Tonight, we turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, and we're turning to chapter 26, 26 of Matthew, and we're doing kind of an overview tonight of these first 29 verses, looking at the bigger picture, and I thought it was a good time since we're having the supper tonight to just break for a week from Romans, since next week we will start chapter 9 and all of you know that the subject matter of chapter 9 is a little bit different than chapter 8 and that'll be an exciting study but I thought tonight Matthew 26 would be appropriate in light of coming to the table of our Lord so we'll read together the first 29 verses of Matthew chapter 26 beginning at verse 1 when Jesus had finished all these sayings he said to his disciples, you know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you but you will not always have me in pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial truly i say to you wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world what she has done will also be told in memory of her then one of the twelve whose name was judas iscariot went to the chief priest and said what will you give me if i deliver him over to you and they paid him 30 pieces of silver and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to jesus saying where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover he said go into the city to a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is at hand i will keep the passover at your house with my disciples and the disciples did as jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, Is it I, Lord? He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born Judas who would betray him answered is it I rabbi he said to him you have said so now as they were eating Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins i tell you i will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word we'll be referring tonight to lord's day 28 in the course of the sermon so you're welcome to open your psalter hymnals and turn there if you would like matthew chapter 26 comes right after jesus is all of it uh discourse and in that particular teaching in that discourse he spoke on the reality of the second coming i mean it was a it was a heavy section there speaking of what we can expect and he did as is typical in many of his teachings he drew great contrasts the teaching the sermon there is full of contrasts for instance he highlights in that two men working in a field two types of women grinding at the mill mill a faithful servant who is doing the will of god as he waits for jesus to come again and an evil servant who lives in hypocrisy and drunkenness he then moves then to the next section where he contrasts faithful virgins, and wise virgins. And it's a very powerful section in chapter 25, continuing in that all of it discourse, where he contrasts those who are ready for his coming with those who are not ready for his coming. And then he goes on and he tells a parable where another great contrast is made of those servants who were given talents. And some of them, remember, went out and they used their talents. And they doubled. But then there was one who buried that town and did nothing. And it ends with a great separation that's going to happen on the final day where the sheep and the goats are separated. Notice this contrast that is woven throughout chapter 24 and 25. And this teaching was powerful because Jesus was having people think about where they stand, understand what kind of person they are and now you kind of see how from the beginning the reason we have these contrasts from psalm 1 to the to the two kinds of men we go all the way back to the beginning and we see the two seeds again don't we we see this this this doctrine we see the separation go throughout the course of history and the scriptures are constantly picking up on it And I believe tonight, in light of that, that many of these things for Christ's sheep can be absolutely distressing. I mean, it's distressing to study Cain. I don't like preaching on the way of Cain. That's not something that excites me. It has to be done, but it's painful, isn't it? Isn't it painful to see in the first man, in the first family, that separation go? And the path that ends in death. It's tough stuff. And at times when we're hearing this, this is why sheep have been discouraged. And this is why often sheep have been troubled because they know what they are. They know they're no different in their own natures. They know what they're capable of doing. And the question that often comes out is, how do I know I'm going to stand strong through this? Isn't that fair? It's a fair question. How do I know I won't go in the way of Cain? Jude calls it that. There is a way of Cain. How do I know that? How do I know that this is for me? Well, chapter 26, I believe, of Matthew is very helpful when we look at this contrast. And we look at how Jesus deals with this contrast to encourage his disciples, which is a way of encouraging us. Even though these horrible realities are happening, he is declaring to us tonight, he is showing to us tonight that he has real power to keep us, that we should trust him, that we should come believing him, that we should come in childlike faith. And the Lord wants to show us that. The Lord desires in Matthew 26 to make another great contrast and then to show how he even keeps the weak. And that's why I love chapter 26. It's an application, if you will, to Romans 8. You see Romans 8 working out in Matthew chapter 26. And that's what is set before us tonight because here he holds out for them in the signs, his body and his blood, teaching them what they signify the bread and the wine that they would be spiritually nourished that they would be fed that they would be strengthened that they would be encouraged that