Today in our study of Matthew's gospel, we're going to see a number of fulfillments of scripture. If you'll take your Bibles together with me and turn to Matthew chapter 26, today we'll be looking at verses 31 to 56. And the title of this morning's message is fulfillments of scripture, because that's precisely what Matthew is going to share with us. A number of ways in which the events pertaining to the betrayal of Christ were indeed absolute fulfillments of Scripture. I think we can all easily and readily affirm that we believe the Bible is the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 tells us very clearly that the Bible claims to be the Word of God. All Scripture, Paul writes, is theonupstas, or inspired of God, breathed out by God. It claims to be words that come straight from God. 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21, the Bible tells us that holy men of God were moved along by the Holy Spirit and that's how Scripture became composed as it is. It is both the words of men and at the same time inspired by God. The Old Testament is filled with citations that begin things like, Thus says the Lord. claims to be speaking directly for God Himself, or record of God speaking directly to people. David, the sweet psalmist, in 2 Samuel 23, verses 1 and 2, speaks about his composition of the Psalms by saying, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His Word was on my tongue. These are all wonderful claims that Scripture has to inspiration. And it is Jesus Himself that says, Thy word is what? Truth, John 17, 7. The Bible claims to be the word of God and the Bible claims to be absolute truth. That is a verbal and plenary inspiration. That means it is absolutely true with regard to every word and the totality of it. Factually accurate with regard to historical record and absolutely true with regard to spiritual truth. That's what the Bible claims for itself. But does that prove? Does that prove that it is from God? And the answer is no. That is not a proof that it is from God. That is itself attestation to it being from God. That is not technically a proof of inspiration. All of these claims simply make it clear that if you're going to accept the Bible as authoritative, And as from God, you're going to need to believe it to be authoritative and from God because that's what it says about itself. This is similar to the subject that we've been talking about for several weeks with regard to taking pieces of the Word of God and believing they're generally true, but finding errors or fault with Scripture. You cannot reasonably have it both ways. Either the Bible is the Word of God, Or, it has some errors, and it has some deficiencies, and it has some things that are contradictory, and they're not to be accepted as factual or true, or they're inconsistencies that frankly can't be harmonized. And if that's the case, you need to reject it outright, because it claims to be from God. Veracity is certainly one way we can argue for the Bible being from God. In other words, that everything it says historically can be verified. But everything in the Bible can't be verified. And even archaeology is insufficient to absolutely verify everything. Some of the historical records simply do not exist and others are somewhat open to interpretation. It's like the Genesis account. In Genesis chapter 1. Was anyone there to see it? So you can't definitively say that's the way it happened, can you? That's not a proof. So how do I know the Bible is true? Well, one of the best demonstrations of the inspiration of scripture is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament predictions as well. The Old Testament is filled with prophetic declarations that were both fulfilled sometimes in Old Testament times and other times through the personal work of Jesus Christ. And it is testimonies like this that demonstrate that the Bible is the Word of God. There are so many prophetic statements that are fulfilled to the letter across centuries and even millennia. that it happens on such a level that it simply cannot be faked, cannot be denied on any rational or objective level. The first, best, and most undeniable proof that the Scripture is the true Word of God is the fulfillment of prophecy. And we've seen a number of those as we've been studying through Matthew's Gospel together. And today we're going to look at a string of them, and I'm not even going to focus on all of them. I'm just going to look at them from an overall perspective. And since we've in the past covered both Luke and John's Gospel, today I'm going to take a larger chunk. I'm going to look at verses 31 to 56 and show you in this text, to show you three undeniable ways the Scriptures were fulfilled. And the prediction of Christ, the prayer of Christ and the passion of Christ. Now, I know this is a lot of text and I know a lot of you are kind of in panic mode. That means lunch is at three. We're going to put on our crash helmets and buckle our seat belts because there's a lot of stuff in here. But I'm going to hit it at a pretty good clip because I want you to get the big picture. Yes, we could focus a lot on each of these individual points, but I think for the sake of our time today and our study of Matthew's gospel, I really think the big picture will serve us best. And so I'm going to do a little bit more again of a teaching time as opposed to a preaching time. I can't guarantee I won't slip into preaching mode and I won't maybe even slip in from preaching to meddling at some point. But for the most part, I really just want to help you to see the validity of believing in an inspired text of scripture because there's so much prophecy that is fulfilled in the personal work of Jesus Christ. And I think this really fits well with understanding the point of Matthew's gospel in comparison to the other gospels. If you remember from the beginning of our study of Matthew's gospel, and that was only a few weeks ago when we started Matthew, from an eternal perspective, And when you look at Matthew's gospel, he is writing to a biblically literate audience, that is, mainly a Jewish audience or God-fearers, people who understand the Old Testament and are familiar with it and the promises, etc. And so that's why he is seeking to demonstrate to that audience that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, and it's proven in chapter 1 with the genealogy that goes through David all the way back to Abraham. It's proven in chapter 1 and 2 through all the fulfilled prophecy, from the prophecies related to the virgin conception, to Emmanuel, to Bethlehem, etc., etc. And as he's gone through the whole of the Gospel of Matthew, he is demonstrating to people who know the Old Testament, Jesus is your Messiah. You can count on it. When you get to the betrayal account that we have in front of us, the whole thing is bookended between the statements. The Old Testament says, and that's what's going to happen. Oh, no, it won't. And it does. And that's what we have sitting in front of us. And I just more than anything, that's what I want you to see. