Matthew 26:14-54

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Matthew 26:14-54

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And his disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament [Greek: covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 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. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 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’s, and smote off his ear. [that was Peter, aiming for the poor guys head, but missed the mark] Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

“…‘[I thank you that] we can gather publicly, sing your praises, Lord, week in and week out, to gather like this Father. That every time, Lord, there’s an opportunity, a window opening to heaven Lord, every time we gather publicly according to your instruction, according to your Word, a time that you might inhabit our praises, and where two or three are gathered, let alone two thousand, Lord, there [you are] in the midst. And Father we don’t ever want to take that for granted. Lord we think of the cherubim every time that, Lord, they look at you, they fall down on their faces and say ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come,’ and they never tire of it. Lord, let this never be routine, as we come and as we gather. Lord, you say of the Church of Philadelphia, that they have kept your Word, and they have not denied your name, Lord, we have done that, Lord we’re keeping your Word, it is your Word, and it’s your Word to us, it is alive and powerful. And Lord Jesus, your name is precious to us, a name above every name. And Lord, we have done, as it were, what we could and what we can. And as we continue, Lord, we look to you, Lord, to continue Lord to what you’ve been faithful to do these many years as we’ve gathered. And Lord, then to do exceedingly above and beyond all that we might ask or think, Lord. We gather each time, now Lord, not knowing if it would be the last time we gather before you come [these are pre-trib Rapturists], and Lord we gather each time wondering if it might be the time that you would pour out your Holy Spirit, and there might be again the beginning of a great awakening in your Church. And Father with all of these things stirring Lord, we again look to you, ask you to open your Word to our hearts, and we pray Lord Jesus, in your Holy name, amen.’

Jesus’ Last Passover and night at Gethsemane

Last week we ended in verse 13 of Matthew 26, where Jesus establishes a memorial to Mary, the sister of Martha [and Lazarus], who had poured out this alabaster cruz of very expensive ointment on the Lord, a year’s wage, $30,000 worth, $35,000 worth, whatever a year’s wage is for a laborer these days, poured it out upon the Lord, upon his feet, anointed him, his head. Each time we find Mary, that’s where she is, at his feet, sitting at his feet. In Luke 11, listening, as Martha is busy, we find her falling at the feet of Jesus. When Lazarus is dead, Jesus has tarried and is coming, and we find her here again at his feet in worship. And she is now set in contrast to the great betrayer, Judas, who is next to be brought before us in this scene. The religious leaders at this time are determined to take Christ, but not on the Passover, lest there’s an uproar among the people. Of course they don’t understand that the only reason the Passover exists is for Christ to die on it. It’s only looking forward to this very event that they don’t want to see happen on the Passover. At this supper at Simon the Leper’s house, Judas, we’re told, who had held the bag, had watched her pour out this ointment. And he started to severely criticize her, and all the other disciples got infected with the critical spirit and chimed right in, ‘Why was this waste made? This could have been sold and given to the poor.’ And it says Judas said that, not because he cared for the poor, but because he held the bag, he was worried about poor Judas. Jesus rebukes him, ‘Let her alone. That which she has done is a good work that she’s performed upon me.’ No doubt, Judas is sitting there, infuriated, boiling. And in verse 14 it says “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot [Hebrew: Juda Ish Kiriot, i.e. Juda, man from Kiriot, a city near Jerusalem], went unto the chief priests.” Now, Luke gives us an interesting note, when he says “then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being one of the number of twelve, and he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and the captains how he might betray him unto them.” So, Satan involved here, behind the scenes. Remember he had tempted Christ in the wilderness. And it says he departed for a season, there when Jesus confronted him. We sense him behind Peter, when Jesus at first tells them that he’s going to the cross, and Peter says “far be it from you, Lord.” And Jesus says, “Got thee behind me, Satan”, knowing that the enemy was present again there, speaking through Peter. And now evidently Satan involved in this, knowing that the chief priests are seeking an opportunity against him, enters into Judas, Judas goes to the chief priests. He said unto them, “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you”, it’s interesting, Luke says “he went his way”, that could summarize the whole life of Judas. “He went his way.” And this is his way, covetousness, “What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you.” Now we’re not sure what Judas is thinking. Satan is involved. He’s angry, this is not turning out the way he wanted it to, in regards to Christ ‘taking the kingdom by storm.’ He’s just seen a year’s wage, 30 Grand, $35,000 poured out on the floor, run over Jesus’ feet, hair, wasted. He’s thinking, ‘I could have had that in the purse.’ Maybe Satan has him thinking ‘You need to press this now, go get what you can get out of it, because you betray him, you’re at least going to get some money out of this.’ If Jesus rises up in his miraculous power and stops them, it won’t be any for the worse, you’ll have the money and nobody will know. And if Jesus lets himself be handed over, and they’re in fact going to kill him, you at least got away with some money, and you made some political friends with the religious leaders.’ You can imagine the kind of things that covetousness makes you think. Of all the terrible sins of murder, and of adultery, the last commandment, you know, said “You shalt not covet” and Paul said ‘That’s the one that slew me, because I had never committed adultery, murder,’ he said, ‘I had never stolen, I kept the Sabbath, but when I read Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife, all of those things I didn’t do physically, I realized I had done them in my heart, I had done those things.’ And covetousness is a deadly force, a deadly sin, a betrayer. He said “What will you give me?, and I will deliver him unto you”, and interesting Matthew’s grammar, “They covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” They covenanted, I’m sure Matthew, the Old Testament scholar, uses this phrase deliberately. It means to put on the balances, or literally to weigh out, they covenanted, they weighed out to him, which is exactly what Zechariah tells us in chapter 11, verse 12, “and they weighed unto me thirty pieces of silver.” And it’s interesting the way that Matthew uses the grammar here, to point us to that very prophecy [in Zechariah 11:12]. “And from that time he besought opportunity to betray him” (verse 16). Now isn’t it interesting to look at Judas here? Thirty pieces of silver, that was his price. They looked at him and they thought ‘We can get this character for thirty pieces of silver.’ We don’t have to give him 30 Grand, we don’t have to give him 20 Grand, we don’t have to give him 10 Grand, we can give this guy thirty pieces of silver, the price of a gored servant, the price of a servant gored by an ox, interesting. These were the shekels, thirty pieces of silver, money that was to be used to buy sacrifices for the temple. ‘We can get this guy for thirty pieces of silver’, that was his price. Mary dumps out $30,000 and doesn’t even think about it, nothing to her, in her devotion. Judas, next to nothing. Isn’t it interesting, Judas had been in the boat when Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea. Judas was there when they delivered the demoniac, Judas was there when he healed the paralytic let down through the roof. Judas was waiting outside when Peter, James and John went in with Jesus when Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead. Judas had been one of those distributing bread and fish when the 5,000 and then the 4,000 were fed. He beheld such tremendous miracles. You see, sometimes we say, ‘If I could have only seen these things, yeah I’m struggling with this, I’m struggling with pornography, and I’m struggling with, you know, gambling, and I’m struggling with drinking or I’m struggling with this, but man if I could have been there, if I could have seen Jesus rebuke the wind and the sea, if I could it would have made a difference in my life’---wait a minute, here’s Judas, who was in the middle of all of that. Not only that, he was one of the twelve, one of the seventy sent out, and he was given exousia, says he was given authority, power, to cleanse lepers, to raise the dead, to heal the sick and to preach the kingdom, he was part of that, at his hands lepers had been cleansed, dead had been raised, Judas. He had seen the mighty works of the Lord, he had heard the teachings of Christ, he had participated in the miraculous, and isn’t it interesting, how powerfully covetousness is still in his life here? “What will you give me?” ‘What can I get out of this?’ You know, the miraculous doesn’t convert us, it’s the heart, issues of the heart that have to be settled.

