Matthew Chapter 26 Verses 31 – 35

•Peter loves the Lord. And what he says here, professes…there is no doubt that Peter meant it with all of his heart. One problem…Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” Peter opens his heart and love, loyalty, confidence, assertion, insistence pours out…I will do this, I will never do that…I’m with you forever…sounds a lot like vows that are professed at a wedding ceremony (that are so often broken).

•The Lord answers, “Peter, I know your heart…and it is fallen, you will deny Me…” Peter doesn’t see it…how could he!? He’s resolute…but his resolution and confidence is in his flesh…which man the flesh just fails…our heartfelt vows…and emotion-flushed resolutions…they lack staying power…

•So what are we to do? Live in reality. I’m, by nature, stuck on ME! It’s a new Lionel Richie song, REMIX, “Stuck on ME!” That’s the modus operendi (sp) of my nature. Survival of the fittest, baby! And the core of that, the reason for that, the root of that is the sin nature of everyman…and Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”

•Left to my own logic and reason and capacity I may be smart as all get out…I can make a way for me but I lack wisdom of what is the perfect code for the moment. That action, that heart, that look, that smile, that tone, that glimmer that will bring about life to everyone around me, life to my circumstance, strength to walk in my resolution and pump eternal lasting life into my logic engine!! (How I learn…)

•My heart which drives my life…is lost. My flesh will fail. And so Paul writes in Philippians 3 to have no confidence in the flesh but to rejoice in Christ Jesus! And so Peter, man he means this, this vow…but will find no strength to walk in it because his dependence and confidence is on himself…don’t fall into that trap! Depend upon the Lord, walk in His grace and His Word and what you’ll discover is that you can do all things through CHRIST who gives you strength!!

Matthew Chapter 26 Verse 36

•(John 13 – 17) This is much more intense than it sounds in Matthew’s Gospel. John tells us that they went out into the night and as they walked they crossed the Brook Kidron which was a brook that flowed right at the foot of the temple mount and so this being the Passover…a quarter million lambs being sacrificed there at the temple….the Brook as Jesus led His disciples over it this particular night would be murky red from the blood of the sacrificial lambs being mixed with the water…

Matthew Chapter 26 Verses 37 – 46

•Now this is interesting because recall when God made His covenant between Him and Abram…Abram slept…remember that? Genesis Chapter 15. And here we see as Jesus wrestles with the cost of salvation, the weight of what has happened to creation, and submits to the love of the Father, what’s the condition of those whom He is saving? Nothingness…man what can we bring to salvation? Nothing. The reason why anyone ever will ever be granted entrance into eternal life is Jesus. Nothing can be added to that but disappointment…

•And what about this? How does Matthew know this? What happened there? James, John, Peter…they all slept. Jesus went alone. Matthew wasn’t there…these kinds of questions I take to the Lord…the only possible answer is that He told them…At some point Jesus told them what He asked, and how He bled great drops of blood. Why? There can only be one reason. To tell them that this is the ONLY way…to gospelize (sp) them so that they and you and me and us understand that if there was any other way, if we could work to be right with God, then Jesus would have skipped the cross and the weight of the world’s darkness. But there isn’t any other way and that is GOOD news!

•Why? Because if there’s no other way then there’s nothing else that we must do but receive what has already been done! Think that sounds cheap? Ever heard someone call Christianity “cheap grace” or “easy way out?” Those statements are wrought with ignorance. Here is the beginning of what it cost. Salvation through Jesus cost more than all of existence combined because it cost Jesus His life…there is no such thing as cheap grace. But the gospel…there is grace! Only salvation and assurity of it is found in Jesus…

•Two other quick things…even Jesus desired help and support from His friends while he battled with this hardship…and His friends loved Him…but the support wasn’t there…still gotta move forward! In the end, it’s just you and the Lord and when you are ok with that, when you settle that, your heart finds strength in dependency upon the only One who is able…it’s then…you’ll lead your heart and those in your life to the Lord. This victory enabled Jesus to ultimately bear the cross…

•Second thing, Peter, temptation is gonna get you when you confide in your flesh…here’s how to prepare to overcome…watch…pray. Watch for the Lord. Watch His Word! Learn His heart and His ways…and then your tune will change to Stuck on You! Watch? My baby nephew can do that! But Lord I wanna do blank for You! (Fill in the blank) But what is required…be still…watch…talk to Me. Two super profitable nuggets…

Matthew Chapter 26 Verses 47 – 50

•This blows me away…not the swords and clubs although that is the epitome of ridiculousness…Jesus, God with us, threatened by a sword…please…no, what blows me away is Jesus’ attitude and reaction to His enemy, His betrayer…, “Friend.” Just the fact that Jesus greeted Judas with love and welcome…blows me away…Jesus expresses commitment to His betrayer…try to do that with your dark heart! No way!

•And John tells us that in this scene, this moment, so cool, so powerful…Jesus asks the crowd of soldiers, “Whom are you seeking?” And they say, “Jesus of Nazareth.” And He responds, “I AM,” and at that moment, the fallen world is put on its back! KO! Powerful, man! From the revelation of Yah to Moses, “Tell them I AM sent you,” to this moment, the revelation of God completed through Jesus and the earth fallen…falls…

Matthew Chapter 26 Verses 51 – 56

•It’s amazing. In the beginning of the curse of sin…Genesis Chapter 3, God places an angel in front of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life…at the end of the curse of sin, right here at another garden, Jesus says, “sheathe that sword…” It is finished. The fight is over…God has become our Champion…

•And this is so moving…Matthew gives no names but John rats them out…it was Peter who was a skilled fisherman but not too good with the sword and it was Malchus who lost his ear…and Jesus performs his final healing, final miracle before the cross…in that He heals His betrayer…exactly what He did for me…