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The Trial of Peter
Luke 22:54-62
December 20, 2020

This morning we come to the famous text of Peter’s 3-fold denial of Jesus.
Even the unredeemed world knows about this one.

It is one of those stories that has the unique privilege
Of being included in all four gospel accounts.
(Even the raising of Lazarus or the transfiguration of Jesus didn’t hold that position)

I don’t know if that is interesting to you, but it is to me.
It is interesting that each of these writers,
While carrying us through the most important moment of the life of Christ,
Felt it necessary to take a moment and reveal this scene.

WHY?

By now you should know that the goal certainly WASN’T to embarrass Peter.
Luke has gone out of his way to spare the disciples any unnecessary shame.
• Luke didn’t talk about how John wanted to sit on Jesus’ right and left.
• Luke didn’t talk about how Jesus said they would all run from Him.
• Luke alone mentioned that Jesus commended the 11 for sticking with Him in
His trials.
• Luke didn’t mention the 3 times Jesus found them sleeping (only once)
• Luke didn’t mention that they all ran away in the garden
• Luke didn’t name Peter as the infamous sword swinger

Luke has been very CAREFUL NOT TO cast the disciples
In an overly negative light, and yet here it is.

EVEN LUKE INCLUDES THE DENIAL OF PETER.

I refer to it as “The Trial of Peter”

If you’ve read the gospel accounts of the suffering of Christ
Then you know that JESUS IS NOT THE ONLY ONE ON TRIAL HERE.

Oh sure, He stands before Annas and Caiaphas and the elders and Pilate and Herod and Pilate again and the mob, but Jesus is not the only one on trial.

Read John’s gospel
• Pilate is clearly the one who is on trial.
• He tries to do everything he can to get rid of Jesus without having to make a ruling on Him, but even Jesus won’t help him out.
• Pilate is forced to decide what to do with Jesus, and he chooses wrongly.

The same is true for the chief priests, Herod, and the crowd.

AND IT IS ALSO TRUE FOR PETER.
This morning, Peter is on trial.

And in that sense, Peter serves as a contrast to Christ.

You’ve already seen Luke use the disciples in this way once.
• Earlier in the upper room the disciples were arguing about who was the
greatest, but Jesus emerges as a contrast.

Remember?
Luke 22:24-27 “And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ “But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. “For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

Remember how Luke showed us the greatness of Jesus by contrasting Him to the disciples.
• In that room, only Jesus was humbling Himself
• In that room, only Jesus was laying aside His glory for others
• In that room, only Jesus was serving at His own cost

Jesus is the great one.

Well Luke does a similar thing here
When he includes this failure of Peter.

Where Peter is failing, Jesus is succeeding.

Both men are being simultaneously interrogated.
• Jesus is being interrogated at the hands of the Jewish elders and High Priests
• Peter is being interrogated by a couple of servant girls

• Jesus remains resolute and does not waiver.
• Peter falls to pieces.

The scene is the living embodiment of what Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

So we are seeing yet again that Jesus is doing for the disciples
What they could not and would not do for themselves.

Well, let’s work our way through the text, and hopefully by the end of it, you will have an even greater understanding as to why you need Christ.

We’ll break the text down into 3 points.
#1 PETER’S SELF-CONFIDENCE
Luke 22:54-55

The outline here refers to Peter throughout, but do not make the mistake of thinking the story is primarily about Peter, it is not.

Peter’s denial is merely used to further the greater story about Jesus.
LUKE ISN’T talking all about Jesus and just all of a sudden
Had some weird decision to take a break in the narrative
And talk about dangers of self-confidence or principles of humility.

No, Luke is continuing the story of Jesus.
And this story is included as a fitting backdrop
And contrast to the coming trial of Jesus.

And it begins with Peter’s self-confidence.

(54-55) “Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.”

Now this would not be significant if it weren’t for the fact that
Jesus has spoken extensively to Peter about what is going on.

Jesus had warned Peter that he was about to be sifted (22:31)
How did Peter respond? HE ARGUED
Luke 22:33 “But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

Jesus had warned the disciples about the coming dangers. Remember the sell your coat and get a sword warning? (22:36)
But the disciples clearly MISUNDERSTOOD
Luke 22:51 “But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.”

Jesus had told the disciples to pray that they might not enter temptation (22:40)
But the disciples IGNORED IT and were sleeping.
Luke 22:45-46 “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

All of that is self-confidence and arrogance.

Peter especially has adamantly proclaimed
That he is stronger than the Lord said he is.

That’s pretty self-confident.
• When you reach the point where you can tell the Lord that you are stronger than He thinks you are…
• When you reach the point where you think the Lord needs your deliverance…
• When you reach the point where you don’t think you need to pray…

And when you reach the point where you are willing to go into a situation
That the Lord has already told you that you can’t handle…

YOU ARE OVER THE TOP IN YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE.
That was Peter.

Here he was, following Jesus right into the lion’s den.

“Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest;”

I don’t want to deviate from Luke too much,
But I do think there is value in laying out the full scene.

If you read Matthew’s gospel,
You are continually confronted with what might be considered the injustice of Jesus’ trial.

There were laws, Jewish laws that meticulously spelled out how a Jewish trial must be handled (go listen to the Matthew sermons)

Things like:
• Couldn’t hold a trial in the middle of a feast
• Couldn’t trial a criminal at night
• False witnesses must suffer the fate of the one they seek to condemn
• Cannot force the accused to testify
• Must wait 3 days to pass sentence
• Any acquitting evidence immediately nullifies the trial
• And there’s a lot more.

Matthew just wants you to see that even by Jewish standards
The conviction of Jesus was a corrupt farce.

I simply want to remind you that by arresting Jesus
And taking Him at night to the house of the high priest,
They are breaking many of their own laws.

This is a setup.
They are stacking the deck against Him.

But let me show you how it all played out.

So Luke says “they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest;”

That would be the house of Caiaphas, he was high priest that year.

Now, as they reached the house, you remember
• That John was known to the priest and he was able to enter, but John had to speak on Peter’s behalf to get him in the gate.

John 18:12-16 “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people. Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.”

It appears that there is a bit of a discrepancy because in John’s gospel
We find out that they “led Him to Annas first”

REMEMBER Annas had been high priest, and then each of his sons had been high priest and now Caiaphas his son-in-law was high priest.

I like to call Annas the Jewish godfather.
He ran the Jewish mafia so to speak.

Caiaphas was currently the priest, but Annas was in charge.

And so when they take Jesus to the house of Caiaphas,
Annas intercepts the transport in the courtyard
And he is the first to take a shot at Jesus.

And you read that account in John 18
John 18:19-24 “The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. “Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?” So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.”

So after that impromptu trial Jesus is taken into the house
Where Caiaphas and many elders are there to try Jesus again.

That is the trial you read about in Matthew and Mark.
Matthew 26:59-66 “Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.'” The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

So Jesus has already been tried twice.

From there however, they have to make the trial appear legal because all of this has been done under the cloak of darkness.
• So early Friday morning, they take Jesus out of Caiaphas’ house,
• Back through the courtyard,
• And they take Jesus to what Luke calls the “council chamber”
• This was a bogus and sham trial, meant only for the optics where they again ran Jesus through the ringer just to try and make a sham trial appear legal.

That is the trial you read about in:
Luke 22:66-71 “When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. “But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

And following that, they lead Jesus on to Pilate to try and have Him killed.

So it is quite a night for Jesus.
3 times He is confronted and 3 times He holds His ground.
(You are already picking up on the contrast)

WELL, HERE IS PETER.
He has followed where he ought not to have gone
Since the Lord already told him that he was prime for sifting
And that he could not handle the coming temptation.

But Peter has followed anyway.
And by the time we get to verse 55

Peter is in the courtyard while Jesus is on trial.

(55) “After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.”

He obviously thinks he is able to handle
What Jesus had told him he could not.

It is self-confidence and you already know that pride comes before a fall.

The warning of Paul rings in our ears:
1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Well, there is Peter’s self-confidence
#2 PETER’S DOCUMENTED COLLAPSE
Luke 22:56-60

“And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”

THERE IS STRIKE ONE.

Let me give you more context.
John 18:16-17 “but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”

This denial happened right off the bat.

At the point of this denial, Jesus was also in the courtyard
Being addressed by Annas that Jewish mafia leader.

Remember that was the one where Annas didn’t like Jesus’ tone so he ordered one of the officers to punch Jesus in the mouth?

So see the scene?
• Jesus is before Annas; Peter is before a servant girl
• Jesus is being punched in the mouth; Peter is being looked at intently.
• Jesus remains faithful, Peter fails.

And then at this point, as I told you,
They haul Jesus up into Caiaphas’ house where Peter is not allowed.

So Peter just stays out by the fire in the courtyard keeping warm.

(58) “A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man I am not!”

Incidentally, Mark reveals that the “another” here is another servant girl.

Mark 14:69-70 “The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!”

It is obvious that her announcement triggered the attention of the men sitting around which explains why Peter said, “Man I am not!”

But again the point.
• Jesus is up in Caiaphas’ house being accused and tried by the Sanhedrin; Peter is again being accused by a servant girl.
• Jesus is facing a jury of Jewish elders; Peter is facing a jury of common men.
• Jesus is facing false witnesses raised up against Him; Peter is facing one true witness.

And again Jesus stands his ground and Peter caves.

THAT WAS STRIKE TWO.

And then we come to the third.

(59-60) “After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.”

“After about an hour had passed” gives us indication as to how long Jesus was in Caiaphas’ house getting falsely accused.

• But now that trial is over and it is nearly morning (hence the rooster)
• Since it is almost daylight they’re taking Jesus back through the courtyard
• To His 3rd trial, which is that phony one meant to look legitimate.

And as Jesus is passing through we get Peter’s 3rd chance.
“Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” But Peter said, “man, I do not know what you are talking about.”

John’s gospel says that this 3rd accuser was actually a relative of the man whose ear Peter had just cut off.

John 18:26 “One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?”

That means that this could very well be one of the arresting officers,
Now leading Jesus to the next trial is identifying Peter.

The sun is coming up, things are clearing up, and one of the officers actually says “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?”

This is a bit more serious than the previous two confrontations.
Two slave girls is one thing, but now we have a guy with some clout.

But Peter isn’t taking any chances and says “man, I do not know what you are talking about.”

Now, again Luke is gracious to Peter.

Matthew reveals:
Matthew 26:73-74 “A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!”

“curse and swear” doesn’t mean Peter started cussing.
It means Peter started saying things like, “May God strike me dead if I’m lying” or “I swear on my own health”, etc.

He was calling down curses on himself in order to prove he was telling the truth.

THAT IS STRIKE THREE

While Jesus is being hauled for one more trial, Peter has his 3rd.
And again, where Jesus stands strong, Peter fails.

