Matthew Pt. 100 - Jesus Is Betrayed

All right, you can turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 26,

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

part 100 should have had a celebration.

Matthew 26 and we're going to go verses 47 to 56 this morning

while he was still speaking, referencing Jesus in verse 46

when he said rise, let us be going.

My betrayer is at hand. Remember your context here.

We're in the garden. We've been praying.

Jesus has been praying. The disciples were in fact not

praying. He warned them, encourage them,

ask them to pray. They didn't pray.

Verse 47 While he was still speaking, Judas came one of the

12 and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the

chief priests and the elders of the people.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, The one I will

kiss as the man sees him. And he came up to Jesus at once

and said, Greetings, Rabbi, And he kissed him.

And Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you came to do.

They came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out

his hand and drew his sword, and struck the servant of that high

priest, and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, Put your

sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will

perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot

appeal to my Father, and that he will at once send me more than

12 legions of angels? But how then should the

Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so at that hour?

Jesus said to the crowds, because that's how many people

came for him. Have you come out against?

Have you come out against as a robber?

Sorry. Have you come out as against a

robber? With swords and clubs to capture

me? Day after day I sat in the

temple teaching, and you did not seize me.

But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the

prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him

and fled. Lord, we thank You for Jesus's

courage, for His perfection, for His glorious obedience that

stood in the face of three different kinds of failures, 3

different kinds of men in this moment.

The the betrayer, the follower who was disobedient, the mobs

who don't even know what they're doing.

And still Jesus stands perfect as the submitted servant to you

who fulfills your plan, who walks out your calling on his

life and does so with strength, does so with grace, does so with

authority. Lord, I pray that you would open

our eyes more today and help us to love him more deeply, to

trust him more deeply, and to follow him more closely.

Bring revelation and light to your people.

Bring needed correction and wisdom in Jesus name, Amen.

We deal with the the filthy traitor today, Judas.

Jesus knew this was coming. Judas had prepared for this, and

Judas somehow still follows through.

Remember, Satan entered Judas whenever he took the body and

the bread of the Lord unworthily.

So Judas arrives while Jesus is still speaking about the

betrayer. He's saying, guys, I told you to

pray. I told you to pray.

I told you to pray. Your test is here.

It's walking up in the garden as a mob.

It's come through the gate. We're here in the garden.

Here come all the torches. Here come all the weapons.

Here come all the clubs. These guys are heavily armed.

This is them. This is rolling in.

This is the SWAT team in the middle of the night, but it's a

big, big, big, big, big SWAT team.

The Prince of Peace is pursued by men who believe that violence

is the most powerful tool there is.

That's always been the mistake that that mankind is made.

They thought foolishness, they thought foolishly that the sword

is the best way to get something done.

Because again, I can enforce this.

I can make this happen. And Jesus defeats that in

multiple ways. He defeats that by showing use

the sword against me. He says, but I'll rise from the

dead and I'll defeat your violence with life.

And also he says, and watch this, I'm going to take over the

whole world. They're going to adjust the

calendar based upon my life and well, well, well beyond that.

And I'm not going to do it with the sword is does the sword

still belong to the Lord through the civil magistrate?

Yes, it does, because he still wants the wicked to be punished

and the righteous to be rewarded.

And yet Jesus changes the whole world as he has.

And that's why you and I are sitting here today.

Through the hearts of man. He's done the thing that no

other man could ever do to another man, and that is change

his will. You can make a man obey you, but

he does it defiantly. He does it because you have a

sword in his back. He does it because there is a

gun pointed at his head. He does it because you're

bribing or blackmailing. There's some other motivation,

but he's not a genuine heart motivation.

God changes the hearts of man. God changed the desires of

people. Jesus makes us new creations,

and then we actually want things that we didn't used to want

before. That's the miracle of the new

birth. It's not.

I'm learning about Christian doctrine, and I want to start

doing better and trying harder. Friend, I'm glad that you want

that, but there's something you need before you can do any of

that. The first thing you need is to

trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His substitution,

and you need to put faith in the grace of God and He'll make you

a new creation. Then you will have those desires

even stronger and more importantly, you will be given

power to obey them. Because if you just say I, this

Jesus guy seems great and I'd like to obey him, That's the

right impulse. That is wisdom.

And you are not far from the Kingdom.

But we need to bring you fully in the Kingdom, not by teaching

you exclusively just to obey His commands, which is what Jesus

told us we should do, but to understand, first of all, you've

got to become His. Once you're His, He gives you

power to obey His commands. We all know that we struggle to

obey His commands. We have flesh that gets in the

way of obedience to His commands.

