"Disowned and Condemned" [Matt's Messages]

“Disowned and Condemned”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
February 9, 2020 :: Matthew 26:69-27:10

For the last several weeks in our ongoing series through the Gospel of Matthew we have following Jesus through the crucial events of the last hours before His crucifixion.

Time has slowed down and so have we as we’ve attended the unparalleled Passover meal with Jesus’ and His disciples, as we’ve heard Jesus predict Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, and the disciples’ desertion, as we’ve listened to Jesus pray face-down in the Garden pleading for the cup to be taken from Him but always and ultimately submitting to the Father’s will so the scriptures will be fulfilled, even holding back 72,000 angels from coming to His rescue.

We’ve gasped with horror as our Lord was betrayed with a kiss, arrested, drug off to the high priest and Sanhedrin, subjected to a sick joke of a unjust trial, a travesty of injustice where the false witnesses can’t even get their fake stories straight. And yet our Lord Jesus is still deemed worthy of death.

We’ve seen during this trial, that our Lord confesses that He is our Lord. He says in front of all of those witnesses that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He is also the Son of Man Who is headed to the right hand of the Mighty One and Who will come again one day on the clouds of heaven.

And that earns Him every indignity.

Last time, we saw them spit in His face and strike him and slap Him and mock Him and treat our Lord with contempt.

And it only gets worse.

I warn you. This story only gets worse.

Until it finally gets better.

I’m going to call this sermon, “Disowned and Condemned.”

Because both of those things happen to our Lord Jesus in these verses. Matthew 26:69 through 27:10. “Disowned and Condemned.”

The spotlight shifts slightly off of Jesus for just a few verses to recount what happens to two of Jesus’ disciples: Peter and Judas.

Jesus has made precise predictions about both of these men in chapter 26.

And what do you think happens to both of them?

Exactly what Jesus predicted, of course!

Exactly what Jesus predicted.

Because Jesus is not tripping and falling into the events of this crucial day. Jesus is not backing into them accidentally. Jesus is, mysteriously, in control of them.

We have seen this again and again.

While He is not doing these evil things, He is choosing them.

He could turn this whole thing upside down, but He doesn’t. He could stop it all dead in its tracks at any of point, but He doesn’t.

Because it’s all a part of His Father’s plan. Of their plan together. Of the triune God’s eternal plan.

He knows what’s going to happen, and He still goes through with it.

And so, of course, what Jesus predicted would happen to Peter and to Judas is exactly what happened to Peter and Judas!

That’s one of the main takeaways we should get from this short passage.

But I think we can also look at Peter and look at Judas as kind of anti-examples?

As examples of what not to do, what not to be like.

Both of them fail here.

Both of them are tragic stories. One is worse than the other.

But I think we can learn from both of them.

As Jesus is disowned and condemned.

Do you remember where we left Peter?

All of the disciples abandoned Jesus. They scattered. They fled. V.56

But verse 58 says that Peter found his way following at a distance to the courtyard of the high priest where he tried to hide in plain sight.

He wanted to know what was going to happen.

He wanted to know what was going to happen to Jesus.

We know what has happened to Jesus. He is getting a beating.

They are spitting on Him and making fun of Him and smacking our Lord.

But Jesus has been fearless and in complete control of Himself.

How about Peter?

Peter who this very night has claimed that He would never fall away from Jesus. That even if he had to die with Jesus he would never disown Jesus.

How is Peter doing?

Peter is going to chicken out. V.69

“Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl [not even someone in authority] came to him. ‘You also were with Jesus of Galilee,’ she said. But he denied it before them all. ‘I don't know what you're talking about,’ he said.”

He said he’d never do that!

And now he has.

Jesus has just fearlessly owned up to His identity inside.

But Peter is full of fear. He turns away. V.71

“Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, ‘This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ He denied it again, with an oath: ‘I don't know the man!’

But he does know the man!
He just had supper with Him.
He just ate the Passover with Him.
He was just praying in the garden with Him.

He just tried to save His life by cutting off a guy’s ear!

But now Peter says with an oath, “I don’t know the man.”

The oath isn’t profanity, it’s swearing on something greater to prove your sincerity.

And it’s something Peter knows that Jesus said not to do.

Remember Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. [Why?] Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37).

Well, this was coming from the evil one right here!

The very thing Jesus was preaching against. Using oaths to lie!

Verse 73.

“After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, ‘Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.’ [Y’all got that Galilean drawl.] Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, ‘I don't know the man!’ Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.”

Why did Peter do that?

Well, he was scared, wasn’t he?

When push came to shove, Peter was frightened.

And if we are honest, we all know how he felt.

We have all done it.

Even if you haven’t, I have.

Given a chance to stand up and stand with Jesus, if there is pressure, if there is something to lose, I have often failed.

And I have disowned Him.

Now, haven’t actually said, “I don’t know Jesus.”

But I’ve hidden my association with Him many times.

It’s easy up here. You came today expecting me to stand up for Jesus!

But it’s harder out there, isn’t it?

Here’s how I want to put it as a point of application today.

#1. DON’T TURN AWAY FROM JESUS.

When given a chance or an open door, don’t shy away from it and pretend you don’t know the man.

Don’t chicken out.

Walk through that door!

Don’t be ashamed of knowing Jesus.

I know that’s easier said than done.

Look at Peter.

He thought he could do it, but he failed.

He told Jesus that Jesus was wrong about him!

But, of course, Jesus was right about him.

So we need to be honest about ourselves.

We can be real chickens.

We chicken out when we think we have something real to lose.

