Amen. There are not very many hymns wherein we sing about the agony of the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane, and I forgot about that one last week when I was preparing for the message on Christ's agony in Gethsemane, but it's appropriate, I thought, to sing this Lord's Day morning. Again, we're dealing with a very difficult and heavy passage from God's Word. It is good that in that hymn also we are brought the complete picture of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is intense. sorrow and agony in the garden, but all of that did result in the resurrection. And sometimes we're too quick to get to the ending of this story. Matthew leaves us with the Gethsemane and the betrayal of the Lord, the the trial of the Lord, the crucifixion, and the cruel death of the Lord. And so we're going to be looking at these for the next number of weeks. This morning, we're going to look at the betrayal of the Lord Jesus, as we read in Psalm 55, not by an enemy, but by a friend. And that really is the definition of betrayal. Betrayal always comes from a friend. And so we want to read from Matthew chapter 26 this morning. Matthew chapter 26. And we will read beginning at verse 26. Or verse 30 rather. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow thou shall deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with me.' And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What? Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he had spake, lo, Judas, one of the 12, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Hold him fast. Forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priests and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? In that same hour, said Jesus to the multitudes, are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Let us pray. O Lord, our God and our heavenly Father, thou hast given us these words from thine own self, words which we find difficult to read, and to receive and to understand. We pray, Lord, that thou would lend strength this day, that we may not draw back from the hard things of thy word. We pray, Lord, that thou would speak to our hearts and teach us concerning the great trials of our Savior as he went to the cross. for such foolish and wicked sinners as we are. We pray, Lord, that Thou wouldst grant strength unto Thy servant. We pray that we may draw nigh unto Thee as Thy word is opened unto us by Thy Holy Spirit. We pray that Thou wouldst deliver us from cold hearts. And we pray that Thou wouldst make us tender towards Christ and his perfect deeds and his love towards sinners. Hear our prayer and visit us with the reviving of our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Beloved congregation, betrayal is indeed a very difficult thing to endure. And there is always an element of broken trust. And that betrayal is more hurtful the deeper that trust has developed. And we have really here another mystery of the incarnation. By the incarnation, we mean that God took on human flesh, became flesh for us. So in what sense then would the Lord Jesus commit himself on any level to a man whom he already has known for quite a while was going to betray him? But that is what we're told. If I knew that you were going to betray me, I think I would distance myself from you. I would withdraw. I wouldn't commit myself to you. I wouldn't say this isn't going to end well. Why should I become emotionally involved? We don't know why the Lord Jesus did, but he did. When the psalmist says, we took sweet counsel together. We studied the word of God together. Were you alarmed? It's like a slap in the face when you read in Psalm 55 that the Lord Jesus Christ calls Judas his guide. How could Judas have been a guide? to the Lord Jesus? I have no answer for that. I just know what I read, and I believe what I read. Judas was, in some sense, he was a guide to the Lord Jesus, a helper in some way. He calls him a dear friend. And we would say in modern speech, stabbed him in the back. took a trust, a friendship, an intense relationship, and severed it. And this is the last time that Judas and Jesus meet ever. There's a casting asunder by the wickedness of Judas and his sinful deeds that separates himself very deliberately from the Lord Jesus Christ. And as one of the gospel writers says, he went to his own place. Went to a place of eternal destruction. So we want to consider here, first of all this morning, about how Christ receives a kiss. Christ receives a kiss. So we've read here a while back already in this passage of Matthew 26 that whereas the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders thought the time isn't right, it's the feast time, we're not gonna make a political statement during a religious feast, so we're not gonna do anything with Christ. We're just gonna wait until all of that dies over. And then to their amazement, actually, this is better than they could possibly have planned. One of Jesus' own disciples comes and offers to betray him. How much will you give me? There's no money in Christ's work. There's no money. There's no personal benefit in following the Lord Jesus. So I'm gonna get something out of this while I can. I know that you want him. I know that you want to go after him. How much will you give me? to betray him to you. So this is perfect. Money is no object for them at this point. They just want the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I really fail to understand why they needed to have someone like Judas betray him. I don't think that, and he says himself, I taught daily in your synagogues. I was with you all the time. You could have come any time. You know who I am. But I think this reveals something of the bitterness and the wickedness of the heart of Judas that he's going to gain something from this. And he's going to bless himself, so to speak, enrich himself by this great wickedness. So what could Judas have done? Couldn't he have just said, you know, I know that the Garden of Gethsemane is a place where he likes to pray. I know that. You know that Judas was not in the room when Jesus took his disciples to the garden, but that was a place where he liked to withdraw and Judas would have figured that out. And he didn't say, well, let's go to