But Jesus is the all powerful one who does not rely upon

violence to accomplish His will. Is Jesus supposed to violence?

No, he's not. There's a time for it.

There's a place for it. He will use violence against His

enemies. There's a day coming, but it's

not yet. Notice that it takes hundreds of

wicked men to gather enough courage to face this rabbi from

Nazareth. This rabbi from Nazareth and his

11 ragtag young men. Jesus had been teaching publicly

in the temple day after day, and no one dared to arrest him then

because they feared the crowds. They feared the mobs, and now

they've come at night. But they didn't come with like

12 soldiers already. They would outnumber the

untrained fishermen and tax collector, and they would

already have advantage. But hundreds of men come into

the garden. The truth stands in the light,

and they couldn't defeat it. But sin prefers darkness,

because darkness hides motives that would be exposed in the

light. My grandfather said it.

I'm sure plenty of y'all's granddaddy's have said it as

well. Nothing good happens after

midnight. I have since repackaged some

things for my boys and I call it the rules of stupid.

And there are three rules of stupid.

Don't go to stupid places. Don't hang out with stupid

people. And did I mix up my rules?

Stupid places, stupid people, stupid times.

Yeah. So stupid times of day.

So 2:00 AM is a stupid time of day.

So whatever you're doing at 2:00 AM, you're already breaking one

rule of stupid if you. But the more rules of stupid you

add up, the higher your consequences are probably going

to be when things go poorly. So if you're at a stupid place,

you're rolling the dice a little bit.

You're there with stupid people, things are getting even riskier,

and you're out there to stupid time.

So you know the bad place in the middle of the night with the

stupid people, the odds are against you, and chances are

something bad is going to come of this.

So we want to avoid all of the laws of all the rules of stupid

because you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

That's something that my dad also said.

So sin prefers darkness, of course.

And This is why the world hates Jesus, because he exposes

darkness. He comes in, he turns on the

light. And mankind loved their sin.

That's why they hated the light. It's not just because we were

mean about it or you said I like what you're saying, but you're

just saying it the wrong way. Jesus told us that men hate

Christ because men love their sin.

That's why. Why do you hate the light?

Because I love my sin. That's my issue.

That's your issue. It's not that the light is bad.

Well, no, I'm no, no, I'm with you.

It's just too bright. People can get really clever.

People have great verbal gymnastics to justify and to

explain things. But Jesus will say you loved

your sin. That was the issue, of course.

That's why we have to crucify it.

We have to hate it enough to kill it, and we have to be

willing to do so. But when men can't defeat truth

with arguments, they often try to use violence to silence the

truth. Of course, it's not enough for

Jesus. The mob appears powerful in this

moment, but the real authority in the garden still belongs to

Jesus. The soldiers might have come in

expecting to control the situation, but they can't.

Why? Because the Son of God has

already surrendered himself, not to man, but to the Father.

That's who Jesus is surrendered to.

That's who Jesus fears. That's who Jesus submits to.

I will surrender to the Father. That's what he's done.

And now when the swords come out, he goes, Oh no, I've seen

God the Father. Your sword is not that

intimidating. This isn't that big a deal.

I've gotten the strength that I need at this point.

Jesus has already been victorious.

He was victorious in prayer. He didn't give way to

temptation. And now he's going.

Now I just have to suffer. Now I'm going to take it all on,

bring it on. I'm the one.

Now is the time. This is my Father's destiny for

me, and I choose fully obedience.

Jesus is already one. He's walking in power.

He's walking in authority. It's why he is the way He is

before Pilate. It's why He is the way he is

before the false courts that they drag him to here in a

little bit as they take him back and forth throughout Jerusalem

and beat Him and mock Him throughout the night.

He's going, it's for this reason that I was born.

This is my purpose, this is my destiny.

I'm going to save the whole world.

I'm not the one who kills my enemies.

I'm the one who loves my enemies.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign.

Verse 48. The one I kiss is the man sees

him and he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, Rabbi,

and he kissed him. Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.

Obviously, it's a particular kind of evil.

He's choosing a sign of affection to betray and to wound

and to murder. There are particular kinds of

evil. We understand this.

All evil is not equal. I've I've proven this point too

many times. I would rather you slap me in

the face. Instead you shoot me in the

head. Our legal system recognizes that

that those are not the same things.

I would even prefer you call me a name instead of slap me in the

face so you could sin against me in multiple ways.

But they're not all equal. They're all bad enough to

deserve hell, but they're not all equal in the sense that they

have the same degree of wickedness to them.

But there are certain things. A parent abusing their child,

Why is that a particular kind of evil?

Well, because a parent is their child's protector.

