me.

We're good now.

Right?

Well, if, if you want God to do that with your sin, what if God

did that with someone else's sin?

What if God did that with Hitler's sin?

What if God did that with the person who cut you in the lunch line?

What if God did that with someone who did something terrible to your family?

Right?

You don't want God to do that with their sin.

You don't think that's fair, but you want God to do it with your sin.

So, God, we, we want God to do something about sin.

We want him to punish sin, right?

So that's why Jesus had to die.

That's why this is all happening.

That's why we're talking about the crucifixion.

That's why we're talking about Jesus going to, to his death on a cross.

God can't let your sin just be there.

He has to do something about it, and you want him to do something

about it except for yours, right?

We don't want God to do something about my sin.

We also do something about everyone else's sin.

That would be great.

So you don't just acknowledge like, oh yeah, I like Jesus.

We're gonna be buddies now I get to go to heaven.

Right.

We're, we're trusting Jesus for something.

We're depending on Jesus for something.

We're depending on Jesus to pay for my sin.

You're depending on Jesus to pay for your sin.

That's what it means to trust God, to have faith.

What are you trusting God for?

What are you depending on him for?

Well, Jesus died.

Because of my sin.

The reason Jesus had to bleed on the cross, the reason Jesus had

to suffer God's wrath was because he had to take away my sin.

And I want God to take away my sin because I, I, I, I need

something to be done with it.

I can't make up for it.

And that's what this next part of, of what we're gonna look

at is talking about is that.

Jesus didn't just take away sin.

He also lived a perfect life.

And that's something else that Matthew wants us to see is that Jesus is

faithful and, and righteous, and he's gonna contrast that with the disciples.

So if you look in your Bible, if we've got two disciples that get a lot of

screen time in this chapter, right?

We've got Judas and Peter.

They both get talked about a lot, right?

We've got Jesus.

Talking about Judas Betrayal a lot.

We even see Judas saying, Hey, I'm gonna sell Jesus out, literally and betray him.

And then we, in verse 33, they're talking about Peter's denial, right?

We know that Peter said, I'll never fall away.

And then guess what he did, right?

And all the other disciples actually fall away right at the end of the scene

in the garden where Jesus tach the guy's ear, the disciples all run away.

They flee, they, they abandon Jesus.

They say, you know what?

We followed you for three years, but now that you're getting arrested, we're done.

We're out.

The disciples all fail.

They all let Jesus down.

They all abandoned him.

And if we're honest, we've all done that.

We've all said, Jesus, you're not worth it.

And we've done that by sinning.

We've said, Jesus, I love this more than you.

I love people's approval more than I love you.

I love money more than I love you.

I love pleasure more than I love you.

We've all said that.

I love control more than I love you, Jesus.

We've all done that.

We've all failed Jesus.

We've all abandoned him.

And that and that.

Even Matthew even shows that when Jesus is on trial, Jesus is on trial and

he's doing, he's he's being faithful.

He's not giving in to the persecution.

He's enduring it.

He's not giving up.

And then what's the next thing that happens after Jesus' trial?

Verse 69, we now see Peter and Peter's on trial, but instead of getting beat

up by the Roman guards and, and the Jews, Peter is talking to a little

girl in the courtyard and she's like, oh, I thought I saw you with Jesus.

And Peter's like, Uhuh, I wasn't with Jesus.

So Peter's trial is a lot less scary, but Peter gives in, that's that big

section at the end of chapter 26.

And then.

So actually I'm gonna go back to this big screen.

See that?

So Jesus is on trial right here, and then Peter is on trial and he denies Jesus.

So Jesus endures and is faithful, Peter is not.

And then what's the next thing we see?

There's this little, there's little part right here.

And then Judas.

So what Matthew's doing is he's putting all three of

these guys next to each other.

You see that pe Jesus, Peter, Judas.

'cause he wants you to see the difference.

He wants you to see, look.

Jesus is righteous.

Peter is a failure and Judas is worse, right?

That's what Matthew wants you to see.

We don't try to look at all of it, but that's the big picture

that Matthew wants us to see.

And what he's trying to help you see is that Jesus is righteous and you're not.

And that's our third point tonight, once I get to it, rely on Jesus

righteousness, not your own.

Rely on Jesus righteousness, not your own.

Jesus is faithful, but his disciples are failures and us like

the disciples are also failures.

And we see this actually all over Chapter 26.

