MATTHEW CHAPTER 26, VERSE 47,
CHRIST GIVING HIMSELF TO DIE. I WANT YOU TO OPEN YOUR BIBLES
THERE, BUT I ALSO WANT YOU TO TURN IN YOUR BIBLES TO JOHN 18,
AND KEEP THAT OPEN THERE, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO REFER TO JOHN 18 quite a bit throughout this message. John gives us more information
than what Matthew does. You know, a lot of people have
trouble with what we call the differences in the Gospels. And in the Gospels, you have
what we call the synoptic Gospels. You may have heard that term,
synoptic. And that's Matthew, Mark, and
Luke, because they are similar. It comes from the synonym synonymous,
and they call them synoptic gospels. John's gospel is laid out a little
differently in the historical. It's more of a doctrinal gospel. But some people, they don't understand,
well, why are there differences in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and
John? Well, there are differences not because there are contradictions.
There are differences because of different points of view.
And especially Matthew and John, they make a lot of what they
were eyewitnesses of, what they actually saw. So you have the
same truths brought out in Mark and Luke. They weren't there
at this present time. They came later on. And of course,
what they wrote was just as much by inspiration of the Spirit
as what Matthew and John wrote. But now John saw things firsthand
that Matthew didn't see. You remember when Christ went
into the garden and it says he went further by himself and then
there's one point he said he took the sons of Zebedee and
Peter with him and they saw these things and at this point in time
it's probably that Matthew was not present as an eyewitness
here. But he wrote as the Holy Spirit
inspired him. And I'm sure that Peter and all
them, they were kind of getting ready to be scattered. So I'm
sure that they probably didn't have a lot of interaction with
each other until after the resurrection. And you know how they came together
and they stayed together until Pentecost, and then the Lord
scattered them all. But anyway, it's a difference
of viewpoint, not truth. It's not contradiction. And so
I wanted to go to John today to give you some extra information
that John actually saw in this point of where Christ Judas brought
the band of Roman soldiers, when it talks about the band, that's
the Romans, and then they came from the Jewish court, and you
had Jews who were soldiers of the Sanhedrin, and you had Romans
too. So look at verse 47 of Matthew
chapter 26. It says, And while he yet spoke,
this is Christ, lo Judas one of the twelve came, and with
him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests
and the elders of the people. Now and there were Roman soldiers
there too and of course John, if you look over at John 18,
if you look at verse 3 it says, Judas then having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priest and Pharisees,
most commentators agree that that band of men was Roman soldiers,
a unit, and it says receiving a band of men and officers from
the chief priests and Pharisees cometh thither with lanterns
and torches and weapons." So they're fully armed. Now think
about this. Now they're after one man. fully
armed, and this band. And if you look over at verse
12 of John 18 it says, then the band, and the captain, and officers
of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him. So, understand. Now, what's
happening here is, and I want to make this point so much, is
you have the unbelieving world represented here by Romans and
Jews. And they're united. They're one. Now, you think about
Romans and Jews. They didn't have anything in
common, really. I mean, the Romans were their conquerors, and they
hated them. And you even had a segment of the Jews named Zealots,
whose very purpose was to overthrow the Roman Empire. Of course,
they couldn't do it. These people were under Roman influence and
Roman tyranny and all of that, but they banded together based
upon one common thing, their mutual hatred for Jesus of Nazareth
and his gospel, his gospel. And you remember over in the
book of Acts, Acts chapter four, where, if I can get over there. I should have marked that, and
I did. But in Acts chapter 4, listen to what it says here as
a commentary upon what's actually going on here. And it says in
Acts chapter 4, verse 26, It says, the kings of the earth
stood up. The rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, excuse me, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod, that's a Jew, or well, he was actually a native
man, but he was ahead of the Jews, the king. Both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, the governor, the Roman governor, with the
Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. And it
says in verse 28 something that's really significant. For to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
What God's hand and what God's counsel determined before to
be done. But they were bound together in their mutual hatred
of Christ. and the gospel. And so what we
have there, as I say, is the whole unregenerate world represented
there, which includes us by nature. Because by nature, we're all
enemies of Christ. Paul brought that in, in Colossians
chapter one, that even God's chosen people, even the sheep,
before they're brought into the fold by the Spirit through the
preaching of the gospel and brought to faith in Christ, that we're
enemies of God by our wicked works, in our minds by wicked
works. And that includes even our religious
efforts to save ourselves. But here's the point, until the
Holy Spirit gives us life, spiritual life, through the preaching of
the gospel, which is the power of God and salvation, until that
happens, in our minds, in our state here on earth, we're enemies
of Christ. So we can't let ourselves off
the hook and say, well, those dirty idiots, look what they're
doing. Well, it was a bad thing according
to man. Peter said that you did it because
of your wickedness, but God meant it for good. And we'll talk about
that in just a minute a little bit more. But there's an enmity. The Bible says the carnal mind
is enmity against God. Romans of what, 8-7 I think.