A parent loves their child. A parent is supposed to be the

one who provides for, protects, nurtures, love.

They have a particular role in design.

And it's a special kind of violation.

It's a bizarre and a unique kind of violation.

In the same way Judas comes in with a kiss to give his

betrayal. It makes Judas just that much

more disgusting to us, as he should be.

The betrayer hides behind a symbol of friendship.

This was a very common kind of greeting.

There are some arguments that the original language reveals

that Judas really overdid it with his greeting.

In his insecurity of the moment, he really poured it on, Hey,

good morning, brother. And the handshake and the hug

and all this kind of extra, extra, extra.

It's like, that was a bit, that was a bit different, but Jesus

knew what was coming. Friend, do what you came to do.

He's resolved. He's certain.

Jesus wasn't like, like, notice what his prayer time wasn't

about. I can't believe Judas is

betraying me. I just can't get over it.

I can never forgive this. The betrayal hurts so bad.

The betrayal hurts so bad. How could Judas, how could you?

He's like, Judas is betraying me next.

He's moving on. How often have we been stuck on?

I'm stuck a decade ago on the betrayal.

Are you saying it's not a big deal?

I'm not saying it's not a big deal.

I'm just saying the Master moved on pretty quickly.

You have bigger fish to fry, Saints.

And if we're all really forgiving those who trespass

against us, then that has to look like something.

Judas greets Jesus warmly while simultaneously delivering him to

the soldiers who are just right behind them.

The Scripture says that they were with him.

It doesn't say Judas was with the soldiers.

It says they were all with him. He's the leader of the pack.

He's got his thirty pieces of silver.

This is the hypocrisy of sin. It smiles while it betrays.

Judas does not stab Jesus. He's not the one who personally

arrests him or attacks him openly.

He pretends devotion. He gets to play it safe while

carrying out one of the darkest acts in the history of sin and

in the history of the world. Sin will often disguise itself

in politeness, in kindness, and even in religious language.

I've been diligent to teach my sons, and I need to be diligent

to teach you as well. Most deception is not going to

come. Most false doctrine, most

opposition to the cross is not going to come with a foaming at

the mouth. We do definitely see that.

We do see demonic people, but the stuff that's the the most

dangerous to the flock of God is the stuff that sounds like they

made a great .0. That's an interesting idea.

And they start to get into controversies and they start to

get into did you really know? And all these things that sound

fascinating and they tickle the ears.

The scripture says, oh, that tickles and it also itches and

it also satisfies. And they're interested in these

kinds of things. And people are chasing this.

People follow that video. People's faith has been

shipwrecked by a video they saw on TikTok from an idiot who

doesn't know or understand the scriptures.

And they go like they have an existential crisis, they have a

theological crisis because they think this person made a

profound point and they didn't. And 2000 years of church history

is laughing hysterically at the idiotic video that this person

has just released. But the novice and the new

believers going, I'm intimidated, I'm overwhelmed.

I don't know what to do with that.

I don't know the Bible. I don't read the Bible, so I'm

easily misled and I'm not. And I don't realize how many

warnings there are in Scripture to stay away from simple

stupidities like this. How Paul even tells Timothy

don't have anything to do with foolish controversies.

People love to dig into stuff, Timothy.

People love to talk about getting to caught up in the

genealogies and blah blah blah. Timothy, stay faithful and keep

it simple because it is. So people like to pretend that

they're intellectual, and that's appealing.

We're in an intellectual age. I mean, that's the question,

right? Can you, can you show me the

data on that? You know, do you have a white

paper that can prove that point? Because we all know that data

cannot be manipulated. And we all know that white

papers are always true. And we all know that, you know,

and especially if it comes from the government, like then we

know, like if the FDA says it, then we know we can trust it.

Or if Fauci says it, then we know we can trust it.

Or if President Trump says it, we know we can trust it.

Let me be an equal opportunity offender here with all of our

all of our leadership. We can't trust any of that.

What we can trust is the word of God, the anvil that is worn out,

every hammer who's ever come against it.

What's the evidence? What's the fruit?

My testimony. I know Jesus.

That's why you have to actually know Jesus, because if you're

built upon someone else's, even a Christian's great

argumentation, even your favorite apologist who does a

great job deconstructing the arguments of his enemy, that is

not where your faith can rest. Your faith has to rest on the

person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not just I know the theological

answer for that. I know the apologetical answer

for that. I love apologetics.

You're allowed to love apologetics, by the way.

It's not, it's not a knock on apologetics, but your life

cannot be built on apologetics. And the New Testament was not

built upon a great argumentation.