The disciples do not get a good look in chapter 26, and which honestly,

if you're, maybe you're a skeptic, you don't think the Bible's true.

If you made up Christianity and you were a disciple of Jesus.

Why would you make the disciple look bad?

Right?

If you're an early church person trying to make up Christianity, why

would you put, oh yeah, Peter denied Jesus, but Peter started the church.

Like, why would you do that, right?

If you're making this up, this is a horrible way to do it, right?

So that's one.

Another way, you know it's not made up right, is the disciples in the gospels

and all the gospels actually aren't like the greatest people in the world.

If you were making up a religion, you'd be like, I'm awesome.

Look at me.

If they don't do that anyway, the point here that Matthew's making

is that the disciples and Jesus, he's, he's contrasting them, right?

Jesus faithful disciples are failures and we see that all over 26, the

disciples, remember that lady who anointed Jesus poured all the

expensive perfume on him disciples.

You know, they said about that.

They weren't like, oh, awesome.

Look at this.

This woman who's, who's worshiping Jesus.

They were like, that's such a waste.

Why are you doing that?

Not a, not a good look for the disciples, right?

Then we have Judas, who's betraying Jesus, for which, by the way, 30 pieces

of silver, that's the price of a slave.

So Jesus, Judas thinks Jesus is worth 30 pieces of silver,

the same price as a slave.

Meanwhile, that random woman from earlier put all this expensive

perfume on Jesus and wasted it all.

So she thought Jesus was worth more than even Judas was willing

to sell him out for anyway.

Then Judas betrays Jesus and the disciples all fall away.

Peter's prideful.

He's like, no, I'm never gonna fall away.

And then what does he do?

Deny Jesus three times.

And then we have that contrast between Jesus, Peter, and Judas, and see, relying

on your own righteousness will end, will leave you where the disciples were.

You'll be just ashamed, embarrassed, and worn out.

If you're depending on your own goodness, your own.

Church going your own Bible knowledge, your own morality to make you feel

good enough for God, it's, you're gonna, you're gonna let yourself down.

You aren't good enough.

You can't be good enough.

And also you can't pretend to be good enough because God sees right through you.

Jesus knew exactly what his disciples were gonna do.

He knew they were gonna run away.

He knew that they were gonna abandon him.

So relying on your own righteousness, I, if you are thinking, well, I

must be a Christian because my parents are Christians, or, I

must be a Christian because look at all the things I do, right?

If someone asks you, oh, why are you a Christian?

Or, when did you become a Christian?

Or, how did you become a Christian?

You're like, look at all the stuff I did.

I, you know, I, I did this, I did, I, I memorized the books of the Bible.

I did this all, all these programs at church.

I, you know, did all these things for God.

Look at what I did for you.

That's, that's not good enough.

You need perfect righteousness.

You need 100% all of the time.

Heart level righteousness, not external.

Look at all this stuff.

I've done Jesus righteousness.

Relying on your own righteousness will leave you exhausted, but it

also will send you to hell because you're gonna stand before God.

You're gonna say just like those people in Matthew seven,

scariest verse in the Bible.

Did I not do this?

Jesus.

And he's gonna say, I never knew you

because you didn't trust me.

You didn't depend on me.

You trusted yourself, because that's really what you're doing when you're

relying on Jesus righteousness or relying on your own righteousness.

You're, you're relying on yourself.

You're saying, I'm good enough to go to heaven.

I don't need Jesus.

That's really what you're saying.

So if, if that's you tonight, if, if you've been, if you've been playing the

church game and, and you think, man, I, I.

I deserve to go to heaven, or I'm a good person, so I should go to heaven.

Or I've always, I've, I've always been a Christian.

This is always what I've done and that's why I should go to heaven.

If, if you've never admitted, I mean, I don't deserve to go to heaven.

I actually deserve hell.

I've, I've sinned against God.

I've separated myself from him.

I've chosen other things instead of him.

If you have never admitted that and said, Jesus, I need your righteousness.

I'm not bringing anything to the table.

You bring the righteousness.

I bring nothing.

There's a famous theologian, he said that the only thing you

contribute to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

All you bring to the table is you need to be saved, but

also sometimes you, maybe you are a Christian.

You rely on your own righteousness, not for salvation, but for assurance.

And maybe that's you, maybe you're, you're, you know, you're a Christian,

but you always are, aren't sure.

