[0:00] moving on to our Bible reading for today. So if you'd like to turn with me to Matthew chapter 26, I'll be reading from the NIV. And this is Jesus being betrayed and just before he gets arrested.
[0:17] So we're reading from verse one. When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, as you know, the Passover is two days away and the son of God, of man will be handed over to be crucified.
[0:32] Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the place, palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. And they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him, but not during the festival, they said, or they may be a riot among the people.
[0:48] When Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon, the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
[0:59] When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. Why this waste? They asked. This perfume could have been sold at a high price in the money given to the poor.
[1:10] Aware of this, Jesus said to them, why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.
[1:20] When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.
[1:33] Then one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you? So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.
[1:47] From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the festival of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?
[2:01] He replied, go into the city to a certain man and tell him, the teacher says, my appointed time is near. I'm going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.
[2:12] So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. And while they were eating, he said, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.
[2:26] They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, surely you don't mean me, Lord. Jesus replied, the one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
[2:38] 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. Then Judas, the one who would betray him said, surely you don't mean me, Rabbi.
[2:54] Jesus answered, you have said so. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take and eat.
[3:04] This is my body. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[3:18] I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now until that day, when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
[3:31] Then Jesus told them, this very night, you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
[3:41] But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. Peter replied, even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Truly I tell you, Jesus answered, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.
[3:59] But Peter declared, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And all the other disciples said the same. Then Jesus went out with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray.
[4:15] He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
[4:26] Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.
[4:41] Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you men keep watch for me for one hour? He asked Peter. Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation.
[4:51] The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.
[5:03] When he came back, he found them sleeping. He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
[5:14] Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go, here comes my betrayer.
[5:30] Let's pass this time over to Pastor William. Thank you, Isaac. Good afternoon, everyone. What a moment to stop that reading, eh? Right? What happens next?
[5:41] We shall find out next week. But let's pray. Let's ask the Lord to speak to us through this part of Matthew's Gospel. Let's pray together. Father, these are familiar scenes for many of us.
[5:55] Perhaps we've grown up in church and heard them. And perhaps as we approach Easter, we are being reminded of them within our own preparations and our daily readings.
[6:06] But Lord, help us to see these verses afresh. Help us to see in all the preparations of different people, our Saviour, prepare to die for us, to take the punishment that our sins deserve and help us to respond with praise and gratefulness and a heart willing to serve our Saviour King.
[6:27] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I was chatting with my brother on Friday. We had a nice long lunch. Caught up for a while. He'd recently been to Japan. And apparently, one of his highlights in Japan was when he managed to get an exclusive table at a restaurant where they serve ramen.
[6:49] I don't know how much you guys like ramen, but apparently you had to book ten days in advance. You got an email ten days to say, are you really coming? And you had to confirm it.
[7:01] And then, you had to fight actually lots of other people who couldn't get a seat to go to this place just to have some ramen. Apparently, the chef is a master at this particular style of ramen.
[7:15] And the secret, my brother's trying to convince me, and why you should fly all the way to Japan and book a table here, is it's all in the preparation. This master chef prepares everything at least three days in advance.
[7:30] Whatever the ingredients, the broth, the noodles, everything, it's just all about the preparation. Whether it's ramen, whether it's preparing for a cyclone to approach your city, preparation matters, doesn't it?
[7:46] If you've ever painted something in your house, 90% of a good paint job is preparation. Laying it all out. If you want a successful meeting at work, you should prepare for this meeting.
[7:58] Or if you want a holiday that is not all over the place and chaotic, you best do some preparation and look up where you want to go beforehand, where you're going to stay, and so on. I wonder if you notice in Isaac's, as Isaac read through Matthew 26, how many different preparations are taking place.
[8:19] I hope you have your Bibles out so you can see that I'm not just telling this to you, you can see it for yourself, right? You look at the first few verses, they're the chief priests, they're preparing a plot to seize and arrest Jesus, aren't they?
[8:33] And then further down, there's a woman at Simon the Leper's house prepared to honor Jesus and prepare Jesus for burial. And then there's Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, prepared to betray him for 30 pieces of silver.