And the spread of the gospel is not built upon great

argumentation. It's actually in the preaching

of the foolishness of the cross. To those who are perishing, it's

foolishness, but to those who are being saved, it is.

It is salvation. The gospel is the power of God

unto salvation for those who believe the gospel.

The bloody cross. Really.

Some Jewish Carpenter from Nazareth?

Yes. Yeah.

He was born of a virgin. Really.

Absolutely. How's that possible?

It's a miracle of God. You and your sky daddy.

I wish you wouldn't call him that, but I can't control you.

He's my heavenly Father. I honor him.

He's God. He's your creator.

That's your that's his breath you're borrowing.

You're going to give it back to him as well, just so you know.

And I want you ready for that moment when you give him that

breath back. Because you will.

It'll be the last thing you literally do.

Good news. He loves you so much.

Yes, he loves you so much. I love you so much.

My heart breaks for the anger and the hostility that you have.

I don't need your pity. Well, but thankfully you have

Jesus's, so mine doesn't do much for you.

But the love of Jesus will save your life.

I don't need to be saved. Yeah, you do.

Yeah, you do. The Bible says that you're a

Sinner. Oh, I'm a Sinner, huh?

Yeah. Yeah, we all are.

Me too. But then Christ makes us a new

creation. And through faith in Jesus, you

can be saved. It's ridiculous.

It's almost too good to be true, except that it is true.

I don't know where we were, but the gospel is good.

Never trust a backslider. They have all.

That's where we were, people dressing up their attacks on the

cross with cleverness, intelligence, good sounding

arguments. Backsliders are dangerous.

A lot of times the worst backsliders are former pastors,

former ministers, because they, when you, when you used to be a

shepherd and you turn against Christ, you become a wolf, a

sheep who turns against Christ. A lot of times can just be a

lost sheep who's can a lot of times still mind their own

business. What I see is most dangerous is

former former pastor. That's where I'm going.

The shepherd and me. I, I, I feel a bit aggressive

towards those folks because I love God's flock and I see how

clever they are and I see their manipulations and the books that

they write and the sheep go, wow, that's a really good point.

It's not, it's not a good point. That's not good food and that's

not going to help you love Jesus more deeply.

I don't need you to follow me, but I do need you to follow

Jesus and I need you to not follow this person.

I see a lot of people who are willing to kiss Jesus but not

obey Jesus, which is interesting.

Psalm 2 commands US. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry

with you, and you perish in the way.

But apparently you can kiss the sun and still perish in the way.

So the act of just kissing the sun apparently isn't the full

protection. I love Psalm 2.

You should as well. We've read it many times

together. But even Judas got that part

right. I'll kiss the sun.

Yeah, but he betrays the sun. And I've seen plenty of people

who are willing to kiss the sun with their language.

With their church presentation, with their, with the, with

their, their false lifestyle, their false Christian lifestyle.

That's their idea of kissing the sun.

But if the fruit isn't really there, then it's still just

betrayal of the sun. This is what we have to guard

ourselves against. And we need to be wise to pay

attention to what are we? Are we condemning anyone?

No, we're not condemning anyone. But I want you to be as wise as

a serpent while simultaneously staying as harmless as a dove.

And serpents have wisdom. They're paying attention.

You have no venom and you have no bite, but you have the wisdom

of the serpent. You know how to not get hit, and

you know when to stay back. You know when to watch.

You know when to listen. Judas the flatterer.

Proverbs gives us plenty of warnings about the flatterer.

Those who flatter with their tongue.

A man who flatters his neighbor, spreads a net for his feet and a

flattering mouth works ruin. Genuine encouragement is good

and necessary among believers. I need encouragement.

Don't you need encouragement? This is a funny Side Story for

years. And if you've done this, please

don't be embarrassed. It's just a funny thing.

And it's OK. For years, though, people

whenever, from time to time, whenever someone would want to

tell me that a sermon was really good, they have prefaced it

with, hey, I don't want you to get the big head.

But that was a really good message.

That was a really good sermon. And I just always thought that's

just kind of a funny thing. I wonder why folks do that.

There's a pastor who I love and follow online, and he released a

video saying the exact same thing.

And I was like, is this a common thing?

And other pastors in the comments were like, I just

assumed it was just me. So funny thing.

Just so you know, you don't have to put that in front of any

compliment. Like you're allowed to say, hey,

that was really good today. Like it's OK, like I promise I

don't think I'm going to get the big head from you saying I had a

great sermon, but I don't know, it's, it's a funny thing up.

There's, there's probably there's got to be a reason for

it. My suspicion is that the flock

is like concerned, like, hey, I want my shepherd to be safe and

good. So I'm like, I want to give him

some encouragement. But like, hey, dude, don't turn

into some ego egomaniac because this is a pretty powerful

compliment I'm about to give you.

