Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 26:1-16 "The Fragrance of Christ"

Marc Transparenti / General

The King's Cross | Matthew 26-27

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

• Parents you may dismiss your kids!

• If you don't have a Bible...

• Announcements:

• Thank you for your prayers and those of you who stayed in touch to check on our family as we were getting back on our feet health wise.

• Please continue to pray for the various families in our fellowship not here today, recovering from various illnesses.

• Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day.

I've gotten to know the Interim President at Grace College a little bit, Dr. Teevan, and he recently shared thoughts on this day.

• Some brief excerpts.

He wrote, "The purpose of MLK day is not to patronize him as a saint... but to renew our commitment to his commitments.

I want to emphasize three aspects of his leadership and urge us to follow three aspects even as we honor his memory.

• 1. MLK's fundamental understanding of human beings was that we are all created in the image of God.

There are no exceptions, no rankings, no alternative views.

• 2. While he was a forceful man and though he died in violence, he was committed to nonviolence.

• 3. MLK had a focus on justice.

Evangelicals, including me, in his day were overfocused on righteousness and neglectful of justice.

Today it is common to overfocus on justice and neglect righteousness.

...we are capable of holding those two values in balance without resorting to extremes.

Let's pursue that balance together."

• John's full paper is over at the welcome table.

• If you are new to Calvary Chapel...I'm Pastor Marc, welcome!

Thanks for joining us today!

• Welcome Card & Prayer Basket!

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Please turn in your bibles to Matthew 26.

We are now in a New Year... 2022... and a New Theme as we look at Matthew chapters 26-27.

For the past three months... since October... our theme was "The King's Ministry in Jerusalem."

We looked at Jesus' final ministry moments in Jerusalem during the Passover week... starting with The Triumphal Entry.

• Scholars estimate that around 2 million Jews would gather at Jerusalem during the feasts...

• ... and this massive crowd was the crowd who welcomed Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey... shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"

• Jesus taught them and healed them... ministered to His creation in love.

• But by the end of this week... this same crowd would be swayed by the Pharisees and they would turn on Jesus... repeatedly crying out, "Crucify Him."

• There will be a theme of betrayal in these chapters... Jesus is betrayed not only by the people, but also by His own people... by His disciples.

• Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

• Peter betrayed Jesus denying Him 3x.

• The rest of the disciples fled once Jesus was arrested.

• John, alone, stayed near during the trials and crucifixion.

• The chapters ahead are hard... emotionally taxing because they portray the account of the brutal passion and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• But, His death was not at the hand of the Jews who shouted, "Crucify Him!"

• Nor the Religious Leaders who master minded Jesus' murder.

• Nor Pilate who knew Jesus was innocent, but gave the order anyway to appease the crowds and avoid riots.

• And, Jesus' death was not at the hand of the Roman soldiers who tortured Him, and pierced His hands and feet as they hung Him on the cross.

• No one took Jesus' life...

He freely gave it to redeem mankind.

He was in total control.

• Earlier in His ministry, Jesus said... John 10:17-18 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

This command I have received from My Father."

This is what we will observe in Matthew 26-27, and why I've titled the general theme of these chapters, "The King's Cross."

• We all have a cross to bear... Some of the married ladies are thinking, "Yeah, and I'm sitting right next to him."

That's not what I'm talking about.

The cross you bear is not marriage.

Don't elbow your spouse.

• In Mark 8:34-38, Jesus is recorded speaking about the cross we all must bear IF we are truly His.

• We read, "When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.

36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

• What a great parallel to today's passage as we will see Mary taking up her cross and Judas betraying the Lord.

• The cross we must bear to follow Christ, is denying our core self-centeredness, and submitting our very lives to follow Jesus.

• Paul said in Rom 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

• For all that Jesus did for us, as we will see in Matthew 26-27, it is reasonable that we stop serving ourselves and show our faith by our works (as James said).

• But, the cross we bear pales in comparison to "The King's Cross" as we will see.

Matthew 26-27 is sobering.

These chapters come off the tail end of the Olivet Discourse, and pick up on the same day, Tuesday of the Passion Week.

Now in the afternoon, and still on the Mount of Olives... just Jesus and His disciples.

Let's pick up in V1...

The title of today's sermon is "The Fragrance of Christ."

Let's Pray!

Matthew 26:1-2 "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings [speaking about The Olivet Discourse... Matthew 24-25], that He said to His disciples, 2 "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."

1.

So, with these two verses, we observe a transition.

Jesus finished answering the disciples questions about end times, and then shifts their attention to the present.

To what was at hand... after two days Jesus would be crucified.

a.

This was late Tuesday afternoon... which in Jewish reckoning... the next day begans at sundown... so this would be the start of Wednesday.

b.

Thursday afternoon, the Passover lamb would be slaughtered... which was Friday by Jewish reckoning.

c.

Christians call this "Good Friday."

d.

In 2022, Fri, April 15th is both Good Friday and the beginning of Passover.

2. In V2, note... again No recorded response by the disciples.

They were very silent during the Olivet Discourse, and they remain silent.

It's a lot to take in.

a.

This is Jesus 4th major passion prediction.

"... the Son of Man [Jesus' favorite messianic title for Himself] will be delivered up to be crucified."

b.

Several other times, Jesus hinted at or alluded to His death and resurrection, but beginning in Jesus' third year of ministry...

He began to explicitly and prophetically foretell His own death...

i.

In V2 He gives a timestamp... in two days I will be crucified.

And, that's exactly what happened.

Jesus' words were true.

c.

Matt 16:21 was Jesus' 1st major passion prediction..."From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."