But at what cost? What do we really lose?

Do you remember what Jesus said in the Missions Teaching of Matthew 10?

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (32-33).

Peter was in danger right then of being disowned before the Father.

And look at what it did to him!

When he realized what he’d done.

When he remembered what the Lord had said.

Hot burning tears run down his face, and he goes outside and weeps bitterly, a broken man.

Matthew never mentions Peter’s name again.

Thankfully, we know from the rest of the Bible that Peter repents and returns and is restored.

Peter is one of those who will, after the resurrection, meet Jesus on the mountain in Galilee and receive the Great Commission.

But Matthew wants us to have this image of Peter burned into our minds.

Weeping bitterly.

Ashamed of having been ashamed of Jesus.

Of turning away from Jesus.

Don’t turn away from Jesus.

I’ve become convinced that we need to focus on bold evangelism in 2020.

Daring to share the good news about Jesus even if it hurts.

Even if it feels risky.

Was Peter at risk?

Yes, he sure was.

He had just cut off a guy’s ear. If Peter gets identified as that guy who did that because he’s associated with this Jesus guy that they are beating in the next room and soon going to execute, what might happen to Peter?

Yes, he’s at risk.

But Jesus is worth it all.

Whom do you need to get bold with?

Maybe it’s somebody you need to invite to the Wild Game Dinner.

We’re going to have a good one this year!

Is there someone you need to muster up the courage to talk to about Jesus?

Peter is the guy who first said it, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

But now he’s saying, “I don’t know the man.”

Don’t turn away from Jesus.

The leaders of Israel sure did. In fact, they decided to put Jesus to death. Chapter 27, verse 1.

“Early in the morning [to give some semblance of legality to this farce of trial], all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.”

This trial is going to move into its second major phase. We have seen the Jewish phase. Now it’s time for the Roman phase to begin.

The Jews are done. They have done their rushed job and have reached their unjust verdict. “Jesus is worthy of death. Let’s send Him over to the Romans to get the job done.”

And they bind Him. They tied Him up!

And they led Him. They bundled Him up and took Him where He shouldn’t have had to go.

And they handed Him over to the Roman prefect of Judea, a wicked and cowardly man named Pontius Pilate who had the Roman authority to crucify our Lord.

Jesus is not just disowned. He is condemned.

You see how this just gets worse and worse?

This next part is far worse than the part about Peter.

I think Matthew puts it up next to juxtapose these two men and their stories.

Here we find out what happens to Judas, who also was one of the Twelve. Matthew is the only one of the gospels to tell us this part. V.3

“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.

‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’ ‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That's your responsibility.’

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.”

He didn’t just weep bitterly.

He gave up completely in despair.

Look at how heartless these priests and elders were.

It is no wonder that Jesus condemned them as snakes and fakes.

They don’t care for Judas in the slightest.

After he had served his purpose, he was of no use to them.

They didn’t care that he had a change of mind.

They didn’t care that Judas was burdened by Jesus’ innocence.

“What’s that to us? That’s your responsibility.”

Which is false. I mean it was Judas’ responsibility, but it was also on their heads. Very much so.

Here’s the sad part though.

Judas almost repents.

But he doesn’t.

He gets started with repentance, but then he doesn’t go all the way.

What is repentance?

Repentance is a 180.

It’s waking up to your sin and owning your sin.

But it’s also turning away from your sin and running to Jesus.

And Judas doesn’t do that.

He can’t see himself doing that.

He fails to do that.

#2. DON’T STAY AWAY FROM JESUS.

I read a great illustration about repentance this week (cf. Douglas O'Donnell).

It’s like you're on a train going one way and you stop and get off at the station, and then you get on the train going back the way you came.

Judas got off the train.

But He refused to get on the train going back.

He stepped in front of the train instead.

He was still too full of himself.

He did not repent.

Just like Jesus said.

“The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born” (26:24).

Judas changed his mind but didn’t change his heart.

And he didn’t run back to Jesus for forgiveness.

He stayed away and committed suicide.

Don’t be like Judas.

We have all betrayed the Lord at times in our lives.

Every sin is a betrayal of our Lord.
Every sin is treachery.
Every sin is a treason.

And we deserve death and hell for it.

But Jesus went through all of this so that we don’t have to!

And Jesus invites us to come to Him for forgiveness and cleansing.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Don’t stay away from Jesus.

If you have never trusted Jesus as your savior and lord, I invite you to right now.

Don’t stay away from Jesus.

Don’t keep Him at arm’s length.

And don’t just “half-repent” where you agree that you’ve done some things wrong, but you aren’t willing to come to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness and hope.

Judas was full of despair.

But you and I don’t have to be.

Don’t stay away from Jesus.

#3. FIND YOUR WAY TO JESUS.

Because Jesus is the way.

It’s so tragic that Judas would die this way.

And it’s so tragic to see how the chief priests responded to it. Look at verse 6.

“The chief priests picked up the coins and said, ‘It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.’”

There they go again!

What a bunch of hypocrites.

As if they care about the law and about justice and about doing the right thing!

They only care about looking like they care about the law and justice and doing the right thing.

They only care about keeping the easy little detail laws and neglecting the big moral justice laws.

“It is blood money.”

Yeah, the blood of Jesus, an innocent man that you are killing!

“Well, we can’t use this for the temple. It might pollute something.”

When they are the ones polluting the temple.

Verse 7.

“So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners.
That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day [when Matthew wrote this].  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me.’”