[8:48] Then later on, the disciples preparing and celebrating the Lord's Supper. And then the final scene, Jesus, he himself, is preparing for the anguish of the cross, what he's about to suffer for us.
[9:02] These are all rich scenes in this section, right? All worthy of spending our time in. And so we could do five sermons, but for today, I just want to take the section as a whole, right?
[9:15] Because we see here, the main point, I think, of Matthew 26, here is Jesus preparing to die for us. Here is Jesus preparing to die for us, heading to the cross to fulfill God's saving plan for our world.
[9:32] And you may be here and you may have never considered, why did Jesus have to die? I hope you see it. You may be here and you think, I think I know why Jesus had to die. Listen, watch the preparations.
[9:43] All of this happens kind of before and after two dinners. And yet, the people around Jesus, they're all making plans and preparations before the events of the cross.
[9:56] This is Jesus prepared to die for us. What can we learn as PCBC along the way? Now, let's have a look at the first five verses again. Firstly, let's see Jesus. He's prepared for his own arrest and crucifixion, isn't he?
[10:10] Yep. Just last week, if you remember, Jesus taught his disciples he was to be the judge of all the nations. One day, there will be a final judgment. The Son of Man will return and he will be judging the world, right?
[10:24] Separating the sheep from the goats. And then, straight away, in the next verse, you know, now we turn a chapter, he switches back to this most important topic, the crucifixion.
[10:38] Jesus keeps calling our attention to his own upcoming death, the death on a cross, because that is the climax, that is the culmination of God's plan for the world.
[10:52] Let Christ's death for our sins be the thing we sing most about, like we've sung today. Let it be what we celebrate, what we talk about as we share with one another, what we identify ourselves most with as Christians.
[11:07] the cross. I want you to notice how Matthew has narrated these events, though. Look at verse 2 and 3, right? Verse 2, Jesus, he foretells his own betrayal and death on the cross.
[11:20] And then, verse 3, the chief priest plots, right? Who's in control here? Right? Is it Jesus who knows everything? Is it these leaders who think they know everything?
[11:32] Plotting, planning. You see what's going on here. Even as sinful men are scheming, they're preparing to try and arrest Jesus, God is not surprised.
[11:45] He's not shocked. The Lord is not caught off guard then. He's not caught off guard now in the shocks and struggles of your life.
[11:57] Behind the cowardly plans of people, even, lies God's plan for this world, right? That his son would be crucified for our sins. For these chief priests to bring all the way up to the high priest whose name was Caiaphas, it just shows how deep the opposition had become to Jesus.
[12:16] Jesus' ministry, we've heard it all in the last few weeks, it was seen as so much of a threat to the Jewish way of life back then. That killing him, murdering him, seemed to be the only solution.
[12:29] And did you notice, actually, even as they were plotting and preparing, they're too scared, right? Verse 5, no, we won't arrest him during the feast. He's talking about, they're talking about the Passover, their new year.
[12:41] They were afraid of the people's reaction. Those who had heard him teach about God's kingdom, those who were supportive of him. Can you imagine that? Religious leaders plotting to kill him, but too scared to do it openly, too scared to arrest him.
[12:57] Just having to resort to cowardly means. I think one thing we want to reflect on, look, again and again, it's God's plan that prevails. Not the plans of sinful people.
[13:12] Jesus knows he's about to die. He knows he has to die. That's the way God prepared the course of history. And multiple times, actually, through Matthew's gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, this is going to happen.
[13:23] You need to be prepared. Later on, in verse 31, 32, we see, right? He also tells them, this very night you'll all fall away. It's been written that I will be taken away.
[13:37] And then he'll rise again and meet them in Galilee. Jesus is in control. Not all these religious leaders plotting to kill him. Jesus is targeted by this cowardly plan, yet, again, it is God's plan that prevails throughout.
[13:52] God's plan. In the next scene, we see Jesus prepared for his burial. The scene shifts to the home of Simon the leper. Perhaps he was the same man whom Jesus healed all the way back in Matthew chapter 8.
[14:08] In chapter 8, once there was a shamed and outcast person who was suffering from leprosy or Hans' disease, perhaps. And then Jesus stands in the midst of him. Well, he gets him to stand in the midst of everyone.
