Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. Hitting up the last day, the last 24 hours or so of Jesus Christ's life. Past couple weeks spent a lot of time focusing on a lot of the the timing the dates exactly kind of how this lies out and lines up and and why we don't believe why the We don't why we don't believe he was crucified on Friday, you know a lot of verses and timing to show that And just continue to learn more and more brother Dennis's has helped out and sent a couple resources my way and I think I've kind of come to the conclusion never really realized it but I think we take We as, you know, Christians, people who believe the book, take for granted a lot of times the fact of Jesus was in the tomb for three days and three nights. It's like, well, yeah, obviously three days and three nights, duh. But there's not a spot, you know, in Matthew where it talks about how, you know, he was buried. And then three days later, it talks about when he was risen. the first day of the week, right? So we understand that, and we know that there's an obvious connection between that and the sign of the prophet Jonas, you know, three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, and three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth, and a lot of those things come up, come together. But I was even looking at Charles, or Charles, Clarence Larkin, I do that all the time, I call him Charles Larkin. Clarence Larkin and some of his charts, and he's got a chart for crucifixion week, and even he had stuff lined up that showed that Christ was crucified on Friday. I was like, what is going on? So a lot of that stuff we take for granted and it's important that we understand scripture and why we believe what we believe, not just because of tradition or we grew up believing this way, you know, but why do we believe that way? Where does it say in the scriptures that, you know, three days and three nights and all that sort of thing. And so you got to look back and that's why we've been putting a lot of emphasis on the Jewish Passover, and the timing there, and the connections of Jesus' last days on the earth, and the 10th day of the month, and the 14th day of the month, all those connections that we've been making. That's why it's so important. So I hope it's not boring. To me, at least, I'm trying to do what I can to keep it mildly interesting. And I'm learning a ton by just understanding those direct connections. We know and we teach when we go through things like Exodus that, yeah, Jesus is our Passover. You got a lamb, you got the lamb, you got your lamb, and all those kind of connections in Exodus, right? It's great spiritual, but there's actual prophetic. Jesus is literally fulfilling the law by doing those things as well, by the timing of his death, burial, and resurrection as well. So, anyways, we're not going to hit too much on the days of the week today, but there's a really good chart that, again, Brother Dennis shared with me. They actually sell it at the Bible Baptist bookstore. I didn't realize it. I saw the chart that he showed me and I was like, where did you find this? This is perfect. It lines up, you know, the Jewish and the Gentile day and the hours just in a real clear, succinct way that's easy to understand. And so I may use that and plagiarize it and throw it up on a board at some point, you know, just as one final look as we continue through. But anyways, so we're going to be in Matthew 26. We're going to start in verse 20. Before we get into it, we'll go ahead and open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. God, we're just so thankful for your word. We're thankful for your goodness and love to us, Lord. I pray now that, Lord, that you would just help me. Lord, just give me the right words to say, God, and just help me to speak clearly, Lord, help it to be interesting, and that each of us here can learn something about you and about what's important to you, Lord. And we love you, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, we're going to start in chapter 26, we're going to start in verse 20, and we're going to do the same thing we did last week. We're going to read the passage in Matthew, and then we're going to jump to each of the two or three other Gospels as well, just to get the full, complete picture of everything that's happened. So we'll start in verse 20, Matthew 26 and verse 20. It says, Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. All right, now hold your place here. Let's jump over to Mark chapter 14. Mark 14, verse 17. Mark 1417 and in the evening he cometh with the 12. So in the evening, this is now the beginning of their Wednesday day. They're in the evening of Wednesday, the day of the 14th of Nissan, the day of the The Passover is killed and eaten. This is also the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, right? So, in the evening he cometh with the twelve, and as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is it I? And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of Man indeed goeth as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good were it for that man if he had never been born." Very similar to how Matthew is written. Matthew also, which we'll get to here momentarily, then is going to go into explaining the Lord's Supper, the communion there, the Eucharist, if you will. So we'll get into all that good stuff. Mark has got the same order. But watch as we go to Luke now, you'll see pretty clearly the order of these things are about to be switched. So we'll cover this. It's not a contradiction. But look over at Luke 22. Luke is going to put the communion. You know, this is the cup, this is, you know, take heed, this is my body, this is my blood, and all that kind of, that aspect. Luke is going to put that before the, the sop, okay? Matthew and Mark put the sop before the communion. So there's confusion a lot of times of when does Judas step away? When, what does he participate and partake of? When does he leave to