That’s actually a fused quotation from two prophets, Jeremiah and Zechariah, but Matthew tends to cite the bigger prophet to stand for the whole.

It’s a fulfillment of the words of Zechariah and the actions of Jeremiah, quite a complex little thing. More complex than it looks at first.

But Matthew knows what’s going on.

Matthew knows that once again the Lord is fulfilling His prophetic word in the events that surround the Messiah.

Even the wicked, sinful, evil actions of these bad men are woven into the plan of God to achieve the salvation of God’s people.

By the way, this is the last time that Matthew will use his favorite word in this book: “fulfill.”

But everything that follows from here is still fulfillment.

Jesus is fulfilling the plan of God.

By being the way to God.

And going to the Cross.

Don’t turn away from Jesus.

Own Him. Don’t disown Him.

Tell the world every chance you can get that you are not ashamed to belong to Him.

Especially when there is something at risk.

But when you do turn away (because we all do from time to time), don’t stay away from Jesus.

Repent. Get off of that train going the wrong way and get on the train coming back to Jesus.

Find your way to Jesus.

Because Jesus is the way.


***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion
62. Fakes and Snakes
63. Birth Pains
64. The Coming of the Son of Man
65. No One Knows
66. Keep Watch
67. Well Done!
68. When Did We See You?
69. A Beautiful Thing
70. "The Passover With My Disciples"
71. "This Very Night"
72. "It Must Happen in this Way"
73. "He Is Worthy"

Read More

An Interview with Tim Shorey about “Respect the Image”

My new friend, Tim Shorey, has a new book out today, Respect the Image: Reflecting Human Worth in How We Listen and Talk.

I was recently introduced to Tim through our mutual friend Katie Faris who told me about his writings on healthy communication between humans, and P&R Publishing sent me an advanced copy to read.

Is there a more pressing need in society today than respectful communication between God’s image-bearers? As I’ve been reading Respect the Image, I have appreciated Tim’s pastoral approach to teaching biblical principles–gracious yet unbending, gentle and firm. He practices what he preaches by speaking the truth in love. Tim has a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor and uses it to illustrate his shortcomings (and personal growth) in this arena of the tongue.

One of the reasons I wanted to read Respect the Image was to prepare my heart for the 2020 election season especially for the coming onslaught on social media. It’s going to be a difficult year to be a Christian online. It is so easy, way too easy, to see people whom we disagree with as not just our opponents or even our enemies but as less-than-human and therefore unworthy of even basic respect. Everything Tim says in this book applies to the political arena.

As I’ve been turning the pages, however, I have been even more struck by how Respect the Image makes a great counterpart to my own book, Resisting Gossip. It explores the flipside of gossip, the “instead of” dynamic that I tried to emphasize throughout my book. We aren’t only supposed to “put off” sinful speech but “put on” the godly kind.

Earlier this week, I had a chance to connect with Tim and ask him some questions about his brand new book:

Matt: Why did you want to write a book on this? What from your own life experiences brought you to the place of writing on communication?

Tim: Respect the Image emerged from a life full of relationships—childhood with five siblings, 42 years of married life, six children, 13 grandchildren, 38 years of pastoral ministry, a church of 250 people consisting of 25 different ethnicities, and over 15,000 hours of pastoral counseling. Early on I realized that the most frequent personal,  pastoral, and counseling needs I faced were my own, and my people’s, need to learn more about God, more about the gospel, and more about communication; in that order. This all drove me to study biblical principles of communication in earnest—for my family, my flock and my world needed these truths both taught and practiced. This then gave birth to the basic structure and outline of Respect the Image. Further motivated by a desire for these principles to be called readily to mind in conflict and other situations I developed the acrostic format of the book and various other memory helps the book includes. All that said, I certainly would want my readers to know that these truths impacted me long before they ever got into book form. Now my hope is that they will leave a mark more widely than ever before.

Matt: What is the image of God and why should we be respecting it in others?

Tim: As any theologian would tell you, that’s a tough question to answer, since the answer is multi-layered. It involves  our being created to represent God’s rule on the earth—as Genesis 1 shows. While it normally might include the capacity to reason, to communicate, and to relate, it doesn't always do so, since there are some precious human beings who do not have such capacities; at least not to the same degree as others. I believe it is a deep mysterious reality in which every person has the mark and imprint of God upon him or her (along with a capacity to relate to him) —and is thereby stamped with dignity and value. I cannot define it well, but it is there for all to see whenever we look intently into each and every human face.

Matt: How does your book relate to the subject of my book? What principles in RTI would help a follower of Christ to resist gossip?

Tim: At its very core Respect the Image teaches that because each person is made in the image of God, we cannot communicate badly or sinfully or disparagingly with or about others without insulting the image they bear. Gossip is the great evil it is primarily because it demeans, disrespects, and destroys others; others who are to be held in high honor since they are made in the image, redeemed with precious blood, and destined for immortality. I dare not slander or gossip, because in so doing I slander God. This truth—and its force in countering gossip—is played out in numerous applications throughout the book. Gossip is the antithesis—the polar opposite—of the respect for, the celebration of, the attention to, the understanding of, and the charitable judgment toward, others to which the Bible calls us, and which my book tries to address. Where these truths rule in the heart a guard will stand watch over the tongue to ensure that the only words that come out are words calculated to bless, to nourish, and to honor. Gossip dies a certain—even if all-too-slow—death when respect prevails. No doubt it goes without saying that this is easier said than done. James let’s us know how hard it is. But if we ask for the wisdom from above and commit to honor the image, communication transformation can happen; and the results are wonderful!