[14:18] And then he says, your sins are forgiven. And he says, and by the way, I'll heal you as well and restore your body. And if this is the same person, we want to see, again, how our Lord Jesus loves to keep company with those that maybe the rest of society would take a big step away from.
[14:42] And yet Jesus loves to hang out with someone like Simon. How precious if you might be the person that feels left out from time to time or all the time.
[14:54] Jesus is glad to sit with you. And yet, imagine at this dinner, imagine the shock. You're just in the middle of dinner when a woman comes and just opens a flask and starts pouring out a whole lot of perfume all over one of the guests at the table.
[15:15] What would you do at that point? Well, here was a follower of Christ expressing her devotion to the Lord. And yet, it was in a way that others criticized around her.
[15:31] And you notice in this scene, they didn't, the disciples, they didn't accuse her for pouring what wasn't hers. So, it's not like she stole a bottle of perfume and went and chucked it on Jesus. She offered her own sacrifice willingly.
[15:44] what they were concerned about was that it cost a lot of money. Why all this waste? And we talked about the power of the talents last week. Is this like the opposite of what was, you know, she's not using what was given to her?
[15:59] Could she have done better with it? And yet, where the disciples could only see things from a cost-benefit analysis, Jesus sees what a beautiful thing she's done.
[16:10] How fitting it is, right? International Women's Day yesterday, and to hear of this woman doing a world-famous thing. Everywhere that Matthew's gospel is preached, this scene comes along with it.
[16:22] This woman showing costly devotion to our Lord. And Jesus interprets this for us. He says, when she poured this perfume on my body, verse 12, she did it to prepare me for burial.
[16:36] Right? In the old days, you would embalm bodies, you know, you would put spices and you would wrap them up, right? You would prepare bodies for burial. And Jesus is saying, that's what she's essentially doing for me.
[16:49] It's not a waste. And you may encounter situations where your costly devotion might be challenged. People might say, why this waste?
[17:01] Your non-Christian work colleagues might say, why this waste when you devote your time to Christian service and ministry? Maybe someone else would be saying, why this waste?
[17:15] It could be your friends. They might mock you as you say no to joining in their ungodly, self-absorbed, wasteful lifestyles. If you're here and your devotion to the Lord, your commitment to Jesus feels like a waste to the world, if you're here and you've been laughed at or made fun of for following Jesus, if you're here and your motives might be misunderstood, take courage.
[17:42] Take encouragement from this scene. The same Jesus who commends this woman's wasteful sacrifice will actually one day commend your costly service for him.
[17:55] I think it's interesting, you know, that's, you know, so many prime ministers, kings, company execs, they all have done all kinds of things that are on the news all the time for now.
[18:08] But one day it will all be forgotten. And yet 2,000 years later from this event, we're still talking about what this woman has done as we preach the gospel.
[18:18] Isn't that amazing? And so in the same way, when the master returns, he will say to each of you who serve him, even if it seems like a waste, he will say, well done, good and faithful servant.
[18:32] And so we praise God wherever the gospel is preached, this woman's act of worship gets retold over and over. And may that encourage us as well in our own service.
[18:45] How much was Jesus worth to her? It's a wonderful question to ask, isn't it? Right? Worth some of her most costly perfume. How much is Jesus worth to you?
[18:59] When you and I truly grasp the value of his sacrifice, the reason he died on the cross, then what we pour out for him, it's not wasted. Maybe we can take heart from the words of the Apostle Paul.
[19:13] He says, let us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for we know that our labor is not in vain. Here's a scene that reminds us Jesus prepared for his burial.
[19:28] Just as this woman, though, was prepared to offer a costly sacrifice, in the next scene, Matthew tells us that Jesus was at the same time also prepared for his own betrayal.
[19:39] one of Jesus' closest disciples was preparing to hand him over. Notice in verse 15 what happens in this situation with Judas Iscariot.
[19:51] He goes to the chief priest and he asks, verse 15 says, what are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you? Here's someone who followed Jesus closely for three years.
[20:06] Here's someone who knew all his teachings. He had a front row seat at all his miracles and displays of divine authority. And yet, at the end of the day, here is someone whose heart was still controlled by greed and covetousness.