actually go do the betraying? And so that's kind of the bulk of what we're going to cover today, is those key timeline pieces, because that's very, very important. Very important. And what I'll say, just real simple, Luke is going to have the correct chronological order of things, all right? And so we'll look at passages for that as well. Luke chapter 22, verse 14. And when the hour was come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me, this is key, is with me on the table. And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed." Verse 23, and they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. All right, so here you see, and we're going to cover it as well, but here you see Judas is at the table when communion is given, when the cup is offered, when the bread is broken, and all those things, Judas is there. That's going to be huge, especially when it comes to Catholic Church kind of teachings with what is the Eucharist and what does it do to your soul and eternal life and all that kind of stuff. For all intents and purposes, Judas just acquired eternal life, at least for the time period until he would have digested it and then defecated it out. But he at least had eternal life for that time period. Anyways, John chapter 13, we'll get into that. John chapter 13, verse 21. And if you've got, my Bible does not have four bookmarks, but if you have a lot of available fingers, we're going to be going back and forth several times to these sections of the four Gospels, so whatever makes it easier for you. John chapter 13, verse 21 says, when Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved, that's John. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. So this is Simon Peter, he's kind of whispering in John's ear, hey, who is it? Ask him who it is. Verse 24. 25, he then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, he it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him, then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly. Now, no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. Here's the key right here for the timing as well. Verse 30, He then, having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. All right, so once the Sop takes place, Jesus says, all right, boom, here's the dipping, I'm giving it to Judas, that thou doest go, do quickly, he immediately leaves. So either the timeline in Matthew is chronological, Matthew and Mark, and he leaves after the Sop is given and misses in the communion, or what Luke shows is accurate. And that's what I believe is correct. And that doesn't mean Matthew and Mark is wrong. Words are important, words are key. All right, so let's go back to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26. And just because we already mentioned that note, look at verse 21 and verse 26. Okay, verse 26, we haven't read yet, but verse 26 kicks off Matthew's account of the communion, right? Verse 21 says, as they did eat, he said, verily I say unto you that one shall betray me. Verse 26, and as they were eating. All right, so as they were eating is a present tense kind of form of the verb. They were actively eating, this happened. So Matthew 26 verse 21, as they did eat, right? So yes, they did eat, but that's also, there's a past aspect to that verb there, right? So as they did eat. So Matthew, for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit had Matthew put those things and just shift the timing around just a little bit. It could be enough just to cast enough doubt into someone's mind that the Bible is not real. The Bible is not God's word. That could be it. And the Lord's gonna honor those that look into his word and say, ah, I know that your word is right and true and pure, So what do I do with this? And he leaves enough clues, enough hints, enough breadcrumbs, no pun intended, for you to follow those trails and find out your word is true. There is no contradiction whatsoever. You gotta look at those things, look into it, and pray about it. Ask the Lord to help. So there's no contradiction. Matthew and Mark put the communion afterwards, and it's probably just because of the importance of what it is that they're trying to communicate, the message that they're trying to communicate, right? But, bottom line, no contradiction. Alright, so if you recall back to John when you read that passage, notice that John, the disciple John, he doesn't ask if it is himself. All the other disciples are, is it I? Is it I? Which is a weird thing to think about, right? I kind of heard it taught this way is I kind of would know, right, that pastor obviously is not Jesus, but I'm going to use pastor as the illustration. I would probably already have an idea if I am going to betray my pastor and turn him into the authorities for whatever reason to get him, you know, arrested or whatever. I'm probably going to have at least an idea that in my heart it's possible for me to do that thing, right? So is it I? Maybe it's just a symbol of or a picture of them saying, Does he know something that I don't yet know? I don't, to be honest, I don't really know what to do with it. Why would they think that they would be able to do that? But they knew Jesus Christ so well, I believe, they knew Jesus Christ so well that they knew that whatever he said about it, it is likely to come to pass. So now I'm picturing myself, if pastor were to say, look, I know one of you guys is up to something or is going to. The Lord showed me something, one of you is gonna betray me. If I even start thinking, is it I? Maybe that's a way of saying, if he says that it is me, I'm going to do something to completely avoid it. Like, I don't want to do that. Peter didn't have any desire to deny Christ three times, right? He didn't have it in his mind, yeah, when this happens, I'm going to follow him close. I'm not going to follow him as close as John does, but I'm going to follow him close enough to figure out what's going on so that I can just lie and curse and deny that I'm his follower. No, no, no. That