he does have the power to keep his sheep all the way to the end thinking of john 13 he loved his own and he loved them to the end let's look at this tonight in chapter 26 in verse 2 when we open this up and we look at the context here you see what jesus says to his disciples you know that after two days the passover is coming and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified remember this passover was the the commemoration feast remember what they did is as the jews they would celebrate this they would celebrate when the angel of death passed over their houses because the blood was on the doorposts and you remember this whole story in exodus uh it's the well-known story of the passover and the jews would celebrate this and you'll notice how jesus here is what he's doing what he is doing in chapter 26 is really teaching us he is the fulfillment of these things he is our passover and that's where all of this escalates from there you'll notice that in verse 3 right after this we read that the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest whose name was caiaphas and they plotted together in order to arrest jesus by stealth and think of this tragic word that we pass over and kill him the brothers are murdering aren't they well what is outlined in this text now are the responses to this are the responses that jesus has come to be the lamb jesus is the lamb of god slain from the foundation of the world that he has come to be our Passover lamb, that he has come to cover us and to keep us. And I want you to notice now what the text does to show a contrast, to help us through this tough question. In verses 6 through 13, a woman comes to Jesus. And she brings a very costly alabaster flask of fragrant oil. And you'll notice in verse 6 on as this goes forward that she takes this very expensive ointment and she pours it over his head as he reclines at the table. Now I want you to notice the collective way verse 8 describes this, the response. When the disciples saw it, they were indignant. why this waste notice how furious the disciples are we know who is leading this but notice that jesus is aware of this and he says in verse 10 why do you trouble the woman for she has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the pour with you but you will not always have me in pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial truly i say to you wherever this gospel is proclaimed in all the whole world what she has done will also be told in memory of her and you stand back from that And I read that, and I think, I have not come across in all of the scriptures any kind of commendation like that. That is remarkable from our Lord. She receives a constant memorial whenever she's thought of. And you stand back from that, and you say, whoa, wait a minute. Too much praise to men. What is that? How do we process that? This is an exciting section of scripture. What is Jesus telling us here? Why would Jesus do this? It's fascinating when you look at this woman, when you know who she is, Mary of Bethany. This Mary who was the one who would sit at Jesus' feet, remember? Clinging. The one who, when her brother died, would go right to Jesus. Expressing faith. Troubled, but still clinging. And here at the end, she prepares this. She believes so much so before it's even happened. She's brought everything of value in this life. She has brought everything of earthly value, and that's why they're mad. And she has poured it out over his head because she believes he is going to die and go in the tomb and rise again. She believes it. What do you value? We talk about what we value. We give our energies for what we value. Amazing that Jesus holds her up here tonight. He holds her up to us in the simplest manner. And he wants you to understand something through this. He wants you to understand, as I was contemplating this and thinking through the big message here in Matthew chapter 26. As I look at this woman, all I see is the Lord telling us, this is what I'm after. She's come. She's poured everything she has of value upon me. She saw that without me, she has nothing. And right at the beginning, as Jesus is the Passover lamb, here we have a woman showing us what a broken and a contrite heart looks like. Here is the gospel response in its purest and simplest form. Childlike, clinging, embracing faith. Now that's put right up front, isn't it? That's put right up front tonight. What happens right after this? Verse 14, then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. Verse 14 is remarkable in the way that it's worded, isn't it? One of the twelve, one of the twelve, one of the close circle, one of those who walked with him, motivated by greed, he was the one that was skimming off the top of the common purse, we know that from John chapter 13, he was a thief, he was stealing, he was after gain but the big picture here is hating the righteousness of god he had followed hoping that he would ride on the coattails of the next rising star in israel the whole thing had been let down he's going to the cross and judas now is worried about what he can just get out of him at the last minute and what do you get well many of you who were here for dr van drunen's sermon a few weeks back will remember that 30 pieces of silver was the price of a slave and the text is telling you that's judas's value of the messiah that's judas's value of the messiah in stark contrast right there. One has come and she understands and she sees and she responds in childlike faith. She knew she was lost as a sinner. She had done this to prepare him for his burial. She believed when she heard and then one of his own who did not believe him betrayed him. And you see, it's in the midst of this turbulence tonight and apostasy, if you will, in the midst of the greatest trial now facing