Jesus keeps the Passover with the twelve

“Now”, contrast again, “the first day of feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, [this was actually coming up to the Passover evening, 13^th/14^th Nisan, this was the afternoon of 13^th Nisan] saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.” Now Matthew tells us “to such a man”, Mark tells us, he said, ‘You’ll run into a man bearing a pitcher of water’, so the man is either a servant in a very wealthy man’s home, because normally that was the woman’s work. If the husband was thirsty and said ‘Honey, I’m thirsty’, she would say ‘No problem,’ get a big stone or wooden jar and go down to the well, and get him something to drink. And later, say, ‘Honey, you thirsty again? I’ll go and get you some more.’ You know, it’s a different culture, just the way things were [laughter]. So a little bit of a strange sight, you’ll see a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him, and whatever house he enters in, say to the goodman of the house, you know, the Lord has need to celebrate the passover, he’ll show you a large upper room.’ So, he says “Go into the city to such a man,” Mark gives us the bigger description, “and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples” (verse 18). Now, the beautiful thing here is Judas doesn’t know where this is, the disciples don’t know where this is, Jesus has to keep the Passover with his disciples, Judas has already taken the money, he’s got the thirty pieces of silver in his pocket, he’s looking to betray Christ, but he doesn’t know where to tell the chief priests where Jesus is going to have the Passover, because even the disciples don’t know. [Comment: And Jesus is really eating a Passover meal, on the very beginning of the 14^th Nisan, at the end of the 13^th Nisan at sundown when Hebrew days ended and began. Jesus is observing what would be called by some an early 13^th/14^th Nisan Passover. And it is a real Passover meal, with slain lamb and all. Those two disciples were sent to prepare all of that. It is during this Passover meal that Jesus changes the symbols to the bread and wine, while they’re still partaking of the old symbols.] And only the guys he sends are going to find out, and they’ll only know when they follow a guy with a pitcher of water to a certain house. So the whole thing is set up, because it isn’t time for his betrayal yet. It will be time, finally for Christ to be given into their hands. He’s directing everything at this point. So, so “the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. And when evening was come, he sat down with the twelve.” Now, they reclined, literally, sat down. The Greek is to recline, they’re at the triclinium. Those of you going to Israel with us, we do that Roman dinner, many times before we leave, and we sit at a triclinium, we have three sides on it, and there are corners on it, and the person whose serving comes into the middle of the table and keeps us supplied with food, most of you don’t really care about the historical aspects of the triclinium because we’re stuffing our faces with a great dinner. [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclinium] But in Jesus’ day, more than that, they would have couches facing the triclinium, sometimes it was horseshoe, often again with the corners. And you would lay there on your elbow, just imagine. We go to a fancy restaurant now, and then like halfway through the dinner we’re so stuffed we’re trying to loosen our belt under the table, and get comfortable, and catch our breath again. Here, you know, you had a robe, it was expandable, you don’t have to worry about any of that [laughter] and you just laid on your elbow next to the table, and you ate with your right hand, and if you got a little tired, you leaned back there for awhile, rest, catch your breath, and sit up and start stuffing yourself again. So, you know, this is not a board meeting, ok, Jesus is with the twelve guys, nobody’s keeping minutes. We need to remember that. He cared for them, he loved them, he didn’t run it like a board, they weren’t bored because of that. It seems that John takes the first place at the triclinium because he’s going to lean on Jesus’ breast. Jesus takes the second place going around the table, and on his left elbow which is the place of the host, it seems that Judas is next to him, because he’s dipping in the sop with him. Peter’s all the way around the other side, took the last seat, because you remember Jesus say ‘take the last seat, then you’ll get asked to move up’, and you know Peter wants to hear “blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood has not revealed this”, you know, because Peter’s going to be asking across the table ‘Spsst,’ when Jesus says “Somebody’s going to betray me”, they’re all saying “Is it me?”, and then Peter’s evidently right across from John whose leaning on Jesus breast, and Peter’s saying ‘ASK HIM WHO IT IS!’ So Peter, we find him all the way around the other side. So they get to this triclinium, to this dinner now. [And this is a Passover dinner, with slain lamb and all. Three of the four Gospels say that Jesus ate the Passover, and that he had two of his disciples “prepare him the Passover.” This is not just an ordinary supper meal.] And they’re reclining at the table, what an interesting scene it must have been. Now he drops the bomb here, “And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” Now that just ruins dinner, [laughter] and here’s why “And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?” (verses 21-22) Because this, you know, if you’re at the table, put yourself in the picture, just pick any twelve of you at random. And you’re at the triclinium, reclining with Jesus, eating and enjoying, just kind of watching him, you know, and all of a sudden he says ‘To tell you the truth, one of you guys is gonna betray me.’ You would go, ‘I know it’s me, I knew it’, because there’s just enough traitor in every one of us, isn’t there? That fallen nature, the flesh, is there…if I ever meet Billy Graham a weird thought will go right through my head when I’m ready to shake his hand, he’ll say ‘I saw that’ and I’ll just shrivel away right in front of him. Isn’t it interesting, they all start to say “Is it me?” It doesn’t say ‘they all looked to Judas.’ [laughter] Jesus hadn’t treated him any differently, Jesus had trusted him to carry the purse. Jesus said “have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil” in John chapter 6, verse 7. He knew. “One of you shall betray me”, now I wonder what Judas thinks when he hears this? And look, here’s another side of this, we have the betrayer here, we also have the betrayed. Every one in this room has been or is going to be betrayed. If you never have I don’t know what planet you come from. Betrayal is something we all experience, and we experience it in the Body of Christ. And I think that really lets us down there, because in the world we expect that and then we get saved and you hear ‘I’ll never get somebody out of the Christian Yellow pages again! The guy worked on my house, and he stuck me!’ You know, we can hear it from all different angles and all different directions, ‘The guy’s a brain surgeon, he’s a Christian, he worked on me, and I can’t walk!’ [loud laughter] Just making examples, you know. But we watch Jesus, he’s our example. Don’t let betrayal turn you away from God’s path for your life. It’ll come. And there’s somewhere in there the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. And if we let him fight our battles, he does a much better job. And the wonderful thing is, that person, that brother or sister can be won, if we can win our brother and sister, if they wrong us and we can be gracious and see their heart turn. Because, we have played, at some point, the role of the betrayer also. It’s interesting to watch the betrayer, and the betrayed here. There’s certainly a lesson on both sides. “Is it I?”, they all begin to ask him. “And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me” (verse 23). So it tells us Judas was right next to him, we know Judas wasn’t on this side, because John leaned back and put his head on Christ’s breast, so we know Judas was in the place next to him. Jesus evidently in the place of the host.

“It had been good for that man if he had not been born”