was Peter in the moment. Right? But even when Jesus, and we'll get there in the future, when Jesus tells Peter that he's going to betray him, Peter's like, no way. I would never. I'm willing to die for you. And so I think each of these, the only thing that kind of sort of makes sense in my mind is each of these 12 disciples, John aside, says that I am willing or I am capable of doing this thing because he said one of us is going to do this thing. That's how much faith and love and trust they put in Jesus Christ and the words that he was speaking by this point in there in the Jesus Christ ministry. That's the only thing that I can kind of come up with. I might be completely off on that. So that's kind of my personal opinion on that thing. But it's a weird kind of thought. Like, why? Is it I? I would know, right? I would think. But even Judas asked, Master, is it I? John, though, he says, who is it? So Dr. Ruckman put it this way, and it could be, this is another one of those kind of opinion things, but he says John was, his love, he was so confident in his love towards Jesus Christ that he was willing for Jesus Christ to point him out to the crowd. He was that confident in his love that even if it was him that was going to betray him, he was willing to accept. Is it I? Is it I? Who is it, Lord? And he wanted the Lord to actually say, it's him or it's you. He was willing to put himself out like that. That's how Dr. Rutman kind of teaches that point. You could absolutely go that way. That's quite possible. I personally believe that John was so confident in his love towards Jesus Christ that he absolutely knew it was not possible for him. Beyond a shadow of doubt, he knew that would not have been him. he automatically ruled himself out. And he's the one that, you know, whom Jesus loved. And there was something unique and special that John had that none of the others did. And the pastor's got an excellent sermon. I think he's preached it here maybe twice, 500 to one. And it kind of boils down everything from the 500 people that saw Jesus Christ walking around after his resurrection. That's really awesome. That's really special. I wish I could have been one of those 500. And then it goes all the way down to the one of John the Baptist, to John the disciple whom Jesus loved. There's something unique and different about that relationship that John had that no one else had. And even Peter knew that, and that's why he leaned over to John and said, hey, ask him, see if you can get some intel on this thing. All right? But anyways, so John's so confident in his love, I think, I believe, that he knows it couldn't be himself. Anyways, all right, so verse, back in our text, Matthew 26, look at verse 23. He answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. Now, I'll stop, right? When we get to the book of John, which we just read, John asks him something different and Jesus conveys a different message. So here's what I think is going on. You've got the 12 now, if you remember seeing it, there's an illustration that I put on the board last week before Pastor erased my artwork on Wednesday night. I've seen it taught, and you've all seen the da Vinci's thing where the long table, maybe, the Bible doesn't say he sat at a long table or not, I don't know, but there's a lot of things that we try to avoid when it comes to the teachings of the Catholic Church because they slip in a whole bunch of satanic stuff without realizing it. So I've seen it taught by people that I put more confidence in their relationship with the Lord that he likely sat at a U-shape or a horseshoe shaped table with Jesus kind of at the head of that thing and everyone around. Then you've got John sitting to his right side and then Peter right next to him. On his left side is Judas. So I think at this point in verse 23 Jesus is speaking to the twelve. He that dippeth his hand with me in the sop or whatever, they're all participating in this. They're all, you know, it's communion. It's a community kind of meal and all that sort of stuff. They're all participating in it, right? So I don't think it was blatantly as obvious as he that dippeth his hand with me. Here I go, and there goes Judas. Everyone would have known, but yet the Bible says that they knew not why Judas had left. I think Jesus tells John a different message. I think Jesus tells John specifically, he whom I hand the sop to, this is who it's going to be. And he immediately knows it's Judas because there's something different given to John, message-wise, that he didn't give to the others. The others, he said, You're here, and you're literally dipping your bread with me That's how close the relationship is and you're gonna betray me One of you twelve who's dipping with me and all of them were participating in that thing So that's why they're all like is it I is it I is it I? I don't think it was blatantly as ob as Blatantly obvious as just simply Jesus and Judas happened to be dabbing at the same time So he tells John a different thing and that's likely because again John is right here on Christ. He's leaning on his chest He's like Lord Tell me, who is it? Who could it be? And I think Jesus whispers in his ear and says, him whom I hand this, I dip this sop and I hand this sop to, him who it is is gonna betray me. And he immediately, here you go, Judas. So I think John had something different. But there's a lot of people out there that are like, why didn't the disciples know? And how could it, it was blatantly obvious. You gotta understand, you gotta think through that thing. How could it be? Because the Bible's not wrong. Anyways, this SOP is given to the Son of Perdition. We're not going to spend time going through the whole SOP, Son of Perdition. I think that's pretty well been taught here before. If you have any questions on that, feel free to ask myself, Pastor, or many of the other men in here. But that SOP is directly connected to the Son of Perdition, which is a title given uniquely to the