Well, good morning. Please turn in your copies of God's word to the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 22. Our text is going to be verses 21 through 34, but we're going to begin reading in verse 14. Luke 22, beginning in verse 14. Hear the word of the Lord. When the hour had come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. Then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it amongst yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. And truly the son of man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. Then they began to question among themselves which of them it was who would do this thing. Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors, but not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the one who serves, but you are those who have continued with me in my trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And the Lord said to Simon, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. But he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Then he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know me. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. We come to this portion of the text of Luke's account. And the reason we began reading in verse 14 was to remind us of the setting that all of this is taking place. Namely, to remind us that our text takes place during their observance of the Passover and during the Lord's institution of the Lord's Supper. And it's important for us to remember and to recognize that in these instructions, the Lord did not merely institute a new covenantal meal, but he provides the answer to whatever crisis of faith that we may come upon in our walks. And the answer to put it quite simply, is the supremacy of Christ. It's a recognition that no matter what we do, no matter what comes our way, the solution is always that Christ is the better option. That Christ's way is the better way. And that Christ's strength is the necessary strength for whatever trials we face, whatever crisis may come our way. Notice how the Lord begins. Immediately after He has instituted the new covenantal meal, the Lord's Supper, He launches straight from that into this declaration that His betrayer is at the table with him. Now, this is a good reminder for us of the Lord's patience and long-suffering. As the Lord knows who will betray him, the Lord was never caught off guard, and it's also this what should be a fearful reminder that merely attending to the sacraments is not a guarantee of one's salvation. We see that Christ, as He is instituting the Lord's Supper, His betrayer, Judas, is with Him. Judas partakes of the Lord's Supper. moments before he will leave to betray Christ and to hand him over to the religious leaders. And with this, Christ declares two things. First, that the work of the Messiah the work of the Son of Man was a work that was told and foretold long before the incarnation. It was a work that was predetermined, that the Messiah would be about a particular work and that he would accomplish something very specific. Now, we didn't read this text. But if you think about Isaiah 53, where we are quite explicitly told that this Messiah would suffer. He would die. And his death would bring about our salvation from our sins. It's a suffering ministry. The Lord knew this. And the Lord revealed this to his people through the prophets. In addition to that. As we've seen in some of the Psalms that we've covered in recent months, the Lord also was quite aware and revealed to his people. That he would be betrayed. He revealed this through the pen of David. where David laments about one experience in his own life which pointed forward ultimately to Christ and his experience, that one who ate bread with him lifted his hand against him. This wasn't some new thing. This wasn't some plan B that God the Father had to come come up with because plan A wasn't working. It was all predetermined. And yet, even though it is predetermined, we are reminded that our actions carry responsibility, that we particularly, carry the responsibility for our actions. And so Judas, the betrayer, is responsible for his betraying of the Son of Man. But I want you to notice particularly how Jesus goes about speaking of this betrayal. He doesn't merely say, He doesn't merely say the Son of Man, the Son of Man goes as has been determined, and then someone comes along to betray him. But he issues a formal prophetic curse. Woe to that man. In another account, One of the writers records Jesus as saying, it would have been better for him to have never been born. What he's doing is he's highlighting the fact that even when we don't understand or when we don't agree or when things are not according to our particular desires or liking, to betray the Messiah, To betray the Messiah is the greatest sin one could commit. That not existing, not existing, is a better fate than to betray the Messiah. Those are harsh words. He is saying it is better to have never received life, to have never have been conceived, to have never been brought into this world, than to betray the Son of Man. You see, what Judas had done, Judas had determined that since Christ was not the Christ that he had formulated in his own mind, that it is better to see him dead than to follow someone not in accord with the ideal he had of who the Messiah would be. And in thinking and acting upon those thoughts, thinking this way and acting upon those thoughts, what