His great confidence has collapsed.
Peter wasn’t nearly as strong as he thought he was.

And we read those famous words:
“Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.”

• Peter is giving it everything he has to prove he is innocent
• And defend his lie that he doesn’t know Jesus
• And the only one competing with him to be heard was that pesky rooster in the background.

And the words of Jesus are fulfilled.

Incidentally, many have said that since that day
That the rooster has become a symbol in the church of repentance.

Since this rooster would signify Peter’s failure, lead to his bitter weeping, repentance, and restoration by the Lord.

So the next time you lay in bed and hear a rooster crow
Just consider it a message from God that you need to repent.
(Or at least roll ever and remind your wife that she needs to)

But you see that Peter has blown it.
Jesus is succeeding, Peter is failing.

Peter’s Self-Confidence; Peter’s Documented Collapse
#3 PETER’S CRUSHING COMPREHENSION
Luke 22:61-62

No words are here spoken, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest
That this was the loudest sermon Peter ever heard.

“The Lord turned and looked at Peter.”

The timing of Peter’s third denial was divinely orchestrated
While Peter is speaking, the rooster is crowing.
While the rooster is crowing, Jesus and Peter make eye contact

I don’t what the look was.
• Was it the look your dad gave you when you messed up big?
• Was it the look your wife gives you when she “told you so”?
• Was it the look your grandma gave you when you were hurt?

I tend to think there was probably a look of compassion there.
A “Yes you blew it, but I still love you” look.

I don’t know.
But I do know what that look brought to Peter’s mind.

“And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”

As soon as Peter made eye-contact with Jesus
He immediately remembered that arrogant argument
He had the night before.

Luke 22:33-34 “But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

I’ll go to prison with You Jesus!
I’ll die with You Jesus!

Well here was Jesus, in the hands of His arrestors, on His way to death
And Peter was given the opportunity by one of the officers
To join the team and Peter ran from it with everything he had.

(62) “And he went out and wept bitterly.”

Why did he weep?
• Certainly in part because of what was happening to Jesus.
• Luke told us how in the garden that they were “sleeping from sorrow”.

The greater portion of Peter’s weeping had to do with the fact that Peter had just been slammed against his own weakness.

Peter just got an honest look at Peter.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Peter had just been laid open by the sword of God’s word.

James says that God’s word is like a mirror which a man looks into.
Peter had just been given a good look.

More than the coming death of Jesus,
Peter is weeping about the crushing death of Peter.

PETER WAS JUST PUT ON TRIAL before Christ and before God
And it was revealed to him that HE WAS NOT ENOUGH.

Humility is often a painful lesson to learn.
Pride is a hard enemy to kill and it typically takes a crushing blow to take it down.

And I’m NOT SUGGESTING that Peter was lost
And just reach a point of awareness of that fact.
• Peter was already aware that he needed Christ.
• Peter had already confessed Jesus as the Son of God.
• As Luke pointed out, Peter had been standing with Jesus in His trials.

But even the redeemed need their pride crushed.
Even the redeemed need to learn meekness.
Even the saved sometimes learn humility the hard way.

Peter was just reacquainted with the total inadequacy of Peter.
AND IT BROKE HIM.

It is painful when you lose that one thing
You thought made you better than the rest.

Peter had always been able to count on his boldness and strength.

Who was it that jumped out of the boat to walk on the water? Peter
Who was it that wielded the sword to take on the army arresting Jesus? Peter

When Peter told Jesus that even if all the rest fall away, he never would, PETER REALLY BELIEVED THAT.

EXPERIENCE had taught him that when the adrenaline hit
He had way more fight than flight in him.

EXPERIENCE had taught him that when others ran, he stood his ground.
• He was tough
• He was strong
• He was resilient
• He was unafraid

And sadly Peter had begun to rely upon that.

And the fact is that Peter could not save himself by his own strength.
It was a hard but necessary lesson.

Now let’s look at this in perhaps a different light than you are accustomed.

If we go back to those two great realities of Jesus:
His ACTIVE and PASSIVE Obedience.
• That active obedience being the righteousness He earned for us through His actively obeying the Law.
• That passive obedience being the wrath He bore for us through His enduring the cross.

Now, we are well-aware that we need the righteousness of Jesus.
We have often quoted Isaiah:

Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

And I would tell you that Peter knew that.
Peter knew he wasn’t righteous enough to stand before God.

In fact, the first time Peter was confronted with the deity of Jesus, what did he say?
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

Peter knew he needed Jesus for righteousness.

We know that.
We know about our inability to be righteous before God and that we need Christ.

But do you also know this:
Do you also know about your inability endure judgment?

Apparently Peter didn’t.
• Peter thought he could stand anything.
• Peter thought he could take it no matter how bad it was.

And what did he learn?
HE COULDN’T.

Peter already knew he wasn’t good enough.
Today he learned he wasn’t strong enough.

WHO WAS? Christ.

Only Christ was righteous and Only Christ could withstand the judgment.

Do you see why you need Him?
Only He can do what is required.
• Only He was righteous enough to satisfy the requirement of a holy God.
• Only He was strong enough to endure the judgment of a just God.

You are not.
I am not.
Peter was not.
WE NEED CHRIST

And it goes far beyond even goodness or strength.
There are other things people trust in about themselves that they shouldn’t.
• Are you smart enough to get to heaven without Jesus?
• Are you successful enough..?
• Are you a good enough negotiator..?
• Are you faithful enough..?
• Are you pious enough..?
• Are you rich enough..?

Whatever it is, the answer is: NO

Look, Peter wasn’t the only one to ever learn that lesson.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me — to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul came to the end of himself as well.

And the truth is simple.
Until you come to the end of yourself
You will never trust or glorify Christ as He deserves.

Here Luke (as did the other gospel writers)
Laid Jesus beside the strongest disciple in the bunch,
And it wasn’t even close.

1. Jesus is the greatest…
2. Jesus is the strongest…

And you need Him because you cannot endure what He endured.

• Have you ever humbled yourself and run to Jesus?
• Have you ever come face to face with your own filth or weakness?
• Have you run to Jesus for what He alone can do on your behalf?

You must if you are to be saved.

But even as those who are redeemed.
• Do you see your continual need for Christ?
• As the hymnist said, “I need Thee every hour…”

Peter would learn that wouldn’t he?
And the good news, the Lord forgave Peter.
The Lord restored Peter.

Remember the rest of that statement from Jesus that was made to Peter?

Luke 22:31-32 “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.”

Kind of ironic that the message of Jesus to Peter was
“strengthen your brothers”

Well after this night, whose strength do you think Peter talked about?
It wasn’t his own was it?

HIS HUMILITY LED HIM TO THE GLORY OF CHRIST.

I just want you church to see how badly you need Christ.
• Nothing you possess is of any quality compared to Him.
• Nothing you can do is of any worth compared to Him.
• Nothing you know…
• No ability you possess…
• No trade you have mastered…

It’s all worthless compared to Him.
It’s all a filthy garment.

You need Him in every facet of your life.
And so do I!

He is a great and strong Savior!

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The Soldier’s Psalm
Psalms 91
December 13, 2020

As you note by the title, Psalms 91 has often been referred to as
“The Soldier’s Psalm”

There is a disputed story that has floated around that in the WWII the 91st brigade adopted this Psalm and every one of them survived the war.
As I said, that story is disputed, but of course in our day, what story isn’t?

The Psalm has been adopted by military men throughout the years
As a very fitting prayer for men about to face battle.

The author is not mentioned, Jewish tradition typically holds that if a Psalm has no author listed then it is attributed to the previous Psalm.

Many, therefore, think the author of this Psalm is Moses.
Apparently there is even some sentence structure and grammatical evidence to back that up when you compare Psalms 90 & 91 together.

Now, obviously, no one can be dogmatic,
But if that is the case then what we have here is a Psalm
Wherein Moses is preparing Joshua for the conquest.

That would make it literally THE SOLDIER’S PSALM

That is even more fitting if you remember what the scouting intel revealed
When the children of Israel scouted this land 40 years ago.

Numbers 13:32-33 “So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

Many years later, Joshua would now lead this young army into the Promised Land to face the enemy that terrified their parents.
No doubt they would all need a little encouragement.

This Psalm also presents itself as timely encouragement for us
Who live in an ever changing world with ever growing hostilities.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS.
This Psalm encourages you however that the dangers of tomorrow
Are irrelevant if you trust in God.

Honestly, this Psalm preaches itself.
It drips with encouragement from top to bottom.

I will, just give you a few indicators to pick up on as we read it together
To perhaps help you catch the feel and the flow of the writer.

When you read the Psalm it becomes quickly obvious that the Psalm changes POINTS OF VIEW a couple of times.

• Verses 1-2 are written in the 1ST PERSON as the Psalmist talks about himself
and his own personal commitment and confession.

• Verses 3-13 move to the 2ND PERSON where the Psalmist talks to “you”
(perhaps it is Moses talking to Joshua)

• Verses 14-16 move to the 3RD PERSON where we have God now talking
about “him” (perhaps God’s answer to Moses encouragement)

Seeing those points of view helps us understand the mood of the Psalm.

THE WRITER IS NOT THE ONE IN DANGER,
Or at least not the one who is shaken by it.

The Psalmist is writing from experience.
• The encouragement he is giving here is tested and true.
• While it is certainly theological, more than that, it is testimonial.

It brings to my mind the book of 2 Timothy
• Where Paul, the faithful servant, is now passing the mantel to Timothy
• And promising him that God is faithful to care for him in this difficult and
dangerous ministry.

2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

2 Timothy 3:10-11 “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!”

2 Timothy 4:16-18 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Paul isn’t encouraging himself in that letter.
He’s writing to Timothy to let him know that God is faithful,
And can be trusted, and should be trusted.

That is the feel of this Psalm.
We have a man who has proven God writing to a man who is about to.

Let’s work our way through it together.
3 points.
#1 THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S PROTECTION
Psalms 91:1-8

We begin here with the 1st PERSON account.
It is the testimony of the writer.

It is THEOLOGICAL.
(1) “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

• It’s not theoretical
• It’s not wishful thinking
• It is theological fact

If you choose to rest yourself under the Mighty Hand of God,
Then you will find yourself resting under
The shade of God’s powerful protection.

There is a New Testament equivalent to this statement.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I always like the “Bicycle Built For Two” analogy.
• Christ will do all the peddling, but He gets to sit in front, and He gets to steer.
• But the effect for you is rest.
• You get the easy yoke, He takes the hard one.
• You get the light burden, He takes the heavy one.

That is the same thing the Psalmist says here.
If you will in effect surrender yourself to the authority of God and come under His shelter, you will find yourself resting in His shade.