I don't I don't know if you I don't know if you think you have

that much power over us or it's like, hey, listen, I'm about to

tell you something. Are you sitting down?

I thought your sermon was pretty good.

Now don't go crazy with that. So anyway, I mean, it's just

weird. Like you don't say that when

somebody cooks a great meal. You're like delicious, amazing,

so good. Thank you.

And then your pastor preach your great sermon.

You're like, hey, stay humble. But listen, you did all right

today. Thank you.

All right, we all need encouragement.

Your pastor needs encouragement as well.

To say, you know, I'm actually a human being.

Anyone who's spending time around me and says, yeah, I knew

that I need encouragement. You need encouragement.

But a flatterer is one who is using their encouragement as a

manipulation. They are looking to extract,

They're looking to steer you into something that is probably

not good for you. So it's it can be wisdom to be

reciprocal in a relationship and give and give and give.

That's a good thing. That's a normal thing.

That's a healthy thing. But the flatterer is looking to

trap you. Remember, he said the flatterer

spreads a net. So they have harm planned for

you. Their flattery is is deception.

Their flattery is, hey, don't look over here.

Judy is going, hey, I'm not betraying you.

I just kissed you. Whoa, where'd this army come

from? That's what a flatterer is

doing. Hey, you're so great.

You're so great wise while simultaneously subverting

something that you're doing. You know, this is an employee

who's saying the boss, man, you're so great, you're doing so

great. You're doing so great while

simultaneously like they're stealing a bunch of money.

You know, you're doing great and I got this covered for you or

whatever. Beware the flatterer and beware

that you're not the flatterer. Because whenever a flatterer

offers compliments, they're they're offered with hidden

motives and they are just tools for control.

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

And they laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

Jesus responds with calm authority.

Do what you came to do, friend. Jesus doesn't even call it out.

Jesus just says, do what you came to do.

I'll play along. He's so secure, he's so

authoritative that he doesn't have to even reveal everything

that he knows. He knows everything He knows,

and he knows everything Judas knows, and there's no panic in

the Son of God. Why?

Because his obedience has already been settled in prayer.

Strength in the moment of crisis was built during private

fellowship with the Father long before the crisis arrived.

That's why strength in the moment of crisis was built

during private fellowship with the Father long before the

crisis arrived. They often say you will not rise

to the level of the pressure of the moment.

You always fall back to the level of your preparation.

That's true in athletics. That's true in combat.

This is why, like self-defense training is important.

You know, men, you know, who do jiu jitsu and Muay Thai or train

with firearms and all these things, it's so important.

But men who neglect those kinds of things, they say foolish

things like, oh, if I get mad, I'll just see red.

Just like, Oh, no, you'll see a color.

Like. I'm not sure.

Like you're still not trained for combat.

You're still not prepared to defend others.

You're still not prepared to protect.

No, no, you don't understand, brother.

I see red. I heard you.

But whether it's red or green or any other color, you still need

to know what you're doing when you're getting punched in the

face or when when we're under threat, when we're under

pressure. Oh, whenever, whenever, whenever

pressures come against my life. What you going to do, You are

who you already are and you better make sure you are the

person that you needed to be in that moment because now is not

the time to prep. Back in the day when I was doing

crew, I was the guy who did the steering and the yelling and the

motivating. I was the toxin.

It was the role and the rowers they rode.

They did. They have the hard work and I

just would encourage them along. One of the things I was very

good at was in our practices. We race really big schools who

had lots of boats. Every practice they'd be racing

against other crews. They'd have like 3 different

men's eights and they're fighting each other all week

long, all week long. We had one varsity men's boat

each year that was fast. So we would all start.

We would start like half a mile behind the girls, not

exaggerating, and then by the end of the race piece we'd be

like half a mile in front of the girls.

So we didn't really have a great measurement to judge ourselves

week after week. But you know what they did have?

They had a coxen in the boat who was constantly keeping the

pressure on and I would constantly tell them we got to

make sure nobody's outworking us.

We got to make sure that Saint Joe's is not out working us

right now. We got to make sure that Nyack

is not out working us right now. We got to make sure that

Woodbridge, there's 4 eights in Woodbridge right now racing each

other. There's a bunch of, there's a

bunch of dudes in there and we just have us and the river and

we better be prepared for race day because we will be exposed.

And I stayed on top of it because I wanted to win more

than anyone else in the boat. So I was cracking.

If they'd let me have a whip, I would have used one.

So we are going and we're going. We're training.