our Lord as he's about ready to go to the cross and give himself and suffer the torments of hell for us facing his sheep. What does he do? He institutes the supper. Now, I don't know how that makes you feel. I don't know what kind of thoughts that conjures up and brings about in your mind it's in this context the supper comes out and so in verses 17 through 30 we have jesus transforming if you will the passover meal into the lord's supper as we know it i want you to see how he introduces this and where the lord brackets the supper did you notice in chapter 26 how he brackets the supper he brackets the supper between two things the betrayal of judas and the denial of who peter i've always been struck by that that when the new testament uh holds out the supper for us the first thing that paul said to the corinthian church when the supper was being given for i received from the lord that which i also delivered that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took breath striking in the night in which he was betrayed after highlighting and contrasting these two hearts right up front with the issue of faith and value of christ we come to verse 20 when evening it was evening he reclined at the table with the 12 and as they were eating he said truly i say to you one of you will betray me i think verse 22 is one of the most moving verses in this whole text i want you to feel it tonight and they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another is it i lord is it i so he went right down the line here at the table i don't know what order they're in we'll come back to that one after another is it me is it me is it me and you hear this heart-wrenching, heart-searching concern of their own loyalty to Jesus. Are you loyal to Jesus? How loyal are you to the Lord? There's something to note here, isn't it? It's the way the disciples asked it. Lord, I'm not the one, am I? If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Luke 22. it's the same scene and I want you to put the context here together and maybe this will help you a little bit this is Luke chapter 22 if you look at verse 22 for the son of man goes as it has been determined but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed and they begin to question one another which of them it could be who was going to do this verse 24 in this context What happens at the table? A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. What? In the middle of this heart-wrenching concern, am I the one? All of a sudden it turns into a brawl between these guys as to who is going to be the one. That means who's going to be greater than the one who's not doing that see it jesus just said one of you will betray me they're distressed and it turns into an argument and you know what i think as i look at this i think they look nothing like this woman do they and that should be a stark point of this text tonight they look nothing like this woman but this way are their hearts prepared for the supper did they listen to the communion in form did they they're not prepared i could jump on them tonight these guys know better than this you know what are they doing how could you get into an argument when your savior's going to the cross about who's greatest when the whole time he's teaching you to sacrificially lay down your life because he's going to go become the servant at all of all and do that for you and I could pound on them you guys stay away from this thing and what would be the reality I think why would Christ put this woman here and then show us Judas and then show us this when we see massive failure on the part of his sheep how should I preach that I really wrestled with this to be honest with you I wrestled because I thought you know it should go without saying I I should say tonight, you should all be like this woman. Isn't that go without saying, you should be like this woman. But what's the reality? I'm not a whole bunch like that woman. In Luke, what does this woman tell us? In Luke, after admonishing them, he says, you are those who have continued with me in my trials. Then he says this. I assign to you a kingdom. Whoa. He just did what? I assign to you a kingdom. I do it. Just as my Father bestowed one, assigned one to me, that you may, now listen, what's the purpose? Why do you assign a kingdom? He says in Luke, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. What's the difference? When you come back to Matthew, Jesus says, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I? I think the text totally offsets Judas. totally offsets Judas as a special kind of circumstance that the Scriptures were being fulfilled, telling us what the heart of the rebellious looks like, motivated by the same way of Cain. This is where we get to the heart of this tonight. What is this section bracketed by? All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. And Peter, you will deny me three times. This is not little stuff, beloved. This is denial. He denied the Lord. He denied him three times in the heart of his afflictions. How would we respond to that? They don't pray. They fall asleep. They are massive failures. You see, the kind of heart that Jesus is after is this woman who poured all that she had on his head, right? And Christ holds her up as a memorial to teach us something about his work. Christ holds up this woman as a memorial to teach us something about his work. And I love that. Come back to the question tonight. Feel the bleeding concern in this question. I wish I could get to tones when I were saying this and the questions came back from the disciples and Judas. It's not I, is it, Lord? It's not I, is it, Rabbi? I don't know how it went. Whatever the case, they were so weak that in the next breath, they're arguing about their own greatness. But I do know there's an offset here, an