Antichrist, to Judas Iscariot himself. That's that connection that we make. But you can see that in John 13, 26 is when that sop is given to Judas. And it's one of those things, again, you don't get that kind of revelation until you get the English Bible, until you get the King James Bible. Because it's, you don't get the, it seems like a silly thing, SOP, oh you guys are just kind of making it a thing, that's how family members would say to me, oh you guys are just making something out of nothing. But it's a revelation that you're not gonna get anywhere else. You're not going to get it in the Greek. You're not going to get it in the Hebrew or anything like that. It's not until these end times, these last days when the Lord's like, I got something different for you guys. It's something unique. And every bit of it's been right all throughout history. Every version, every, you know, when it was written in Greek and Hebrew and the Old Testament, all that kind of stuff, it was right and perfect and clean and pure then, too. It still is today. It's a little bit, there's something a little bit additional, a little more perfect, if you will, for us today. Alright, so that sop is given to the son of perdition. Turn over to Psalm 41. Psalm 41. Look at verse 9. You'll see this thing prophesied even. Psalm 41 in verse 9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." That passage there, it's a direct tie-in picture, prophetic picture, of the betrayal of Jesus Christ. And he calls him my own familiar friend, which did eat of my bread. That's that sap, that bread there that was given to Judas. But he calls him my own familiar friend. So with that in mind, look back at Matthew 26 and look at verse 50. So the betrayal is happening, we're in the midst of it right now. Judas walks in and says, hail master, verse 49. Hail master, and kisses him. That was the sign to the chief priests and the guards there that were gonna take him captive. Matthew 26 and verse 50. And Jesus said unto him, friend, Wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. So he's fulfilling prophecies, making those connections to prophetic things all the way back in the book of Psalms. All the way back then. He's my own familiar friend. You ate bread with me, you betrayed me, and friend. Notice also that Judas, we've covered this before because it's happened multiple times, but Judas always refers to Jesus as master, not lord. He's never his lord. Not once. He's his master. So he recognizes his position as his authoritative, spiritual kind of position, but never makes him lord. And there's an awesome tie in there with Paul and the conversion of Saul on the road there. When do we think that he got saved? When do we think that conversion took place? When Jesus speaks to him from the clouds and he acknowledges, like, you obviously are God who knocked me off and you're talking to me from heaven. Who are you? And Jesus says, I am he. And he calls him Lord right there. He acknowledges, I am Jesus whom you persecuted. And Paul says, Saul at the time says, Lord. He takes and acknowledges him as his Lord at that point. And that's something unique that Judas never does. Never does. Even all the way up to the end he calls him Master. Alright, so back in our text Matthew 26 verse 24 says, The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. The Son of Man is going to die. It's going to happen. There's nothing they could have done to prevent it. It was prophesied to happen. He had to die and shed his blood. It was a requirement. He was going to die as it was prophesied. Look over in Psalm chapter 22. We're not gonna read the whole Psalm 22 for the sake of time, just some key verses that I think are important to point out, but that whole chapter, that whole Psalm 22 is all about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, every ounce of it. All right, Psalm 22, we'll just look in verse one. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Who is the only other person that has said that? Who is commonly known? Everyone in the world knows who said that. Jesus Christ on the cross. Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? That's God talking to God. That's Jesus, the Son of God, talking to the Father there on the cross. Jump down to verse six. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. What were those guards telling to him at the foot of the cross there? If he'd be the son of God, get yourself, save yourself down from this. Get yourself down from here. Jesus himself has said multiple times, I could send ten thousands of angels to save me if I really wanted to. But Jesus knew what he had to do. Stay in Psalm 22, look down at verse 14. I am poured out like water. So the guard there pierces his side and pierces his heart and blood and water comes out. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint, not broken, out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and now has brought me into the dust of death. He said, I thirst, right, on the cross? Have you ever been so thirsty that your tongue is like stuck to the inside of your mouth? He was so thirsty, he says right there, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. For dogs, verse 16, have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. That whole Psalm 22 is all a crucifixion. And there's a lot more deep spiritual doctrinal connections as well, with the bowls of Bashan and all that kind of stuff as well. So much deep, deep doctrinal stuff that includes him going down into hell as well. Read through that at some point with the eyes, and most of you probably already have, but read through that Psalm 22 if you're not familiar. Read through that thing and just look at all the connections between that and Jesus Christ's death, his crucifixion. It's all been prophesied. So Jesus tells us in verse 24 of chapter 26 in Matthew, he says, the son of man is going to die as it was written, as it was prophesied. But then he immediately comes back and says, yep, this is going