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I hope you not only have A higher view of Christ and a greater appreciation of his full awareness of what he was facing and his full commitment to submit to the will of the Father, even though he personally had reservations about going through it, how he absolutely and unequivocally submitted to the will of the Father and was strengthened by God to do that. And you know, there's so many practical lessons we can derive from Jesus's prayer life and an examination of it in this text. There's so many practical lessons we can derive even from the disciples' many failures. And we'll come back to those when we see Peter's denial. But more than anything today, what I really hope you see is the credibility of the claims of inspiration that the Scripture has based on the undeniable evidence of prophetic fulfillments from beginning to end. This is what you have in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verses 31 to 56. And if you're taking notes with us or with me this morning, we're going to look at three undeniable ways the scriptures are fulfilled in the night in which Jesus was betrayed. First, in the prediction of Christ, verses 31 to 35. Second, in the prayer of Christ, verses 36 to 46. And finally, in the passion of Christ, verses 47 to 56. Now let's take a look at each of those in turn. We start with the prediction of Christ, verses 31 to 35, the prediction of Christ. Now, just to kind of pick up from where we left off last week, I remind you Jesus is in the upper room. And as you compare Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22, and even some of the events in John 13 to 17, You get kind of a composite account of all the things that took place. And not all of them are necessarily worrying about putting everything in chronological order, and none of them are worried about recording everything that is stated. So in order to get a fuller, a more composite picture, we might be done. Well, OK, we will be going to a couple of other of those passages just to fill in some blanks for you this morning. But with a primary focus here in Matthew 26, remember that Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples last week. And it's that same night that we're looking at tonight. They have celebrated the Passover. He has established the Lord's supper and he is getting ready to leave the upper room and head over the Mount of Olives. We pick up now in verse 30. They sang a hymn which closed off that Passover celebration. And John tells us that there's the entire upper room discourse sitting there. And the other gospels tell us, Luke, for example, in Luke 22 says it was in this context after Jesus says, one of them is going to betray me, one of you is going to betray me. And he dismisses Judas. Do you know what the disciples then started arguing about? After he establishes the memorial and before they leave, you know what they're arguing about? Which one of them is going to be the greatest? Because that's what they're always arguing about. That's what they're always thinking about. You know, that's a sermon sitting by itself waiting to be preached, but we'll save it for another day. But these are the other things that happen in that context. Now they get ready to leave the room and they're getting ready to head out to the Mount of Olives. And remember, Luke tells us that every night during that Passover week, that whole festival, Jesus would go to the temple and he would teach and then he would go over to the Mount of Olives. The upper room is is on the south side, let me see, east, west wall, eastern wall, so it's on the south side of Jerusalem, okay, and they would have come out most likely down that street, Kath and I were actually on those streets and some of the stones we were walking on were first century stones and they left the upper room, they went out the city that side, They went around the side where the wall of the Temple Mount is, and they went down through the Kidron Valley. Now remember, we've just celebrated the Passover, so half of the animals that are going to be sacrificed for Passover happened that afternoon. Where do you think all that blood runs off to? Right down into the Kidron Valley. That's why some commentators will point out, oh, look at some of your faces. Yes, and they're wearing sandals. Can you imagine on flip-flops or sandals walking through the Kidron The kindred valley and the little stream that runs there walking through that bloody stream on the way up the Mount of Olives. Listen, that's Jesus was the Lamb of God and he walked through. It just said, doesn't that bring a lot of vividness to this whole thing? Yeah. Well, that's what Jesus did. He and his disciples, they leave the city, they head over to the Mount of Olives, where they were basically spending the night most evenings. Now, Bethany, remember where Mary and Martha and Lazarus live, where Jesus was anointed? That's right up over the Mount of Olives, down the backside of it. So here he is, he goes up the side of the Mount of Olives, and there is a place there called Gethsemane. You know what Gethsemane means? It means an olive press. And we'll get there in a minute. So this is where Jesus is on his way. The discussion here that you have in verses 31 to 35, though, actually happens in the upper room and in the context as they're getting ready to leave. And like I said, you can put a composite of all this, but they went out to the Mount of Olives. And as they're getting ready to leave, Jesus says to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. Now, you can underline that he says this night up to this point. You know what he's been saying when we get to Jerusalem, I'm going to be betrayed and I'm going to die and I'll rise again the third day. I'll be handed over to the elders and the chief priests that he's been revealing more and more. Now he says it's tonight. And he says, you will all fall away because of me this night. And he even tells them why you see this. Why are they going to fall away? because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. Now, there is just so much here, but let me just pull out some highlights, OK? First of all, he tells the disciples in advance they're all going to fall away. And he doesn't use the normal word for fall away here. This isn't the word for falling or departing or leaving. This is a very strong word. For those of you that are familiar with Greek, this is a skandalizo. You know what a scandal is, right? This is the word that this is from the word that Paul uses when he talks about Jews are scandalized by the gospel message. They trip over it. They they reject the gospel because it is offensive to them and they want no part of the gospel that says their Messiah was crucified by Gentiles. They want no part of that mess. That is an offense to them. That's the type of word. That's the word, the strength of the word that Jesus uses when he says tonight, you'll all be scandalized by me tonight. You're all going to be averse to being associated with me and you're going to leave. This is a defection type of a term. That's a pretty strong statement, wouldn't you agree? Now, you know why the disciples react the way they do. He doesn't just say you're all going to, you know, flee. He says you're all going to disowned me, basically. You're going to dissociate yourself from me. These are the men that have been with us the longest and have been closest to Him. This is a very strong declaration by Jesus. Then He also goes on to say, and after I have been raised. You know what He's already predicting? His resurrection. And not only that, He says, after I have been raised, I will what? I will go ahead of you to Galilee. You know what we're going to read in Matthew 28? Guess where he meets his disciples? In Galilee and gives a great commission. He's telling them not only what's going to happen tonight, but the way the rest of it's going to play out. So we have two things here. One, we have Jesus making prophetic declarations that all come to pass. And two, we have him making one and applying it to this situation based upon not just what he says, but on the basis of what scripture says. When he quotes here and says, and some of your Bibles may have this even in all capital letters, that's because your translation is helping you to see this is a citation or quotation from the Old Testament. I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. That's from Zachariah 13 in verse seven. Do you know, you know, the Old Testament was finished roughly round numbers in 435 BC, 400 to 430, depending on the dating of the authors. Four centuries before Jesus was born, the Old Testament was completed. Seven centuries before Jesus was born, Isaiah 53 was written. 