Judas did is he declared through his actions that he knows better than God. That he has a better conception for what the Messiah should be. And by failing to understand the Messiah's mission, He failed to see his own need to be free from his bondage to sin. And he failed to see that merely being a biological son of Abraham did not secure a right relationship with God. We are also met with. The deception. That Judas was able to pull off. Notice what we what we find in verse 23. It says then they began to question among themselves which of them it was who would do this thing. Peter and John didn't know it was Judas as close as they were with Jesus. All of the disciples, all of the apostles, when they hear this revelation, all except for one, are questioning who could possibly do this. I say except for one because Judas knew what he was doing. Judas was able to convincingly maintain this posture of a genuine follower of Christ. He did all the right things. He probably said all the right things, had the right theological talking points. But his heart was not, I think it's fair to say, never was, fixed upon the Lord of glory. That based upon his actions, it seems that he never truly agreed with Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It's a fearful reminder that we may be able to convince those around us. But it's also a reminder that the one person that is never tricked by our display of religion is the Lord. The Lord sees, the Lord knows when He is on the throne in someone's heart, and when He is not. He knows when He reigns supreme, even when their walk, even when our walk is not perfect. He knows the difference. He sees. There's no hiding from Him. you can probably imagine the awkwardness that this produced at that table. One of you is my betrayer. And it kind of seems at first glance that it's an awkward jump from v. 23 to v. 24, where it goes from them questioning among themselves who was going to be the betrayer or who is the betrayer to a dispute over which one is the greatest. If you've ever had or if you recall any sort of debates with siblings around a dinner table over any particular topic, you can kind of see how this would happen. It's awkward. You want to shift focus to something else. Or perhaps it went from questioning who would betray, and thus who would be least among them, to a debate over who would be the greatest. And I think, based upon the way in which Luke frames this whole passage, I think that's the way that he's going with it. Because then Peter is the one who gets that rebuke at the end, that they shift from who would be greatest, with the betrayer obviously being least, and then a whole debate ensues. But what we find here is that they're debating who would be the greatest. And it's clear that, at least in some sense, their culture around them has impacted their thoughts on greatness. And we see this even in our own day. Jesus interrupts this debate and he highlights that the kings of the Gentiles are the ones who exercise lordship, and those exercising authority are called benefactors. Benefactors, I don't think, is the most helpful way to translate this word simply because of the connotation that it has in our day. It's more the idea of they are regarded as good workers. or the work that they do is good work. And you can think about this. It pops up in Christian circles in a very particular way, I think, where sometimes we can think of those who do good work are those who hold office. And so you might be about, and someone hears that you hold whichever office in your church, and they're like, oh, that's a good work. And that's the kind of idea that's going on here. Only instead of it being related to a ministry of mercy or the ministry of the word and prayer, it's related to the exercise of authority and the lordship of authority over others. And Jesus in this instance as they're having this debate about greatness and and lordship being considered one of those ways that greatness is viewed in their day. He calls upon them to reject the idea and the understanding of greatness common around them. And instead, to put Christ example. as the supreme example of what it means to be great. But he doesn't just encourage them, he gives them the command that the way that it is among the Gentiles is not to be the way that it is among you. Contrary to the greatest being those who exercise lordship and those who exercise authority, Jesus calls for an understanding of greatness to be those who serve. But not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. He who governs as he who serves. For who is greater? He who sits at the table or he who serves. I mean, obviously the one who's sitting at the table is the one who's enjoying all the benefits. The one who is serving is the one who's doing a lot of the work for that meal, right? And yet what Christ says here is that my example. He says I am among you. As the one who serves. Not as the one who exercises authority, even though Christ has all authority. as is declared at his ascension all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth and yet yet his earthly ministry was characterized by service think about the way in which the scribes and the pharisees pursued their day-to-day life, pursued their interactions with others, versus the way in which Jesus did. The scribes and the Pharisees, if their parents were in need of care, they taught that it was okay to be relinquished of that