the garden and I'll point to him and I'll tell you, he's the one. No, he says very deliberately, I'm gonna go up to him, I'm gonna plant a kiss on him, and that's gonna be the one. So remember, it's not like it was particularly dark, it's the Passover, it's a full moon, there's nothing that really hides Christ from their view or ability to get him. So he could have just pointed, that's the guy there in the white tunic, the fellow over there who's You know, and he could have described him. He didn't do that. He comes and uses a sign of friendship, a sign of intimacy to come to the Lord Jesus. So here's a heart that just filled with the strongest hatred and contempt of righteousness that you could possibly imagine. He uses a beautiful and lovely and intimate thing to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, and he does that. Notice how the Lord Jesus, again, Judas calls him Master, rather than Savior or Lord. Previously, he's done that already, called him Master. Verse 49, forthwith he came to Jesus and said, hail master, and kissed him. And what does Jesus do? He calls him a friend. Friend, companion. Wherefore art thou come? He wasn't a friend, he had been a friend. He'd been a companion, and there's no compassion or no spiritual compassion at this point for Judas. There's no saving love towards Judas, but he calls him a friend. And just lay hold of that for a moment. What would you do if a friend of yours came and betrayed you in that way? He did it for personal gain. And you wouldn't be inclined to call him a friend. Your heart would be filled with bitterness and mistrust and anger and could very well be righteous bitterness and righteous indignation at a betrayal like that. And Jesus just calls him friend. I don't think we have to pause long to think of how many adjectives or names we could think of for somebody like that if they did that to us. We just rise up. A flood of evil designations would come into your head, what you could call a person who did that to you. calls him a friend. So Christ receives a kiss. He's betrayed in the bitterest of all ways. And whatever ways you may have been betrayed in the past or whatever way you may be betrayed in the day to come, you will never suffer a betrayal like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a phenomenal thing to consider and it's a cleavage here, a separation that is so deep and so dark that we really cannot imagine, but you must know about it. And there are times when we may experience some level, but not what Christ experienced. So Christ receives a kiss, and then Christ resolves confusion. So here is the crowd that comes. Not just soldiers, but also religious people are coming. They come with swords. The soldiers would have come with swords, I imagine. the great multitude, it says, with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people, verse 47. So all manner of people came here, and things are getting tense. So the disciples don't really know what to expect. Christ has given them some idea of what's coming. He knows he's gonna be betrayed. He knows that he's going to die. They know that he's gonna die. They don't really know the details of that or how it's going to work out. And so you imagine the darkness. Here comes this great crowd with torches and with swords clanging. And they're coming out, a huge crowd, to arrest one man. What's the most violent thing that Christ has ever done? Very personal, but he overturned twice the Money Changers tables in the temple. And they took great offense at that, no doubt. But he hasn't gone around telling people to take up the sword and plunge it into unbelievers and infidels. He's had a ministry of peace. He's had a ministry that proclaims peace. Warfare against sin. He's very strong in his warfare against sin, individual sin, specific sins that he points out to the people, to the scribes and the Pharisees especially, but to all the people who have humbled themselves even before him. What do you think then of the disciples? This is it, Jesus just finished saying that one of you is going to betray me, that you're all going to deny me, in fact, before the evening's done. And they've said, well, we would never do that. All the disciples, Peter is foremost there, but all the disciples say we would never do that. And they're all agreed. Well, what do you think they're thinking now? They're thinking this is the test, aren't they? This is the test. They're coming out against Jesus, one man whom we loved and fellowshiped with. He has betrayed the Lord Jesus. There's great confusion here now. And what are we going to do? Well, are we going to be numbered with the Lord Jesus or not? Are we going to flee? Is this the point at which we run away from the Lord Jesus? No, we just professed our love for Him and our devotion. Of course, we're not going to deny Him. And so Peter, not what Matthew says, but from the other Gospels, we know that it was Peter, pulls out a sword and cuts off the servant's ear, which was Malchus was his name, we learned from the other Gospels. It becomes a little more personal there. Slices off his ear, must have been a very sharp sword that Peter had. And we're ready to defend you, Lord. Just let, you know, we may not win here, but we're going down dying. We're going, we're going to shed our blood for you if it's necessary. We're not scared of these. We're standing up for you. And Peter, Peter very vehemently, you can imagine maybe the emotions, the trembling hands. Is this, is this what Jesus was talking about? And so there's a, There's the ear of the servant of the centurion lying on the ground, and does Jesus commend Peter? He doesn't even commend his actions. He, far from it, picks up the ear from the ground and puts it back on Malchus' ear and actually heals him. This man, who is obviously intent on harming the Lord Jesus, when one of Jesus' disciples harms him, Jesus steps in and heals him. Do good unto those that despitefully use you. Love your enemies. And Jesus is just a living example of his own teaching here. He takes that ear and he heals him. And now, think about the confusion. Peter says, what is happening here? They're about to take the Savior. They've declared war and we didn't ask for any of this. And