But you can't show up on race day and go, let's turn on some

hype music. You see red.

That's the equivalent. Like I see red now let me when

I'm going through a difficult thing, the best time to prepare

for a difficult thing is to be is to live prepared for the

difficult thing. If you knew when the bad guy was

coming, you'd be prepared. If the strongman knew when

someone was coming to take over his house, he would have been

prepared. We want to live prepared.

We want to live in fellowship. We want to live in prayer.

We want to live in the Word because guess what?

Trials and temptations and tribulations are coming.

Some of you are like, they're coming.

I'm living it right now. Some of you are like, I'm in a

sweet season. Some of you're like, I'm in a

difficult season, but they're coming again.

Why? Because the world is broken.

The devil is bad, and you're not perfect.

You're not making all the best decisions all the time.

But the more we live in the word, the more we live in

prayer. We're staying ready.

We're staying ready. And then the Lord's also

preparing us for things. I know some of you have been

prepared for things. The Lord is giving you words and

saying something's coming, hasn't he?

Hasn't he, Kayla, He's prepped you and he's been like, hey,

lean in, I got you. But lean in because because

something hard is coming and the Lord's, the Lord looks out for

you. But that comes from being in

fellowship again with the Lord. So this is how we want to live.

This is how this is the place we want to stay in.

Strength in the moment of crisis is built during private

fellowship with the Father long before the crisis arrives.

Execution in combat did not come on the day of combat and getting

lucky. It came from great preparation.

Winning the gold medal on race day didn't happen on race day.

We had a great race. Yeah, because we had a million

great practices when nobody was looking and it was boring and it

was just us on the river. Christians don't just cruise

through difficulties and trials and temptations just because

they felt they felt like it or just because the right song hit

on the radio. They did it because they were in

the prayer closet previously and all of the fuel was there and

all of it was ready. It still hurt.

It's still going to hurt. There's still going to be pain.

There will still be difficulty. But the fuels there, you're

like, I'm going to make it though.

I'm actually going to make it because the Lord is with me.

What if I don't have any fuel in my tank?

Well, then you'll fall in the moment of temptation.

Are you lost forever? No.

Is Peter lost forever? No.

Are the disciples lost forever? No.

But failures are real when they happen, and they hurt more when

we're not prepared. The Lord wanted to prevent that

for His disciples. He wants to prevent that still

for his disciples. What's also true for us as well

is that weakness for the moment of temptation comes from our

neglect of private fellowship with the Father.

So if strength protects us, then neglect of fellowship is going

to make us weak. Judas is acting in betrayal

while Jesus is acting in obedience.

This is what I I prayed earlier, that the Lord would just bring

us clarity on the three different kinds of men.

Here we have the betrayer and Jesus.

We have the follower who fails and Jesus.

And then we have the mob who's more ignorant.

And Jesus, the perfect man, stands steady while sinful men

collapse into deception, foolishness, and mob violence.

Jesus's strength reminds us that he is not a victim in these

events. He is the obedient son walking

forward into the mission that the Father gave him.

You're not intended. You're not supposed to be a

victim or a hostage in anything. You're just supposed to keep

walking forward and say, my father has me.

That's the place of trust that we want to get to.

Verse 51. Behold, one of those who were

with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and

struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back in its place, for all

who take the sword perish by the sword.

A disciple reaches for a sword and strikes the servant in the

high priest. John tells us this disciple was

Peter. We know the servant's name was

Malchus. This is a high-ranking guy.

This is not a low ranking servant.

This is a very, very high-ranking servant.

The servant of the high priest, not a servant of the high

priest. Luke records that the healed

ear. Luke records that Jesus healed

the year that Peter cut off. What was happening here?

Peter immediately jumps to the arm of flesh.

Why? Because that's all he's got

ready. It's always got prepared.

Peter sees red. I see.

I just not today. Not today, Peter, nobody needs

your flesh. It's an army.

They'll kill us, and they'll do it really quickly.

What's interesting is why they don't.

I think they don't because we also know that when, when they

said we're seeking Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus said I am and

they all fell to the ground. So it was clear to everybody

from the outset, Jesus is in charge.

No one takes him. He gives himself and they're

like, are we allowed to arrest you?

And he's like, you are a young man, come here, come on.

That's fine. That's the tone of this whole

thing. Because he speaks and they fall

to the ground, hundreds of soldiers and men.

That's why I think Peter gets away with, as they start to

approach Jesus, he goes and they're like, what's what do we

do? What?

That's why Peter doesn't get killed instantly by a dozen

other people. And everybody's still looking at

Jesus. And Jesus says, Peter put it

back in its place. And he lectures his disciples.