What that means is the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, the natural
mind, unregenerate mind is an enemy of God until we're made
his friends by the power of the Spirit sent forth from Christ
to bring us to faith in Christ. And we can be religious now in
that state, understand that. This is where people miss it.
That's not just talking about the publicans in the harlots.
That's talking about the Jewish Sanhedrin, the leaders. And that's one thing that needs
to be brought out here in Matthew and in John, that the ones that
hated him the most were the religious people. those who were religious
by nature, and the reason they hated him so much is because
his message of God's grace in the gospel, salvation conditioned
on Christ based on his righteousness alone, exposed their message
as being a lie, being deadly. way of death. Remember what Christ
said, you know, he said, except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you can't
enter the kingdom of heaven. And remember what he said, he
aligned with John the Baptist, you know, what John the Baptist
say about him, he said, you snakes, you vipers, bring forth fruits,
meat for repentance. Was he telling the Pharisees
and the scribes there, the religious majority, he said, you need to
repent of what you're doing. Now, we can all understand if
he went into a bar and there was a bunch of drunks laying
around, say, you all need to repent. You need to quit that. But going to the Jewish synagogues
where they're opening the prophets and reading and telling them
they need to repent? See, that's where the offense
of the cross comes. So anyway, just think about that.
What happens when that enmity is removed by the Spirit in the
gospel is that he brings the people of God to be reconciled
to God upon the basis of the righteousness of God in Christ.
You can read about that in 2 Corinthians 5, 19-21. when he says be ye reconciled
to God upon what basis what ground God made him to be seeing Christ
Christ who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him well look at verses 48 and 49 he says now he that
betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss,
that same is he. Hold him fast. And forthwith
he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. Well,
you all know about the Judas kiss. I thought about this when
I was reading this. In Psalm 2, in verse 12, we're
commanded to do this. It says, Kiss the son, lest he
be angry. And you perish from the way when
his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. So Christ's people saved by grace
are commanded to kiss him. And what does that mean? That
means that we're to embrace him, we're to love him, we're to believe
in him. And that's a good kiss. That's
a kiss brought about by the power of God. We wouldn't kiss him
that way except for the Spirit of God bringing us to know him
and to believe in him and to submit to him. But now this kiss
is a kiss of evil. This is the kiss of betrayal.
This is the Judas kiss and it shows Judas's hypocrisy and it's
heightened by his own words. He says, hail master. Well, he
didn't believe in Christ. He wasn't reconciled to Christ.
He had no love for Jesus. He was no true servant or disciple
of the Master. And yet he revealed it, pointing
him out in his betrayal by kissing him. And look at verse 50. It
says, And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? And then came they, and laid
hands on Jesus, and took him. Friend, why have you come? Now,
he knew that. He'd already told Judas, you're going to betray
me. He knew why he was there, but he said that to make a point
that they were not really friends, even though he called Judas friend,
they're enemies. Their purpose was evil. Now we
know that they were fulfilling the sovereign will of God unknowingly.
Now you got to understand this, this is hard. In doing what they
did out of the evil of their heart, unbeknownst to them, they
were fulfilling the sovereign secret purpose of God. And that's
what Peter said in Acts chapter 2. He says, you with wicked hands
have crucified and slain the Lord of glory, but you've done
no more than what God before determined to be done. Now, that
poses a problem within our minds. because sometimes we have a hard
time reconciling the sovereignty of God with the sovereign will
of God and the responsibility of man. But I can tell you right
now, you've only got a few ways to go on that subject, two of
which deny the Lord. There are people who say, well,
God is not totally sovereign and man's will is what saves
him. Well, that's a denial of God.