Incidentally, I love the analogy of shade.
Anyone who has lived in very many Texas summers understands the analogy of shade.

We have various forms of shade in Texas, and while they are all favorable to direct heat, they aren’t all the same.
• We have manufactured shade, like hats or carports or canopies.
• We have grown shade, like trees that we can get under.
• But the best shade by far has always been a cloud.
• Nothing will cool you off faster than when a cloud comes over.

And if Moses was indeed writing this Psalm what an image he just projected to Joshua as Israel was living under God’s glory cloud by day.

There is shade and shelter for those who dwell under God’s roof.
Implied there is certainly submission as we even make statements like,
“If you’re gonna live under my roof, then you’re gonna obey my rules.”

We also like the word “abide”
• Especially from the New Testament as it brings to our mind the call of Jesus to
“abide in Me” as in His vine and the branches analogy.

Jesus there used a word that meant “remain”.
“Stick with Me.”

The word here means to “lodge”
Come under the protection of God’s roof
Where you are safe from the elements and safe from dangers,
Put your mind at ease and rest.

The idea is of resting here forever.

And because it is worth it the author of the Psalm says
This is a decision that he himself has made.

(2) “I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust!”

I almost wonder here if the idea isn’t MORE OF ADVICE THAN TESTIMONY
As if the Psalmist is saying, “I would say if I were you” or even “I have said”.

But I’m not skilled enough in Hebrew grammar to make that distinction
So we’ll stick with the translation here and see that the Psalmist
Is giving his own personal affirmation to the theology.

I personally am submitting to God and abiding in Him.

And then the Psalmist goes into full blown encouragement.
• He moves to the 2nd PERSON
• Where he is now encouraging his brother to do the same,
• And he lays out the benefits.

(3-4) “For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”

Verse 3 speaks of 2 dangers.
• “the snare of the trapper” – we might view that as temptation.
• “the deadly pestilence” – we might view that as the effect of temptation.

Satan is a tempter referred to as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
Satan is also a liar and murderer who seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy.

POINT being here that there is an enemy.
And if you abide in the house of God, you are safe from him.

“He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”

And we of course remember Jesus:
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

I have read numerous stories of this type of protection.
The most recent told a story of a grass fire that had burned hundreds of acres.
After the fire went through someone found a chicken roasted to a crisp from the fire.
But when they moved the hen, they found still alive under her wings, her chicks.

That is certainly the imagery.
There is protection from PHYSICAL DANGER.
There is protection from SPIRITUAL DANGER.

But listen, there is even protection from ETERNAL DANGER here.
When Jesus offered to gather Israel under His wings,
He wasn’t just offering to protect them from Satan,
But also from the wrath of God.

Consider this passage:
1 Peter 3:18-21 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

• Peter there speaks of how Christ died and descended into Hades and made
proclamation to spirits now in prison.
• But Peter jumps from there into the days of Noah and how Noah and his
family were brought safely through the flood waters.

And then Peter makes this statement.
“Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you – not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Here we find that Christ descended into Hades,
But that He also emerged up from the grave.

And all those who are in Him
(that is baptized into Him, not by water, but by repentance and faith
or an appeal to God for a good conscience)
Are therefore in Him carried through the judgement as well.

Peter compares Jesus to Noah’s ark.
• If we are in Him, then in Him we are crucified, buried, and raised.
• Christ is the ark that carries us through the judgment.

In Him we survive the danger.

Do you see that same analogy when Jesus was offering to gather Israel under His wings?
• He was offering to safely carry them through the danger.

The Psalmist here says that God does that for those who abide in Him.

Psalms 36:7 “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

There is real protection here.
• Protection from Temptation
• Protection from Death
• Protection from Judgment

Because of this protection, there is a BLESSED REALITY for you to enjoy.

(5-8) “You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.”

The first and most immediate effect of such protection
IS THE TOTAL ABSENCE OF FEAR.

“You will not be afraid…”

It speaks of a person who is well secured in their house.
• They are sleeping in a bunker.
• Nothing and no one can get to them.
• Not “the terror by night”
• Not “the arrow that flies by day”
• Not “the pestilence that stalks in darkness”
• Not “the destruction that lays waste at noon”

We don’t know much of night terror here in America,
Where you go to bed and wonder if someone will invade your home
And attack in your sleep.

We know it’s a possibility,
But people typically trust their dead bolt or their security system.

BUT IMAGINE A SOLDIER.
I’ve told you of those WWII documentaries, and the men who had it (in my estimation) the hardest where the men in the Pacific.

• They would invade an island and move inland and then nightfall would come.
• One younger marine who was paired with an experienced one shared the story how the experienced marine told him to be very quiet, and if jumped by a Japanese soldier in the night, not to use his gun, but only his knife.
• They couldn’t afford to give the Japanese their position with a gun shot.

• And they would tell stories how the Japanese would try to incite the marines into making noise by yelling things like, “Babe Ruth is dead” or “We destroyed the Statue of Liberty” or “Bob Hope is a liar”

The point being, those men shook in fear all night long
That a Japanese soldier might drop into their fox hole at any moment.

• That is what you call “terror by night”

Then of course you wake up the next morning
• And face the actual gun fire and mortar blasts of the Japanese army
• That is “the arrow that flies by day”

Of course also on your mind is the fact that death can come at any moment out of nowhere.
• All of a sudden it is upon you,
• That is “the pestilence that stalks in darkness”

Ultimately you realize that death is a real possibility,
• That is “the destruction that lays waste at noon.”

All of those things are legitimately terrifying things
And yet if you abide in the shadow of the Almighty
“You will not be afraid”

Because if you abide in God, you are sleeping in
The most well-fortified bunker the world could ever imagine.

He goes on to say, (7) “A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.”

We are speaking of one who is absolutely untouchable by the enemy.

Now, certainly we are aware that if taken too literally
And applied to every circumstance than we have a problem.

After all:
Romans 8:35-36 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

Luke 21:12-13 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.”

Certainly God’s people have died.
Certainly God’s people have been persecuted.

It is better to understand this more accurately as the reality that
No one can touch you without the Lord’s divine permission.

But in that case we are guarded with the promise that
Whatever the Lord allows must end in our good.

But you understand the protection here.
This is the hedge God had placed around Job
So that Satan could not get him.

Remember that?
I wonder if you notice.

Job 1:8-10 “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”

God asked Satan if he had considered Job.
Did you catch Satan’s answer?

• “Have You not made a hedge about him…
• …and his house…
• …and all that he has…
• …on every side..?”

Had Satan considered Job?
YES, EXTENSIVELY.

Satan had looked at every possible option for getting at Job,
But Job had been protected.

And so are those who abide in God.
• Nothing and no one can touch them apart from God’s sovereign will.
• They are safe.

They need not fear evil, all they need do is ANTICIPATE VICTORY.
(8) “You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.”

• You will not lose
• You will not be destroyed
• You will win
• You are protected.

1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

So you hear the Psalmist’s encouragement to
Dwell “in the shelter of the Most High”

Because of the Certainty of God’s Protection.
#2 THE COMPETENCE OF GOD’S PLATOON
Psalms 91:9-13

The Psalmist begins this segment with a promise.
“For” there can also be rendered “Because” and I find that more fitting.

“[Because] you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.”

I would share here a story from Spurgeon’s commentary.
• I have read many of Spurgeon’s notes on many of his Psalms and this is the first time I have ever heard him give such a story.

He writes:
“Before expounding these verses I cannot refrain from recording a person incident illustrating their power to soothe the heart, when they are applied by the Holy Spirit. In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months the neighbourhood in which I labored was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemakers’ window in the Dover Road. I did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore in a good bold hand-writing these words: – “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvelous power I adore the Lord my God.”
(Spurgeon, C.H. [The Treasure Of David; Volume Two; Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA] pg. 92)

Spurgeon speaks of the release from fear
And the absolute invisible security he found on that day
Through these words.

Well, more than just speak those words,
The Psalmist actually gives the reasoning for trusting them.

We certainly already learned of the certainty of God’s protection,
But the Psalmist wants you to see more of it.

He unlocks for you the doorway of heaven
• And allows you to momentarily take a look into the spiritual realm
• Where you are invited to gaze upon the forces that work tirelessly to protect
you.

(11-13) “For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.”

The Psalmist calls attention to
What is most certainly with you this very moment,
But which you cannot see.

They are part of that “hedge” that surrounded Job.
IT IS THE ANGELIC HOST; THE ARMIES OF GOD.

Let me ask you,
• If you were in danger and someone sent the Navy Seals to your home for protection, would you feel safe?
• What if they dispatched to you the secret service, would that do it?

Well you’ve got something better than them,
YOU HAVE THE ANGELS OF GOD.

And God has sent them on behalf of the elect.
Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

They are sent to work on behalf of those whom God has chosen to save.

Psalms 34:7 “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.”

We remember the prayer of Elisha who had a fearful servant:
2 Kings 6:17 “Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

We remember the warning of Jesus to those who would cause a little one to stumble into sin.
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

And we remember how angels ministered to our Lord both during His temptation in the wilderness and during His temptation in the garden.

They are present.
And they war on your behalf.

The Psalmist promised his brother that:
“He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.”

They are there to protect.
Even to keep you from stumping your toe if it so pleases the LORD.
(12) “They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.”

Ultimately they work to help you secure your victory.
(13) “You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.”

I don’t think it’s coincidental that
Satan is compared to both a lion and a serpent.

The point is, your protection that you enjoy may be invisible,
But that does not mean it is incompetent.

They are there, warring on your behalf, protecting and ensuring victory.

Now, certainly, again that DOES NOT MEAN that
No believer will ever be injured or die.

We understand that God does allow it, but the greater promise is that
There is no permanent danger or destruction for the child of God.

Spurgeon would go on to write:
“It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honour, death is his gain. No evil in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good. Happy is he who is in such a case. He is secure where others are in peril, he lives where others die.”
(ibid. pg. 93)

You also recognize this passage as the one which Satan quoted to Jesus when trying to tempt Him to throw Himself off the temple.

Jesus responded:
Matthew 4:7 “Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'”

And the one sentence commentary by Jesus
Helps us greatly in our application.

These promises are not given so that you will go running into gunfire as though bullets will bounce off of you.

We are not to test God in such a way.
That is a Satanic application of this passage.

But these verses DO REMIND that
If God where to put you in a place where bullets are whizzing by everywhere that none can hit you unless God so allows it.

Because God’s protection is certain and God’s platoon is competent.

There is no reason to fear.

#3 THE COMFORT OF GOD’S PROMISE
Psalms 91:14-16

Now the writer moves to the 3RD PERSON and reveals to us
The evidence that seals the deal and destroys our fears.