Thank you, Tim, for your time and your labor love in producing Respect the Image. I pray that it helps many to reflect our Creator as we talk to and about those made in His likeness.

Read More

"He Is Worthy" [Matt's Messages]

“He Is Worthy”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
February 2, 2020 :: Matthew 26:57-68

We are following Jesus through the events of that crucial last week, and now last day, just hours really, before His crucifixion.

We have slowed down to carefully consider everything that Matthew tells us about Jesus during these crucial last hours.

How He predicted His betrayal.
How He planned His Passover with His disciples.
How He made the Passover meal all about Himself.
How He sang a hymn with His disciples and went out to the Mount of Olives.
How He predicted His disciples would desert Him and Peter would deny Him.
How He prayed facedown in the Garden and pleaded to be able to reject the cup of God’s wrath.
How He said, “Not my will but yours be done.”

How He got up to face His betrayer.
How He received a traitor’s kiss.
How He refrained from calling down 72,000 angels to rescue Himself.
So the Scriptures would be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way.

How He was arrested by those who had no right.

And how His disciples fled into the night.

I’ve warned you; it only gets worse.

This is a dark story of injustice.

And the injustice has only just begun.

Because now Jesus is going to trial.

And everything about this trial is wrong.

There is no justice in this trial.

And everything about this trial is wrong.

They get everything wrong about Jesus.
They go about it the wrong way.
They gather evidence in the wrong way.
They misjudge the evidence they get.
And their verdict is all wrong.

Everything about this trial is wrong.

And yet Jesus goes through it all.

Because He is fulfilling the will of the Lord.

And because, ironically, He is worthy.

“He Is Worthy.”

I’m taking these three words for the title of this message from verse 66 in the NIV.

The Sanhedrin get it almost right, but they should have stopped right there.

“He is worthy.”

That’s not exactly what they say, is it? But it’s what they should have said.

I don’t know about you, but I love fictional stories about innocent people who are arrested for a crime they didn’t commit.

When I was growing up, it was the A-Team. They said that every week on the television show, that “in 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime the didn't commit.” And now they are fugitives.

And then I discovered “The Fugitive” itself, the TV show from the 1960's. Dr. Richard Kimble falsely accused of killing his wife when it was really a one-armed man! And so now he’s on the run.

I don’t know about you, but I love those fictional stories.

But I hate stories like that in real life.

People who are falsely accused of a crime?

People who are false convicted of a crime.

They are innocent but found guilty.

There is a movie out right now called “Just Mercy” based on a bestselling book. It’s about man named Walter McMillian, who was sentenced to die for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite the existence of evidence proving his innocence.

It took 7 years of hard work from an attorney named Bryan Stevenson to see McMillian’s conviction overturned and him be exonerated. I read the book last year.

Reading about those kinds of real injustice just make me sick to the stomach.

Well, this trial is not fiction. It’s the second kind. It’s real.

And there has never been a more unjust trial nor unjust conviction.

There are actually several parts to Jesus’ trial, but there are two main phases: the local Jewish phase and the imperial Roman phase. Today, we’re just going to look at the Jewish phase in verses 57 through 68.

Because it was the Jews who had Jesus arrested.

They have been conspiring for some time (26:3), but now they have found an accomplice in Judas Iscariot one of the Twelve who betrayed Him.

Judas led the armed crowd to the Garden of Gethsemane, identified their target with a kiss, and then stepped out of the way while they grabbed our Lord and bundled Him off to Caiaphas. Verse 57.

“Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.”

This is the Jewish phase of Jesus’ trial.

They hauled Jesus to the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.

These are Jesus’ enemies.

They have been plotting against Him for some time.

And He has been publicly condemning them, especially this week.

Remember chapter 23?

When Jesus said to beware of these guys?
When Jesus said that they were fakes and snakes?
When Jesus said that they sat in Moses’ seat but were hypocrites who were filling up the measure of the sins of their forefathers?
When Jesus said that they were storing up judgment?
When Jesus said that their house would be left desolate?

Yeah, the same guys.

That’s who are Jesus’ judges this night.

Do you think the deck is stacked against Him?

It’s interesting that Peter has snuck along at a distance to see what’s going to happen.

He has just cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, but here he is a few minutes later sitting with that same temple guard in the courtyard.

He obviously didn’t think he was identifiable or he wouldn’t have gone. Because we’re going to see next time that he isn’t there to stand up for Jesus.

But he does want to know what’s going to happen.

He’s hiding there in plain sight.

Now, again, everything about this trial is wrong.

For example, they shouldn’t have been meeting at night.

According to the rules of the Sanhedrin written down years later, they shouldn’t have met in the night, and they should have taken at least two days to deliberate and deliver a sentence.

But they weren’t there for justice. V.59

“The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.”

They weren’t looking for the truth!

They were looking for an excuse to justify killing Him.

The Sanhedrin was made of 71 Jewish leaders, and it took a quorum of 23 to decide the big cases like this one.

So, when it says, “the whole Sanhedrin,” it means at least those 23 that it takes.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were both members of the Sanhedrin who did not go along with the rest of them. So some probably were not there.

But those who were were looking for false evidence. But it good false evidence was hard to come by. V.60

“But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.”

I think that means that they couldn’t get two false witnesses to agree.

The standard for evidence was two witnesses with corroborating testimony.

First, you cross examine one witness and then you bring out the next one and ask them questions.

Well, nobody’s stories matched. Their collusion wasn’t good enough!