“The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (verse 24). Isn’t it interesting as we look at this, the King, “Lo I come in the volume of the Book, it is written of me to do thy will”, he knew, it said that he would be betrayed. That Scriptures said that in more than one place. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm] You mean Judas couldn’t be saved? Was Judas saved? I don’t think that he was. Says in the book of Acts, chapter 1 that they were choosing the twelfth one to replace him, it said Judas “went to his place.” It had been written of him, the son of perdition. Well if Judas would have repented, and said, ‘Lord it’s me, here’s the thirty pieces of silver, I can’t even eat, I’ve got an upset stomach’, you know, ‘forgive me, will you please forgive me?’ Would Christ have forgiven him? Yea, if he really repented he would have. Was he going to? No, because the Old Testament says he was set aside for a specific purpose. Well, that’s not fair. I know. There’s both sides of that argument, they’re tough, aren’t they? Where God is evidently both things are true, human responsibility and sovereignty. It’s only something we have a problem with, God doesn’t. And we will understand by and by. [The solution may lie in another doctrinal interpretation about heaven and hell. There are many differing interpretations, and one of those many may contain the answer, who knows. To see some of those, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm.] It is, “The Son of man goes, as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (verse 24). Imagine what he’s saying, it would have been better if he had never been born, because, it’s better never to have lived, and never to exist at all, than to be born, to live your life in this world, and never to turn to Christ, and to die, and then suffer eternally. Because everyone in this world who does not turn to Christ, ‘What about the guy on the island?’ Look, let’s just worry about us here tonight. Ok? Everybody in this room, everybody in this room has the opportunity tonight to make Christ their Savior, because we’re giving it to you. If you accept, here it is, if you accept Jesus as your Savior, you will have eternal life, your sins will be forgiven. If you go to God and say ‘God I believe your Son died on the cross for me,’ you believe in your heart, you confess with your mouth, you’ll be saved. [Then after that God bestows his Holy Spirit upon you, the whole sanctification process starts, where God starts a lifetime of writing his laws upon your heart and mind. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm.] Don’t worry about the guy on the island, get saved tonight, you can become a missionary and go find him. OK? [loud laughter] The answer by the way is in 1^st Corinthians chapter 5 where Paul says ‘What do we have to do to judge those who are without the Church, not our business. Do we not judge those who are within. If any man who calls himself a brother lives in this particular [worldly, sinful] way, then don’t eat with them, don’t have anything to do with them.’ You know, he says our business is within. So, it would have been better for him had he never been born, had never existed in the first place, then to come into existence, to walk with the Saviour for three years, to watch his miracles, to see Peter get out of the boat and walk on the water, to see the storms rebuked and the lepers cleansed and the dead raised, to go through all of that and then to turn away---the son of perdition, he’s gonna suffer eternally in outer darkness, separated. It would have been better for him, Jesus said, if he had never come into existence in the first place, then to live eternally where he will. “Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said it” (verse 25). He’s got guts don’t he? [chuckles] He said unto him, ‘You said it.’ “Thou hast said,” that’s what he said, ‘You said it.’ Interesting, Judas never calls him Lord. Judas always calls him Master, Rabbi. The other disciples, we hear them call him Lord, Judas never. John now tells us this, “And after the sop” at the table, here we have John giving us the description, “he it is whom I shall give the sop, when I have dipped it---and when he had dipped the sop he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, and after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spoke this unto him. For some of them thought because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said to him, Buy those things which we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor…” that he sent him out for supplies. “He then having received the sop went out immediately, and it was night” (John 13:26-30). And it has been that way ever since for Judas Iscariot, night, dark. Now it’s interesting, because Satan then has something to do with this, in the betrayal and the thirty pieces of silver, when he goes to the priests, now we have Satan again at the [Passover] meal entering into him, as he then goes out. And Matthew, he just drops the record there in verse 25, and brings us right now to the Last Supper [which was a Passover meal, slain lamb, the whole nine yards]. [Comment: Judas is now gone, is not here to partake in the new covenant Passover symbols Jesus is about to introduce, the taking of the broken (unleavened) bread and wine. Judas may have been present for the footwashing ceremony, but left shortly after that. Cf. John 13:1-17]

Jesus’ Last Supper, Passover Seder Meal

“And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament [Greek: new covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (verses 26-28). Now, Mathew doesn’t give us the details of the Seder, the traditional Passover elements with the bitter herbs, and the salty water and the lamb [not that those events didn’t occur, because they did], because Matthew goes right to this new inauguration, Matthew is so enamored with the fulfillment of the Passover, that Christ was the Lamb. And I think Matthew’s amazed, it says “he gave thanks, and then he broke the bread, and said, This is my body.” Try to imagine, within an hour, or two, how much time ahead of Jesus is it when his face will start to be beaten beyond human recognition, and his beard will start to be ripped out of his face, and he’ll be spit upon. He knows, he knows what’s ahead. He gave thanks, and he took the bread and broke it and said “This is my body, broken for you.” Imagine, his thoughts, Father, the hour has come, my broken body, my shed blood. For the glory that was before him he endured the cross. He must be seeing, you know, what would take place [beyond the immediate pain and suffering]. The multitudes that would be saved, the day of Pentecost, the 3,000 responding when Peter preached, and then the 5,000, he must have been looking down through the ages to this old meter factory here tonight where we sit, you and I in his very heart as he took that bread and he broke it. And the unimaginable, he gave thanks. He was the only one who knew at that point what he was giving thanks for. “As they were eating, Jesus took the bread, he blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body”, this Passover, the oldest of the Feasts of Israel, not a Levitical feast, long before the book of Leviticus, it was the feast of deliverance from Egypt. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html.] Interesting, before the Law, pre-Law feast. “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” ‘And again, he gave thanks, for this is my blood of the new testament, the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ And it’s shed, Peter tells us, in his 1^st Epistle, chapter 3, verse 18, “once and for all”, shed once and for all, not every week, not at every service, once, and for all. It’s in the aortas tense, and that’s what it means. “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” “new”, interesting word there, new in quality, new in nature, not just drinking wine together, drinking it new in his Father’s kingdom. He’s looking past the cross, telling them there’s a day coming, ‘and I’m not gonna touch this stuff again’, you know, Christians always use that as an excuse, ‘Well, Jesus drank wine.’ Yeah, but he ain’t drinking it anymore until we drink it anew in his Father’s kingdom. And when Jesus hands me a glass, that’s when I’ll drink wine, not before. [You have to understand, the Calvary Chapels started out ministering to alcoholics and drugs addicts during the Hippie generation in southern California, and to this day they’re sort of a refuge church that reaches out to those who are in bondage to alcohol and drug addictions, many of their older pastors having been delivered from those addictions through God’s power. So, even though most Calvary Chapel pastors know the Bible does not teach total abstinence, but teaches extreme moderation, they themselves practice (and teach) abstinence within their congregations. And any one in church office has to not drink alcohol. That’s just where they’re coming from here.] There’s a day coming, we’ll drink it anew, he sees the Kingdom, he sees the Millennium, he sees the ages in glory. You know, isn’t it amazing what he’s seeing, Matthew remembers, of course, the Holy Spirit putting these things on their hearts, the Gospel writers. But at this point in time, Jesus seeing light and glory and glimmers and passion and suffering. They had no idea, as he gives them this feast, and looking past the cross.