Not only is God capable of protecting us,
But God has promised to do so.

These 3 verses are the Romans 8 of the Old Testament.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

Romans 8:37-39 “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That is the sentiment here.
• God promises deliverance “therefore I will deliver him;”
• God promises security “I will set him securely on high”
• God promises help “I will answer him”
• God promises presence “I will be with him in trouble”
• God promises honor “I will rescue him and honor him”
• God promises satisfaction “With a long life I will satisfy him”
• God promises salvation “And let him see My salvation”

Those are awesome promises and they are absolutely non-negotiable.
God cannot lie
They are certain.

They are however conditional.
• Conditional first upon you abiding in the shelter of the Most High.
• And conditional here upon you loving God, knowing His name and calling upon Him.

Did you catch those?
(14) “Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.”

• These are NOT promises that the unregenerate enjoy.
• These are NOT promises that the world may claim.
• These are the promises reserved for the redeemed.

• These are for those who love God.
• These are for those who have called upon the name of the Lord.

And for those, these promises are forged in iron.

Psalms 33:18-22 “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in You.”

Psalms 37:7-11 “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.”

Psalms 27:1-3 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.”

Psalms 27:13-14 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

You get the idea.

SO WHAT’S THE POINT OF THIS PSALM?
It’s easy – TRUST GOD

TRUST HIM ACTIVELY
That is to say, confess Him, abide in Him, enter His house, take His yoke.

That is for the lost who have never confessed Him.
Do that.

But it is also a call to the redeemed.
TRUST HIM PASSIVELY
That is to say, stop worrying, stop fearing, rest in Him.

I know the enemy rages and roars.
I know the enemy threatens and howls.

Trust God.
• Trust the certainty of His protection.
• Trust the competence of His platoon.
• Trust the comfort of His promises.
• And go forward like a faithful soldier.

Nothing will touch you outside of the will of God,
And everything God allows is commanded to work for your good.
DO NOT BE AFRAID.

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A Fraudulent Rebel Thief?
Luke 22:47-53
December 13, 2020

Well as you know, we have now left the upper room.
• Jesus has finished with His instruction of the disciples.
• He entered the garden of Gethsemane and there He told the disciples to pray.

• Satan had already demanded permission to sift them.
• Jesus knew that his hour had come.
• And the attack that was on its way was too much for them.

• But instead of praying, they were sleeping and the stage was set for their failure.

At the same time we saw Jesus praying fervently in the garden.
He was so distraught that He was sweating drops of blood.
He prayed that this cup might pass from Him.

That is to say He prayed that He might not be
Subjected to the full fury of the wrath of God.
He prayed that He might not
Feel the utter weight of God’s holy condemnation.

And yet, understanding the will of the Father,
He endured and submitted to the plan.

We said that in the garden Christ was IDENTIFYING WITH US.
• The writer of Hebrews pointed out how every good high priest is one who will
negotiate before God like his life depends upon it.
• In short, you and I want a priest who will plead our case with a real and
sincere fear of hell.

Jesus learned that fear in the garden.
He faced condemnation…
He faced judgment…
He faced God’s fury…

And the trauma from such contemplation actually caused Him
To sweat blood and cry out to God with loud tears.

In the garden He was educated as a priest.
• He identified with sinners.
• He identified with the condemned.
• It was a moving scene.

While the disciples were sleeping, Jesus was doing for them
What they could not and would not do for themselves.

But this morning, the prayer time comes to a close.

We read in verse 47, “While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them;”

• The prayer time is over
• The sifting is at hand
• The judgment of God is about to get real

THIS MORNING WE COME TO THE ARREST OF JESUS.

Now, as we prepare to work through this text I want to CALL YOUR MIND
Back to something Jesus said just a few hours prior.

Luke 22:35-37 “And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.” And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”

We certainly remember that announcement.
• Jesus told the disciples that the days of safety and hospitality were over.
• They should no longer expect to be welcomed into homes
• They should no longer expect to be invited in for supper
• They should no longer expect to freely without fear of attack

And the reason things were about to change was because
An Old Testament PROPHECY about Jesus was about to be FULFILLED.

Jesus quoted from Isaiah 53:12
And He said, “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”

You remember this right?

We talked about the reality of FOLLOWING A FUGITIVE.
• The entire narrative on Jesus was about to change
• That would be a change that would be felt by His followers too.

Jesus was about to IDENTIFY WITH SINNERS (we saw that in the garden)

And Jesus was about to be TREATED LIKE THE SINNERS with whom He identified (we see that here)

As you now realize, Luke focuses on
Different aspects of these events than other gospel writers.

For example, Luke has been very gracious to the 11 disciples.
• He is the only one to record that commendation Jesus gave them about sticking with Him in His trials.
• He is the only one to mention Satan’s activity in their coming desertion.
• He gave an abbreviated account of their sleeping in the garden, only mentioning it once.
• And you’ll notice here that unlock the other gospel writers, Luke does not speak about them fleeing in fear.
• Luke is gracious to the 11 and does not focus on their failures and follies.

Another thing that again becomes evident is the fact that
Luke likes to focus on the spiritual realm of things.
• That is to say Luke likes to show the activity of Satan who is working behind the scenes.

Remember when Jesus sent out the 70 and they returned with joy because even the demons were subject?
Luke 10:18 “And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”

Remember it was Luke who showed us the spiritual motive behind Judas?
Luke 22:3 “And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.”

It was Luke in the upper room that explained the coming desertion of the disciples as the sifting of Satan.

And even here, Luke records words of Jesus
That no other gospel writer includes.

(53) “While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”

Luke wants you to understand that
The battle raging here is a spiritual one.

This is not a petty war between Jews and Jesus,
This is a spiritual war between good and evil.

YOU SEE OTHER DISTINCTIONS.
• For example, while other writers reveal that Peter cut the ear off of the slave of the high priest, only Luke reveals that Jesus healed the man.
• Luke also doesn’t out Peter by revealing which one did it.
• Luke also is the only one to reveal how Jesus responded to the kiss of Judas. (48) “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

And as we have said before the reason for the differences in each account
Is because each writer, while telling the story,
Is focusing on different points and purposes of the story.

If you read the arrest scene from Matthew’s gospel,
• Over and over Matthew points out that everything that happened was to fulfill what was written.
• Over and over Matthew wants the reader to understand that everything that is happening to Jesus is all part of the plan.

If you read the arrest scene from Mark’s gospel,
• It is very violent and sudden and abrupt,
• No doubt Mark (taken from Peter) is focused on the horror and hardship of the moment of what Jesus had to endure.

If you read the arrest scene from John’s gospel,
• John focuses on the meekness of Jesus,
• Who at one moment put the entire posse on the ground with a word,
• Then negotiates the freedom of the disciples,
• Then consents to go with His arresters.

They all have different purposes to show you through this event.

LUKE’S PURPOSE?
To continue on his theme of showing you how Jesus identified with us.

By now you should be familiar with the terms, since we have discussed them frequently,
But in regard to the work of Christ we like to talk about:
1. His Active Obedience
2. His Passive Obedience.

His active obedience refers to the intentional obedience of Jesus to submit Himself to and actively obey the Law of God.
• It speaks of the righteousness He earned on your behalf.
• It speaks of the Law He fulfilled for you.
• He did what God told you to do, and then imputed that righteousness to you.

And His passive obedience speaks to what He submitted to on your behalf.
• It speaks of the treatment He received and endured that you deserved.
• It speaks of the punishment He took that you earned.

Here Luke is showing you Jesus’ passive obedience.
You see it very clearly here in His arrest simply by looking at
How Jesus is regarded or treated or labeled.

He is here numbered with the transgressors.
Very simply, in the garden Jesus is regarded as
A Fraudulent Rebel Thief.

Of course you know He was anything but,
But look and see how He is regarded and then realize that once again,
He is identifying with you; He is being numbered with the transgressors.

3 Points: In His identification with us, Jesus was:
#1 MOCKED AS A FRAUD
Luke 22:47-48

Well now Judas has shown back up into the story.
• He departed during the middle of the Passover meal.
• While Jesus has been instructing the 11 regarding His departure, Judas has been rounding up the posse.
• He knew where to find Jesus, because Jesus purposely went where He had been going.

So after a night of facing the anguish of the coming condemnation of God,
Jesus has now arisen from prayer and the wait is over.

“behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them;”

There is extra sting there of course that Judas was “one of the twelve”

But we talked about how Judas was a picture of the nation who betrayed their King.
• It had to be betrayal.
• And Judas was the guy.

The part that increases our frustration with Judas
Is the ABSOLUTE EAGERNESS he shows in doing his Satanic work.

Judas “was preceding them”
• He was quite eager.
• He didn’t just tell the Jews were to find Jesus.
• He didn’t stop a few yards away and say, “He’s in there”
• He didn’t try to stay anonymous as the traitor.
• There is no shame at all.

Now, Judas is leading the pack.
He’s confident, he’s arrogant, he’s absolutely despicable.

“and he approached Jesus to kiss Him.”

The other gospel writers give us the logistical reason for this kiss.
Matthew 26:48 “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.”

So this was the sign.
• Evidently there was some concern that one of the other disciples might stand up and claim to be Jesus so that they arrested the wrong man
• Judas was going to give definitive proof by pointing Jesus out to them.
• And apparently the sign was this kiss.

But what Luke points out, which the other gospel writers omit,
Is how offended Jesus was by this.

Only Luke reveals Jesus’ response.
(48) “But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?”

To put it another way:
• “Really, a kiss?”
• “Are you serious, a kiss?”
• “You’ve got to be kidding me, a kiss?”

It is important to Luke’s narrative that you understand
That beyond the traitorous act of leading the posse to Jesus,
There was A SPECIAL STING in the fact that Judas kissed Him.

WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THIS?
There is some really detestable play going on here.

On one hand a kiss was often times a token of extreme respect.
• You would kiss the cheek of a rabbi or one who you held in high regard.
• It was a token of affection and admiration.

So in that sense alone, this is deplorable that Judas would put on such a show of hypocrisy by pretending respect for Jesus by kissing Him.

But there is perhaps EVEN MORE AT PLAY here than that.

ALL OF THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS share a common interest in their story as they reveal that during the arrest of Jesus we really enter sort of “BIZARR-O-WORLD”

Starting here things start going crazy and backward.
• We’ll have an undeserved arrest here…
• It will be followed by an illegal trial in which more Jewish Laws were broken
than you can imagine…
• That will be followed by an uncharacteristic cowering by Pilate…
• And then Jesus will be executed after being publicly acquitted.
• We’ll see a known killer released while a Savior gets condemned.