And then these two came fairly close. Mark actually tells us that they didn’t quite agree either, but enough that Matthew includes it in his gospel. V.60

“Finally two came forward and declared, ‘This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'”

Now, did Jesus say that?

Is that quote from Jesus?

It almost sounds like one. But that’s not quite what He said.

Keep your finger there in Matthew 26 and turn over to John chapter 2, verse 19.

This is after Jesus cleaned out the temple the first time.

“Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’”

Did He say that He was going to destroy the temple?

No, He says if they do it, then He would raise it up again.

But catch this. He wasn’t even talking about the physical temple. He wasn’t talking about Herod’s temple. V.20

“The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

I’ve got three points this morning about how worthy Jesus is.

Here is number one. Jesus is:

#1. THE TRUE TEMPLE.

Yes, He said that if the temple was destroyed, He could build it up again in 3 days, but He wasn’t talking about Herod’s temple.

He was talking about Himself as the temple.

What is a temple?

Is the place where humanity meets God.

It’s the place of connection between God and Man.

It’s the place where heaven and earth collide.

The earthly temple was just a shadow, just a picture, just a type of the temple that was to come.

Jesus, in His human body, fulfilled the temple.

God enfleshed.

God and Man together.

And the meeting place between God and Man!

The connecting point.

Jesus is the connecting point between God and Man.

But to do it, He this temple has to be torn down.

That’s the Cross.

That’s the crucifixion which is looming large before Him.

That’s the cup that He has agreed to take.

His body, this temple is going to be torn down.

But three days later, He’s going to build it back up again!

Jesus is the true temple.

And therefore He is worthy.

He is worthy of our worship!

He is worthy of our praise!

He is worthy of wonderment and amazement!

That He would do this for us and that He even could do this for us!

Jesus is the meeting point between us and God.

I’m reading a book right now called “Created to Draw Near,” and it’s about a practical theology of priesthood for us today. How we are called to live as royal priests.

It’s by my mentor, Ed Welch, and like everything he writes, it’s really good.

Because Jesus is the true temple, we can draw near to God.

Think about that!

Do you draw near to God?

Jesus is worthy.

The Sanhedrin couldn’t see it. They had a twisted testimony of His words.

He wasn’t threatening to tear down the temple. He was promising to connect people to God.

Now, of course, just that week, Jesus had pronounced woe on Jerusalem and had prophesied the destruction and desolation of the temple.

So there was a justified element of concern for these religious leaders for their precious temple.

Jesus was a threat to the temple if they were going to continue to pollute it.

Earlier this week, He had tossed the tables of the money changers.

But even then He had every right.

Jesus is not the trouble.

These men are the trouble.

And yet, He’s the one on trial?

Verse 62. “Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent.”

Majestic, isn’t He?

I am astounded by Jesus’ self-control.

I never thought about it so much as self-control as the last couple of weeks.

If it was me, if I wasn’t crying, I’d be yelling. “This isn’t fair! This isn’t true! Leave me alone!”

And if I was justifiably angry?

He could defend Himself.

He still could call down twelve legions of angels!

With. A. Word.

“But Jesus remained silent.”

“...and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Is 53:7).

What majestic self-control.

What a great example for us when we are unfairly attacked.

To not lash out.
To not live for our rights.

Peter said in his first epistle, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

Answering injustice with love.

Beatings with blessings.

What an example He has shown us.

But even greater, what a gift He has given us by staying silent at that moment!

Because He is not just the temple. He is the lamb.

More on that in a second.

Right now, the high priest can’t hardly contain himself. He is so rip roaring mad at Jesus that he get anything on Him.

So Caiaphas tries one last trick. He demands that Jesus answer one question under oath.

Can you guess what it is?

Hint: this is the Gospel of Matthew.

Keep your eye on the ball.

What is the question?

“Who is Jesus?”

“Who are you?”

It’s the question that Jesus asked Peter in chapter 16.

“Who do you say that I am?”

What was the right answer?

“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

V.63 “The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’”

Jesus decides it’s time to answer.

He doesn’t really want to.

Because these guys don’t understand what the Christ really is.

What the Son of God really is.

They think the Christ, the Messiah, is just a military ruler to bring victory over the nations.

They think from Psalm 2 that the Son of God is just another title for the Messiah to subdue the nations.

But the Christ is so much more than that.

And the Son of God is so much more than that!

So Jesus answers in the affirmative, but He makes sure to provide His own definition. V.64

“‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’”

Jesus says, “Caiaphas, it’s so much worse than you think!”

“Yes, you’ve said it.

I am the Christ, the Son of God.

Your words, not mine.

But my words are that I am the Son of Man the one predicted in the book of Daniel chapter 7."

Remember that?

Daniel wrote, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Vv.13-14).

Up to the Ancient of Days.

At His right hand.

That’s language from Psalm 110.

Remember that?

From chapter 22?

When Jesus did the mic drop over Who is the Christ?

“Whose son is he?" [The son of David. Well then...] How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?’” (vv.42-45).

It is no secret any longer.

This is the good confession.

Jesus says, “Yes, I am!”

And I’m not just the Messiah.

I’m the Son of God and the Son of Man who is going up sit at the right hand of God!

And one day going to come on the clouds and bring in the Kingdom.

We’ve learned a lot about that in the last few months, haven’t we?!

We don’t know when, but we know WHO, and we know what is going to happen.

The Son of Man is going to come in glory and judge all of the nations.

You know what that means?

It means that Jesus is:

#2. THE TRUE JUDGE.