1445, so we're talking about 1,500 years before Jesus was born. Genesis 3, 15, the seed of the woman was written. You see how far back you go and you can see the Old Testament saying the way it's going to happen in Jesus' day and what he's going to do? See how far back we can go here? But just in the context of verses 31 and 32, we have Jesus making some prophetic declarations, one regarding his resurrection, two regarding him meeting up with his disciples in Galilee, and three regarding Zachariah being fulfilled that night by his disciples. And if it is fulfilled, we also have Zachariah, an Old Testament text, being fulfilled. And just so we're clear here, when we were in Israel this year, We saw the Isaiah scroll. It's all unrolled. There's a whole building built around it. And you go around and you can see. It's a little tougher to read because it's handwritten and ancient and such. But as I went around, it was pretty cool to sit there and read Isaiah. You know, the Isaiah scroll itself dates at least back to about 130 B.C. You cannot deny that what Jesus did that Isaiah wasn't written after Jesus came along. Isaiah was written. Isaiah was written seven centuries before Jesus came along, and we have a physical copy of Isaiah that's a little over a century older than when Jesus came along. This is what we're talking about. We're talking about fulfilled prophecy. You can trust your Bible is true because there are clear declarations in it as to what God is going to do that are fulfilled in the personal work of Jesus Christ that just can't be faked. Just can't be. It can't be happenstance. It can't be coincidence. And in fact, as you see the record in verses 33 to 35, notice with regard to Christ's personal prediction that night and his attestation that Zechariah is going to be fulfilled tonight. Notice the disciples didn't go, oh, well, if that's what the Bible says, I guess we better do it. You notice that's not how they respond. Notice what they say. Peter said to him, Even though all may fall away because of you, I will what? Never fall away, even if everybody else blows it. That ain't never happening with me, Jesus. You're wrong and the scriptures are wrong. I will be true. Jesus said to him, verse 34, truly, I say to you this night before the rooster, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Now we'll get into the rooster and the number of crowings and all that stuff when we get to the end of the chapter and we get to Peter's denial. Okay? But Peter says, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And incidentally, this is a footnote here. I love this. All the other disciples said, well, wait a minute, Peter, if that's what Jesus says, and that's what the scripture says, it looks like that's what's going to happen. Is that what it says? No. It says all the other disciples said the same thing too. No way. Ain't happening. Not a chance. You want to know, as this plays out, you want to know one of the ways you can tell that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Scriptures are the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God, fulfilled prophecy. The fulfillment, the absolute fulfillment of what Jesus says and what the Old Testament says to the letter and in exact times. And that's what you have right here. Peter says, even if everybody falls away, I won't. Even if they all blow it, even if even if I have to go to prison, even if they kill me, there's no way I'm leaving your side. And you know, to Peter's credit, from a human perspective, there are so many things to commend him and his behavior. We'll see some of them tonight, and we'll see some of it when we get to the end of the chapter and you see that he is one of only two disciples that kind of came back and were there in the high priest courtyard. Peter doesn't have a chance to blow it in the courtyard and deny the Lord three times unless, unlike most of the rest of them, he does come back. But as it turns out, all it does is facilitate him blowing it worse and thereby fulfilling Jesus's own prediction again. So we have the prediction of Christ. You could even say predictions if you like. Next, we have the prayer of Christ. And since there are three stages, you could even say the prayers of Christ if you like. This is in verses 36 to 46. Notice with me that The text says, starting at verse 36, then Jesus came with them, that is with his disciples, to a place called Gethsemane. Gethsemane is just a word that means olive press. And there he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. Now, just as a word of instruction here, an olive press, we got to see a couple of them, one in particular was was at Ibex, wasn't it? Was Ibex the place where they had the big one? Yeah. So at Olive Press, we saw a couple of them, but the biggest one we saw was at Ibex, which is the place where those of you that have had kids that have gone to Israel on a study trip with a master's university, they go to Ibex. We were in Ibex. And they have several things there, like a watchtower for a vineyard. the upper and lower millstones, and some of those kinds of things that we got to see. But there was also an olive press. And an olive press, just to let you know, I remember we showed you pictures of it this summer when we did the little presentation on what we saw when we were in Israel. The olive press is basically a log. They just cut the main trunk of a straight tree. They cut it. And it would be anywhere from about 8 to 15 feet long, one straight. They cut off all the side branches. And then they make it into a press. So that it's it's on a hinge affixed to the wall and then out here at the far end you hang weights and There are three sets of really heavy weight you you put on it and then close to the base Then you put your olives there in in kind of nets so to speak and you stack them all up and then there's a a Underneath is a basin to catch all the olive oil as it runs out. So you hang the first set of weights on, and it comes down, and that first press, that oil that comes out, is just olive oil. That's called extra virgin olive oil, meaning it's the extra good stuff that comes out from the first press. Then once all of that has been collected, then they swap out and they go with a, they've still got the first set of weights on there. Now they put a second set of weights and it presses again. That's the virgin olive oil, which technically isn't virgin anymore because you're past your first press, but there you go. So the first stuff is the good stuff you sell to rich people so you can stay in business. The second stuff is what you keep some for yourself and you sell it to most people. The third time you go through this process, you just have, it's not virgin anymore, it's just olive oil. And you can imagine with each press, there's more particles and more bitterness