to happen, but woe to that man who betrays me and causes it to happen and kicks the thing off. It's just like with Nebuchadnezzar, right? God calls him my servant. So the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar to punish and chastise his nation of Israel, his chosen people there, and as soon as he does that thing, he does the thing that the Lord wants him to do, he punishes him for doing that kind of stuff. That happens all throughout history. Jews do bad things, they do wickedly, so the Lord sends someone, another nation, another wicked pagan king to punish them, to take them captive, to destroy cities, whatever it is. And then the Lord turns right around and says, because you did that thing, yeah, shame on you. Now you're gonna get punished and killed and all that stuff. It's a wild thing. And so that's what you've got going on here in verse 24. It's like it's prophesied, it's gonna happen, but woe to that man who the Lord has chosen to use. And woe to that man who's allowed himself to be used by the devil to actually do this thing. And obviously that's Judas Iscariot there. All right, verse 25, then Judas, which betrayed him, and he hasn't even betrayed him yet, but he's betrayed him in his heart already. But anyways, we've covered this throughout the book of Matthew. Anytime Judas shows up, it's Judas, the one who betrays Jesus. There's always been a connection since Judas first shows up on the scene to this is the guy to keep an eye on. This is the one that betrays Jesus. Keep your eye on this guy. Watch him. Which betrayed him, answered and said, master, is it I? He said unto him, thou hast said. So we already covered it, but Judas always refers to him as master. and not Lord. But thou hast said, it's like saying, you said it, not me. Those are your words, you said it. You speak truth there, brother. I'm not disagreeing with you, but those were your words. But also what we've got here, and we've read the passages in Luke, so this is gonna go back to the communion, because verse 26 kicks off, we'll go ahead and read through it, we'll read 26 to 30, but this is where you've got the communion that Matthew covers. We read it in the other passages already, but he says, as they were eating, Verse 26, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. So this is proof that communion, the Eucharist, whatever you want to call it, does nothing for you. It absolutely does nothing for your soul. It does nothing for your salvation. It does nothing for your eternity. Absolutely nothing. It's a picture for the church. We've read it in the past. 1 Corinthians 11 goes over it. It's a picture. It's given to the church as a remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ, and you're to do it until he comes back. Right? As a way to remember what Christ did for the church, what Christ did for the world. But this text here is obviously proof that the communion itself does nothing for you. Luke shows that the communion takes place before the dipping of the sop. We looked at the verses in Matthew 26, verse 21 to 26. The wording there indicates that it's not an error if you take those events and flip them in Matthew. It's not an error. He's just, we're gonna show this first, and then we'll come back. By the way, while they were eating, this took place. Same thing happened, we looked at it a couple weeks ago, when they went to Bethany. It's not a chronological order. It's like, oh, by the way, back when they were in Bethany, this thing took place. So it's the glory of God to conceal a matter and the honor of kings to search it out, right? So it's incumbent upon us to search the scriptures and study it and ask the Lord, show me something. Why does it seem like there's a contradiction? Why is this going back and forth? Maybe the Lord's just testing your heart and seeing how willing are you to trust me on this thing. And I'm not saying blind faith. I'm saying take it to the Lord, allow Him to show it to you. There's absolutely nothing wrong. Now, if verse 26 in Matthew 26 would have said something like, and afterwards, or and after these things they did this, then you would have a contradiction. But the wording isn't that way. It's not so. It's as they were eating, Jesus took bread. Okay? Judas, I mentioned it, you can look back at Luke 22 just so we can reread it. Luke 22 and verse 21 shows that Judas was there and partook of this communion. Luke chapter 22 and verse 21, but behold, this is right after he talks about all that stuff, but behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And it's so specific, there's so many details in that one short sentence, you cannot make it anything else. The one that betrayed me, Judas, is here with me right now, presently. His hand is on the table, like he is participating in this dinner, this communion, this supper, this key event here. He is here and he's participating. So then Jesus points him out privately to John, and then Judas gets up and leaves. So that's why we have to take all four of the Gospels at the same time and understand where these timelines line up. Because otherwise you're going to teach that Judas gets up and leaves right after the sop, before the communion, so he's not there, so okay, no harm, no foul. There's a lot of harm and a lot of foul, especially when churches like the Catholic Church in that system, and others like it, try to use something like this communion here that has some sort of eternal effect on you and I, and them there in the place. Judas does not leave the table until the eating is over, and we read that in John as well. That's John 13 in verse 30. He does not leave the table until all the eating is over, which takes place after. That sop handing takes place after the communion. All right, so I'm gonna read something from, this is from the Catholic Review. This was written during kind of the, about a year after COVID hit. This is May of 2021. It says, welcome back to mass. Five benefits of receiving the Eucharist, all right? So this is