That's a denial of the word. Others say, well, man's just
a robot. It doesn't matter what we do. God's going to determine.
That's a denial of God. Well, what does the Bible say?
Here's the two truths. The secret things belong to God. The revealed things belong to
us. Now live your life and go on. Here's what the Bible says.
And I always go back to Joseph in Genesis 50. Remember when
his brothers came back to him and they were afraid he was going
to kill them, which they deserved, and he didn't do it? Remember
what he told them in Genesis 50? He said, you meant it for
evil. He's not letting them off the
hook now. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to
save much people alive. And that's exactly what's happening
here. Judas and this band, they mean it for evil. And they're
totally responsible for it. There may have been some in this
band who later on were converted. I know of one especially avid
enemy of Christ who did his very best to arrest and kill Christians. but who was later converted and
his name was Saul of Tarsus. So I understand that, you know. There are a lot of people who
say, well, it could be that Judas was really saved because Christ
called him friend. But the word, y'all forgive me. I'm gonna have to drink this
water. The Lord is making me work for
it today. But anyway, The word that he used for friend here
is not the same word that he uses for when he talks about
his people or his friends. And you can, I'll just give you
this reference. Well, since we're there, it's
close to John 18, over in John 15. John 15, I won't read the whole
part, but just look at verse 14. I've got this listed as John
15 9 through 17 in your lesson, but in verse 14 of John 15, Christ
said to his disciples, he said, you are my friends if you do
whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth." Now we are servants,
but we're not forced slaves is what he's saying. We're bond
servants of Christ, willing bond servants. He's made us willing,
all right? So the point he's making there
is you're not under the whip of the law here as a forced slave. But I've called you friends,
a friend of God. Abraham was called the friend
of God. The word there for friend is the word that we get philo,
philo, you might say. Like Philadelphia, brotherly
love. It speaks of a union, a spiritual
union. that God's people have with Christ.
And he said, I've called you friends for all things that I've
heard of my father. I have made known unto you. Well,
when he calls Judas friend over here, it's a different word.
It's like a companion that he traveled with and Judas was with
him all that time. You see up until the time that
he left to betray Christ and get the 30 pieces of silver and
all of that. So he's making the point here
that they're hypocrites. That's what they are. And so
the word friend here could describe anyone who accompanied him on
his travels, even somebody like Judas. But true spiritual friends
are those who do what he commands and continues in his word. But
now Judas was not that. And his use of this word I've
got here pertaining to Judas, I want you to see this. His use
of this word pertaining to Judas was also a fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecy. And it's in Psalm 41, 9, which
is a Messianic Psalm. And it says, yea, mine own familiar
friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me. So Judas was a traitor. Well,
it says here in Psalm 50 that they came and laid hands on Jesus
and took him. Well, John tells us a little
bit more about that. Turn over to John chapter eight,
or John chapter 18. First of all, the point that
I want to make here is that Christ was not taken by force. He voluntarily,
literally gave himself up. And it says this happened, as
John describes it, John 18, look at verse 6, he said, well look
at verse 4 here of John 18, Jesus therefore knowing all things
that should come upon him, now you see that, he knew what was
coming, went forth and said to them whom seek ye, who are you
looking for? they answered him Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus said unto them I am now you see the he there's in italics
that means it was added by the translators he said I am you
know what that means don't you he's the great I am I am that
I am And that's what he was saying, identifying himself as God manifest
in the flesh. I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. And as soon then as he had said
unto them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. Every
one of that band. And then it says in verse seven,
then ask he again, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And I love this. Jesus answered, I've told you
that I am. therefore you seek me let these
go their way." What a, what a statement of the gospel. Take me and let
these go their way. Taking him and bringing him to
the cross and him dying on that cross was the freedom and liberty
of all for whom he died. Take me, let these go their way. And look at verse nine of John
18. That the same might be fulfilled which he spoke of them which
thou has given me have I lost none. Now, is there any clear
statement of the fact that all for whom he died shall be free?