and whatnot. That third press is what you use to cook with, or you put it in your lamp and burn it to keep the house lit up at night, et cetera. So now, why would this place, on the Mount of Olives, why would there be Gethsemane there? Why would there be an olive press? Well, because that's where the olives are. And so there was a nice little garden. And the garden is not like what you think. I mean, some of us think of a garden as they grow corn and tomatoes and whatever, if you're from the Midwest like I am. Or if you're from out here, you think of a garden as not necessarily where you grow your vegetables, but where you have your flowers and your pretties. Okay. A garden in that context is a nice little walled area where there's the press and you can gather in all the olives and press them, et cetera. So this would have been a nice little walled open air place with the olive press there that would have been covered. And it was called Gethsemane very creatively because Gethsemane means olive press. So they went to the olive press and that's where they were spending the night as they were regularly doing, which by the way is also how Judas knew where to lead all the soldiers to arrest him. So they come to the place called Gethsemane and he says to his disciples, you sit here while I go over there and pray. Notice in verse 37, it tells us that he also took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. and he began to be grieved and distressed. So he singles out who? The three closest apostles, the ones that he took with him to the Mount of Transfiguration, the ones that he had spent the most time with, the ones that he was closest to and had invested most in, Peter and the sons of Zebedee, which are James and John. He takes those three guys and he goes a little further away. And you'll notice the terms grieved and distressed. You put those two together, the first speaks of grief or sorrow or sadness. The second speaks of anxiety, distress, or a feeling of dread. And you add it all up and you get somebody that's got a very heavy heart and is very distressed and is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. And in a sense, you could almost say that literally. More than anything, Jesus knows what He's been called upon by the Father to do. And it isn't just the arrest. It isn't just the humiliations. It isn't just being turned over and going through the betrayal by Judas and all that. And it isn't just the beatings. And it isn't just the mock trial. And it isn't just the humiliation of hanging up on a cross or even dying. Do you know what the chief concern on Jesus' heart is? Enduring the fullness of God's wrath in our place. You see that when He begins to pray and says, let this cup pass from me. That's His biggest concern. For the first time in all eternity, the Father will turn His back on the Son. For the first time there will be a break in that relationship. As Paul describes, as God made Him who knew no sin to what? Be sin for us. That's what Jesus is facing in the fullness of His humanity. And as it gets close to the time, he is heavy of heart and he is weighted and distressed by that high calling that the Father has placed upon him. Jesus was fully human. He knew full well what he was in for. And frankly, from a human perspective, if you think about it, He's already said repeatedly that he knows exactly what's coming and how it's coming. He's told the disciples it's this very night. He's indicated the disciples he knows it's Judas and that's what's going to happen. And this is where it's going to happen. You know all Jesus has to do right now? Do you know all he has to do? Hey guys, I've decided we're going to go ahead and go another 500 yards. We're going over the hill. We're going to knock on Lazarus's door and see if they'll let us stay the night. And he's out of it. He's out of it. You ever think of that? That's all it takes. Judas is bringing him here. All it takes is just not being here. For that matter, you can leave the disciples and just say, hey, guys, you stay here. I'm going to go walk on some water just for practice. You know what I'm saying? No, he knows exactly where and he's come to the hour where he needs to submit himself to the beginning of the process of his passion. No wonder he's grieving. No wonder he's distressed. You ever had something that you had to do, you knew you had to do, and it was just hard to do it? And you had to work through in your own heart not to let yourself try to find an escape for it, but just to obey God and go do it? I remember a number of years ago, this is more than 20 years ago now, I was at Grace, I was part of the pastoral staff, I was working with Stuart Scott, And we had a police officer come in for counseling. And he came in with a towel in his hand, and it was soaked. And he said, I just need to talk to a pastor. OK, well, sit down. I'm just an intern, but I'll talk to you. And so he sits down, and he just starts sharing with me the trouble that he's in. And in the context of an arrest and everything else, He had wound up kissing a woman. He didn't do anything else, but he had kissed a woman in this context. It was kind of a sting operation and everything else. And so he was distressed over having compromised his marriage. And then when he was confronted or asked to give him a report about it, about all the things that had happened, he left that out of it and he lied to his supervisors. And so now they realized that he was probably not telling the truth. So they had scheduled him for a lie detector test. And that's the context in which he comes into me. And as he comes in for this, he sits down and he's bawling. This guy's like three times my size. And he's saying, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? And I thought, well, you know, I think it's pretty easy. We just go and we just tell the truth now. I'll lose my marriage. I'll lose my job. I might even go to prison. Well, do you want to honor God or do you want to continue to make things worse for yourself however you do it? Oh, well, when you put it like that. But I just don't know that I have the strength to do that. I don't have the courage to do this. This guy's three times my size. How can you not have the strength to do it? Because we're not talking about physical strength anymore. It isn't about whether you're man enough to do it. It's about whether you're God's man enough to do it. And that strength doesn't come from ourselves. It comes from God. He says, all right, I'll do it. Will you go with me? Sure. So we went down to the police station. We sat down with the guy that was supposed to administer the lie detector to him, and bless his heart, This officer just started bawling and told the whole truth as fast as he could and was just all and there's like there's like this stuff this Confessions coming out the whole room got filled with confessions and tears and you know I had that my shoes were squeaky from the water I mean, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I mean he really he came full clean as fast as he could talk and and he's about 20 minutes into this discussion and the the guy says okay stop stop so we can't do your your lie detector test. I believe everything you're telling me now, but I can't do your lie detector test because you're just emotional. It'll never work. So we'll schedule another time." And so that kind of broke the ice. And then I said, well, if he's got to come back next week, I said, do you want me to come with you? No, I can do it now. You want me to go with you to talk to