five benefits that Judas himself, because he was there, he partook of it. This is five benefits that Judas can capitalize on. All right, you ready for this? Number one, eternal life. Jesus promises on multiple occasions in the Gospels, chapter and verse please, but I digress. Jesus promises on multiple occasions in the Gospels that Holy Communion is the food that enables and sustains eternal life. Interesting. Without this food, we do not have supernatural life within us. Mortal bodies subject to death and decay will be raised up in a perfected way on the last day should we partake of Holy Communion. We don't do that. And we definitely don't teach it and partake of it like they teach you should. It's the actual blood and flesh of Jesus Christ as it goes in. It reminds me of a Tim Hawkins sketch. If you guys know him, he's like a hilarious Christian comedian. Talks about, oh Lord, help this Cheeto go down and turn into a carrot as it goes into my belly. That's basically what they do when they're eating this bread. And they're like, oh, it's the Lord's body when it enters into your body. So you're not actually eating flesh. You're not actually a cannibal. But when it gets in there, then it turns into his blood and his flesh. So you still are a cannibal. That's OK, though. At least you get eternal life from it. Number two, spiritual joy. Holy communion is the medicine leading to spiritual joy. Without frequent reception of the Eucharist, we are bound to feel weighed down by the commands of Jesus. Communion nourishes the delight we experience in the practice of virtue, and we should increase the frequency in which we are communing with Jesus in order to grow in Christian joy. So that's why they do it every week. We need to continue to do it, continue, continue, continue, because they lose it throughout the week, apparently. So you have to refresh that partaking of Jesus' body and blood. Number three, forgiveness of venial sins. Communion provides both remission of the guilt of venial sin. Well, we read that. It's the cup. It's his blood. It's for the remission of sins, right? Communion provides both the remission of the guilt of venial sin and the remission of the punishment we deserve from venial sin. Through venial sin, our soul suffers losses and we are weakened as these losses accumulate. Holy Communion restores all that is lost in the soul due to venial sin, perfectly restoring our supernatural health. So, Jesus' body and blood is good enough to cleanse you of those things, but not good enough to keep you cleansed of those things. So you go throughout your week, you do sin, and as long as you come back on Sunday, you'll be good to go. So I guess as long as the Lord comes back or you die right there on Sunday after taking the communion, as long as that happens before any other sins come in your life, then you're okay. Otherwise, you're kind of on your own between Monday through Saturday. Number four, supernatural protection. Communion provides the supernatural protection we cannot do without. It both decreases the likelihood that we will sin and acts as spiritual armor against the temptation to sin. Communion fortifies us against our natural tendency to follow our passions, which are humanly impossible to resist. Without the effects provided by communion, it is certain that we will become slaves to our sins, in particular, the passions of pride and lust. We need the supernatural effects of the Eucharist to have any chance of victory over our passions. Number five, closeness to the Trinity. Every Holy Communion made worthily draws us more and more into the life of the Holy Trinity. We are made more pleasing to our loving Father and He dwells in us more deeply. We are made more like Jesus and the divine life is multiplied within us. Folks, we're missing out on a whole bunch of good stuff because we don't participate in that thing. Chapter and verse for any ounce of that thing, please. Any bit of it. Any bit. Folks, there's a reason why we say this book is our final authority for all matters of faith and practice. That's it. Because a man will deceive you. A man, a woman nowadays, will get up behind a pulpit and teach something that sounds wonderful. It sounds great. They might even show you verses entirely out of context. And they'll show you those verses and go, oh, yeah, okay, yeah, let's do that, that sounds good. It's because we as a society, we're lazy. We don't want to search the scriptures. We don't want to do the work that would go in there to learn it ourselves. We are incapable of learning these things. The interpretations have to come from a man of God or from the priest only. Why do you think the Catholic Church pushed so hard to keep the Bible out of the common man's hand? Why? Because what they're trying to teach is not found anywhere in the Bible. The little bit of verses that they have, they'll take completely out of context. Verse 26 is obviously not the literal flesh, obviously. They'll get this, you can turn there, John chapter six, this is always where they go. John chapter six, and John chapter six is their proof verse and our proof verse at the same time because they stop reading or stop understanding or the devil blinds them to it. I don't know, it's super clear. John chapter six in verse 53. John 6, 53, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Uh-oh. Sounds like the Catholics are on to something. Let's keep reading the context. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. So you're supposed to eat me so that you can live by me, just like I eat and live by the Father. All right now we're getting kind of what this is weird now, but we'll keep reading verse 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead He that eat it up Edith of this bread shall live forever Forever these things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum many therefore of his disciples When they had heard this said this isn't hard saying I agree. We're reading it. This is a hard thing What do you do with this? Who can hear it? Verse 61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you? He's like, how are you even, how is this confusing to you? What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh that I just told you to eat and drink, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. I'm giving you a spiritual picture of a thing. I'm giving you something, an earthly picture, so that you can understand some deeper doctrine. Because this kind of stuff is still, it's a mystery. We don't know how this works. We don't have the mind of God to fully understand every ounce of this thing. It's a mystery. So he says, it's kind of like this. He did the same thing with Nicodemus, the two births. It's just like you had a physical birth, the birth of water. You need a spiritual birth, a birth of the spirit. We understand the physical birth. We don't understand the spiritual birth. It's similar, but very, very different. But there's a connection, right? That's what he's teaching there. But the Catholics, apparently, they stop reading. Or they stop understanding. They have their system. This is what we shall do. OK. Then they don't read the rest of it? I don't know. But it's significant. So this lends into the rule that we teach here very often that a passage is always taken literal unless it is absolutely impossible to take it literally. Or if it clearly contradicts established and rightly divided doctrines. That's the only way to do it. All right, verse 27 and 28 in our text. It says, And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. All right, this is my blood. This is God's blood. You can see that in Acts 20, 28, where it talks about how he hath purchased the church with his own blood. You've got a connection to God there, the church of God, and you've got a connection directly to the Holy Spirit. So you've got the blood of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father all right there in one. So there's a good verse on the Trinity, there's a good verse on Jesus is God, but God has blood. And that was the blood that was shed on the cross. Look over at Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. That was Acts 20, 28 if you're taking notes. But we're gonna look at Romans chapter three in verse Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, right? There's the redemption. Verse 25, whom God hath set forth, Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. So Jesus has given this type and picture with the bread and with the blood and the new wine there. He's given this type and picture as showing he's teaching the remission of sins and what is about to take place. He's teaching them that whole doctrine that we hold steadfast to, the remission of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 9, common passage here. Hebrews chapter 9, for the sake of time, we're not going to read all these verses, but you can look at verses 14 through 22 specifically, where it's making the connection between Old Testament and the death of the testator and the New Testament, the blood and all that. But I want you to look specifically at verse 22. Hebrews 9.22, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. So there must have been bloodshed. Jesus had to die as it was written, as it was prophesied. He had to die and he had to shed his blood. Verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, once by the way, not every week. Once Christ was offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that looked for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. One time he made that sacrifice. It was done once for all. We don't need to re-sacrifice every single week, which is what they teach. And lastly here on this point on verse 28, restoration of fellowship. So the blood is used for multiple things. That's kind of the point here. Yes, for our salvation, for the remission of sins, but it's also for Christians. Look at 1 John 1. For Christians, the blood does even more than just save your soul from hell. 1 John 1, verse 7. But if we walk in the light, 1 John 1, 7, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, okay? So this is talking about fellowship with God, fellowship with Jesus Christ. They're Christians, okay? We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. You cannot begin to have fellowship with him until you've already been saved, okay? So if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with him, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, than it does more after salvation. A lot of different, even Bible-believing realms, they'll start going into some of these heresies where you don't need to confess sin and we don't have to say that and we don't have to do any of those things. This teaches right here that you have sin that needs confessing and needs cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ after salvation. But it's not saying you lose your salvation. Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that cleansing comes from his blood. You saw that two verses earlier. So the blood does more than just, you're saved. I don't have to deal with the blood. I don't have to deal with Jesus Christ anymore. I can live however I want. You need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from your sin, to restore that fellowship. All right, we're going to close with these thoughts here. All right, I have a bunch of stuff. It's really just stuff to read. So for the sake of time, I think we could just read it before we close. But notice in verse 29, we'll just read this. Verse 29, Matthew 26 says, but I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. The Lord does something else really neat here, by the way. None of the four gospels mention the word wine. It's fruit of the vine. Now we understand that that is new wine and we can draw those connections, right? But he doesn't mention wine. Why? Because he knew that some church and multiple churches would make a huge deal, a huge emphasis on wine, alcoholic wine specifically. They've