On the way to Gethsemane

“And when they had sung an hymn”, the Hillel Psalm, it’s remarkable to read through “they went out into the mount of Olives” to Gethsemane, they sung a hymn. Again, crossing the Kidron, probably water running in it at this time of the year, Kidron means black, because it would run black with the blood of the sacrifices. There were pipelines taking the blood out to the Kidron. Jesus from the time he was 12, remember, said “didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business?” He understands he’s going to Gethsemane now. Remember when the disciples were arguing over who was going to be the greatest he said ‘Are you ready to drink the cup that I must drink, and to be baptized with the baptism I will be baptized with?’ There was a cup he was going into Gethsemane to embrace. He had given the Cup of Fellowship with the Father through forgiveness of sins to the disciples, giving us the Cup of Blessing. He’s going to face another cup now in Gethsemane, our cup. Three times he prays over this cup, as we move into these scenes. Luke the physician, he would be the one to tell us, because he’s a doctor, says that he sweat great drops of blood, hemotydrosis, when the agony emotionally is so intense that the capillaries in your sweat glands actually burst and the blood runs out with your sweat. It’s a physical phenomenon that’s been recorded by doctors, hemotydrosis. And an angel had to come and strengthen him, Luke says, that he could continue to agonize, and he’s agonizing over a cup. And as we look at that in Scripture again, not a literal cup. Why would he be worried over just a cup? We often find it used in that sense. You find it used in the sense of the Cup of Blessing, a cup of God’s Blessing. “Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over”, the cup of God’s blessing, spoken of many times in the Old Testament. But there is the cup of God’s wrath, the cup of God’s fury, the cup of the wine of his indignation. There are at least fifteen references to that in the Old Testament. And very pronounced in Psalm 75, verses 7 and 8, very pronounced in Isaiah chapter 51, verses 17 and 22 again. Very pronounced in Jeremiah chapter 25, you read through that on your own. Certainly the clearest picture, Revelation chapter 14, verses 10 and 11 speak of the cup of God’s wrath poured out without mixture, and the smoke of the torment is ascending forever and ever, this is the cup now as he comes into Gethsemane. And that’s, we know, it’s not just the physical. He said that he’d come to be offered, it wasn’t just the physical brutality that he agonized over. It was the sin of the world, he who knew no sin became sin, that we might be the very righteousness of God. You want to read Romans chapter 3, verse 25 and study that in-depth, 1^st John chapter 2, verse 2, in 1^st John chapter 4, verse 10, that he become propitiation, he becomes the expiation, he becomes the place where the wrath of God is actually satisfied. You see, the person that’s sinned against determines the seriousness of the grievance. If you sin against, you know, there can be a domestic dispute, that’s one thing. The cops might come and lock you up if you’re fist-fighting with your wife or your husband. If you commit a crime against a Federal Officer, that could be a more serious crime. If you commit a crime against the President, that can be treason, it can be the death sentence. Depending on who you commit the crime against, when the sin is committed against a pure, Almighty, Holy, Everlasting, Omniscient, Omnipotent God, then the seriousness of that crime is determined by the one who is sinned against. And the price then that has to be paid is infinite and holy, and more than we could ever pay. And it’s that cup that all the nations that don’t turn to Christ will drink of, that he agonizes over. But remarkable to me, that he sings with them first a hymn. And the end of Psalm 118 says “bind the sacrifice with cords to the altar, God has given us light, bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” Remarkably, he sings a hymn and he goes out into the mount of Olives.