You're always feeling like, oh, I don't know if I'm really a Christian

because I, I did this, or I said this, or I keep sinning, or I do this.

And maybe you're just, you're, you, it's maybe it's been years and you've

always been like, oh, I'm not sure if I'm a Christian because I keep sinning.

Well, one.

Newsflash, you're gonna sin for the rest of your life.

Christians keep sinning,

but Christians hate sin.

Christians confess sin.

Christians grow in godliness.

Christians love Jesus.

Christians aren't sinless, but they do as, as my old pastor

put it, sinless Christians have.

There's a trajectory of coming to God and repenting from sin.

I don't wanna do this anymore.

I stopped doing this.

I hate this.

I love God, I want to do this, but maybe you're thinking, well, I'm not sure if I'm

a Christian and because of X, Y, and Z.

I don't know.

Some days I feel like I am, some days I'm not.

What makes you a Christian?

Is it again, are you saying, well, I don't know if I'm a Christian because

look at all the stuff I've done.

Your focus is on the wrong spot and that's why you're doubting.

It comes down to, do you trust you this or do you not?

Because if you're always looking to your own, your own performance as a Christian

for your security with God, if you're saying, oh, well, I don't feel close to

God, so I don't know if I'm a Christian, or if you're saying, well, I didn't do

very well reading the Bible this week, so I don't know if I'm a Christian or

you're saying, oh, well, I, I don't, I just, I, I gave into this one sin.

I don't know if I'm a Christian.

What makes you a Christian?

What saves you?

It's, it's Jesus, not you.

So when you're doubting, look to Jesus, don't be like, oh, well, once I stop

doing this, then I'll become a Christian.

Or, oh, once I, you know, I, I would feel better if I, I just

started being more righteous.

Like one, you probably, if you are a Christian, you probably would feel better.

Because maybe the reason you're doubting your sin or you're doubting your salvation

is because you've got unconfessed sin in your life and you need to confess it.

Maybe that's why you're doubting your salvation, but what saves you what?

What makes you good enough for God is not how you're doing in your prayer life.

It's not how much you know about the Bible, it's Jesus.

That's what makes you good enough for God, because ultimately.

Justification is about what you're looking for to make you feel good enough.

See, what happens is a lot of the time

we don't feel like we're good enough and so we, we reach for something.

We say, oh, well, I don't feel strong enough, so I'm gonna start

putting other people down, and then I'll feel better about myself.

I don't feel respected.

I don't feel liked by people, so I'm gonna start putting other people

down and making them feel bad, and that'll make me feel better.

You're, you're looking for that to make you feel good enough, right?

Or maybe you're saying, oh, once I get to be with, you know, this boyfriend

or this girlfriend, or maybe once I get to that school or once I get this

much money, or once I make it to that career, then I'll be good enough.

That's your idol.

You're saying that's gonna make me good enough.

And that's where Jesus righteousness comes in.

'cause you can stand before God and say, I am perfectly acceptable because of Jesus.

Because I trust him.

I don't bring anything to the table.

He brings everything and that's what makes me good enough.

And that's what qualifies someone for heaven.

It's not how well you're repenting.

It's not how much you know.

It's not who your parents are, it's Jesus.

And so maybe you don't feel like you're worthy to go to heaven.

It's a good place to be 'cause you're not on your own.

That's why you need Jesus.

So I hope even though we didn't read much of Matthew 26, that this flyover

of Matthew 26 has helped you see that Jesus is worthy of your trust, that

you can depend on Jesus because he's in control, because he took the penalty for

sin and because he lived a perfect life.

So let's pray and we'll go to small group.

God, thank you for sending your son.

You didn't have to, you went out of your way to save us.

And so, God, I pray that you help us.

Remember that what saves us is not anything we do, but it's what Jesus did.

Jesus takes away our sin and and gives us righteousness.

So I pray that, um, if we have any questions or if we're

confused about something that you.

Give us courage to ask in small groups.

I pray that you would help us understand where we are before you.

If, if there's anyone who's not sure if they're a Christian or maybe thinks

they're a Christian or isn't a Christian, God, I pray that you would make that clear

to them where they stand, and I pray that, um, we would be more confident in who

Jesus is, that we would trust Jesus more, that we would love Jesus more, and that we

would have more if we are saved, have more assurance that Jesus truly has saved us.

Praise this.

It's Jesus name.

Amen.