[20:24] What are you willing to give me? was his question. It's a question that reveals so much, right, about why Judas joined the Jesus Club in a sense. A love of money, of wealth, ensnaring him.
[20:39] We don't know the full story, but perhaps he was convinced following Jesus would get him somewhere. And now, he's more convinced that it's worth betraying his master for some cash.
[20:55] Remember, at the start of the chapter, the Pharisees, they wanted to avoid doing anything to Jesus during the Passover, right? And yet, he has an opportunity to seize him.
[21:06] It's during the Passover, though. But, these wicked men, they were hooked. Again, whose timing comes true? It's not the plans of sinful men.
[21:18] It's Jesus' timing. So, even behind what a sinful action from Judas has happened, even behind that, is Jesus and his own plans to go to the cross, all happening according to plan.
[21:34] But, it says here, they counted out from 30 silver coins. Now, silver's worth a lot these days, because you make, I don't know, all kinds of things, including, yeah, including, you know, Teslas and stuff like that.
[21:48] I'm sure, the silver law threw that. If you think 30 silver coins is worth a lot, we want to keep it in context, in this context here. We want to consider that in the Old Testament law, Exodus 21, 32 says, 30 silver coins is the exact price that you pay to a master if his slave was killed by an ox.
[22:11] That's actually a literal law that's written there. It's kind of like saying, oh, I've lost a worker. All right, okay, 30 pieces of silver. We think it's high, but actually, apparently, it's not worth that much, because when the prophet Zechariah, later on in the Bible, talks about how he's worked as a shepherd, he then is told that his masters pay him this amount of money, and he's a bit sarcastic when he goes, but is that all, essentially?
[22:43] Matthew's point here, when he records this seemingly random detail, 30 pieces of coin, it's that Jesus has been betrayed like a slave. It's a pitiful price.
[22:57] What the eyes of faith like us value, wow, you know, he died for us. The eyes of the world, eyes of unbelief, don't care, it's just a slave's price. And yet, even as Judas is plotting, preparing for a chance to betray his teacher, Matthew keeps telling us, Jesus sees it all, right?
[23:16] What do we see in the next evening? They're sharing the Passover meal together. Jesus is not surprised. He says, truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. And as Judas says, surely it's not me, Rabbi.
[23:27] Jesus, he has perfect knowledge. You've said it yourself. The scene should cause us to ask as well, shouldn't it?
[23:39] What would tempt you to give up on Jesus? Hand him over. What would tempt you to drift back to your old ways of life, right?
[23:50] To turn back on your baptism declarations, to turn back on you saying, I want to follow you, Jesus, to compromise on living with integrity and holiness, to give up meeting together as a church family?
[24:07] What would tempt you to give up on him? For Judas, it was 30 pieces of silver. But what is it for you? Is it a desire for comfort or ease?
[24:19] Could it be the longing to be liked by someone? Would that tempt you to give him up? Is it the lust for pleasure? Would that tempt you to betray Jesus? It's funny, there are so many idols that we are prone to bow down to.
[24:35] Some of you might think, I don't bow down to any idols. Many of us would never dream of bowing down to a statue of Buddha or we wouldn't dare to pray to Mecca. and you would be totally unashamed of making an idol out of wealth or comfort or out of power or just gratifying my own sinful desires.
[24:55] An idol is anything we've put above the living God. Right? And so many things could be idols in our life. But here Jesus is warning as He says about this person, this betrayer, this Judas, it would be better for Him if He had not been born.
[25:13] Jesus is saying, so sorry for you, Judas. You were offered the grace of God. You had the immense privilege of walking alongside Jesus, seeing Him up close and yet you lived never truly believing Him.
[25:29] How sad. Would that be the case for any of us here? God forbid. Offered the grace of God week after week and yet we put our true security and hope and pleasure somewhere else.
[25:44] Let it not be so. Let us turn from loving the fleeting treasures of this world so that we can gain eternal wealth and hope in Christ alone.
[25:56] The greatest irony though I think in this scene as Jesus says in verse 24 right? Is that the Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him. You see, in God's mysterious way of working in this world Judas is scheming, he's plotting, he's preparing to betray his master and yet it simply just puts God's wider, broader plan into action.