what is Jesus doing then when we're engaging in war and trying to defend him? Is he siding with the enemy? What does this mean that Jesus would heal this servant and the servant's ear? So the confusion really is escalating, I think, is really mounting on the part of the disciples as to exactly what's happening here. And then the Lord even rebukes Peter. In verse 52, then said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? Do you think this is beyond my power? Do you think it's beyond the power of God to come and deliver me? I could pray God and he would do that. If I asked him, he would do that. But Jesus says, I can't, I can't. And he's saying a legion was three to 6,000. So even at the very least, he's saying 12 legions of 36, 72,000 angels could come and deliver me in a snap. It's nothing, it's nothing for God to deliver me. And I don't need your sword, Peter. He who lives by the sword is going to die by the sword. And that's not what we're about. The kingdom of God is not taken by force, says the Lord Jesus elsewhere. And so this is all in the control of the Lord Jesus. And Jesus is saying this is not primarily political, this is spiritual. And there is a place for the sword, beloved. Let's just stop to consider that. And Romans chapter 13 makes that very clear. It belongs to the state. The state does not bear the sword in vain or ought not to bear the sword in vain. It ought to punish evildoers and reward those who do good. That's the purpose of power or force and authority in the government. That's where the sword is born. And that's why we don't argue against Christians who want to join the armed forces. It's good to defend your country. That's a political thing. We are not a political body. We're a spiritual body that looks for spiritual results and the advance of Christ's kingdom, which is gonna be taken by violence, but not by physical violence. It'll be the violence of the soul. So here is the situation in which there's a great deal of confusion. So we have Christ receiving a kiss, Christ resolving confusion, but we see here, beloved, that Christ remains in control. Christ remains in control. Twice he says that scripture must be fulfilled. He says, if I called 12 legions or more than 12 legions of angels, verse 53, he says, if I did that, how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? I'd be going against the decrees of God. I'd be going against what scripture says is going to happen at this moment. I have to do this in order to fulfill the scriptures. And it's important to Christ. It's important to him that the scriptures are fulfilled. Now, Matthew here doesn't give us the specific scriptures, but there are scriptures in place here. So again, he says in verse 55, in that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves? For to take me, I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. And do you remember those passages, even in Matthew, where they were ready to seize him, ready to lay hands on him? And what did Jesus do? He finished his teaching. He calmly just walked in the midst of them. Just, why? Do you remember? Because his hour had not yet come. Jesus knew this is not the time. You can do whatever you want. You can plan whatever you want against me, Jesus said. In his heart, he's, I'm just going to walk through in the midst of you. You can all stand with swords and angry looks, but he just passed in the midst of them. His hour had not yet come, but now his hour has come. And what does Jesus say elsewhere? This is your hour, he says to Judas. This is your hour. This is Satan's hour. That's what the chapter is called in The Cross He Bore, that precious little book on the Passion of Christ, The Cross He Bore, titled A Satan's Hour. This is Satan's Hour. Satan is preeminent in all of this. Satan is having sway with the Lord Jesus. He's having his own will, as it were, with the Lord Jesus. He's hoping for great victory. I don't think he really knows or thinks that he's going to gain it, but he's hoping for it. And he at least has this ascendancy over the Lord Jesus. Look at this great crowd. Look at one of his disciples betraying him. Everything is going my way. This is my hour, says Satan at this point. But Jesus said, you couldn't take me before. You wanted to, but you couldn't. I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and ye laid no hold on me. But, verse 56, but all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. So all of this is happening because God decreed for it to happen. And you and I are much different, right? We know that if something has happened, something has happened to you, not future, it'll pass. If something has happened to you, it was God's will. Isn't that right? If it's already happened, God necessarily decreed it. It doesn't mean it absolves you of the guilt of sin. If you sinned in order for that to happen, you need to deal with that sin and the guilt of that sin. You can't just say, well, it was God's will. No, it's much more personal than that. But it was decreed. If it has happened in the past, has been decreed. So you and I don't have the luxury of saying right now we're fulfilling scripture. We're fulfilling God's will as we dwell in the land wherever God has placed you. But we're not specifically fulfilling scripture. Christ very consciously was aware that he was fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament. He knew which ones they were. is very remarkable. I am creating history. I am actually consciously fulfilling scriptural prophecy. When we read in Psalm 55, In verse 12, for it was not an enemy that reproached me, then could I have borne it. Neither was it that he that hated me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company. Psalm 41 verse 9, yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread hath lifted up his heel against me. So, I don't know why Christ would have trusted him. I find myself often unable to trust people because of what I'm scared that they might do to me, right? But Christ teaches us a lesson to be involved in relationships, because we never know how they're going to turn out. We never know how they're going to fall out, even though we might think it might not work. It might work in the very best of ways altogether.