Jesus’ words to the disciples and Peter’s proclamation of loyalty

“Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (verse 31). He has a great sense all the way through this that every step of the way the Word of God is being fulfilled. “For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” Satan knows, certainly he’s the Chief Shepherd, but also Satan knows how devastating it is in the Body of Christ, if a pastor falls, if a home-fellowship leader falls, if somebody whose a spiritual mentor to you, you look up to falls and disappoints you. Certainly remember to pray for myself and for the pastoral staff. But this is a prophecy about Christ, “I will smite the shepherd, the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad”, but notice, verse 32, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.” And you know none of them heard that. Ok? “I will go before you into Galilee”, and he’ll keep that appointment, and that is on his heart that he is going to go before them. “Peter answered”, he doesn’t answer verse 32, he answers verse 31, Peter didn’t hear verse 32, I just know it. Because you always find Peter, when he says something, he’s referring back a few verses where he got stuck, like us. “Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended” (verse 33). ‘Lord, you can count on me. I understand your concern with the rest of these guys [chuckles].’ Now I appreciate Peter’s heart, because there have been times in my Christian experience when I’ve said those kinds of things to the Lord. ‘Ok Lord, we’re a great team, you can count on me, we’ll get this done.’ It’s a long hard lesson, isn’t it? ‘Lord, don’t ever count on me, if you don’t hold me up I’m going to sink in the water.’ “Jesus said to him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples” (verse 35). Now note, give him credit, because ‘likewise also said all the other disciples,’ because they’re thinking, ‘Wait a minute, he’s gonna get away with this, he’s not gonna deny him…hey, they all jump in with him. Now they’re all arguing with Zechariah, Zachariah said the shepherd would be struck down and the sheep would be scattered, and they’re arguing with Zechariah saying Zechariah’s wrong, they’re arguing with the Lord, saying the Lord’s wrong. And he knows. It was written, he loves them. And he’s going to say, ‘Peter, I’ve prayed for you, that your faith doesn’t fail. After you’re restored, strengthen your brethren.’ Isn’t it remarkable? ‘Peter, you’re going to deny me tonight, before the cock crows you’re going to deny me three times.’ ‘Let not your heart be troubled’ is the chronology of things. ‘You believe in God, believe also in me, in my Father’s house are many mansions.’ ‘After you’re restored.’ But wait a minute, Peter denied him three times, but Jesus prayed that his faith wouldn’t fail. He says ‘Satan has desired, asked permission to sift you as wheat.’ Permission had been granted, but Jesus said ‘I’ve prayed your faith doesn’t fail.’ Peter denied him, but Peter never changed gods, he didn’t become a Buddhist or a Harikrishna after this scene. He denied the God he believed in, and his faith never failed. That’s why when you deny Christ, and I deny him, if we compromise, we feel so lousy afterwards, but we don’t go change gods. We’re saying, ‘Lord, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Lord, I’m sorry, just give me one more chance, you can count on me, give me one more chance.’ ‘Though all deny thee, I’ll die with you…likewise they all said the same thing.

Jesus and the twelve at Gethsemane

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder” (verse36). Gethsemane, it’s on the sides of the mount of Olives there, and oil-press where there’s an olive grove of olive trees and a press. “and saith to the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” Now, it’s a full moon (always is on Passover night), he’s visible, “He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” And we’re told in Hebrews chapter 5 that “he was heard in his much crying in tears, in that he feared.” It tells us in Hebrews he was afraid in Gethsemane, he feared, and he cried out to his Father with strong crying in tears. It says he “began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” They see it, they noticed. “Then he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (verses 37-39). Luke tells us, about a stone’s throw, and Luke mentions the throwing of stones twice. There was a particular distance, it was called the distance of death. It was the distance that you could throw a stone to stone somebody and kill somebody. Luke says he went about a stone’s throw. It’s an interesting phrase in the context. “He went a little further and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto his disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (verses 40-41). ‘I’ll die with you, can’t stay awake with you, but I’ll die with you, Lord, you can count on me.’ Isn’t it so much like us? You know, isn’t it interesting, he cries for the human companionship, you know, he takes these three a little further with him, and he says “Wait and pray with me”, he wants their attention. You know, there’s the humanity of Christ here, which is staggering, and there’s the Deity of Christ, he knows everything that’s ahead. The humanity of Christ, he’s afraid, he’s weeping, he’s exceedingly sorrowful, they see it in his countenance. Peter, you know, must have instructed Mark, and in Mark we hear that he cried “Abba, Father.” Imagine if these guys would have stayed awake what else we’d have known about Gethsemane. They stayed awake long enough to hear him crying out to his Father, and then they all started sawing Z’s. Imagine if one of these guys had stayed awake, some of the other things we may have heard in Gethsemane. Obviously, we weren’t supposed to. If he knew what was coming, he knew they were going to fall asleep when he took them too, so. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death…tarry here, watch with me”---full moon, he’s visible, evidently audible, they hear him crying out to the Father, he went a little further, he fell on his face…[tape switchover, some text lost]…the exchange of cups is made, he’s given us his cup, he’s taking ours. “O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”---‘If there’s any other way man can be saved,’ sweating blood at this point. And we know that it was cold, because it says that Peter warmed himself with the enemy’s fire that night, because it was cold. Though it’s cold, here’s Jesus sweating, agonizing great drops of blood. He came, found the disciples asleep. ‘And he said to Peter, ‘What, could you not watch with me one hour?’ What about ‘Lord, you can count on me’? “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The flesh, it’s without strength, pray. Isn’t it interesting? Pray. When we’re weak, pray. Not take vitamins, not get an extra hour of sleep, pray. “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (verses 41-42). A little bit of a different inference here. “And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.” Luke tells us their eyes were heavy for sorrow. Emotionally they were drained, and I can imagine. “And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words” (verse 44). He didn’t wake them the third time. Now imagine that, here’s Jesus praying to the Father three times for the same thing. Then we have people out there like Kenneth Copeland that tell us, ‘If you ask God for something more than once, it’s because you lack faith, God knows before you ask, you only need to ask one time.’ I guess Jesus never heard that good old teaching [chuckles], because he prays for the same thing three times. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, and by the way the construct says “a thorn in the flesh and besides a thorn in the flesh a messenger from Satan to buffet him.” It wasn’t the same thing, he had some physical disability, and besides that, some demon saying, ‘Hey, if God loves you, why’ve you got this?’. ‘If you’re an apostle, how come you can’t see? How come you’ve got malaria, how come you’ve got migraine’s all the time?’. And he said ‘I sought God for him to remove that over a period of twelve years, it seems three times in fasting and prayer, and God said to him, “My grace is sufficient.” Lack of faith? No tremendous faith. I’ve watched families in this church pray for a child or a loved one whose dying of a disease, and it’s prolonged, and I’ve watched them pray for years. Is that a lack of faith? That is tremendous faith, it is victorious faith, it’s incredible faith. Don’t let anybody ever tell you that. In fact, very simply, in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus had said, “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon said there are sermons in tenses, because the tenses are “ask, and keep on asking, and it shall continue to be given to you; seek, and continue to seek, and you shall continue to find; knock, and continue to reverently knock, and it shall continue to be opened to you.” Ask and keep on asking. And just think whose doing the asking there, it’s him, asking us to ask. He’s taking the first step, asking us to be askers. He came to seek, and save that which was lost, seeking us to be seekers. Knocking, behold I stand at the door and knock, knocking asking us to be those who would knock and pursue and seek and come to him. Isn’t it interesting? The third time, saying the same words.

