The Trials before the Storm

Matthew 26:30-46

Good morning, church!

Thank you for joining us at CCMP!

I pray that you had a blessed week and are excited to jump into the Word of God this morning.

I know that I am!

Matthew 26:30-46 is where we are going to be this morning.

Immediately after service, we are holding out Volunteer team open house. The leaders of each ministry team will be stationed around the room for you to go and talk to about joining their teams.

Hopefully, you were either here last week or able to watch last week. Each of these team leaders briefly spoke about the needs of their ministries and we talked about our future plans as a church that we are striving to accomplish specifically after the first of the year.

Hopefully, you have taken the week to consider how you can help us accomplish those goals and are ready to join in!

The Elders also opened the door to accept applicants for Elders for the next two weeks. If you desire to be an elder or you would like to nominate someone to be an elder, please let either myself, Rodney or Jeff know prior to Sept 6th.

This morning, we are going to see two different men and how they respond to the Word of God that was both written and spoken.

Two different prophetic words, two different reactions. Both of their reactions served an eternal purpose.

Let’s pray and dive in this morning.

Matthew 26:30–46 ESV

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

This morning, we are going to look at Peter and Jesus.

We are going to see the Word spoken, their responses and the purposes.

Let’s start with the

VS 30-35 Peter

First is the Word spoken over Peter and the disciples.

Jesus says, Matthew 26:31

Matthew 26:31 ESV

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

We have to remember that

when Jesus speaks, He speaks the Word of God.

because He is God in the flesh,

His Words carry the same weight and authority as the rest of scripture.

His words are proclamations from the mouth of God the Father.

It’s good to put that into perspective.

But Jesus referenced a Word of the Lord spoke by the prophet Zechariah.

Zechariah 13:7 ESV

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.

So, the weight of Jesus’ statement is first in His authority as the Son of God, the Word of God and secondly in the Spirit inspired words given to the prophet Zechariah 550 years before Jesus said it out loud.

The weight of the Word of God is vital to understanding the pride and arrogance of Peter here.

It also important to understand what Jesus said first and the new word that Jesus spoke in response to Peter’s response.

But look at Peter’s response.

Matthew 26:33 ESV

Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”

Okay Peter, the Son of God just spoke and He told you that He never speaks anything that has not come down from His Father above.

He also referenced an OT prophet to prove His point.

But look at the heart of the response.

First,

they will all fall away but not me.

He places Himself over the disciples around him.

What could sound like zeal, was actually arrogance and pride.

He basically said, that sounds right about them, but not me, Jesus! This is Peter you’re talking to!

Not only that but he was telling

He told Jesus, directly to His face, that He was wrong.

He said, I hear you but that’s not going to happen!

The last time Peter did this, Jesus told them that He had to suffer and die and Peter said that that wasn’t going to happen!

Jesus’ issued His possible harshest response, with, “Get behind me, satan!”

Peter had a track record of hearing Jesus say something and His immediate reaction was to deny and argue with what Jesus just said.

Jesus had plans for Peter. He chose him to be the leader of the church during its foundational years.

Peter was an influential man. A man that people wanted to follow!

Jesus responds to Peter by telling Him that satan is wanting to sift him like wheat, according to Luke.

Luke 22:31–32 NASB95

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Satan wanted permission to sift Peter. To sift was to take the stalks of wheat into an open air barn, beat it, the good wheat seeds would fall to the ground here they could be collected. But the chaff would be carried away by the wind.

To sift Peter was to put him through a trail and see if he was good seed or if he would float away when things got tough.

Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith in Him would not fail him and that once, Peter had gone through that trail, he would return back and lead his fellow disciples.

Peter, even after hearing all of this, still revealed his heart.

Even if I must die, I will prove you wrong.

So, what was the purpose?

The Purpose

The purpose was that Peter was an influential man and Jesus wanted to use His influence for the Kingdom of God.

And in our passage, we see in verse 35, after Peter for the second time tells Jesus that He is wrong, lead all of the other disciples to say the same thing to Jesus.

They followed Peter’s words of Jesus’ words.

So, Peter heard the Word of God spoken to his face and even prophecied 550 years before.

And because he thought he knew himself better that Jesus and God’s Word, he denied it.

He would not believe that God’s Word was true about him.

What a dangerous place to be in.