your wife? No, I can do it now. God has helped me, and he will help me, and I'm good to go. Do you know something? within a month. Now, I wound up counseling them. Within about three weeks, their marriage was in a better state than it was beforehand. They actually started talking and confessing to each other. It was cool. And within a month, there were consequences suspension-wise for a short time. And then they turned him into one teaching other police officers about the dangers of the involvement and the need to be honest and all that. He got to glorify God as a result of it. Isn't that cool? OK. Have you ever been in a situation, not that situation, but one where you knew you had to do something that honored God and you were afraid or heavy hearted in doing it? Years ago, we had a thing called the elders diet. It was because shepherding in a couple of contexts that we had here were so heavy and so hard and so challenging and we so needed God's help and we're focused on just doing that. Most of us stopped eating. I mean, we ate a little bit, but it didn't taste good anymore. Listen, if Gina's tri-tip doesn't taste all that good, your mind is somewhere else. You know what I'm saying? Have you ever been in a situation like that? Yeah, well, you know what? You're a sinner in situations like that. Totally in need of God and His enablement. Jesus was perfect, but He was facing carrying the weight of the sins of the world and dying in our place. And he's right there at that time when you either go or you don't. And that's what's on his heart. So he takes Peter and James and John, and then he brings them along with him. And in verse 38, we're told the Bible says, then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. I could wish I could die to get out of this. So remain here and what? Keep watch with me. He separates these three because they're the most reliable, the most mature, the ones that he has spent the most effort in preparing them and says, keep watch what? With me. I'm facing the cross. Pray for me. And he went a little way beyond them, fell on his face and prayed, Father, My father, if it is possible, let this cup what has from me yet not as I will, but as you will. And if you take your Bible and turn to Mark 14 with me, if you look at verse 36, you'll see even fuller the tonality of this prayer. Remember, Mark's gospel is based on Peter's testimony and Peter's preaching. So this is This is a record of what Peter heard just a short way away as Jesus began to pray. He was saying, Abba, Dad, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what You will. And he's pouring his heart out. Father, You can do anything. All things are possible. Please let this not be. the way we do this. Please. But in the end, not my will, but yours. There's no rebellion. There's no sin. But there's a clear appreciation of exactly what he's in for. You follow me? And as you look at the various accounts, it would seem that he spent about an hour. So that's how you can harmonize those different accounts. He said all of them. And this is the tone of it. When you read Hebrews 4 and verse 15 and read that Jesus was tempted or tested in all points like we are yet without sin, yeah, you know something? Jesus has faced things that are hard to do. Jesus has faced things that in His humanity He just didn't have fully the strength to do. He needed the Father's enabling power. The difference between Him and us is He went to the Father and asked for help. submitted to his will and was given assistance. We blow it, we give up. Verse 41, excuse me, verse 40. He came to his disciples and found them diligently praying for him. Oh, Father, Jesus asked us to pray for him. We know that he is our Lord and, right? Is that what they're doing? No. They got distracted in their prayer and they were thinking about the remodeling on the house and the honeydew lit. No. You know what? They find them. Speak to me. Sleeping. Sleeping. I say, well, it's the middle of the night. Yes, it is. And what has Jesus just been doing for the last hour? Praying, because he knows full well what is in store for him. And it begins with a petition. Father, you can do anything. All things are possible. Please let it not be this way. I submit, if if this is what you want. But I would really prefer a different way. And then he comes back and he finds his disciple sleeping. And notice who he addresses. Who does he speak to? All of them? No, to Peter. Why do you think he singles Peter out? He does use the plural pronoun, or the plural here, when he says, so you men could not keep watch with me for one hour. But why did he specifically address Peter in this context? You tell me. Who was the one a few hours ago that says, I wouldn't willing to die for you. I don't care of everybody. Peter, I didn't ask you to die for me. I asked you to what? Pray for me. You can't even stay awake for an hour. Seriously. The Lord's patience with us is unfounded, is it not? You ever been you ever been impatient with somebody? No, just me. Someday, when you have some of the same experiences that I have all the time of being impatient with some people that are a little slow, or are driving in the wrong lane, or it says 65, there's nobody else on the road, why are you doing 20? And Jesus is dealing with this. And Peter's the best. Kind of puts things into context, doesn't it? Now before I switch into preaching and meddling, let's go back to the text. You men could not keep watch with me for one hour. Notice how he turns it now in verse 41. Keep watching and praying now that what you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He's contending with his own flesh and his flesh isn't fallen. He wants to obey God, but he also knows what's in store for him down this path. And he's saying, Father, if it's possible, let it be a different way. But not my will, but yours be done. And here the disciples are not only not praying for him, he knows they're going to blow it. They've already said they're not going to blow it. He says, well then, listen, you better start praying for you. The Spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. Be watching. and praying. Notice the continuous ideas expressed there even in your English. Keep watching and keep praying that you don't blow it. Verse 42. He went away again a second time and he prayed, saying, My father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, then what? Your will be done. If this is the only way, then I'm going to stop asking for it to be a different way and I'll just do it your way. Mark 14 and verse 39 says that he prayed much the same words that he did the first time. But you can see, I think in Matthew's account here, there's a transition. There's a measure transition from you can do anything, father, dad, please let there be a different way to father. If it can't be a different way, then I'll do it. Verse 43. again he came and found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy." He comes back, and what have they done? They fell right back asleep. And what's really interesting, you can look at Mark 14 in verse 40 if you want, and it's very interesting, some of the commentators in Matthew say Jesus didn't wake them up this second time, didn't bother. The problem with that is in Mark 14 in verse 40 it says, again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were very heavy, And it also says at the end of the verse, they did not know what to answer him. Meaning he did wake him up again and said, guys, you're still sleeping. Now they don't even know what to say. They just