[26:20] Right through this it's God who's the one who's calling the shots. And even as Judas thinks He's in control no, Jesus is still in control.
[26:32] He knows how it will all pan out because He ultimately isn't one prepared to die for sinners that He loves. All this preparation right?
[26:43] People preparing to arrest Jesus, to bury Him, to betray Him. Fourthly, in the next scene we see Jesus preparing a new covenant people don't we?
[26:56] From verse 17 to 19 and then the rest of 26 to 35. We just had the Lord's Supper last week so this is kind of fresh in our heads perhaps. We're familiar with Paul's version of events when he retells the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians.
[27:12] It seems here though that in Matthew's kind of food review Jesus makes it very crystal clear you see in verse 26 and 28 what the bread and the wine represents.
[27:25] What does He say? He says this is His blood of a covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[27:37] He doesn't kind of leave it vague what happens what we're remembering when we take part in this supper. We want to remember He's speaking symbolically here yet it's still true what's going on.
[27:53] We can get confused about the Lord's Supper people have argued about what happens some people think as you take it that magically becomes really becomes Jesus' body and blood and so on. I think Jesus has shown through the Gospels He can speak symbolically and yet it's still absolutely true.
[28:11] Think of how He talks about Himself as the door right? He doesn't magically become a door but He's saying that when He says I'm the door He's saying that I'm the route that you need to go through to salvation to heaven right?
[28:27] When He says I'm the vine He's saying you need to you need to be stuck with me if you want to be growing and so in the same way when He says this is my body and my blood He's telling us something absolutely true about Him right?
[28:48] He's saying that these two elements represent sacrifice for sinners. these two ingredients of a traditional Jewish Passover meal He says they point to Him right?
[29:02] If you were Jewish you would celebrate this meal every new year right? Why? It pointed back to if you're a Jewish person God's greatest act of salvation rescuing a people out of Egypt out of the land of slavery right?
[29:18] And Jesus says all that that you're remembering well the bread and the wine are now going to mark a new rescue under a new covenant a covenant means a promise that God keeps right?
[29:35] It's a relationship that He establishes He guarantees by His Word He says I'm doing something new here that rescue that you people remembered year after year I'm bringing in an even better rescue and it's going to come through my body and my blood being shed and poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins This is the heart of the Christian faith isn't it?
[30:02] When the Son of God is slain for sinners when His body is broken for His church when His blood is shed for His beloved bride and so the question to ask then it's an easy one isn't it?
[30:18] Are you covered by His blood? Have you drawn near to Christ by faith? Not in all the good things you've done for Him That's not what He talks about here What brings forgiveness for sins is His body broken for you His blood shed for you nothing else Do you believe this?
[30:41] Do you cling to this? Think of the disciples at this point one of them probably at this point in the meal he's already left to betray him gone to hunt down the people that will come soon The others they're not the cream of the crop Most of you here you're in good schools you're punching above your weight in terms of academics and career Most of these people they're poor they're uneducated Galileans working class people full of zeal declaring their loyalty to him and they say I'll never disown you and yet later on they do you see our Lord who does he gather around the first Lord's supper he doesn't gather around perfect people does he he gathers people who are spiritually immature who have all kinds of faults and flaws and yet our
[31:43] Lord is glad to break bread and drink wine with them and to say I'm making a new covenant and includes you and if this is true then when we think about the Lord's table we shouldn't be thinking about how perfect and holy I have to be to show up no when you come up and enjoy the Lord's supper it's not a parade!