inserted it and he's like, I'm gonna even keep the word completely out of the passages. He talks about the cup. He talks about the blood. He talks about the fruit of the vine. There's no mention of the word wine in any of that passage there. My blood is that fruit of the vine. It's new. It's not wine. You can look at Isaiah 65, 8. Great passage. We'll turn there real quick. Isaiah 65, 8. This will be the last passage we turn to, and then I'll just do some reading. Isaiah 65 in verse 8. says, thus saith the Lord, as the new wine, where's that found? In the cluster. And one saith, destroy it not, and it goes on and on there, but it draws a direct connection to new wine is found in the cluster, that's in the grapes. All right, new wine. Perfect example, you can go over to Genesis chapter 40 and see the dream of the butler talking to Joseph there while they're in prison. The butler explains, he's like, I've got the cluster, and he literally squeezes the cluster into the Pharaoh's cup there. That's not uncommon. Yeah, we buy our grape juice from the store on the shelf. But before that was a thing, you had grapes in the cluster because they knew there was something happened over time. Fermenting takes time. So it's considered new wine when it's freshly squeezed. So go back to our passage of Matthew 26. Here's what I think's going on. Jesus has got a cup. He says, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine. I think he's holding a cluster of grapes, either right there over the cup as he's actively squeezing it to pass around for them to partake of, or he had just done it. I think they actually have grapes there on the table with them, and he says, now it's time for the cup. Here comes this new wine, this vine. The same thing happens in the past when he talks about, you know, upon this rock. So Jesus is using his hands to point to things that aren't specifically always laid out in scripture. So I think there's a cluster of grapes somewhere right there where he has squeezed it out. All right, but new wine is defined as pure blood of the grape. You can find that in Deuteronomy 32 as well. All right, so I'm going to read a couple things here. This is the significance of wine in the Catholic Church rituals. Wine holds a significant role in Catholic Church rituals, particularly during the celebration of Mass. The use of wine dates back to early Christian traditions and plays an important symbolic role in the Eucharist, where it represents the blood of Christ. This practice is rooted in the Last Supper, where Jesus shared wine with his disciples, instructing them to drink it in remembrance of him. Okay, that could still be grape juice. It could be wine. Yeah, let's keep reading. In the Catholic Church, a specific type of wine is used during Mass. This wine must meet certain criteria to be considered suitable for use in liturgical practices. It should be pure grape wine, fermented naturally without additives, and have a high alcohol content. Why have a high alcohol content? This ensures that the wine is of good quality and suitable for the sacred purpose it serves. During the consecration of the Eucharist, the wine is transubstantiated into the blood of Christ according to Catholic belief. This transformation is a central tenet of the faith and underscores the importance of wine in the celebration of Mass. The careful selection and preparation of wine for this sacred ritual highlight the reverence and respect with which the Catholic Church approaches its liturgical practices, its satanic rituals. Must have a high alcoholic content? Why? This here is Canon 924 of the present Code of Canon Law as of 1983. It states, number one, the most holy sacrifice of the Eucharist must be celebrated in bread and in wine to which a small quantity of water is to be added. You can dilute it a little bit. Small quantity of water. The bread must be wheaten only and recently made so that there is no danger of corruption. Oh, by the way, did you know that they take into account gluten intolerances? Because the bread that you eat, if you have a gluten intolerance, might still make you sick. Because when it turns into the body of Jesus Christ, some people might have a negative reaction to the body of Jesus Christ inside their body. Celiac disease, they can't handle Jesus Christ. So I guess those with celiac disease can't get eternal life. I don't know. Those are my words. The wine, number three, must be natural, made from grapes or the vine, and not corrupt. This means, this is all still pulled from that canon of what our Code of Canon Law. This means that the wine must be naturally fermented with nothing added to it, and the wine itself cannot have soured or become vinegar, nor can it have anything artificial added to it, like preservatives and flavors. Wines are made from vitis, vinifera, grapes. While the Catholic Church generally adheres to the rule that all wine for sacramental use must be pure grape wine and alcoholic, it is accepted that there are some circumstances where the priest is an alcoholic, for example, where it may be necessary to use a wine that is only minimally fermented called mustum. So if your priest is an alcoholic, if he's a drunkard, probably not a good idea to have him drinking some highly alcoholic wine while he's trying to, you know, put this thing on your tongue and he's like bumbling all over the place. Reserve the best for the priest in the back office, you know. Do you see how just corrupt and just satanic that thing gets? That's ridiculous, folks. Again, chapter and verse. Where must it have a high alcoholic content? Jesus says, I'm going to avoid the whole thing altogether. I'm not even going to use the word wine. It's fruit of the vine, and it's new. That's in the cluster of the grape. Anyways, verse 30, last thing we'll say, Jesus himself even sang hymns. So that's why we sing hymns in the church here. Jesus sang hymns with his disciples. Let's be dismissed in a word of prayer. I apologize for going a little