got, they've blown it twice already. You ever blown it one time and said, Oh no, I'm good. I'm good. All right. And then blow it again. They've been there. Yeah. When you get caught that second time, what do you say? But now you can't say anything. Well, that's exactly what Mark says. And remember, Mark is based on Peter's preaching and his testimony. Peter remembers this night. Peter remembers this night, I believe, better than any other night in his whole life. This is his crowning achievement. No disciple that didn't wind up an apostate has ever blown it as royally as Peter. I mean, there's a real feather in your cap, right? Again, he found them sleeping because their eyes are heavy. So now you go to the third round of prayer. He left them again. He went away and he prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. And in Luke chapter 22. I mean, you don't need to turn to just listen as I read. He says, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. And then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. What's it tell you? You know something? There are some things. that you cannot do in your own strength, you need what? God's strength. Even Jesus needed an angel to strengthen Him, to be able to face the passion, to face the cross, and to bear the weight of the sins of the world. And having fully submitted to the will of the Father from the beginning to the end, and having moved from even asking for it to be taken away to now commitment to doing it God's way, He has strengthened and enabled to go on. We're even told that being in agony, he was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling upon the ground. It always tickles me when guys want to get into the whole medical idea of, well, can you sweat blood and yada, yada, yada. You know what it says in the text? His sweat became what? Like drops of blood. What's that mean? That means he wasn't glistening. He wasn't moistened. He wasn't just damp. Okay? As he was praying on his knees, as he was praying in the garden for hours, he was so into it, it was breaking a sweat and it was dripping off the end of his nose. Splash, splash, like great drops of blood. He poured himself into this, begging the Father, And in the end, perfectly submitting to the Father, and the Father sending an angel to strengthen him to face the task at hand. Notice verse 45. He then comes to his disciples and says to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. And he comes back having prayed the third time now having been strengthened by the angel to obey the father all the way to and through the cross. He comes back to his disciples and he says, are you still sleeping? Notice verse 46, get up, let us be going. Literally awaken. Let's go or or wake up. Let's go. He's committed. to walking in perfect obedience all the way to the cross at this point. He is strengthened and ready to obey God. And what of the disciples? They got a nap. Who's more ready for this? Well, I think you'll see pretty quickly. When you look at Jesus on this night in which he is betrayed, and you see him praying, And you see Him instructing His disciples and loving them even to the end. You know what you're looking at when you look at Jesus? You're looking at somebody who loves God and loves you so much that He is fully willing to go to the cross for you and die for you. Even though in His flesh personally, it is not a task that He has a desire to do. He nevertheless goes in perfect obedience to the Father, in love for the Father, and in love for you and me as well. All night long he had time to simply go somewhere else and spend the night. He could have traveled over the hill and spent the night in Bethany with Lazarus. You think they would have let him in? No, they would have turned him back. No, no, you've got to go back to your garden in Gethsemane. Instead he stays right here and he waits for the betrayal and he prays. Sure, he asked if there was a different way. And then he said that this is the only way that I'm committed to it. And now he sees this is the way. And having been strengthened for the task by an angel, he heads out to meet his betrayer. Everything from this point forward is the perfect man submitting himself to the father's plan and the greatest injustice in history so that he can pay for your sins. And restore you into a right relationship with our heavenly father. There's an amazing contrast here. Jesus Himself spent the night in prayer. He begins grieved and distressed and ends up strengthened and resolved and ready to glorify the Father. The disciples gave in to fatigue and fear. They begin confident and self-sufficient. They end wary and defeated. Why? One, they failed to respond rightly to Jesus' initial warning, you'll all fall away. Two, they failed to take seriously His admonitions, you'll deny me three times. Three, they fail first to pray for him. Four, they fail a second time to pray for themselves. And five, they fail finally to pray at all. And that's why six, ultimately, they fail to stand with him just as he promised. There are lots of lessons there, but we move on now to the third undeniable way the scriptures are fulfilled, and it's in verses 47 to 46. It's in the passion of Christ. It's in the passion of Christ. Verse 47. While Jesus was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up and accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Remember what Jesus said? Tonight one of you is going to betray me? Here it is, yet another fulfillment. He who was betraying him gave them a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he's the one, seize him. So he comes here with, you notice in verse 47, it says a large crowd with swords and clubs, right? A large crowd with swords and clubs. When you compare the other gospels, you find that, uh, uh, for example, in John 18, you find that this is the cohort, the Roman cohort, uh, a cohort was a thousand men on paper. Rarely was a Roman cohort ever deployed with a full complement. At full strength on paper, a Roman cohort was 760 infantry and 240 cavalry. Normally, or typically, they were on the field in a strength of about 600. So let's say of those 600, they didn't bring them all, let's say they just brought 400, which is what I think most writers would affirm. They brought about 400 Roman soldiers. Those would be the guys with the swords and the lanterns. Then they also sent some who brought clubs. The word for clubs here, and the idea here of the clubs, I mean, this is not a rabble. Sometimes when we think of clubs, I think we think of caveman, right? Think of Fred Flintstone and that big club that he swang. All right, the clubs is like a billy club or a nightstick. You're talking about the temple soldiers, the temple guards. They wouldn't be allowed to carry blade weapons because they do not have the right to take a life. So they're going to bring something that subdues somebody. They're going to bring a nightstick. That's the clubs. And they are probably the ones with the torches as well. And there would have been upwards of probably another one to 200 of those. These are the officials that are the temple guards and the official police force, so to speak, or peacekeeping force of the Sanhedrin, the priests and the elders. So if you round this off, you can have anywhere from about 1,000 armed men to more like 500. And just for the sake of argument, let's say it's 500, because I can't imagine they would rouse the whole cohort. So they probably have one shift sleeping. So 400 Roman soldiers, 200 temple guards and Sanhedrin officials, and they come out to arrest Jesus. 