Beyond that, we will be witness to a mocking coronation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Monday seated on a donkey’s colt and being lauded as the coming King.
• He’s about to have His coronation with a crown of thorns…
• He’s about to clothed in purpose robe…
• He’s about to take His throne which is a cross, and as for those seats on His
right and on His left that James and John wanted, those seats will be
occupied by criminals.

Everything that’s coming is totally wrong and totally backward.
AND IT ALL STARTS HERE WITH THIS KISS FROM JUDAS.

Remember Psalms 2?
(You should, it’s another passage we go to a lot)

Psalms 2 is the story about the REJECTED MESSIAH.
• However God laughs at their rejection and declares that He has already put His king on the throne.
• Remember?

And it ends with a warning.
Psalms 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

“do homage” there is the Hebrew word NASHAQ (naw-shack)
It means “to kiss”

In a world that is rejecting God’s king, you should show discernment,
Go against the grain, and instead kiss the Son.

They are mocking Him, you should honor Him.
Which is why the NASB rendered it “do homage”.

NOW GO BACK TO JUDAS.
“he approached Jesus to kiss Him.”

Now do you see why Jesus balked?
It was more than a signal.
• It was a mockery.
• It was a humiliation.

In fact, Judas just put out the greatest signal he could
To say as boldly as possible, THIS MAN IS A FRAUDULENT KING.

He was openly humiliating Jesus.
He was saying, “You’re no king!”

His action is right there with the soldiers who in a few hours
Will mock Him with a crown of thorns and a purple robe.
He is accusing Jesus of being a fraud and a fake.

THERE’S THE FIRST THING LUKE WANTS YOU TO SEE.

In His identification with us,
Jesus was MOCKED AS A FRAUD

He most certainly wasn’t, but we were.
• Born in the image of God and yet sinful to the core.
• Isaiah even taught us that all the righteous deeds we did were actually nothing but filthy rags.

Every one of us at one point in our life masqueraded as a good person
When we were nothing but sinners in disguise.

We were the frauds, not Jesus.

Isaiah looked at the children of Israel and said:
Isaiah 1:2-3 “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”

Again:
Isaiah 30:9 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD;”

They were false. They were frauds
Jesus is identifying with them here.

Jesus is identifying with us here.
He is being numbered as a transgressor.

Mocked as a Fraud

In identification with us Jesus was:
#2 DEFENDED AS A REBEL
Luke 22:49-51

Even though Jesus had repeatedly told the disciples that arrest and death was coming, it is evident that they never really grasped the reality.

It is especially shocking sense John’s gospel reveals to us that Jesus had just spent the previous night explicitly telling them that He was going away.

Luke even mentioned that they were sleeping in the garden from sorrow.

You would think they would have been more ready for this.
But perhaps the kiss of Judas set them off too, we don’t know.

But what we do know is that
It didn’t take them long to figure out what was going down
And they sprang into action. (Especially Peter, which Luke omits)

(49) “When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

They figured it out.
• Jesus is about to be arrested.
• That traitor Judas led the troops right to Him!
• They’re about to take the King!

And the one thing they were certain of at this moment was that
THIS COULD NOT HAPPEN!

If you’ll put yourself in the scene you can actually feel their anxiety
And affection for Jesus as they see what’s happening.

And in sort of confused desperation they yell,
“Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

Jesus, what do you want us to do?

Obviously Jesus does not answer,
• So Peter, convinced this cannot go any further,
• In a moment of impulsiveness takes a sword and goes for it!

(50) “And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.”

This wasn’t a warning shot, this was a miss.
Peter was going for his head, but the guy ducked.

It was courageous, but it was impulsive.
• There is no way that Peter could have thought this would end well.
• In reality, Peter was likely signing his own death warrant there.

But again, the FOCUS OF LUKE is on the response of Jesus.

(51) “But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his hear and healed him.”

What do we make of such a moment?

Although the disciples had His best interest in mind,
Their behavior actually made Him look like
Anything but a meek Savior.

By going instantly into battle mode
They actually made Jesus look like the rebel
He was about to be accused of being.

You know what’s coming later.
Luke 23:1-5 “Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” So Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “It is as you say.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”

The battle plan of the Jews is to get Rome to crucify Jesus.
Jews were not allowed to execute anyone so they needed Rome to do it.

But Rome could care less if Jesus broke Jewish Law.
Rome could care less if Jesus was a false prophet.
Rome could care less if Jesus offended the chief priests.

So the plan of the Jews was to CONVINCE ROME
That Jesus was an insurrectionist; a militant rebel.

They needed to paint Him as a terrorist that was coming for the throne.

Jesus had never done anything in His life
To insinuate that He was going to take the Roman throne by force,
But on this night that is precisely what the disciples made Him look like.

With their impulsive action they (by association) accused Jesus
Of being the rebel that the Jews would soon label Him as.

They asked if they should strike with the sword
And then answered “Yes” on His behalf
And nearly killed this slave.

LUKE MENTIONS that not only did Jesus stop the disciples,
But He also healed this man.

In fact, it is quite likely that Jesus just saved the lives of the 11.

John 18:7-9 “Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”

It was important to Jesus to not lose any of His own.
He quite likely saved their lives by stopping Peter and healing this slave.
Now, despite the flaring tempers, there would be no grounds to arrest the others.

But the point is that by their actions
The disciples made Jesus look like a rebel.

But you know, He wasn’t the rebel, we were.
• He was treated as an insurrectionist…
• He was treated as a militant terrorist…

• We were the rebels.
• We were the ones who had rebelled against authority.
• We were the ones who lacked meekness and submission.

And here, Jesus is identifying with us.
He is being numbered with the transgressors.
He is being treated according to our sinfulness.

Mocked as a fraud, defended as a rebel
In identification with us Jesus was:
#3 ARRESTED AS A THIEF
Luke 22:52-53

We get here the third response of Jesus.
• This response is due to the massive number of well-armed troops who have come to arrest Jesus like He is some big time threat.

(52) “Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber?”
• You came out after Me armed for bear (we would say)
• You must think I’m a real dangerous and violent guy.

And then Jesus points out.
(53) “While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me;”
• Wasn’t it just a couple of days ago that I was teaching in the temple, and you didn’t do anything then?

And of course we know why.
It is because His hour had not come.

But here they are now treating Him like He is a thief.
• Like He is a robber.
• Like He is a criminal.

You and I know that this was certainly NOT THE CASE.
Jesus was no criminal.
He was sinless and perfect in every sense of the word.

• We were the criminals.
• We were the robbers.
• We were the transgressors.

Jesus is merely being labeled and treated as a transgressor.

Do you see that nothing going on here in the garden makes sense?
• Jesus should not have been treated as a fraud.
• Jesus should not have been treated as a rebel.
• Jesus should not have been treated as a thief.

He was the last person who should have been treated like that.

THAT IS WHO WE ARE.
But here, just as He said, He is being numbered with the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING.
• He is identifying with you.
• He is taking upon Himself your scorn and your shame and your sin.
• He is being treated accordingly.

He was treated like a FRAUDULENT REBEL THIEF
The sinless and perfect Son of God
The rightful King of Israel
The holiest Man to ever live

In order that He might save us,
He is clothing Himself in our sin and our shame.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

He is a great Savior!

And one other point Jesus makes that Luke includes, because he likes to show you the spiritual aspect.

“but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”

This wasn’t a just arrest…
• This wasn’t a deserved apprehension…
• This was not an earned attack…

This was Satan.
• Satan had tried to get Jesus to skip the cross, Jesus overcame.
• The plan now will be to kill Him and try to keep Him dead.

But Satan is at work and Jesus knows it.

The only reason you can arrest Me now
Is because God has sovereignly decreed that this is your hour.

God is allowing Satan to prevail in this instance for His greater purposes, but rest assured if that were not the case,
There would be no arrest in this garden.

In short, it is PASSIVE OBEDIENCE.
• They DIDN’T arrest Him because He was guilty…
• They DIDN’T arrest Him because they surrounded Him…
• They arrested Him because God ordained for them to be able to.

And Christ submitted.

Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

He had spent His entire life in active obedience to the Law of God that He might have righteousness to impute to you.

And now He is ending His life in passive obedience to your suffering as your sin is being imputed to Him.

It is all wrong because it should have been anyone but Him.
BUT FOR OUR SAKE, HE SUBMITTED.

Isaiah 53:12 “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

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A Prayer of Moses, The Man of God
Psalms 90
December 6, 2020

Tonight we come again to a tremendous privilege of a moment.
We have recorded for us here “A Prayer of Moses”

• We’ve heard prayers of David
• We’ve heard prayers of Asaph
• We’ve heard prayers from other Psalmists

Tonight we get one from Moses.
• We love this, not only because this was a Psalm inspired by the Holy Spirit which He preserved through Moses,
• But also because in a prayer we are granted a little more insight into the heart of a man who is revered as a man of God.

It is a privilege to be granted access into the heart of Moses
Here in this great Psalm.

It is quite likely that Moses needs no introduction for you this evening.
He’s such a huge historical figure that even the pagan world knows him

• He was the man chosen by God to lead the children out of Israel and through
the wilderness.
• It was Moses whom God spoke to face to face.
• It was Moses who received the Law of God.

He is of such importance to the nation of Israel
That often times God’s Law is even called “the Law of Moses”.

His greatness to Israel and to the church is well documented.

I want to begin by drawing your attention to
A statement made about him in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:5 “Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;”

The writer of Hebrews gives great regard to Moses
As he identifies him as a faithful servant in the house of God.

The house of God should be recognized as
God’s people or God’s congregation and Moses served them.

And the writer of Hebrews says that he was a faithful servant
“for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;”

That means that of all the things that Moses sought to do,
Of chief importance to him was to bear witness of what was coming later.

You might say it like this.
The main objective of Moses was to make sure that the house recognized its builder.

Here is a verse that may help you better understand:
John 5:45-46 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”

So Jesus actually said that Moses wrote about Him.

And if you’ll remember our study of Genesis a few years ago,
You know that to be the case.

We actually called our study of Genesis “The Gospel According To Moses”.

Moses was meticulous as he laid out sin in Adam, judgment in Noah,
Justification in Abraham, Sanctification in Jacob, and Providence in Joseph.

• Moses showed us how God promised a coming seed to crush the serpent
• Moses showed us how God clothed Adam and Eve after their sin
• Moses showed us how God carried Noah through judgment
• Moses showed us how God provided a sacrifice for Abraham
• Moses showed us how one son delivered his brothers in Joseph

The focus was clearly there.
Moses was writing about Jesus

And that is just Genesis.
Moses also wrote Exodus, and Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy
Where he continued to point to Christ.

• The Law in Exodus was to drive men to Jesus
• The sacrifice in Leviticus was a definite picture of Christ
• Moses lifted up the serpent in Numbers pointing to Christ’s crucifixion
• Moses laid out the ultimatum of life and death in Deuteronomy all meant to drive men to Christ.