Hang on, guys, you'll arrest me in a minute.

And he now he's teaching and lecturing his disciples.

Jesus is completely in charge. Pilot feels like a little boy

when Jesus finally gets to him. Because Pilot's like, hey, you

know I can kill you, right? Like, talk to me, man.

Help me, help me. My wife had a bad dream.

She said I'm not supposed to have anything to do with your

death. Please help me.

Pilot's the scared one. Jesus standing there going,

everything's going according to plan, exactly as me and the

Father and the Holy Spirit intended.

I am the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

But Peter going hard in the flesh, This is not courage.

You've heard the fear responses. Fight or flight or freeze.

This is fear. It shows up through the impulse

to fight. Jesus commanded Peter to put the

sword back in its place. What does this mean?

There's a place for the sword. Jesus didn't say.

Peter, why would you have a sword?

We're Christians. He didn't say, Peter, I can't

believe you would have a weapon. Under no circumstances would we

ever use self-defense. No, There's another time where

he told them, told them to get a sword and they said, hey, we

have a couple of swords. He goes, all right, that's

enough, like a fuse enough. We're good.

There's a time and a place for it.

Tonight's not the night. Now's not the time.

And then he goes on to make the self-defense argument and he

says, Peter, put your sword back in its place.

It's not for here. It's not for now.

It's not for today. I'm going to walk out.

What? My father has called me to walk

out. I already told you this.

We've been through this, Peter. Remember I told you, get behind

me, Satan, and now Satan jumped in front of me with a sword.

Get behind me again, Peter. I'm going to obey the Father.

But Jesus is making the point. Put your sword back in its

place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

The the the problem is that Peter is being ruled by his

emotion rather than obedience. And Jesus is saying, I want to

clarify this point to you as well, because it's been misused

by the ignorant. Jesus says that those who live

by the sword will die by the sword.

What he's doing here is speaking generally about the pattern of

violent men. How do you know, Pastor?

Don't get tricky with me. Well, like I said, he's already

told the disciples in times past to get a few swords and to keep

them among them. Why?

So we don't get jumped by bands of robbers, which were a thing

because you didn't have the Police Department cruising up

and down the road constantly. So you should defend yourself.

You should still be prepared to defend yourself to this day

because the Police Department is only good once the phone rings

and they're only good once they can arrive.

So self-defense is a good thing. It's a biblical thing.

It's a normative thing because you should also love yourself.

So when Jesus is saying this, he's talking about generally

about a pattern of violent man. A man who builds his life on

violence should not be surprised when violence eventually

consumes him. But Jesus also makes it clear he

does not need Peters defense. Put your sword back into its

place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

And. But now listen to the

self-defense argument he still makes.

Do you not think I can? I cannot appeal to my Father and

he will at once send more than 12 legions of angels.

I could defend myself if I wanted to.

I don't want to is his point. That's his .70.

I forget the math on how many angels that would be.

I think it's like 74,000 angels. I don't know if that would be

the exact amount he's referencing or if he's just

like, hey Peter, I own heaven. I don't know if you've forgotten

this. And all the angels obey me, so I

could have them come here and now and nuke this mountain if I

wanted to, and you boys could come away safe with me.

We're not doing that though. Your sword is not impressive.

I've sent an Angel to kill. How many Assyrians did the Angel

kill? 180 Some thousand in like one

night. The Lord sends an Angel.

So 1 Angel would have been enough.

Jesus said he could get 12 legions on site if he wanted

them. I could defend myself.

I choose not to defend myself. I'm in charge.

No one takes my life. I lay it down.

This is the plan. This was his purpose.

There's another option along with fight or flight or freeze.

It's trust. It's trusting in the Lord with

all your heart leaning not on your own understanding in all

your ways, acknowledging Him and Him making your paths straight,

But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that it

must be so he's saying I could defend myself.

I could bring all the angels of heaven right here right now.

But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled Peter

Jesus refuses rescue because the scriptures must be fulfilled.

This isn't Jesus manufacturing prophecy by the way, him like

let me follow the script for the rule book.

He was living authentically, but he's also simultaneously making

the point that also, of course, the Scriptures have to be

fulfilled. He's not manufacturing prophecy,

but he is submitting to the plan that God established before the

foundation of the world. Everything in redemptive history

has been pointing towards this moment and this night where the

Lamb of God would bear the sin of the world.

And Jesus is saying it's my time on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Remember, Moses and Elijah came and spoke with Jesus.

What do they speak with him about?

They weren't just talking about the squirrels and the sunshine.

They spoke with him about his departure and that which he

would accomplish in Jerusalem. That's what they came to

encourage him in Moses and Elijah.