600 armed men. We have about 90 people here today. Okay? More than six times that. Six and a half times as many people here. And all of you guys would then be buff. Are you okay with being buff? Even if it's just in your mind, you're buff. Adam's ready to be buff, okay? So you're buff, you're ripped, and some of you have clubs, the rest of you get to have the swords and shield, right? You're Roman soldiers. Okay? They show up to arrest Jesus. Judas is in front of them. By the way, just as a footnote, verse 47, they came from the chief priests and elders of the people to arrest Jesus. And what did Jesus say all the way back in Matthew 16 and repeatedly through the gospel? It's going to be the chief priests behind all this and the elders of the people. Now, he who was betraying him gave them a sign saying, whoever I kiss, the one I go up and greet, this would be so that you know exactly who to arrest. Don't let him escape. He's the one sees him. And so immediately, Matthew says immediately, Judas went to Jesus and said, Hail Rabbi, footnote. He doesn't say, Hail Lord. He says, Hail Rabbi again, just like we talked about last week. And he kissed him. And a lot of writers make a lot about this word for kissing. It is probably that he kissed him repeatedly on both cheeks. It would be a greeting, a warm greeting, a friendly one, and one that acknowledges affection at a level. And appreciation. And Jesus said to him, friend, do what you have come for. In fact, the other gospels tell us that he also said, I know what you're here for. Do what you've come for. I know what's going on. I know why you're here. And they came and they laid hands on Jesus and seized him. Now, this is what Matthew tells us. I want you to keep your finger here and I want you all to turn with me to John 18. I want you to see the most amazing thing that Matthew doesn't bother pointing out because he's He's focused on fulfillment of Scripture, but I just think it's so profitable for us to see John's account of this. It's a little bit of stuff that happens between these verses. Look at John 18 with me for a minute. We'll pick up in verse 3. Judas then, having received the cohort, that is the Roman cohort, and this is where some argue it was the whole cohort. Maybe it was. Maybe it was all 600 guys. and the officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees. So this is the temple guard, the Sanhedrin officials. They came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. And Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? Now you tell me, John is telling us the beginning of the encounter and who initiated it. According to John, who starts the whole thing? Jesus does, and he goes out and he addresses the whole crowd and says, who are you after? And they answered him, Jesus, the Nazarene. And he said to them, what? I am now look at the text. And Judas, who was betraying him, was standing with them. And when he said to them, I am, they drew back and did what? fell to the ground. Now you tell me, who's in control here? 600 soldiers come. Who starts the whole deal? It isn't Judas that's running the show here, it's Jesus. When he sees them coming and their torches and their lantern and hears them all marching up, he walks out and he meets them. Who are you looking for? Jesus the Nazarene, I am. And they all take a step back and fall to the ground. Can you hear the metal rattling? Can you hear 600 guys dropping at once? Those of you in the military, remember boot camp? Remember when the whole unit hits the ground? OK, that's the sound. And why do they hit the ground? Because Jesus identifies himself fully for who he is. I am. And if you want, you can go back to Exodus. And remember, that's exactly the way God introduced himself to Moses. I am that I am, the self-existent one. I, who do I say sent me? I am. One word, a me. And they're all down. That's the power of God, the power of our Lord and Savior on display. When he submits to them and gets arrested, it isn't because he has to. It's because as he promised in John 10, he will lay his life down for us of his own free will and authority. Nobody takes his life from him. And he proves it. And this is what John remembers. When they got there, with a word, Jesus drops them all like a bad habit. They stand up again. This is the thing that blows me away. He says, I am. They drew back, fell to the ground. Therefore He again asked them, Who do you seek? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene. And Jesus answered, I told you that I am. So if you seek Me, let these go their way. to fulfill the word which he spoke of those whom you have given me, I have lost none." You know what John remembered about that night? The promises Jesus made in the high priestly prayer in John 17 that he wrote down. This is why all four Gospels are so rich. They are each of the different disciples' personal recollection of what happened and what was most memorable to them. And what they write is specifically geared to convey the point they're trying to make in their Gospel. Notice that it says in verse 10, Simon, Peter, then in Matthew, keep your finger on John 18. Go back over to Matthew. Verse 50, Jesus said to Judas, what you're about to do, go ahead. And Jesus says, friend, do what you have come for. And the word friend there is the word comrade. Not just the general word for friend, but this is a word that refers to like a brother in arms. Like a band of brothers. This is somebody that's been through stuff together. This is somebody that we, you know, we have personal experiences. We've gone through stuff together. There's a camaraderie here, not just friendship. And not just fellowship. There's like a brotherhood aspect here. And that's the way he addresses him. Comrade, do what you have come for. They came and they laid hands on Jesus and they seized him, which is that they arrested him. We're told in verse 51, Behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. What's really cool is, in John 18, John tells us who it was. He says, Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear. That slave's name, by the way, is Malchus. Why does he tell you the name of the slave? or the servant. Why does he tell you the name? Because he remembers it. He knows who it was. It's a real person. By the way, Peter was not aiming for his ear. What was Peter trying to do? Take off his head. When you think about the boldness and the courage, how can you not admire Peter for, you know, he's blown it all night and he said he's willing to die for him. He proves that in his own strength, he's willing to die. He's ready to take on 600 soldiers. He's a fisherman. He's got a dagger. They have swords and armor. He got, wham! Right? Jesus, in verse 52, says, put your sword back into its place. All those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Now, I've got to do a footnote here. I just want to be clear. So many people want to take this statement and rip it so far out of context that this is a call for pacifism. Anybody joining the military, anybody ever using a weapon or any of that kind of stuff, that's wrong. That's exactly against what Jesus taught. That is wrong. That is dead wrong. That is precisely not what this says. Peter isn't just using a sword, he's doing it unlawfully. In Romans 13, the apostle Paul says, we're to submit to governing authorities. And if we don't, they don't bear the sword for no reason. They're ministers of God having been given the right to exercise capital punishment for capital crimes. You know what