offset of Judas who has no saving knowledge or faith. in the Messiah. And here we see that in the weakness of Jesus' own, all of us at some point, maybe even as we're going through tonight, begin to wonder, you know, will I be a Judas? How do I know? Will I turn my back on him? I'm not the one, am I, Lord? Will I be here next year? Will I be here in the end? I was reading William Perkins, and he wrote a dialogue to help troubled consciences. William Perkins was known as the father of Elizabethan Puritanism. And let me give you a bit of this dialogue. It's between the Christian and the pastor. Christian, I've lived a long time, and the Lord knows how I've lived, in the lusts of my filthy flesh. What is my case then? I feel that I'm a rebellious wretch, ugly in the sight of God, that any toad can be in my sight. What do I do? Let me hear some word of comfort from your mouth, oh man of God. Here's the minister. Tell me one thing plainly. You say you feel no assurance of God's mercy. None. Do you desire with all your heart to feel it? I do. then do not doubt you shall for the man that would have any grace of god tending to salvation listen to this if he does truly desire it we'll have it christ has promised i will give to him that thirsts of the well of the water of life freely i gather then that if any want the water of life having an appetite for it he will have enough of it having an appetite after it he shall have enough and therefore fear not only use the means now listen to this only use the means that god has appointed to attain faith earnest prayer the hearing of god's word and the receiving of the sacraments and you will see this thing verified in your life pretty practical isn't it you'll see it verified let me ask you this did cain do that did judas do that they didn't care and here jesus knows openly reveals it's judas but he knows their fears he knows their weaknesses they hear his voice lord i'm not the one am i and what does he do it's passover think about this he transforms right then and there for them the entire Passover meal into the institution of the Lord's Supper as if to say, dear children, through my death, through my body and blood, I will show you that you are my children. And as they're eating the Passover meal, Jesus takes bread. And right in front of them, he breaks it. And he gives it to them. And he says, take, eat. This is my body. Then he took the cup and he gave thanks and he gave to them saying, drink of it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. It's not I, is it, Lord? It's not I, is it? Take. Eat. Remember and believe. You know what they were seeing? Visibly, they were just seeing as they received these things in faith that Christ's death was for them. And that this Passover blood that had spoke for years about the angel of death passing over, Christ commends it to them and He says, my wrath will not fall on you. Take and do what? Believe. This woman, what I'm after. Believe. They were being given life by faith, receiving these blessings and tasting and seeing His goodness that nobody could pluck. Nothing could pluck them from His hand. You need that tonight? you need that i don't know if you can't answer that and you say i don't have any desire for this or your life's an open rebellion you don't care yeah it's poison but that's not what the lord has been holding out for the sincere broken and contrite heart has he it's not like you did a checklist this week and said man i did pretty good look how weak we are and you know what our heidelberg says tonight how does this supper signify and seal to you that you share in christ one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts in this way what did christ do he commanded this why did he command this well when i get to look with my eyes tonight and i get to see the bread and the wine i get to see that so sure is it that his body and his blood was offered what does he heidelberg say for me and that's what he's doing he is nourishing and refreshing our souls to everlasting life with his crucified body and shed blood as we receive it by faith in the power of his spirit that we would be strengthened how can i make it what assurance the lord's giving us you know it's fascinating that right after he institutes this declaring that he will step in their place and suffer the intense wrath of God so that they never have to know it. What does Jesus say? Knowing that Peter even is going to deny him. I say to you this, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. There's a day coming when we're going to get to do this. And He's promised us that. And I can't help when I look at Peter and I see all of this tonight that the message before us is this. Jesus has the power to keep us. Jesus has the power and the ability and the power to hold us and to keep us because His work is that we would believe. Remember He said that in John 6? My work is that you would believe. Jesus set this beautiful example before us tonight in this woman as a memorial of what childlike believing faith in his promises looks like. You've let yourself go. I'm done pursuing myself. I've come to him. I believe in his promises. I trust him. She didn't accomplish that. Passage, she puts everyone to shame so that tonight we would stand back and praise God that in all of our weaknesses, we have a strong one who is able to keep us into the end and bring us to him. Jesus says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Lord, am I the one? He says to you tonight, what? Eat, drink, remember and believe that my body and blood was shed and given for a complete remission of all of your sins. And from there, where'd they go? They sung a song of praise to him and their gloom was turned to joy. That's what should happen tonight as we come. Let's come now to the table of our Lord.