Peter’s pride and arrogance had to be purged from his life in order to the man and leader that God created him to be!

When we heard God’s Word, when we read it, or when it is spoken to us, is there a tendency to have Peter’s heart?

To argue with God’s Word about your life. How quickly can the heart of the pharisee sneak in and cause us to pray, “Lord, at least I’m not like that person over there. At least, I didn’t do this or that like they did.”

We must be cautious for the arrogance of heart that will quickly want to elevate ourselves over others.

We must be equally cautious to resist the pride in our hearts to say that I don’t have to worry about that temptation or that sin, I would never fall into that!

Instead of praying to the Spirit of God within you begging God to guard your heart that is prone to wonder towards sin, even sins we thought we could never walk towards.

We must be equally cautious, mothers, fathers, grandparents! What kind of influence are you teaching your children about how to respond to God’s Word?

We are all people of influence. We all have people that look to us and just might follow our example.

What kind of example are we setting?

Is our pride and arrogance leading others to see themselves the same way? That they are above God’s Word?

Humility is an absolute necessity to lead in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus requires it. And He might even allow satan to sift you. To humble you.

How you respond to that sifting will show the Lord if you are humble and able to lead in His Kingdom.

Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would be strong enough.

First to return. First to repent. First to humble himself in true repentance!

Second to come back back as a humble leader of others.

But there is also the path of Judas. Who was tempted and failed just like Peter will. Judas didn’t return in repentance.

But Jesus prayed that Peter would return in true Biblical humility and repentance.

Now, to Jesus

VS 36-46 Jesus

It was foreknown before the foundation of the earth was laid, that Jesus would suffer and die on the cross.

It was spoke starting in Gen 3 and all throughout the OT that Jesus’ road led to Calvary.

Jesus, Himself, the Word of God, prophecied over and over again that He would face the gruesome death on the cross.

He knew that it was not simply physical pain that He would have to suffer but scripture tells us that He would also have to suffer the wrath of God poured out on Him for the punishment of all the sins of the world!

Greater than the physical suffering of the cross is the spiritual suffering that He would endure when the justice of the righteous God would be carried out on the shoulders of the perfect, spotless Son of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus knew that the guilt and shame of every single horrific, grotesque sin ever commited by human history, the worst news stories that you ever read, every true crime podcast ever created, every disgusting sin ever committed would be laid on Him as if HE committed them!

And He knew that every single of those sins deserved the death penalty, not just physical death but eternal death.

He knew that God is perfectly just and every sin would have to be dealt with.

Jesus knew that He was about to experience something that no human could ever touch.

Martin Luther said that a simple touch of the rim of the cup of God’s wrath against a man’s lips would utterly destroy a man.

These were the words spoken over Jesus and what He was about to walk through.

Jesus’ response.

Jesus is staring down the barrel of the most horrific events.

And there was conflict within Him.

Scholars disagree on what the conflict was actually between with Jesus that we are getting to see.

On one side, there is the perfect will of the Father spoken before the foundation of the Earth that Jesus would go through with the purpose for His birth, His death on the cross.

But on the other side, Jesus was flesh. Just as much as you and I!

One of the contention points is did Jesus have a sin nature? Was He warring with His sinful nature?

Some say that Jesus had no sin nature and He was warring with His physical flesh’s resistance to the pain and suffering that He was about to endure. That His fight or flight response, created side was trying to over ride His submission to the Father’s will.

Some say Satan had returned from the wilderness to tempt Jesus again. Offering another path, another way, another cup.

Regardless on what way, you might sway, the scripture is clear in this passage, Jesus was sorrowful in His soul, to the point of death.

Later, Jesus seems to speak for Himself and Peter that the Spirit is willing and the flesh is weak.

What we also know from the rest of scripture is that

Jesus was warring against the desire to sin. To be disobedient to the Father’s will.

The writer of Hebrews says that we ought to struggle against our desires to sin, like Jesus.

Hebrews 12:4 ESV

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And we know that Luke records that Jesus was struggling in the garden to the point of sweating blood from the pores of His skin!

Hebrews 5:7–9 ESV

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

During this test in the Garden, Jesus was facing His final test of obedience to the Father’s will. Within Him was a desire to run. A desire to no go through with what was spoken over Him!

But He prayed with reverence. He prayed with submission. He prayed with surrender and humility in His heart.