Moses was indeed a faithful servant,
Not because he kept Israel fed, but because he faithfully preached to them the gospel and sought to push them to Christ.

• We saw him preaching
• We saw him rebuking
• We saw him shepherding
• We saw him serving and working
• And we saw him interceding

Perhaps you remember the horrific golden-calf incident.
• Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law of God and down below Aaron threw gold in the fire and out popped this calf.

God was angry.
Exodus 32:7-10 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘ This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

And Moses interceded:
Exodus 32:11-14 “Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

Moses was indeed a faithful servant to the house
God had temporarily given him charge over.

He was constantly at work to reconcile God’s people to God.
Part of that work was PREACHING
Part of that work was PRAYING

It reminds of the statement the apostles made shortly after the church was born and there was a squabble about some widows being overlooked in the food distribution.

Acts 6:3-4 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

That was Moses.
He preached and he prayed!

And in all things he maintained a view of the coming day of God’s favor.

Hebrews 11:24-27 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.”

You see the references there don’t you.
• Moses embraced “the reproach of Christ” as “greater riches”
• Moses saw “Him who is unseen”

• Moses WASN’T leading people to liberation…
• Moses WASN’T just some political hero driving men to a free land…
• Moses WAS embracing Christ and seeking to lead God’s people to Christ.

He was a spiritual leader first, foremost, and without fail.

And tonight we get just a small glimpse
Of that leadership, that faith, and that hope.

• Certainly Psalms 90 gives us insight into Moses…
• Certainly Psalms 90 gives us an example of intercessory prayer…
• Certainly Psalms 90 opens theology to us regarding things like the eternal nature of God, the brevity of life, the danger of sin, and the necessity of mercy.

But more than anything, for the church today,
Psalms 90 allows us to rejoice in the fact in that
What Moses longed for, we have received.

He pleaded for rest, we have it.

So let’s work our way through it tonight.
3 points
#1 HIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Psalms 90:1-2

You’ll remember that Jesus taught us how to pray,
And that prayer was to begin with exaltation of God.

Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

Prayer is always at its core an act of worship.
• We are humbling ourselves to come before the God of the universe in submission, in humility, in great need, in faith, in hope, in love, etc.
• Failure to contemplate who it is you are approaching is to fail to pray as we ought.

The Psalm is clear that Moses has a heavy heart.
The Psalm is clear that Moses has a definite appeal he wishes to present to God.

But neither of these things precede the fact
That Moses acknowledges the greatness, goodness, and grandeur
Of the God he is approaching.

Beyond that, his acknowledgement of God is inspiring!

(1) “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

We note that “Lord” here is not the covenantal name for God YHWH
Which is you see in all caps.

This is the Hebrew word ADONAY which is a word referencing God as Master and it was a name given to God out of fear and reverence instead of saying the divine name.

There is a real spirit of reverence and submission here from Moses.
He is bowing low as he comes.

And you have to love his acknowledgement.
“You have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

Now that was easy to see
As Moses shepherded the people through the wilderness.

Exodus 40:36-38 “Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.”

Clearly in the wilderness God was charting the course.
• When God moved they moved.
• When God stopped they stopped.
• When God stayed they stayed.

But the point Moses makes is
Not that God has just been their guide in the wilderness,
But that God has “been our dwelling place in all generations.”

You have heard the statement before, “Home is where the heart is.”
As long as you are with the people you love, location is sort of irrelevant.

Well that has certainly been true of Israel.
• Abraham was a squatter in Canaan, he never owned any of it.
• Jacob was a stranger in Egypt but he never belonged
• The Israelites were slaves in Egypt longing to leave
• And now they are sojourners in the wilderness looking for a land to call their
own.

They never had anything, except God.
He had always been their home.

That is still true by the way.
• Christ is our refuge, our dwelling place, and our home.
• Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall
• The place of our habitation on this rock may change,
• But ultimately we reside with God.

Moses recognized that.
Nothing matters so much as Him.

And then Moses acknowledges the greatness and authority of God.

(2) “Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

There is great theology there.
There is transcendence there.

To Israel, perhaps nothing appears more secure and steadfast
And enduring than a mighty mountain.

Even when Scripture wants to depict something as immovable,
It references a mountain.
That is why Jesus used a mountain as an analogy when He said if you faith like a mustard seed you can tell this mountain to move.

It was a shocking statement because mountains can’t be moved.
They are permanent, resolute, unchanging, and enduring.

But Moses speaks of the mountains as infants.
• They are but a recent interest of God.
• Even the ocean, in all its vastness and mystery, is a recent novelty of God.

And incidentally, both will soon die as well.
The mountains will be cast into the sea and the sea will disappear forever.

Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

Even what appears to be the most resilient and permanent thing you can think of is but a temporary thing compared to God.

Whom Moses says is “from everlasting to everlasting”

Seek to wrap your mind around that statement.
• God is eternal going forward and backward.
• It’s not just that God will last forever, it’s that God has always been.
• There has never been a time when God wasn’t.
• You and I can’t even grasp that.

There is a greatness there that is beyond human comprehension.

And finally Moses ties it all together with 3 powerful words,
“You are God.”

The sheer contemplation of the truth is enough to bring fear and trembling.
• Moses is not appearing before a man; his equal.
• Moses is not appealing to a temporary ruler.
• Moses is not approaching some finite being.
• Moses is coming before the eternal, all-powerful, mighty God.

And that acknowledgement is important
Because it helps you and I understand that
When you hear Moses’ complaint in a moment,
IT IS NOT COMING FROM A REBELLIOUS HEART.

Moses will lay out his current struggles, but it should NOT be seen as a complaint against an incompetent or unfair ruler.

Moses is here because God is a good God,
Not because God is an incompetent one.

Such acknowledgement is an important distinction even in our prayer life.
We may indeed lay our burdens at frustrations at the feet of God,
But we do not do it out of disrespect, but rather out of admiration.

We go to Him because He is good and because He is God.

His Acknowledgement
#2 HIS ANGUISH
Psalms 90:3-12

Here we find the struggle of Moses current situation.
And his burden is not hard to grasp
Since it is well-documented in the Old Testament.

I often tell people who aspire to leadership that before they do,
They need to home and read the book of Numbers.

Here was the greatest earthly leader Israel ever had, and he knew nothing but ingratitude, grumbling, rebellion, and disdain from those he sought to lead.

He was shepherding the most stubborn people on the planet through the wilderness, but now he was purposely stuck there until they all died.

Think about it.
Numbers 14:22-23 “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.”

Numbers 14:28-30 “Say to them, ‘ As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”

Now imagine for a moment a day in the life of Moses.
• He shepherded a people who had offended God,
• And God had promised that the entire generation would die before they left the wilderness.

Death must have become an almost routine thing for Moses to observe.

Certainly there were times that mass death occurred
• Like when the children of Israel played the harlot with the Moabites and God sent a plague to kill 23,000 of them.
• Or like when the ground opened up and swallowed Korah alive for rebellion
• Or on the next day when God sent a plague to kill nearly 15,000 of Korah’s followers.

Certainly there were times of mass death,
But what about the daily death that must have occurred?

Today the media is fascinated by the COVID count of numbers of cases and numbers of deaths.
• What about under Moses the serpent count?
• How many were bitten today?
• How many died today?

It was a real thing that Moses watched.
• Peers, relatives, ministry partners, friends…
• Death was everywhere and you can feel that anguish in Moses.

He is in anguish because of:
THE CURSE OF GOD

(3-6) “You turn man back into dust And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away.”

You read that and it reminds of the Lion King movie when the current king starts telling his son about how when a lion dies his body becomes grass and the antelope eat the grass.
And then everyone starts singing about “The Circle of Life”

That’s sort of what this sounds like,
Except Moses isn’t singing about the circle of life,
Moses is singing about the brevity of life.

Man starts as dust and it isn’t very long until he returns to the dust.

And of course we know where this comes from.
Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

This is a consequence of the curse.
• Death is real.
• People are born and people die.

Their bodies return to dust and the dust sprouts forth grass,
But even that grass doesn’t last. Even it fades and withers away.

IT’S A DEPRESSING THOUGHT.

And sitting above it all is God.
Moses said, “For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.”

Imagine what all can occur from a human aspect in 1,000 years.
America isn’t even 250 years old yet but much has occurred.

But Moses says to God “a thousand years…are like yesterday”

It is nothing to Him.

God sits outside of and above humanity
And from Moses perspective we appear less than significant.

Our lives are just blips on the radar screen.
James 4:14 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

And all this because of the curse.
And Moses is living right in the bitter reality of it.

Moses is also in anguish because of:
THE CAUSE OF DEATH

(7-10) “For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.”

• Moses knows why death is here.
• Moses knows why God cursed this world.
• Moses knows why people all around him keep dying.

(7-8) “We have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.”

We are dying because we angered You.
Our death is a direct punishment to our offense of Your commands.

And until the day of our death,
We live in futility and hardship simply waiting until we fly away.

(9-10) “For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.”

You notice there that Moses sings “I’ll Fly Away” as a dirge, not a song of praise.

He is in anguish.
• He is watching person after person die under the anger of God.
• Maybe they make it 70 years, maybe they last 80
• Either way their life is hard and filled with sighing
• Until finally they die

Ecclesiastes 5:16-17 “This also is a grievous evil — exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.”

Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 “It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.”

That’s where Moses is too.
You have people who have offended God
And so their life is hard until they finally die.

Moses is having a hard time watching it.

But there is one more thing bringing him anguish:
THE COMPLACENCY OF ISRAEL

(11-12) “Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

Moses laments that no one seems to understand this.

He is shepherding a people who keep dying in the wilderness
And they don’t ever seem to put it together
That offending God is a bad idea.

They never learn!

I mean, how often does the story repeat itself with them?
• Over and over and over they offend God and God kills them.
• Time after time after time.
• But they never get it.

And this lament of Moses actually comes with a request
“So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

That is to say, teach us how short life is
And that the objective of life is that we might serve and obey You.

Israel never seemed to learn that.

Now, those who read the story of Israel have learned it.
• David watched their plight and in response he wrote the mighty 95th Psalm.
Psalms 95:6-11 “Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

David said, “Today!”

That’s exactly what Moses was talking about when he said,
“Teach us to number our days”

Our people need to know that yesterday is gone
And they are not promised tomorrow.
• They are like a vapor
• They are like grass
• They are like dust

They need to wake up today and seek God.
David understood what Moses was saying.

The writer of Hebrews did to.
• He quoted David’s 95th Psalm in Hebrews 3 and said the same thing.