They might have thought that they were judging Jesus, but in actual reality, Jesus is going to judge them.

He says, “in the future” which is more literally, “from this point on.”

In His crucifixion and ascension, Jesus’ kingship is being inaugurated.

And one day, we will all see it consummated when the King comes to judge.

In all of His awesome authority.

He could have done it right then.

He had the right.

But then we would not have been saved.

So He submitted to the Father’s will.

And just prophesied of the day to come when He will sit at the right hand of the Mighty One and come on the clouds of heaven.

Isn’t that amazing?

He is worthy!

He is worthy of our submission.
He is worthy of our submitting to His judgment.
He is worthy to judge us.

We are not worthy to judge Him.

Have you thought much about Jesus’ role as judge?

He was just teaching about it to the disciples in the last chapter. Remember the sheep and the goats?

He’ll be looking at our deeds and evaluating them.

And what He judges will be just and right.

He always does what is right.

He always sees things the right way.

And He is always going to set everything right again.

He is the true judge and His judgments are true.

He judges justly.

We sing about that future kingdom where justice reigns.

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness (of His justice)
And wonders of his love.

He is worthy.

But that’s not what they thought.

Not at all.

They thought that Jesus had just committed the unpardonable sin. V.65

“Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered.”

That’s all wrong!

But that’s what they said. And that’s what they did.

The high priest tore his clothes. Leviticus 21:10 says that the high priest should never tear his clothes.

Yet another breaking of the law by the people who are supposed to be keeping the law.

But Caiaphas does it because He is so distressed by what Jesus has just claimed.

Jesus has done and said exactly what he wanted Jesus to say.

And He has basically claimed to be on par and equal to God.

Sitting up there at His right hand.

Blasphemy.

Now, of course, the Jews did not have the authority to give out the death sentence while they were under Roman rule.

They sometimes did, like with Stephen, but they weren’t supposed to.

And they sure couldn’t crucify someone.

Stone them, maybe, but not crucify them.

So they are going to have to send Jesus over to the Roman governor, for the imperial Roman phase of His trial.

But they have decided their verdict.

“He is worthy of death.”

“He is guilty and deserves to die.”

And that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

He’s going to die.

But first, they’re going to shame and hurt Him more. V.67

“Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’”

Can you imagine?

You know He could have.

He could have told them who had hit Him.

He knew their names.

He made them.

He could have told them a lot more about them.

But He didn’t.

It was all self-control all the time.

So that Isaiah 52:14 became true: “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness...”

They punched Him.
They struck Him.
They beat Him.
They spit on Him.

And they called Him, “Christ” like it was swear word and not His regal title.

And all that time, He was worthy.

All of that time, He was worthy, not of death. But of worship and of faith.

Jesus was:

#3. THE TRUE SAVIOR.

He was the Christ!

And the Christ was there to save us from so much more than Rome!

The Christ was there to save us from our sins.

He was the temple bring us to God by being torn down.

And He was the lamb.

By staying silent and being sacrificed.

He is worthy.

***

Previous Messages in This Series:
01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion
62. Fakes and Snakes
63. Birth Pains
64. The Coming of the Son of Man
65. No One Knows
66. Keep Watch
67. Well Done!
68. When Did We See You?
69. A Beautiful Thing
70. "The Passover With My Disciples"
71. "This Very Night"
72. "It Must Happen in this Way"

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“It Must Happen In This Way” [Matt's Messages]

“It Must Happen In This Way”
Following Jesus - The Gospel of Matthew
January 26, 2020 :: Matthew 26:47-56

Do you remember where we left Jesus last week?

A lot of you couldn’t be here last week because of the weather.

We left Jesus just getting up from being facedown in the garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus has eaten the Passover meal with His disciples (and He made it all about Himself!).

And He has predicted that one of the Twelve will betray Him.

And He has predicted that Peter will deny Him.

And He has predicted that all of them will abandon Him.

And then He has gotten down on His face in the garden to pray and pray and pray.

And He was so overwhelmed in prayer that He almost died.

Jesus asked His Father to take away this cup, this excruciating experience of suffering the wrath of God.

But He submitted to the Father’s will.

“Yet not as I will but as you will.”

“Your will be done.”

And then Jesus rose up from facedown and faced the onslaught of what was to come.

He said, “Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer.”

That’s where we left Jesus in verse 46.

Today, I just want to try to get to verse 56.

I know that’s little more than a paragraph, but time has slowed down and so have we.

These tragic events are so important for our lives today.

They make all of the difference, shaping our reality, so they are worthy of intense examination and concentration.

But I warn you. It just gets worse and worse.

In fact, here is where it really starts to get bad.

Because here is where the actual injustice begins to kick in and build.

Up till now, it was all coming, swirling around and on the way, but now it’s right here in the garden, in all of its ugliness, and depravity, and turpitude.

And we’re going to feel it.

We need to feel how terrible all of this is.

But we also need to see and feel how Jesus is choosing it.

We’ve seen it already. Jesus is mysteriously in charge.

He knows this is coming, and yet He doesn’t run away.

In fact, He walks right to it. Jesus walks right up to it!

And He seems, in some strange way to be orchestrating it all.

Nothing happens here without Jesus’ permission! He’s choosing it.

Today, in verse 54, Jesus says that all of this, all of this terrible stuff, has to happen.

He says, “It Must Happen In This Way.”

That’s our title for today: “It Must Happen In This Way.”

The King James Version simply says, “Thus it must be.”

Everything about this story is wrong! This story is full of darkness and evil.

