Series - The Road to the Resurrection - Message 10 - A Day of Recognition & Rejection

Introduction

Good morning Church! It’s good to see each and everyone of you who could make it out today and we also want to welcome all those who may be joining online with us today.

Today, we are continuing on in our study of the Book of Matthew and today we will be looking at the first 16 verses of Matthew 26 at a message I’ve entitled A Day of Recognition & Rejection.

Up to this point in our Series The Road to the Resurrection we’ve seen...

A Day of Reverence – Jesus Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

A Day of Rebuke – The Cursing of the fig tree & Cleansing of the temple

A Day of Reasoning, Revelation & Reckoning – He Reasoned w/ the Scribes, Pharisees & Sadducees, He Revealed the End Times to His disciples & He told of the coming day of Judgment.

And now, as we are going to see today, the wheels for our Lord’s crucifixion have been put into motion and within two days our Lord, who had never done a thing wrong will be crucified as the most vilest criminal in the world all because the very people He came to save wouldn’t accept Him as the Savior of the world.

This morning, if you are here and lost, I pray you won’t make the same mistake. I pray that you will trust in this man named Jesus before it’s too late because as Doug said in Sunday school, man is a sinner and therefore he needs a Savior and that Savior came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The one and only Son of God.

Setting the Scene — (Vs. 1-5)

Jesus reveals he is to be Crucified – this is a very important detail because it tells us why Judas betrays Jesus in Verses 14-16!

The Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees conspire to take Jesus and kill him! The wheels were now set in motion to murder our Lord Jesus! It was no more a question of how to get rid of him, now the question was when!

These men had purposed in their hearts that death was Jesus’ verdict and they would stop at nothing to see this mission fulfilled!

Isn’t it ironic that the same men who have been in charge of making sure the people keep the laws are the ones who are now conspiring to break the laws!

And one of the main ways you can tell what they are conspiring to do is wrong, is because the Bible says they conspired to do it in subtilty!

The question that should be asked here is this…when you are doing the right thing do you try to hide it?

The answer is no, but the Bible says they were trying to hide the murdering of our Lord Jesus! They knew that what they were conspiring to do was wrong and they were going to keep it as big a secret as possible!

A. John 3:20- For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Recognition of Jesus as Lord – (Vs 6-13)

This section actually took place back on the Saturday before but the Gospel of Matthew has it here and I believe it is for good reason.

When you do some studying, you will find that only John’s Gospel identifies this woman as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Now the interesting thing about this Mary is that she is found only three times in all the Gospels, and in each instance, she is at the feet of Jesus!

Boy, how we could all take a page from her, Amen?

She sat at His feet and listened to the Word in (Luke 10:38-42); she came to His feet in sorrow after the death of Lazarus in (John 11:28-32); and she worshiped at His feet when she anointed Him with the ointment in (John 12).

You see, Mary was a very spiritual woman. She found at Jesus feet her blessing, she brought to His feet her burdens, and she gave at His feet her best!

And when you look at all the Gospel records, you’ll find that she anointed both His head and His feet, and then in John’s Gospel it says that she wiped His feet with her hair. But why? Why would she use her hair to wipe his feet?

The Bible says in (1 Cor. 11:15) that a woman's hair is her glory. So essentially, Mary surrendered her glory to the Lord and worshiped Him with the most precious gift that she had.

You see, Matthew’s Gospel tells us that it was a very precious ointment that she anointed our Lord with but when you flip over to John’s Gospel in Chapter 12 you will find that it says that the ointment is actually “Spikenard” and she took a whole pound of it and anointed Jesus with it.

When John says here in Verse 3 of Chapter 12 that it was a “very costly” ointment he wasn’t kidding!

If you do a little research, you will find that this “spikenard” Mary anoints Jesus with was from a special plant that was indigenous to India and this much of it in her day and time would cost about a whole year’s worth of wages!

Mary takes this ointment that no doubt was near and dear to her heart because of it’s great cost and she uses it to anoint our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This goes to show Mary’s true love for her Savior!

No cost was to much for her!

She gave him the best she had and man could we take some lessons from this young lady this morning!

We have a hard time giving God what’s rightfully his much less the best of what we have!

She didn’t only give him the best she had but as we learned about the meaning of her hair she gave him the best of her!

How many of you this morning, are giving God the best of yourself?

Are you giving God the best of yourself or what’s left of yourself? Are you giving God the first fruits or the last fruits?

And it’s because of this great cost, that Judas speaks up and says, “why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?”

And if you look in John’s Gospel, in 12:6 it says, “he said this not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein!”

And in Matthew’s Gospel it says not only did Judas speak up but when the others heard him they chimed in as well!

Can I tell you this morning friends that ole Judas was one sly puppy! He had all these disciples fooled into thinking that he was trying to do the right thing for the poor and the whole time, in his mind, the only thing he was thinking was how much money he was losing out on!