Hebrews 3:12-13 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Moses felt that anguish.
• Here he had a God who had been offended
• And this God was punishing and killing those who sinned against Him
• And yet the people failed to grasp how important it was not to offend God

Could you imagine the frustration in leading such a congregation?
Can you see why Moses is in anguish?
• He’s stuck between a holy God and sinful people.
• He’s stuck between a righteous God and stubborn people.

He is in anguish.

His acknowledgement, His anguish
#3 HIS APPEAL
Psalms 90:13-17

Now first I would point out that
The very presence of the appeal is a remarkable statement of faith.

Moses is not mad at God.
Moses is not accusing God of wrong-doing.

If that were the case, Moses would not be here.

It is simply this.
Moses understands that in his efforts to reconcile Israel to God
He will be more successful in prayer than he will be in preaching
For God will listen and the children of Israel will not.

That is something that every preacher, evangelist, missionary, Sunday school teacher, etc. should learn.

In your efforts to see sinful men reconciled to God, who do you suppose is more apt to listen to you; God or sinful men?

It does not make sense to only preach and never pray.

Moses knows that.
So even though he has spent many years preaching to Israel,
He is also spending time in prayer before God.

AND NOTICE HIS APPEAL.
He prays for a complete reversal of what they have received.

In verse 7 all they have received is wrath.
In verse 13, he wants mercy and sympathy.

(13) “Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants.”

In verse 9 all they have is despair and a sigh.
In verse 14, he wants hope.

(14) “O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

That is a request to have such confidence in God’s favor (as opposed to God’s disdain) that you can live the day in joy and not in dread.

That is what Moses wants.

In verse 10 Moses said they have labor and sorrow
In verse 15 he wants gladness.

(15) “Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have seen evil.”

In verse 10 Moses lamented how laborious life is. We have to work for it.
In verse 16, he wants help.

(16) “Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children.”

In verse 7 we have Your anger and Your wrath, in verse 9 we have Your fury.
In verse 17 he wants God’s favor.

(17) “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.”

That is to say, don’t block us, help us.

You want to sum it all up?
Moses is in anguish.

He sees death and despair and futility and labor and sorrow.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE WANTS?
REST

It is the common lament of those under the curse.

Remember Noah’s dad? (Lamech)
Genesis 5:29 “Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

THEY NEVER GOT IT DID THEY?
God swore in His wrath that they would not enter His rest.

It is a sad Psalm from that reality.

But as I said to you from the beginning.
It is not sad to us because what Moses prayed for,
We have received.

We are not under that Old Covenant
That put the burden of achieving God’s favor on the backs of the people.

We are under the New Covenant
That put the burden of achieving God’s favor on the back of Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Moses never brought rest…
Joshua never brought rest…
But Jesus did.

Hebrews 4:8-10 “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

We enjoy what Moses prayed for.

And do you see Moses looking at it through eyes of faith?
He DIDN’T say, “Where is it?”

(13) “Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?”

• He knew it was coming…
• He knew God would provide it…
• And on this day he prayed for it…

If you learn nothing else from this Psalm
Then learn again the blessing of Christ in your life.
He provided for you and you enjoy in Him
What Moses pleaded with God for.

• We don’t have a curse in death – we have hope in death
• We don’t have opposition from God – Romans 8 says God is for us.
• We don’t have wrath abiding on us – We have no condemnation in Christ
• We don’t have sorrow – We have deep abiding joy that no one can take

We have landed in the Promised Land that Moses yearned for.
We, in Christ, have the rest Moses always wanted.

Psalms 90 was a lament for him, but it is not for us.
We sing it rejoicing in what Christ provided.

Download Here:

Our Great High Priest
Luke 22:39-46
December 6, 2020

This morning we come to the infamous account of
Jesus praying in the garden before He would be arrested.

You are familiar with His infamous prayer that God
Might let this cup pass, yet not My will but Yours be done.

John doesn’t include this event.
• He includes instead the High Priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 and then mentions that Jesus went to the garden, but doesn’t mention this specific moment.

Matthew and Mark show the more drawn out version.
• Where Jesus leaves 8 of the disciples near the gate of the garden
• He takes Peter, James, and John in closer and even leaves them to pray alone
• He tells them to pray
• He goes off to pray and returns to find them sleeping
• He wakes them up and tells them again to pray
• He goes off to pray again
• He then returns and again finds them sleeping, Mark says they didn’t know what to say that time.
• He goes off to pray again.
• He comes back a third time and found them sleeping again.

Luke’s version is a little more condensed.
And Luke seems to show a little more compassion toward the disciples
As only Luke regards why they were sleeping.

He says in verse 45 that they were “sleeping from sorrow”.

They were overcome with the gravity of
What Jesus had just told them was about to happen.

On the other hand Matthew and Mark say nothing
• About the angel coming to strengthen Jesus
• Or about Him sweating drops of blood.

It becomes apparent to us that Luke’s focus for the event is temptation.
• You have Jesus warning the disciples to pray not to enter temptation.
• Jesus then prays that this cup might pass from Him
• He returns to remind the disciples to again pray not to enter temptation.

The point rings our loudly in the text.

And what we will find is that
While the disciples should have prayed to escape temptation,
Jesus had to enter it.

He entered temptation out of NECESSITY.
They will enter temptation out of APATHY.

Jesus had to be tempted, the disciples did not.
Jesus faced it correctly and defeated it,
The disciples faced it wrongly and stumbled badly.

ONE MIGHT ALSO draw parallels to the first and second Adam.
• It was Adam who squared off with Satan in the first garden and who
succumbed to temptation and plunged humanity into sin.
• It is Jesus, the second Adam who again squares of with Satan in the second
garden but who overcomes and delivers humanity from sin.

But our goal is to remain true to Luke’s text and Luke’s point.

So for our time THIS MORNING, I want to show you how
• While the disciples were totally dropping the ball in agony and sorrow,
• Christ was overcoming
• So that He could do for them what they could not and would not do for themselves.

Let’s break this passage down into 4 point this morning.
#1 HIS CUSTOM
Luke 22:39

It is an interesting verse that reminds us yet again of
The steadfast determination of Christ.

We remember when it was time to take the Passover,
• How Jesus kept their location hidden so that Judas couldn’t betray Him there.
• Remember back in 22:10-13 how Peter and John were supposed to enter a city where they would see a man carrying a water pot and they were supposed to follow Him to the upper room.
• Jesus was determined to take that Passover with the disciples and He would not allow Judas to betray Him before it occurred.

But now, Jesus is yielding Himself up so His itinerary is no longer secret.
HE IS INTENTIONALLY PREDICTABLE.

“And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives;”

This is NOT some random place, this is His normal and routine campsite.
All the disciples had been here with Him for several days.

Luke 21:37 “Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.”

And even more important is what John reveals:
John 18:1-2 “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.”

• He is clearly not hiding.
• He is not running from His destiny.
• His hour has now come and He is here.

His commitment is marvelous.
He is offering Himself up for sinners.

It is also important to note that “the disciples also followed Him.”

For all the mistakes they make and failures they exhibit,
It is still important to note that
What Jesus said of them in the upper room still holds true.

They are still those who stand by Him in His trials.
• They know He announced betrayal…
• They know He announced arrest…
• They know He announced death…
• They know He announced sifting…
• They know He announced be labeled a fugitive…
• They know He announced the need of a sword…

BUT STILL THEY ARE HERE.
That is a good thing.

But the point is that Jesus is not in hiding.
• He IS NOT running from His calling or His mission.
• He IS pitching His tent in plain sight of His enemies.

His Custom
#2 HIS COMMAND
Luke 22:40

So they arrive at the garden.
And as is typically the case, only Jesus is truly aware of the situation.

He knows what is coming, the disciples are not as discerning.

And Jesus knows that the disciples cannot handle what is coming
So He gives them an interesting command.

“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

That is an interesting command, and one that warrants examination.
• He does NOT say, “Pray that you may endure temptation.”
• He does NOT say, “Pray that you may overcome temptation.”

He says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Not the first time:
Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]”

The command here is for the disciples to pray
That they are never even tempted.

Jesus is here specifically to be tempted.
But the temptation of the disciples is not necessary.

And one would think that after the recent warning that
Satan is gunning for them,

That the disciples would have headed such a warning
And would have been praying like crazy
That his sifting would not present itself.

But if you’ll remember, they weren’t concerned about it.
Their response was “Bring it On!”
We’re ready to go to prison or die if we need to.

BUT JESUS TOLD THEM TO PRAY NOT TO ENTER IT.

Have you ever considered such a command from the Lord?
• A confident man might pray, God give me the strength to endure temptation when it comes.
• But a humble man, a weak man might pray, God spare me from such that is stronger than I.

A man aware of the weakness of his flesh…
A man aware of his past history of failure…
A man aware of his spiritual bankruptcy…
Has no problem praying to never even be entered into temptation.

David Mathis wrote: (Desiring God website)
When we pray not only against our sin, but against temptation to sin, we display a maturing humility. We acknowledge our weakness and the power of sin. And we remember our Father’s heart for holiness and for our good. God “himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). The blame for sin falls squarely on the sinner. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14). And yet God, in his grace and mercy, delights to keep us from many temptations — countless times perhaps even when we fail to ask, and how many precious instances in direct response to our asking?
If we take seriously the depths of sin in us, and the depths of mercy in our Father, we will heed the words of Jesus, and the commentary of John Owen: “Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root.” For the sake of truth and good conscience, we distinguish temptation from sin, and for the sake of holiness and joy, we do not separate them. And so we pray not only against our sins, but our temptations.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-you-pray-against-temptation

Jesus understood this, where the disciples did not.
• He knew what was coming, they dismissed it.
• He knew Satan would sift, they had already boasted to let him try.
• He told them to pray to not even be tempted, they would ignore the command.

It is clear that ONLY JESUS
KNEW THE TRUE STRUGGLE of what was about to immerge.

Jesus had come to this garden so that He could be easily found
By Judas and the army he was bringing.

But Judas was not here yet.
Now would be a TIME TO WAIT.
• No doubt the anxiety would grow…
• No doubt the mind would run away with “what if” scenarios…
• No doubt the uncertainty of arrest and torture and death would captivate…

And the waiting might just be the worst part.
For in this waiting Satan would be coming
To do everything he could to turn Jesus away from the cross
And His work to redeem humanity.

IT WAS GOING TO BE A LONG DIFFICULT NIGHT.
Prayer was in order, but only Jesus seemed to know that.

It is a simple encouragement to you and me as well,
Not only to pray in the midst of temptation,
But to also pray that some temptations never even come.

His Custom, His Command
#3 HIS CRY
Luke 22:41-44

Here is the heart of the passage.
Here is the praying of Jesus in the middle of the garden.

But there is something going on here that you may not realize
That is of absolute essential importance.