And yet Jesus says it must happen.

God has willed it.

And Jesus is committed to carrying out God’s will. Carrying out God’s plan.

Jesus has gotten His answer to “Is there another way?”

And the answer is, “No. This is it. This is the plan.”

And so Jesus has bowed His head and said, “Your will be done.” And now He’s carrying it out.

Matthew 26:47.

“While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.”

Can you imagine?

Jesus has just gotten up from prayer in the middle of the night. This is probably after midnight, so we would call it “Friday.” For them, it’s the same day because their days began at sundown. But it’s the beginning of what we call “Good Friday.”

And it’s dark.

But Judas has found Jesus in dark.

We don’t know exactly how. Perhaps they went to the upper room first and found that Jesus and His disciples had left.

Maybe the owner told Judas where they had gone.

Or maybe Judas already knew exactly where to find Jesus...because he did.

And he brought a mob with him.

A large crowd armed with swords and clubs.

They are scared. They will not take no for an answer.

They come with authority. They are sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Those men that Jesus had been sparring with all week in the temple courts.

They sent their lackeys to come collect Jesus.

There are Romans soldiers sprinkled in here, too. The Gospel of John tells us.

They are probably there to make sure that Jesus comes along quietly.

They are afraid of Him!

But the most tragic thing in this sentence is how Matthew calls Judas, “one of the Twelve.” He keeps saying that!

“One of the Twelve.”

Just like Jesus had predicted in verses 23 and 24, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Do you see the tension there?

Judas is choosing this.

But mysteriously God is also choosing this.

It must happen in this way.

“One of the twelve!”

Jesus chose to be:

#1. HYPOCRITICALLY BETRAYED WITH A KISS. V.48

“Now the betrayer [what a word!] had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.’”

They didn’t have facial recognition software.

They didn’t have photographs.

If you didn’t personally know which one was Jesus, He might get away!

This is how Judas was earning his money. Guiding them right to our Lord.

But how He did it?!

With a kiss. V.49

“Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him.”

That is the height of hypocrisy, is it not?

We have said that Jesus hates fakeness.

Saying you’re one thing on the outside but inside you’re actually something completely different.

Well, how about kissing Jesus, while stabbing Him in the back?

How about calling Jesus, “Rabbi,” while doing the absolute opposite of following Him?

This is the height of hypocrisy.

And we should all stop and examine our hearts to see where we have fallen into hypocrisy ourselves.

Never just look at Judas and say, “I would never do that.”

At the least say, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

But also say, “Lord, keep me from hypocrisy.”

The worst thing in the world to be is a fake disciple.

And there was never a more fake disciple than Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve.

Is there anything in your life where you are acting all lovey towards Jesus on the outside, but you are actually masking something evil against Him on the inside?

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Judas was so close to the kingdom!

He walked around with the kingdom for 3 years!

He is kissing the king!

But He was outside of the kingdom.

Don’t miss the kingdom!

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

But what I want you to really see is that Jesus doesn’t resist Him.

Don’t focus very long on Judas.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

What does Jesus do? V.50

“Jesus replied, ‘Friend, do what you came for.’”

Jesus is choosing this.

The Greek is very short. It basically just says, “what you came for.”

Some translations think it’s question, “Why did you come?”

But it’s probably more of just a statement. “I know why you are here. Go ahead and get it over with.”

Jesus could have stepped back and not taken that monstrous kiss!

Jesus could have walked away from the whole thing.

But instead, He leans into it. He receives the kiss.

And He says, “Okay. Let’s get on with it.”

He’s still in charge.

Because He knows that it must happen in this way.

He has predicted it. And the Bible has predicted it.

Remember Psalm 41 from last Palm Sunday? The Song of the Sick King.

David sang, “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”

It must happen in this way.

So Jesus chooses it.

And He chooses to be:

#2. UNJUSTLY ARRESTED WITHOUT RESISTANCE.

Listen to these terrible words in verse 50.

“Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.”

They put. their. hands. on Jesus!

They had no right.

He has done nothing wrong.

He deserves all of their allegiance.

And He is getting all of their injustice.

They have laid their hands on Him and arrested Him.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be arrested.

And in fact, He is choosing it.

Jesus is allowing this injustice to occur.

He allowed the kiss; now He allows the arrest.

One his disciples does not allow it. Verse 51.

“With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.”

Guess which one it was?

John tells us that it was Peter which is not a big surprise.

Apparently, he was packing heat.

And he told Jesus he wasn’t going deny Him.

So he probably goes to chop off the guys’ head, and the guy moved out of the way an just lost an ear.

(By the way, John tells us that his name was Malchus and Luke tells us that Jesus put the ear back on him and healed it! That’d be a story to tell your wife when you got home from arresting Jesus!)

Matthew doesn’t tell us any of that. Matthew focuses us on Jesus. V.52

“‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

I don’t need your little sword!

That is completely unnecessary.

You don’t have to defend Jesus with violence.

Violence like that just begets more violence.

Now, I’m not saying that Jesus was teaching pacificism here.

He says to put the sword back in its place, not throw it away. There is a proper place for swords.

But Jesus doesn’t need our swords!

And once you start pulling a sword, get ready to see a lot more swords. And you know how that will probably end. Badly.

But Jesus doesn’t need our swords. Listen to Him again in verse 53.

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Do you know how many angels that is?

I used to think it was 10,000 angels.

10,000 flaming sword wielding powerful supernatural soldiers from another world.

But it’s not.

It’s more like 72,000 angels.