Jesus betrayed into the hands of sinners

“Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (verse 45). See the colon, the two dots (:) it means there’s an indiscriminate time there. So Jesus comes back, finds them sleeping the third time, looks at Peter, James and John and says ‘Sleep on you guys, take your rest’, and he must have said ‘Father, Peter, be with him. He’s going to wake up and hack somebody’s ear off. He’s going to hear the rooster crow and go out crying. And he’s going to get crucified upside down in the end. What a guy, got to love this guy, Father.’ John, most scholars feel he was sixteen or seventeen years old at this point in time. John, young, impetuous, ‘Lord, call down fire from heaven and burn up those Samaritans, they wouldn’t give us a hotel, just cook ‘em Lord! Toast them!’ ‘John, one of the sons of thunder, be patient Father, he’s going to be the great apostle of love, and live the martyrdom of a long life. The last, he’ll be the last, he’ll be the last eye-witness.’ ‘James, the first to shed his blood.’ An interesting thing, how do I know he does that? Because we’re told in Hebrews 7:25 that he [Jesus, that is] ever liveth and maketh intercession for the saints, that he’s right now at the right hand of all authority and power in heaven, making intercession for us, that he knows our names. I have four kids, and I love them all, and they are all different. You have only two kids? You ain’t never seen nothing yet. [laughter] Because, two kids, you have two kids and you think, ‘How can two kids be so different coming from the same gene-pool?’ And you think opposite has two directions, till you have a third kid, then you realize opposite has at least three directions, four directions. And they all respond differently, different gifts, they’re wired different. And you love them all, different, in a sense, all the same but all different. And he’s at the right hand of the Father, our names on his lips, and he prays for us, not just ‘There’s the crowd at Calvary Chapel, Father, just pour out a general corporate blessing.’ ‘no, there’s Joe up there, and the church is still surviving, bless him so they’ll be blessed.’ ‘Ah, there’s this guy sitting in the corner, Lord, Father there’s that one, see that one back there, prodigal, struggling, and I look at this one overcome with sin, be gracious Father, draw their hearts back, put their feet back on the rock. I have to stop at his place. “He cometh to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest:…” Whatever the amount of time that passes, now he says something else. “behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (45). So you see them all jumping up, they’re all waking up now. “Rise, let us be going: behold he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast” (verses 46-48). Matthew says, “lo”, consider this. Matthew is akin to Judas in some ways, Matthew had been a publican, a tax gatherer, Matthew was also a man who was good with money. They were kindred spirits in some ways, I’m sure. Now, we’re told there’s a cohort, so there’s at least six hundred, now Temple police, because, this is interesting, the priests have sent them to get Jesus. Judas said ‘OK, look, the guy that I go up to, “Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign (signal), saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.” ‘Alright, we’ll send half a dozen guys, no, you’d better send more.’ Because Judas knows “hold him fast”, he rebuked the wind and the sea, he raised the dead, it’s gonna take something to hold him fast. They send a cohort, there’s at least six hundred that come. Because the chief priests had ascribed his miracles to Satan. They were under conviction, they knew there was power there. They don’t know how many, ‘How many is it going to take to bring him in?’. In fact, John tells us when they come, he said “Whom seek ye?” and they said, “Jesus of Nazareth”, and then John says he said “I AM he”, the he is in italics, he said to them “I AM”, the tetragramaton, the “I AM that I AM” the burning bush said to Moses. He said “I AM”, and it said “they all fell backwards.” The movie didn’t show that, imagine six hundred guys with torches going down on the floor. “Who you looking for?”, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I AM.” VaRaooooom!!! Everybody goes down, setting each other on fire, they’re all jumping up. That’s why Judas was kind of nervous when he came forward to kiss him, after that. “He that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I kiss, that same is he.” ‘He’s he one.’ He doesn’t glow in the dark, he doesn’t float off the ground, you don’t hear classical music playing in the background when he enters a room, he’s just like the rest of them. He just looks like a scrubby Galilean, blisters on his hands, dirt under his fingernails, messed up hair. Man he came to be among us, didn’t he? He had to give them a signal so they’d know which one it was. “And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master: and kissed him.” And the sense of the word, interesting, he kissed him repeatedly.