So Jesus has had the reminders. Jesus has had the motive.

Jesus has had the Scriptures, and he's also had the prayer

time and the angels that came and strengthened them in the

garden. But he has been prepared for

this moment. He's saying, I know who I am and

I know what I'm doing. Jesus knows the mission.

Jesus understands the scriptures.

Jesus willingly walks forward to complete the plan of salvation.

The promise spoken in the Garden of Eden is moving toward

fulfillment as the seed crushes the serpent.

We're closing and we're going to take communion together here in

a moment, Verse 55 at that hour, Jesus said to the crowds, have

you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture

me day after day? I sat in the temple teaching and

you did not seize me. So again, he's just lectured his

disciples. He knocks everybody to the

ground, says I am. They finally stand up and they

said it again. We're looking for Jesus.

I told you, I'm me. Peter lunges, cuts the guy's ear

off. Peter, hang on, guys.

Peter, stop it. It's not the time.

It's not the place I can defend myself, but the Scriptures must

be fulfilled. Hang on.

You understand, guys. He's talking to his disciples.

Now, all of you, welcome to my prayer garden.

You came at night. He's calling him out.

He just wants them to know I was, I was in the temples daily.

But you've come out at night with clubs and swords like I'm

some sort of robber, but the darkness is yours.

And then they're like, can we arrest him now?

I think so. I guess we're, I guess we're

allowed to arrest him now. Nothing happens to Jesus without

Jesus giving permission. Remember?

They wanted to throw him off a Cliff.

No, you're not going to kill me how you want to kill me.

They wanted to stone him to death.

No, you're not going to stone me to death.

All authority in heaven and earth is given to the Lord Jesus

Christ. He's so perfect, He's so good,

He's so strong, He's so awesome. He confronts the mob.

He exposes their cowardice. He's in charge here and everyone

waits for him. They arrived secretly.

He exposes their deception and he still willingly lays down his

life. Then all the disciples deserted

him and fled just a couple hours ago.

I will never desert you. Me either me either me either me

either me either me. I'll never me either never

desert you. Poof.

Fight or flight or freeze or trust.

Peter picked fight before picking flight.

Everybody else went straight to flight.

Jesus is the only one still modelling trust.

I trust you, Father. I trust you, Father.

Give me strength, Father. I've seen what's coming.

I know what's coming. For God so loved the world

though, that he didn't. He didn't come into the world to

condemn the world. The world was already condemned

without prayer. Their confidence takes flight

when the pressure arrives. The Savior walks forward alone

to accomplish the salvation of the world while his scatters

scatter while his followers scatter in fear.

Judas the betrayer pretends devotion while loving something

else more than Christ. Peter, the foolish disciple,

loves Christ but refuses to obey him.

And the hostile mob blindly follows orders without really

understanding the truth against every form of human failure.

Jesus stands here tonight, in this garden, on this night, as

the perfect man. He remains calm in the presence

of the betrayal, patient in the presence of the foolishness of

his disciple, and fearless in the presence of hostility.

We have clear warnings for you and I Do not be like Judas who

walks close enough to Jesus to appear faithful while secretly

loving something else more than the Lord.

Do not be like Peter, who genuinely loves Christ but

ignores his warnings, neglects prayer, and therefore acts in

the flesh. And do not be like the crowd who

blindly follows the mob without examining the truth and

understanding Him. Press in and know Jesus for

yourself. He chose the cross willingly.

He rose from the dead and victory.

He reigns forever as King and will return again for His

church. He desires a powerful church, a

triumphant church, a holy church, a church without spot or

wrinkle, a self controlled church.

Set your take away today. Call upon the Lord for strength

that you won't fall into temptation.

Seek the Lord. Temptation and trials are

coming. It's obvious it's life.

Jesus told us the parable of the two men, one built his life on

the rock and one built his life on the sand.

They both got rains, they both got wind, they both got floods.

They got the same weather. Events hit, hit.

Both Christians should never go. How could this happen?

We know how all this could happen.

The thing is, the question asks is how do I get strength?

How do I get refreshment? How do I get what I need?

Carry me Lord, carry me deeper into your presence.

Give me strength to be true and faithful to you.

Call upon the Lord for strength so that you will not fall into

temptation when pressure arrives.

Worship the Lord Jesus Christ again with renewed gratitude and

obedience. Adore Him again.

Look how awesome He is. Look how perfect and strong He

is and how He did it without any human intervention or help.

The perfect man walked in suffering to save sinners, and

the proper response of his people is repentance, faith, and

devotion. Kristen, Kayla, would you serve

us?