A legion was about 6,000 Roman soldiers.

And Jesus says that at the snap of a finger, He could have one legion for all 11 of His remaining disciples and one for Himself.

But He’s not going to ask for it.

Because He has chosen the cup, not the sword.

He isn’t bringing this kingdom our way.

He is doing it God’s way.

And God’s way at this moment was through non-resistance.

God’s way at this moment was through submission.

God’s way at this moment was through suffering.

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? [I could! He would! Verse 54.] But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?’”

There is one of Matthew’s favorite words right there. “Fulfill.”

Matthew loved it because Jesus loved it.

Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures.

God has made some promises, and Jesus is here to see that they are kept!

God has made some predictions, and Jesus is here to see that they are fulfilled.

Psalm 41, Psalm 55, Psalm 69, Psalm 22. We’re going to hear echoes of these passages over the next several weeks as this story just gets worse and worse. Terrible and more terrible. Awful and more awful.

Nothing clearer than Isaiah 53.

“He was oppressed and afflicted [and arrested!], yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

“It must happen in this way” so the Scriptures may be fulfilled.

Jesus is saying, “Your will be done.”

And Isaiah said, “...it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer...”

“Your will be done.”

Everything about this story is wrong, and yet it must happen in this way.

God is planning to use this injustice to make everything right in the universe.

So, Jesus does not resist.

He does point out how unjust it is. V.55

“At that time Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.”

Unarmed. In plain sight. No threats. No swords.

No crimes committed.

Just sitting there teaching away.

But you slink in here at night. This is foolish and evil and wrong. V.55

“But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

It must happen in this way.

“Fulfilled.”

Second to last time that Matthew will use that word in his gospel.

You and I should be so glad that Jesus chose this.

We should be horrified that He had to.

There is nothing good here. This is an evil injustice, and it’s just going to get worse.

But Jesus chose it to do the Father’s will, to carry out the Father’s plan, and to keep the Father’s promises.

And that gives us great confidence that God will always keep His promises.

Because if He will go to these lengths to make sure that His promises are fulfilled, sparing not His own son? Then how much more will He do everything else He promised.

Let me say a word about boldness for 2020.

In Acts chapter 4, the early church had a prayer meeting because they were being persecuted for their faith.

And they had prayed about what to do.

But they didn’t just pray that God would stop the persecution.

They prayed that God would do that and that God would enable them to share the gospel with boldness.

And listen to the reason why they prayed that way.

Acts 4:24. “‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? [Psalm 2] The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.' Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. [Listen.] They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. [It must happen in this way. Now listen to them pray...] Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

They were able to be bold because they believed that God was sovereign.

And that all of these things that happened to Jesus didn’t just happen.

They were a part of God’s plan that Jesus was choosing to enact.

So we, too, can be bold because we know these things must have happened in this way.

But the disciples sure weren’t bold that day.

Instead, they fled. V.56

“Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”

#3. PAINFULLY DESERTED TO FULFILL GOD’S WORD.

Jesus chose that, too.

He could have kept them there if He tried.

But He just said that all of this had “taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Just like Zechariah 13:7, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.”

I’m sure it hurt.

Jesus wanted them to be close to Him when He prayed.

I’m sure He would have loved some company during His trial.

But instead He is abandoned and alone.

Just like He said He would be.

But at least He knew that there was a reason for it.

In fact, He was choosing the reason.

He was choosing to fulfill the word of the Lord.

He was seeing to it that Scriptures were fulfilled that say that it must happen in this way.


***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. The Genealogy of Jesus
02. The Birth of Jesus Christ
03. The Search for Jesus Christ
04. The Baptism of Jesus
05. The Temptation of Jesus
06. Following Jesus
07. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
08. The Good Life (Part One)
09. The Good Life (Part Two)
10. You Are The...
11. Jesus and the First 2/3 of the Bible
12. But I Tell You
13. But I Tell You (2)
14. But I Tell You (3)
15. In Secret
16. Choose Wisely
17. Seek First His Kingdom
18. Generous
19. These Words of Mine
20. When He Saw the Crowds
21. When He Came Down from the Mountainside
22. Follow Me
23. Our Greatest Problem
24. Who Does He Think He Is?
25. Special Agents
26. Sheep Among Wolves
27. What To Expect On Your Mission
28. Are You the One?
29. Come to Me
30. The King of Rest
31. So Thankful!
32. Overflow
33. This Wicked Generation
34. Get It?
35. What Is Really Going On Here?
36. Baptizing the Disciples
37. The Treasure of the Kingdom
38. Living the Last Beatitude
39. Five Loaves, Two Fish, and Jesus
40. It Is I.
41. Worthless Worship
42. Great Faith in a Great God
43. The Pharisees and Sadducees
44. The Question and the Promise
45. Take Up His Cross
46. Like the Sun
47. Seed-Sized Faith
48. These Little Ones
49. If Your Brother Sins Against You
50. The Lord of Marriage
51. Drop Everything
52. First and Last
53. The Suffering Serving Son of Man
54. Shouting for the Son of David
55. Expecting Fruit
56. Come to the Wedding Banquet
57. Whose Image?
58. Acing the Test
59. What Do You Think About the Christ?
60. How Not To be A Leader
61. Malignant Religion
62. Fakes and Snakes
63. Birth Pains
64. The Coming of the Son of Man
65. No One Knows
66. Keep Watch
67. Well Done!
68. When Did We See You?
69. A Beautiful Thing
70. "The Passover With My Disciples"

71. "This Very Night"

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