Peter's committing right here? A capital crime. This isn't some, this is vigilantism. I know we all like to look at Batman and say he's so cool. I mean, his superpower is that he's rich and has the greatest gadgets in the world. True. Well, not in the world, but in imagination. Okay? But he's a vigilante. That's what he is. And we look up to that, and we idolize that, and we appreciate that. You know what Jesus says? That's what's wrong, Peter. You take up the sword, and you're going to die by it. Capital crimes suffer capital punishment. And for the record, that's the message that John the Baptist preached as well. When he was preaching in the wilderness and the tax collectors came to him and said, well, what do we do to manifest repentance? He didn't say stop being tax collectors. He said, collect only what you've been commissioned to collect. Don't use your position as a means to make money and extort money from people. And the soldiers came up to him and said, what do we do? He didn't say stop being soldiers. He said, what? Be content with your wages. Be the most faithful and God-honoring soldier you can be. This is not Jesus saying you have to be a pacifist. That's ridiculous. That would undermine the freedoms of everybody. That would undermine national security, all nation security. That would result in chaos. No, he says to Peter though, put your sword back into its place because all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. And I love this last part. He says, do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? A legion is roughly 6,000 soldiers, roughly 6,000 soldiers. What's 12 legions? 72,000 soldiers, okay? 72,000 angels. Do you know God, at the stroke of midnight, slew all the firstborn in Egypt? Just bang. Do you know, according to 2 Kings 19, the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. Now, how much damage do you think 72,000 angels could do to a contingent of 600 to 800 men? And by the way, I now remind you of what we saw in John 18. When the soldiers come out, how does this whole event start? Jesus says, I am, and they drop. Peter, bless your little pumpkin head. I do not need you. And what you're doing is sinning. Now, I know you have the right intentions, but you are utterly wrong in what you're doing and the way you're doing it. And incidentally, this is so cool. Luke tells us that Jesus then stops, picks up the ear and heals him. Doesn't it amaze you they still arrest him? Doesn't it amaze you they can't see it? Why does all this happen this way? Why do all these things get recorded for us to see? Because Jesus was in control the whole time. Jesus didn't die because they arrested Him, or they caught Him, or they forced Him, or He got surprised, or He couldn't help it, or He couldn't rescue Him. Jesus was in control the whole time. The only reason He submitted to the authorities is so that He could accomplish the Father's plan and die at our place. And that's exactly what you see in verse 54. How then will the scriptures be fulfilled which say it must happen this way, Peter? Verse 55. At that time Jesus said to the crowds. He's addressing all these men now. Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber, a violent criminal? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you didn't seize me. If what I was doing was really wrong, when should you have arrested me? When I was doing it right there in public before everybody to see. What's he telling them? Think about what you're doing, because when it's all said and done, you're going to think back to this moment. You're going to realize what you did was unjust. And then he tells them, and I love this, all this has taken place to fulfill what? The scriptures of the prophets. When this is all said and done, you're going to realize the whole time You were fulfilling exactly what God said was going to happen when I come and offer myself up in your place. And then what happens? All the disciples left him and fled. You say, well, Peter comes back. Yes, so does John. We'll talk about that next time. What are we just seeing here? What are we just seeing? The scripture has been fulfilled repeatedly. Jesus's predictions have been fulfilled repeatedly. A quick short list. The rejection by the leaders, Matthew 16. The betrayal by Judas, Matthew 26. The scattering of the disciples, Matthew 26. The denial by Peter, Matthew 26. The death on the cross, Matthew 27. The resurrection from the dead. And the regathering in Galilee, Matthew 28. And on and on and on it goes. You know, in 1932, the Yankees and the Cubs played in the World Series. Probably have that again this year. No Angels, I don't think. Babe Ruth called his shot, or at least supposedly called his shot. I did a little reading and saw this week that there's a question of whether he actually did. Let's just assume for the sake of it. I mean, he's standing there, and he points out to center field. But he's got two fingers held up. And some said he was saying, it's only two strikes. So he gets up to the plate. The first one comes over, and he says, in his own account, he says, he thought it was outside. And everybody's going nuts. It's in Wrigley Field. Cool ballpark, by the way. And so then the next one comes by, and it's strike two. And out of the dugout, the Cubs players are coming out, and they're mocking him and yelling at him. And then he points out to the outfield, but he has the two fingers up. Some say he said, that's only two strikes. He says he pointed where he was going to hit it in the next pitch. And what's so cool, I listened to his own account of it. He says, and the good Lord smiled on me. Isn't that cool? Anyways, he swung. Gone. Home run. Yankees. That's pretty amazing to call your shot, don't you think? People have been trying to do that forever. Can I just put things into perspective for you? If we were going to compare Babe Ruth, assuming he actually did call his shot, to God calling his shot with a crucifixion, this would be like Babe Ruth's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, before baseball even existed. saying, I'm going to have a son. He's going to be the greatest hitter ever. You can argue steroid guys all you want. The greatest hitter, the greatest baseball player ever. And he is going to call a shot and make it in Chicago and Wrigley Field. And by the way, he makes this prediction before Chicago exists. That is what scripture does and way more. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It does claim to be, and rightly so. You will not find an error in it. But what proves it most definitively is a host of fulfilled prophecy. Amen? And there is such a clustering of these types of fulfillments right here in the Gospel narratives. Let's pray. Father, thank you indeed for sending your Son to die for us. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for submitting to the Father's plans and bringing about our salvation through your death on the cross in our place. For those among us who know you and love you, help us to appreciate you and to trust you in your word and to learn the lessons from the failures of the disciples so that we might indeed pray to you for strength and dedicate ourselves like you did to living in obedience to the Father's plan. And for those among us who don't know you, Lord, please open their eyes to the truth and save them, that their lives and voices might equally attest to the greatness of your power and your purposes and your provision of salvation in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all God's people said, amen.