[32:05] of the perfect it's not an upgrade to your status not a family meal for all who struggle and suffer and yet cling to Jesus it's a meal for everyone who professes to follow Jesus no matter how flawed and broken you feel together with baptism it's one of the two wonderful signs of God's great salvation plan in Christ that Christians all around the world celebrate and remember I hope you're encouraged by that next time we take the Lord's supper have a different view of it because Christ has brought a new covenant he's prepared a new covenant people but finally we come to the last ten verses of this section this is Jesus preparing to drink the cup of judgment this is one of the most powerful scenes of the New Testament right can you imagine it being there it's a holy moment son of
[33:11] God praying to his father in the garden of Gethsemane here's a question why is he so sorrowful and troubled is it because he hasn't slept is it because he's hungry no just had something to eat why is the one who needs nothing right now on his face pleading with his father three times asking for this cup to be taken from him what was in that cup that he's about to drink you see church what the Lord agonized over here was not just the physical brutality and abuse he was about to suffer to his body on the cross even though it will be hard right to be whipped to be stripped and humiliated to be executed in a cruel way in a way that even the Romans wouldn't do that for one of their own citizens but it's not just that the real weight on
[34:18] Jesus heart right at this moment is the weight of human sin all human sin he is about to pay the price for at the cross here Jesus is pointing to the prophet Zechariah right he did this earlier did you see that verse 31 I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered and then here in his prayers he uses another prophet he alludes to Jeremiah 25 15 here it says thus the Lord the God of Israel said to me take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it when it says here this cup Jesus is talking about full strength anger from God himself at all sin and Jesus is taking that cup he's taking the punishment
[35:19] Isaiah 57 also talks about the cup of the Lord wrath poured full strength that his people must drink completely for their disobedience this is the cup our man of sorrows drinks we don't reflect on this often enough this is Jesus agonizing because he's about to face the full anger of God against every sin every offense that every human has committed against God and Jesus is willing very reluctantly to drink that cup of wrath every careless word you and I have spoken every dishonoring thought every evil deed every sin all will be punished by God and at the cross Jesus will take that cup of God's holy anger for sins and he drinks it instead of us that's a glorious exchange but that is the most difficult exchange no wonder he agonizes and so again the question is have you accepted this exchange has
[36:36] Jesus taken the cup of God's anger for sin in your place or are you bold enough to drink it yourself it's only when we realize the awfulness of our sin right our rebellion our disobedience against the maker of the universe the one who created us and made us to worship him it's only when we realize how awful we have treated him that we begin to appreciate how much our Lord suffered for us is that true he's a sinless savior and he's about to be treated!
[37:11] like the worst criminal in the entire universe for us and so how could you and I not love him how could we just ignore him and be indifferent to him come to Jesus he took the father's wrath for sins for you and can I suggest as well finally that we learn from Jesus how prayer is the best response even in the most agonizing times if you are here and you have ever felt the weight of anxiety depression despair if you have ever had the experience where you didn't even want to get out of bed because it was just too much to even consider it look to Jesus here was a soul like us human fully overwhelmed with sorrow and yes his sorrow was more extreme than any of us will ever experience and yet his first response is to pray isn't it unfiltered even he just tells his dad everything and then he submits to his will throughout as we reflected in that prayer time yet not my will but yours be done and so can
[38:33] I suggest that this is inviting us to do the same tell him all your sorrow nothing is too trivial too serious for the king of kings our father in heaven he invites us right to submit everything to his will but to tell him about it and even even if you and I never face a trial as serious as savage as Jesus faced you have hearts full of worries and longings don't you I know I do you and I we have wills that are fickle that just wants to go our own way all the time I know I do and so let Jesus' example shape us to start praying honestly to our Father I wonder if you prayed more honestly like this what would it sound like would you even dare all our hurts sorrows and requests and then after all of that to then say yet not as I will but as you will here is
[39:35] Jesus praying before the Father preparing to die for sinners about to be arrested he's ready to bear on the cross the weight of your sin and my sin on his body and so that he would shed his blood for the forgiveness of all these sins are you and I prepared are you prepared not just to journey with him to the cross but to follow him to even meet him one day when he returns and are you prepared to live for him even as we wait for him to come back again let's pray ask the Lord to help us prepare Lord Jesus you the man of sorrows what a name
[40:36] Lord we praise you for being a God who was not ashamed to go to the cross not ashamed to suffer in the worst way possible for our sins Lord we confess that too often we treat Jesus as one step towards our own happily ever after we treat Jesus as a buddy and a friend and Lord you are that and yet today you have prepared our hearts to see you as our suffering servant as the man of sorrows and for that help us to be thankful help us to be sorry for our sins that nailed you on that tree and help us to give all our praise and honour unto thee in
[41:39] Jesus name we pray!哪裡!
[41:57]