responsibility, so long as you gave all your money to the church or to the temple. The scribes and the Pharisees. Taught that you are keeping God's law. If you do no work on the Sabbath, but if your if your donkey falls into a pit or your ox falls into a pit. You can go get them out showing mercy to people, though out of the question. And just so we're clear on what constitutes working on the Sabbath, they argued. That if your water pot. Has a lid that's a little bit too heavy and you have to take it off to get water. You're violating. The Sabbath. By getting water. And yet the example that we see repeatedly from Jesus. is mercy, service, even on the Sabbath. Healing the lame and the blind, even on the Sabbath. You see, the example that we find is that service, and particularly the showing of mercy, far from being a violation of the Sabbath, was actually in keeping it. It's this humble disposition that highlights what is most important is not the exercise of authority, but serving. I think this is why in. In the church today. The reason that we have the office of Deacon, for example, as separate from elder is not because it's viewed as a lesser office. But because it's an office that is regarded. As. Equal in its own right. It's a different work, but it's a work that carries with it the heart of Christ, showing mercy to those in need of mercy. Jesus draws the apostles' attention to the fact that what they see in the world around them, what they see in their culture versus what they've seen as they've walked with Jesus are polar opposites. And that the one that is to be preferred is the example of humble service rather than the exercise of power and authority. And this is coming from the Son of God Himself. Like, of all beings in the world that have the exercise and a rightful exercise of power and authority, it is the Son. And even the Psalms declare this, like in Psalm 2. where David is speaking to civil rulers, and what is the exhortation there? Kiss the sun. You see, what makes the civil magistrates work, a good and a God honoring a great work, is when that work is done in submission to, the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. But sadly, that is not the way in which the world operates. The world has no care or concern for Christ's rule, for his reign. The world has no use for Christ's example of service. over authority and power. Christ calls for our disposition, particularly towards each other in the church, to be one of service. And I think he speaks this in a particular way to us as officers. That our disposition, particularly, towards the churches that we serve, in this case the Denison Reformed Presbyterian Church, is to be one not of exercising power and authority, but of service and mercy. Really, if you reflect upon the way in which God has revealed himself that we've highlighted time and time again, how he revealed himself to Moses. Our service, our work in the church is to be a reflection of the very name of God. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious God. And as we go about this work, This is a work that we must do, not relying upon our own strength. Peter is perhaps one of the most relatable of the apostles that we see throughout the Gospels. Time and time again, we see Peter talking a really big game and time and time again, we see Peter stumble. And that's relatable to us because we know that at times, more often than we would like to admit, we talk a big game and then when it comes to the execution of it, we stumble. On this occasion, Luke is highlighting for us that Peter's error is thinking that he could do, that he could be the greatest, even when it comes to suffering, in his own strength. And the Lord, as He speaks to Peter, He highlights that it's not Peter's strength, but it is his, Christ's intercession and protection for Peter. It's actually interesting. I learned this this past week. In verse 31, the you there, is plural. Satan wasn't merely asking to sift Peter. He was wanting to sift the apostles, like wheat. And what we see in that, much like what happened with Job, where Satan is dragged before the throne of God by the angels. And he's questioned, where have you been? What have you been up to? And he's like roaming to and fro about the earth. And the Lord says, have you considered my servant Job? And what happens? Job faces a whole lot of calamity. His wealth is taken away. His health is taken away. And his offspring are taken away. In a similar instance, what we find here is the Lord asking to sift the apostles and Christ allowing him to go after Peter. And what happens? Peter falls. Peter, relying on his own strength, declares, I will follow you even to prison and to death. And what is it that will sustain Peter in the midst of his fall that the Lord has prayed for him? the Lord is interceding for him already before that trial comes. But Peter has to learn a lesson that really all of us need to learn. That it's not our strength that matters. It is not our abilities that matter. It is the Lord's interceding, even in the great moments of our great weakness. The Lord intercedes for Peter. He says, I have prayed for you. Satan has asked to sift you apostles like wheat. I have prayed for you, Peter. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers. I want you to keep in mind just the timeframe of this whole thing. After this supper, Judas is going to leave and begin his betrayal Organizing the arrest of Jesus. Jesus and the other apostles are going to go to Gethsemane. Where they will be praying through the night. Jesus will be arrested. And that morning. Prior to the rooster crowing. Peter will deny Jesus. This is going to happen within roughly 12 hours. All of this is going to take place. Peter's fall, Peter's stumbling happens in part because he is relying upon his own strength and Jesus is calling him. to reject his own strength, and instead to run to Jesus, especially in his weakness. In our weakness, we are told in another place, God shows himself strong. But we must remember We must remember that when it comes to walking with Christ in this life, it is not our strength that carries us through. It is not our good intentions. It's not our understanding of the Bible, of theology. It is Christ and His mediatorial work as our high priest and king. He carries us through. Remember in the prophet and the work that, children, you might remember the little book that R.C. Sproul wrote where he's pulling a story from the Scriptures. The priest with the dirty clothes. The priest's dirty clothes aren't made clean by the priest's efforts. The priest is not made presentable and strong in the face of Satan's accusations by his efforts and by his strength. It is by the Son clothing him with a foreign righteousness and interceding with him in his moment of weakness. Beloved, we are being called in this passage as we reflect upon the coming betrayal and denial of Christ, we are being called to rest in Christ's all-sufficiency and supremacy for our day-to-day life. Not merely Christ's sufficiency and supremacy for our theological needs, but for our day-to-day walking with Him. Peter is bold. Peter is stubborn. And Peter will be stubborn and bold for the right things. But right now, his stubbornness and his boldness is fueled by his own strength that Christ will show him just how weak that strength is. He is about to face a crisis as he sees the words of Christ come through and he discovers experientially just how weak he really is. The same sort of thing that happens to us when we rely upon our own strength. The Lord brings us to an end of ourselves that we might not trust in our strength, in our abilities, but that we would rest in Christ. And I'll close with this. It's jumping ahead just a little bit, but The difference between the end for Judas and the end for Peter. We know how it goes for Judas. He betrays the Lord of glory. He feels remorse over that. He takes the money back And the high priest won't take it. The Pharisees won't take it. But you know what he doesn't do? He doesn't return to Christ. Instead, when he cannot solve that crisis of faith and conscience himself, He goes out and hangs himself. He forgot, if he knew to begin with, or if it had ever taken root in his mind, he forgot that the Lord, the Lord God is a merciful and gracious God. And the end result was that he wallowed in his own despair to his own destruction. Peter will do a similar thing. He will go off weeping over denying Christ. And then he'll do what was comfortable to him. He'll go fishing. He goes fishing, and while he's fishing, some mysterious man on the shore tells him to cast his nets on the other side. And they haven't caught anything. This guy who knows nothing about fishing is directing the fishermen. And what happens? They catch a whole bunch of fish. And Peter realizes that's not just some random ordinary man throwing out this suggestion that he's heard probably a thousand times from people that don't know fishing like he does. That was Jesus. And what does Peter do? He does the one thing that simultaneously makes sense and doesn't make sense. If you're in a boat, can you swim faster than a boat? No. But what Peter does, because he is so desperate to get to Jesus, he dives off the boat and swims to the shore. You see, when Peter, after Peter has mourned, has wept over his sin, when he sees Christ again, and in his case, it's a physical seeing Christ, he does what seems like the best thing in his mind, and he jumps off the boat. Because at least in his mind at that time, that's the fastest way to get to Jesus. You see. It is better. For us to do something that we think is best, even if it turns out not to be best, like swimming to shore instead of taking the boat. If it will get us. To Jesus. Peter, Peter desired fellowship with Christ again. And Christ, being the merciful and gracious God that he is, not only received Peter, but he will then restore Peter, thus removing the sin that he had committed. That's the difference. But it wasn't Peter's strength, Peter's theological acumen, it wasn't Peter being a straight-A disciple of Jesus that brought about that outcome. It was Jesus praying for Peter. Jesus interceding for Peter. And Jesus knowing that his intercession was so certain there would be no other outcome. When Christ intercedes, Christ gets what he wants. And that ought to be comforting for us. That as Christ intercedes for us in our weakness, Christ gets what he wants. And what he wants is the well-being of his church, the glory of God, and for us to be reconciled with him and with his father. The answer to whatever crisis of faith we may come across in our own life, as much of a Sunday school answer that it may seem like, the answer is Jesus. And the answer is always Jesus. He is the only one, the only one who can bring about the restoration and the reconciliation that we all need. Let us pray.