As I began to think about Judas when I was studying this, I couldn’t help but to think that here was a man who walked hand in hand with our Lord and Savior for 3 ½ years and no doubt at some point preached, and had the power to cast out demons and seen miracle after miracle that he performed and somehow, someway he was still lost!!

But then I began to think how that things are the same in today’s time!

People come to Church, they hear the Gospel preached, they may even claim to get saved and join the Church and get involved in the activities of the Church just as Judas was, but at the end of the day, they aren’t willing to let go of the things of this world to take hold of a Savior that can save their souls!

And that’s what Jesus replies to them here. He says, “leaver her alone! She’s doing the right thing. She’s preparing me for my burial. She has her priorities in the right place!”

Mark 14:8 KJV 1900

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

I thought about this as I was studying…this spikenard no doubt had to be one of the most expensive ointments of that day and time, right?

Only the best was fit or a King, don’t ya think?

And then we wonder why Matthew put this passage that happened on the Saturday before, why did he put it here? Here’s why!

This day, when Jesus rebuked the disciples, he angered old Judas a little bit no doubt! And he also told them that she was preparing his body for burial right?

Now the thing to keep in mind here is up to now, even though he has told them multiple times, the disciples still thought that Jesus was going to overthrow Rome and break the yoke of Roman oppression. They thought Jesus would deliver Israel, establish a restored kingdom in Israel, and richly reward His followers.

And even though Jesus had rebuked the disciples over Mary and this ointment the Saturday before, Judas still felt as though this was the plan but when it becomes apparent to Judas here, when Jesus tells them on the Mount of Olives that he’s about to be crucified, Judas decides it’s time to get out while the getting is good!

Judas, no doubt, followed Jesus because he wanted power and money. He never truly embraced the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Why did he stay with Jesus? More than likely because he was looking for a way to use Jesus to make himself rich.

And since Jesus was not going to fulfill things the way Judas had thought he decides he going to go to the priests here and get what he can before Christ dies!

That my friend is why Matthew puts the story of Martha right here! It gives us a picture of a Christian who is sold out to Christ and a picture of so called Christian who is sold out to the world!

The question I pose to you is this…which one are you?

The Bible says in:

A. 1 John 2:15-17- 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Are you like Mary in that the things of this world have no hold on you or are you like Judas in that the things of this world have total control over you?

I’m gonna be honest with you this morning church, there are some of you sitting here who are more worried about the material things of this world more than you are seeing people come to Christ! And that’s a problem!

When the things of this world become more important to you than seeing lost people come to Christ, friend you got some things that you need to be working out with Jesus because your heart ain’t in the right spot!

And during the altar call this morning, I suggest you come up here and get things right with Jesus like they need to be!

But right here, Mary Recognizes the Lordship of Jesus Christ and Judas Rejects the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

Rejection of Jesus as Lord – (Vs 14-16)

The Bible says “then” Judas went to the chief priests and said what will you give to me to deliver him to you. When you read this account in the book of Luke it says, “then entered Satan into Judas” and he went and communed with the high priests on how he could betray Jesus to them.

Can I tell you this morning friend that the Bible says that “friendship with the world is enmity with God!”

When you reject Jesus as Lord, as Judas did, you become friends with the devil!

The Bible says that friendship with the world is enmity with God and this morning you have a choice to make…are you going to give yourself wholly to God or give yourself wholly to the world?

You can’t do both!

Judas rejected the Salvation that was offered unto him and sold our Lord for 30 pieces of Silver!

This is actually a fulfilling of prophecy in...

Zechariah 11:12 KJV 1900

12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

Not a thing that happened to our Lord happened outside of the will of God!

Even in His death, God was sovereign over all things!

Isn’t that amazing to think of this morning?

Things happen in our lives and they are outside of our control and they catch us off guard but nothing catches my God off guard!!

Do you know how much some commentators say that would be worth in today’s money? About $15! Fifteen Dollars!! Judas sold Jesus the Messiah into the hands of the high priests for $15 and as we will see next week, sealed his fate by rejecting Christ but as for you this morning, you still have a chance!

Closing

If you’re here this morning and lost and undone and in need of a Savior then friend there is one here and his name is Jesus! He can take your sin stained life and wash it white as snow, but you have to be willing to repent of your old ways of life and that’s what Judas problem was! He wasn’t willing to repent and turn from his old way of living!

Maybe you’re sitting here and you’re like Judas in the fact that you have allowed the things of this world tighten it’s grip on you to the point that Jesus is not number one anymore! If that’s you, when we give the invitation won’t you come and ask God to help you let go of your love for the things of this world?

Ask him to give you a heart that yearns to see lost souls saved and no matter the cost, you won’t let the things of this world use you to stand between him and a lost person!

There is no greater contradiction that the term Worldly Christian for the two cannot exist together!

A. James 4:4b – know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

B. Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If this Church is ever going to grow to it’s full potential, then we need to ensure that the world has no grip on us! If you’re failing in this area this morning won’t you come and get things right with God? As they sing!