He spoke His mind, His fears and His sorrow with His heavenly Father.

But

His submission to the Father’s will SUPERSEDED the feelings of His soul and heart!

In the end, even after asking three times, the Father’s will was final and Jesus submitted to the suffering.

I can’t help but see the parallel between these sets of three.

Peter was going to be asked three times if He was a disciples and he would deny Jesus three times before the roster would crow.

Jesus asked three times for the cup to pass but surrendered to the Father’s will.

Paul asked three times for the thorn in His flesh to be removed. For his pain and suffering to be removed.

The Father’s response seems appropriate for all three circumstances!

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

All three were at their weakest point, all three were faced three times with an opportunity to resist, run and deny what God had spoken.

And God’s grace was and is sufficient for all of our struggles and pain.

For all the sifting and trials, meant to humble us and bring us back to Him,

For all the difficult times and moments that we face, we must remember

that no matter how you respond, HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU!

Whether you denied Him like Peter, or submitted like Jesus or Paul, His grace is enough for ALL OF YOUR NEEDS!

We must follow the example of all three men and be okay with our weakness!

To be okay with our fear and pain, because in your weakness the power of CHRIST REST ON YOU!

When you are weak, you are made strong!

Have you lacked God’s power in your life?

Have you not seen the presence of God fall in your life?

When was the last time you fell on your face three times and confessed to God your weakness?

When was the last time you hit your knees and confessed the internal war within you that you have been trying to fight by your own strength, your own willpower and failed over and over again?

Fall on your face three times, ten times, a hundred times, until in your weakness you are filled with the power of Christ within you!

Grace is anything good that comes to you from the Father and His grace is sufficient for all trials, all temptations, all sorrow and all pain.

Fall on your face in humility. Do not deny the Word of God before you or spoken over you. Confess your weakness as many times as it takes for the power of God to fill you. Enough times for the Grace of God to be sufficient for every area of your life.

Turn it all over to Him.

Today, God’s Word has been presented before you and spoken over you.

Will you be like Peter and deny it or even tell the Word that it is wrong about you?

Or will you follow the example of Jesus and over and over again, confess your weakness. Submitted to His will no matter what.

For what purpose did Jesus have to go through this?

The purpose

Two reasons

First was from the previous Hebrews 5 passage.

Hebrews 5:9 ESV

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Jesus had to face this sin so that He could claim total perfection.

He had to know the type of temptation, anguish and fear that would cause soul sorrow unto death.

He had to face that level of suffering to be able to be the perfect spotless Lamb of God to be the sacrifice that paid for all the sins of the world.

He had to experience that to be truly considered perfect.

Second, is because when I talk about that level of suffering in your soul that feels like death, you can actually relate to it.

Jesus had to go through this so that He would be able to sympathize with us.

Jesus had to suffer this level of fear and suffering because He knew that in this life, there would be the same level of pain and suffering.

Sin can cause some of the hardest depths of pain and suffering that sinks into the very heart of a person.

Think about that. The temptation that Jesus experienced was the same as a drug addict suffering withdrawals. The same as an alcoholic looking for another drink.

Jesus suffered the greatest temptation that we have never even suffered.

Why?

Hebrews 4:15–16 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus is able to sympathize with your greatest weakness! With your greatest temptation!

He was tempted in every way that we can be tempted!

Yet He was able to persevere through that temptation!

But He knows how difficult it is to resist!

Why did Jesus go through the garden?

So, that He could stand as our great high priest making sacrifices for us giving into the temptation that He resisted!

He stands not with judgement or condemnation, but with sympathy! With grace!

So, Hebrews tells us to move towards Him in your time of need with confidence that you will be met with sympathy, grace and mercy!

WOW! How amazing is our Jesus?!

Main thoughts for us this morning.

How will you respond to the Word this morning? Like Peter or like Jesus?

Confess your weakness to Jesus and beg for His power to rest on you in your weakness. And His power will help you overcome temptation like He did in the garden

But if you have fallen like Peter, fear not, you have a great high priest that is praying for your return to Him. That you faith will not fail you. That you will met the sympathetic Jesus at the throne of grace in your time of need.

Both require us to humble ourselves before Him and confess our weakness and our inability to defeat sin on our own.

Rest in your weakness. Boast in your weakness. Because its only in your weakness that you are made strong with the power of Christ.

Let’s pray