Some of you are listening to the daily devotions we put out on the church podcast or livestream through the book of Hebrews.

This past week I recorded one that will come active I think on Tuesday.
(I’m going to give you a spoiler this morning)

TURN TO: HEBREWS 5

Now the point is that
1. Having a High Priest is necessary
2. And that there are certain qualifications and requirements that one must meet in order to be a high priest.

Things like:
1. Must be a man, from among men (you want him to be sympathetic and just as desperate as you)
2. Must go to God to negotiate a remission of judgment
3. Must be one that God is willing to deal with.

Think of him as a sort of a negotiator.
• You have sinful man on one side and God on the other
• And sinful man has realized that if this goes to war, God will kill us all.
• So we need to send someone to God to negotiate terms of peace.

THIS IS WHAT A HIGH PRIEST DID.
He took the gifts and offerings to God in order to negotiate appeasement.

Now two very important verses about every high priest are found in Hebrews 5:2-3

(2-3) “he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.”

Those two verses are NOT about Jesus,
They are about every high priest in general.

The point is that
You want to send someone who is in just as much danger as you are.

Why?
• So that he will negotiate like his own life depends upon it.
• So that he won’t take “no” for an answer.

It is not wise to send someone who is not in danger with you,
Or else he might not care enough to make sure you get off.

How much more effective would your defense attorney be if he/she was forced to share in your punishment if you are convicted?

You get the idea.

NOW THAT PRESENTS AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM FOR US
When we say that Jesus is now our high priest,
Why?

Because Jesus was perfect, sinless, and was not ignorant or beset with weakness, and did not have sin that needed to be atoned for.

So at the outset Jesus DOESN’T look like a great high priestly candidate
Because there is some question as to whether or not
He will negotiate with the kind of desperation that we need.

• Will He be desperate?
• Will He negotiate like His life depends on it?
• Will He refuse to take “no” for an answer?

Well, notice the writer of Hebrews has an answer to that dilemma.
(7-8) “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

We find out that this Jesus “in the days of His flesh…offered up both prayer and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death…”

NOW PAUSE RIGHT THERE FOR A MINUTE,
Keep your finger in Hebrews, and turn back to Luke 22.

(41-44) “And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”

So here we have what the writer of Hebrews is talking about.
The day when Jesus cried out to God
Because God could save Him from death.

The specific prayer is “remove this cup from Me”

Now this is important because it helps us understand
What Jesus really hopes to escape.

If you think that Jesus is in the garden grieving over
The coming physical pain of arrest and crucifixion
YOU ARE NOT UNDERSTANDING THE SCENE.

“this cup” is NOT a reference to physical death,
IT IS A REFERENCE TO GOD’S WRATH.

Psalms 11:6 “Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.”

Psalms 75:8 “For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”

You can read Isaiah 51, Jeremiah 25, Ezekiel 23, and many others
And see references to this cup of God’s wrath.

It is more than death, it is destruction, it is condemnation,
It is the eternal wrath and fury of God on sinners.

Now, the interesting thing is that here in the garden,
This is the cup that Jesus is facing.

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

SO WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Jesus is here doing exactly what the writer of Hebrews said.
(Flip back over there)

He is crying out “to the One able to save Him from death”.
(that is condemnation)

DO YOU SEE THIS?

JESUS HAS NOW BEGUN IDENTIFYING WITH SINNERS.

Let me ask you,
• Do you remember when you first experienced conviction of your sin?
• Do you remember the horror of the moment when you realized that you were at enmity with God?
• Do you remember the fear the day you realized that God, in His justice, would send you to hell?

It is a horrible feeling; it is an awful moment.
Indeed it is meant to drive you to Jesus for salvation.

But do you remember the horror and fear and dread of hell?
THAT IS WHAT JESUS IS FEELING HERE.

Now, IT IS IMPORTANT for you to realize that
He is NOT feeling that because He sinned and deserves it.

In fact, the writer of Hebrews says that in this prayer, which Jesus prayed, (7) “He was heard because of His piety.”

• That is to say God heard His prayer
• Because He was so righteous and so pious and so devout.
• God, in His holy justice, would have and must have delivered Christ in this
garden when He prayed this prayer.

Where it not for the fact that Jesus also prayed,
“yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

God would have otherwise immediately delivered Him.

BUT HERE IS WHAT IS HAPPENING.
Look at Hebrews 5:8 “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

Saying He learned obedience DOES NOT MEAN that He was rebellious but God taught Him how to obey. No, He always did the Father’s will.

The obedience spoken of here is spoken of in an experiential sense.
He identified with you, He entered your suffering,
He embraced your condemnation so that He would know your struggle.

REMEMBER, when you send a priest before God you want someone who will negotiate for you like His life depends upon it.

Can you see that this is WHAT JESUS IS LEARNING in the garden?
Can you see that this is exactly what He is doing?
In the garden He also is feeling
The fear and horror of the full condemnation of God.

That fear you felt when you realized
That God would crush you in hell for all eternity,
Is what Christ is feeling here.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS
• In your fear you could cry out to Christ to save you from such a fate
• Christ can’t escape it; He must face it if you are to be saved.

Now do you understand His qualification to be your priest?
Now do you understand why His temptation was necessary?
Now do you understand why He is in such turmoil?

He is looking the full wrath of God right in the face
Because He has chosen to identify Himself with our sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

WHAT AN AWESOME SAVIOR WE HAVE!

SO NOW, BACK IN LUKE, HE IS IN AGONY.

And a beautiful thing occurs which only Luke mentions.
(43) “Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.”

What is this?
It is clearly the help and encouragement of God the Father.

While Christ has determined to bear up under the load of our sin,
His sacrifice is not overlooked by the Father.

And while an angel of darkness (Satan)
Would tempt Christ to forsake us and leave the garden,
God would send a holy angel to encourage Him to endure.

Speaking about angels, the writer of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

Well that is clearly what this angel is doing.
• He is render service to Christ on our behalf.
• He is encouraging Christ so that we might be saved.

So not only do you have Christ, the Son, identifying with us
And facing our condemnation and feeling our guilt,
But you also have God the Father at work on our behalf
Encouraging Christ to continue.

John 16:32 “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”

It is the Father’s encouragement we see here
In the sending of this angel to minister to Him.

And all this, while the disciples are sleeping.
• Tell me again how it is you worked so hard for your salvation?
• Tell me again how it is that you are saved because of something you did.

Here is the battle.
Here is the war.
And the disciples are contributing nothing.

Salvation is by grace alone
Do not insult the agony of Christ or the sovereignty of the Father
By asserting that anything you did contributed to your salvation.

Sinners are saved because of the work of God and God alone.
Can you see that here?

AND THAT IS NOT ALL.
Luke wants you to understand the extreme agony that Christ is under.
• He is facing the full fury of the wrath of God…
• He is facing total condemnation…
• He is facing that bitter cup…

And because He is keenly aware of what that means,
His response is fitting.

Luke captures it in a way that only a physician could.
(44) “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”

• Now certainly, as with everything, there is debate as to whether Jesus actually
sweat blood or if His sweating was just compared to blood falling.
• The obvious point here is that one might compare sweating to a lot of things,
but comparing it to blood is bizarre unless the actual medical condition is in
view.

The condition is called HEMATIDROSIS which is rare,
But is caused by extreme mental and emotional strain, causing subcutaneous capillaries to dilate and burst, releasing blood mingled with sweat.
(MacArthur, John [MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Luke 18-24; Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 2014] pg. 306)

And that seems to be precisely what Luke, the physician, is describing.

• Jesus was in “agony”
• Jesus was “praying very fervently”
• And that agony was seen in the very blood mingled sweat that was falling off
His face.

Jesus, for the first time, was facing what a sinner feels
When He comes under the condemnation of God.

• He was identifying with you.
• He was beginning to bear your sin.
• He was understanding the full effect of “being sin on our behalf”

And so you understand His cry.

Do you see what a tremendous Savior He is?
Do you see what a qualified Savior He is?
Do you see how He loves us?
Do you see the price of your atonement?
Do you see the weight of the guilt of your sin?

We enjoy “no condemnation” because Jesus faced condemnation for us.
We enjoy “peace with God” because Jesus was put at enmity with God.
We enjoy “eternal life” because Jesus drank the cup of death from God.

And the horror of that price is shown to us so clearly in the garden.

When you look at the garden,
• Don’t walk away talking about the power of prayer.
• Don’t walk away talking about practical steps of intercession.
• Don’t walk away talking about the importance of staying awake.

TALK ABOUT THIS.
• That Christ identified with sinners
• That He felt the full weight of the condemnation of God
• That He learned the fear of hell and judgment
• And that it caused Him such grief that He sweat drops of blood.

And let the warning echo in your ear:
“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Jesus did.
And He did it for you.

And as the writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 5:9 “And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,”

WHAT A SAVIOR!

His Custom, His Command, His Cry
#4 HIS CONCERN
Luke 22:45-46

As we noted, Luke doesn’t go into the long diatribe
Of all the times Jesus came back and found them sleeping.

But Luke doesn’t totally omit it either.

But Luke also reveals why they slept.
(45) “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,”

What do you mean?
John 16:5-6 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”

The disciples were now contemplating life without Jesus
And they were grieved.

And in their pity, instead of praying,
They tried to escape their pain through sleep.

Jesus specifically told them to do otherwise, but they ignored Him.

(46) “and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

So Jesus returns to the warning He gave them at the beginning.

What do we make of this?
• Do you see the concern of the Savior?
• The conflict of His soul extends beyond His own suffering.

Even while facing God’s wrath and the condemnation that is coming,
Jesus has still maintained His concern for the disciples
And their coming sifting.

Can you see that He is in fact a merciful and faithful high priest?
• They should have been consoling Jesus…
• They should have been praying for escape from temptation…
• They should have been doing something…
• Instead, wrapped in self-pity and disillusionment they did nothing.
• They didn’t pray…
• They didn’t comfort…
• They slept…

HERE IS THE GLORIOUS PICTURE AGAIN.
Christ was doing for them
What they could not and would not do for themselves.

THAT IS A GREAT HIGH PRIEST!

He never wrote them off…
• He endured
• He prayed
• He interceded
• He encouraged
• He warned

ALL THE WAY TO THE END.

• His concern is evident.
• He is a great and awesome Savior.
• He is fighting for them when they don’t even fight for themselves.

And passages come to mind like:
Hebrews 2:16-18 “For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

• He bore the terrible wrath of God on your behalf…
• He felt the terror and the sting of condemnation…
• And now, He negotiates before God like His life depends on it,
• For He knows the horror of God’s judgment.

He did that for you.
What a Savior!

Praise Him, adore Him, submit to Him, trust Him!