None at all. Isn't that something? And he's
telling them, you know, look back at Matthew 26. Look at verse 51. And behold,
one of them, which were with Jesus, stretched out his hand
and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest
and smote off his ear, cut off his ear. You know what he was
aiming for, don't you? Aiming for his neck to cut off
his head. And it says, then Jesus said unto him, put up again thy
sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword. You understand. Thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently
give me more than 12 legions of angels? If Christ wasn't willing
to do this, he didn't have to. And he could have destroyed that
whole band. what he's saying but verse 54 but how then shall
the scriptures be fulfilled and thus it must be well what's the
point that he had to go to the cross to glorify the father in
the salvation of his people now you can go over to john chapter
18 and you'll find out that it was peter who drew his sword
and cut off the ear and the guy's ear that he cut off his name
was malchus So he's probably a Roman. But anyway, what's Christ
telling him? He said, I didn't come here to
start a physical war with physical weapons. Our warfare is a spiritual
warfare. His warfare was a spiritual warfare.
Paul, in the book of 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through 5, he said,
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. to the pulling down
of strong. Our weapons are spiritual. Our
weapon is the sword of the Lord, the word of God. Our feet are
shod with the gospel of peace. And so that's the issue. We're
not here to wage war. Let me tell you something. The
Crusades was a travesty. That's exactly right. It was
false religion trying to conquer what they called the Holy Land.
And it was nothing but sin and idolatry. And never forget that. Anybody who draws a physical
weapon to defend the faith is going against what the Lord said.
We don't go out with guns and knives and bombs and all of that. We go out with the sword of the
Lord, the word of God and the power of the spirit. And that's
who conquers. you can read about it in Ephesians
chapter 6 verses 10 through 18, put on the whole armor of God
that we may withstand the wiles of the devil. And so that's what
Christ is saying here, the scriptures must be fulfilled. And what do
the scriptures say? He gave of himself willingly. What do we say? What did it have
to be in order to save us from our sins? The Messiah had to
be appointed of God, which he was, he had to be willing to
do what was required, which he is, and he had to be able to
do it. And he's able. And he has already
conquered our three greatest enemies, the world, the flesh,
and the devil. Now, true, we're going through
that warfare here on this life, but the battle's already won.
every scripture tells you that in some form or another. Well
look at Matthew 26 55. It says, in that same hour said
Jesus to the multitudes, are you come out as against a thief
with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you
teaching in the temple and you laid no hand on me. But all this
was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled."
Now you might have a hard time finding a specific prophecy here
unless you look at it this way, that's the prophecy of the whole
Old Testament. I could show you a number of Old Testament prophecies
that fit what he's doing here and what he's saying here. That
it might be fulfilled and it says, then all the disciples
forsook him and fled. What's his point here? You know,
I said in the temple teaching, you didn't touch me. Now you
come out here with swords and guns. The point he's making here is
that he was no criminal. You know, they called him a malefactor.
You remember that? That's what a malefactor is,
a criminal. Like a thief. They had two thieves there. They
were malefactors. Christ was no malefactor. He
was no lawbreaker. He was never a sinner. was a
teacher of truth for which the world hated him and hated his
disciples and all that was happening to make this point that they
had no accusation against him all he did was sit in the temple
and tell the truth and for that they killed him. Isn't that right? But now you're coming out here
with guns and knives And it was all for the scripture to be fulfilled.
Well, being in fear for their lives, the disciples gave into
the flesh and they forsook him. That doesn't mean that they totally
apostatized from him or anything like that. It just means they
were human beings like me and you. And they ran like scared
rabbits for their lives. Hey, if the Lord didn't keep
us, Where would we be? Judas forsook him, but in a way
that turned against him. But Peter and James and John
and Andrew and the rest of them, they were just scared and they
gave into the flesh like we all do. And so we have to always
be thankful that God doesn't forsake us. Remember the verse
we were talking about, Jim, says, when we believe not, he is faithful,
he cannot deny himself. Christ will not let his people
go. Because if he did, we'd be gone.
Times of our lives, when we, like Peter, denied him or whatever.
And we'll be talking about that more next week, Lord willing.