Peter hacks off the servant of the high priest’s ear

“And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. 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’s, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (verses 49-54). I think it’s John, he says, “Peter, put they sword into thy sheath, shall I not drink the cup that the Father’s given to me?” John tells us it was Peter. Matthew’s written earlier, probably John wrote after Peter had been martyred, didn’t mind giving his name by then, Mary’s name at the last supper, I mean, at the memorial there at Simon the leper’s. Isn’t it interesting, Luke tells us that when they were headed from the last supper to Gethsemane, Jesus said “Remember when I sent you out before, I said Don’t take a script, don’t take a bag, don’t take a sword?’ Well now I’m telling you, take a script, take a short sword with you…’ And somewhere between the last supper and Gethsemane, Peter finds a Sword-Shoppe that’s open. That’s all he remembered, he’s got the sword, he’s there. And they come and grab Jesus, and Peter swing’s away, because he feels bad, you know, he said ‘You can count on me, everybody else,’ and the Lord said, ‘You can’t even stay awake for an hour.’ So Peter’s gotta do something now, and he, ah, hacks this guy’s ear off. Malchus we’re told his name, he’s the servant of the high priest. He’s lucky Peter was sleepy, because Peter, I’m sure was not thinking ‘Let me take this guy’s ear off.’ He was thinking ‘Let me take this guy’s head off,’ is what he was thinking. And we’re told Peter was a big burly guy. You know, the end of John’s Gospel, they went to draw the net in, in chapter 21, and they couldn’t and Peter went down and drew it in himself with 151 fish in it, it says Peter pulled the net in by himself. So he’s a big knarly old fisherman, you know. And he was half asleep when he got that guy’s ear and hacked it off. Now Luke, the physician, tells us that Jesus put it back on. A doctor is always amazed at those kinds of things. [laughter] Peter hacked his ear off, and what!? He picked it up and put it back on!? You know, no superglue, no nothing, he put that ear back on. But think, how impressed Luke the physician would have been if Peter was wide awake, and lopped the guy’s head off. [laughter] ‘Where is that thing, bring it over here. Put that back on, now straighten it out, no, no, we want him looking forward, turn it around.’ Jesus, patching up the things the disciples botch right up to the end. ‘Peter, I could call twelve legions, 72,000 angels.’ In 2^nd Kings 19 the angel of the LORD, one angel slew 185,000 (Assyrian soldiers) in one night. So take 72,000 angels, real quick in your minds, and multiply 72,000 times 185,000 and you’re in the billions. But he opened not his mouth, he went as a lamb to the slaughter. (13.3 billion people, roughly) He could have, right now, you know those angels were leaning over the rim, hearts of glory, saying “Now? Now?” How can the scripture then be fulfilled. But there’s a day coming, when he’s coming with all of his holy angels in flaming fire, to meet out vengeance on those who have hated Christ and turned away, there’s a day coming when he’s going to say “Now!”. And more than 12 legions of those are going to descend with him, and all of the saints in glory [that’s us with him as well, cf. Revelation 19]. So, Peter, put your sword away, all they that take the sword, this is your mode of living, you’re getting the same back again, those that live by the sword are going to perish by the sword. “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (verses 53-54) ‘I have to be offered by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God, Peter, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’ Now we’ll pick up the study, if the Lord tarries, next week there. I encourage you to read ahead, we’re going to go through a number of trials with Jesus, as we head into an unbelievable set of circumstances. Watch Peter, there’s a great lesson for all of us. Overconfident, good motives, ‘But Lord, you can count on me. The rest of these guys in church, I understand your concern. Lord you can trust me.’ That’s a mistake, overconfidence. Next mistake, sleeping when you’re supposed to be praying. That’s a mistake. Third mistake, trying to fix it all in the flesh, hacking people’s ears off. Some of us have hacked people’s ears off, with this sword [of the tongue]. Then we see him, it says he follows at a distance, and finally we find him warming himself at the enemy’s fire. It’s a downward spiral, if you take each place we find Peter. And then finally, his denial, he denies that he knows the Lord. It was a statute in that day, we know from historians, that it was illegal to have chickens inside the walls of Jerusalem, because they were messy, were dirty. But there was one rooster that got there to do his job. Linsky, the old German grammarist tells us of traditions that say after Christ rose, in the early Church, this story was famous enough that people that hassled Peter would get behind him and go “erh-erh-erh-erh-erh!” People are the same in every age. [he laughs] Let’s stand, let’s pray together…[transcript of a connective expository sermon given on Matthew 26:14-54 by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 19500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]