Latest / The Foreign Saint's Podcast / The First Crushings of the Holy Olive | Matthew 26:26-50

Transcript

The First Crushings of the Holy Olive | Matthew 26:26-50 · The Foreign Saint's Podcast

0:00
The grace of God gifted through the Gospel is scandalous in the
0:05
extreme, and praise God for that, because anything short of
0:10
a scandalous love would not go to a cross to rescue you, nor
0:14
would it be powerful enough to transform you and transfer you
0:18
from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light and his
0:21
beloved Son. Amen and Amen.
0:24
All hail King Jesus. Christianity and Judaism are
0:32
treated by many in and out of the church as two different but
0:35
related religions. I'm going to start off with
0:38
something controversial today. Christianity is real Judaism,
0:43
and the Judaism that exists today is a false Judaism pushed
0:48
by demons using human agents with seared consciences that lie
0:53
about what these holy books have to say.
0:56
I'm St. Kay, and you're listening to
0:58
Foreign Saints where I'm doing what I can to keep Christianity
1:02
unique in this world by reviving the hearts of those who are
1:05
called to die daily. But before we jump into our
1:11
message for today, I've got a couple of announcements that I
1:14
want to say right here at the start.
1:16
All right. Firstly, the historical project
1:20
for Juneteenth this year is Christianity versus the Ku Klux
1:25
Christ, where I will be taking a look at the slave narratives of
1:29
Olada, Aquino, Frederick Douglass, Mary Prince, and even
1:32
more as well as learning about the religious and political
1:36
battle between during Reconstruction to see the world
1:41
of difference between the Christianity of Jesus and the
1:45
Christianity of the land. All right, I'm looking very much
1:48
forward to doing that. I also have a few guests lined
1:52
up for future episodes. All right, Stu, leader of a
1:56
digital missionary group that I'm a part of, most of the
1:59
content for the Gospel to the Nation's Playlist comes from my
2:03
work with his organization. That conversation is going to be
2:05
good talking about mission work in this digital age.
2:09
Additionally, Christian Ashley of the Let Nothing Move You
2:14
podcast will be guest star, but he will be making a return to
2:22
help me breakdown some of Tom Shipley's recent comments
2:26
supporting polygamy. And on that topic, I will also
2:30
be having as a guest on the show Messianic Jewish Rabbi Zach
2:36
Fenton. We will be bringing some real
2:40
Hebrew expertise to the question of whether Leviticus 1818 truly
2:44
endorses polygamy. OK, I've called in two of my big
2:48
dogs in this spiritual battle against the polypals, my
2:52
affectionate name for false teachers that push polygamy and
2:56
other things. And as a segue back to our
2:59
actual topic today, those folks are a good example of First
3:06
Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.
3:09
Paul writing now the Spirit explicitly says that in later
3:13
times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to
3:17
deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the
3:21
hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
3:26
OK, as well as what Jesus has to say in his revelation.
3:32
OK chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, His letter to the church in Smyrna
3:37
thus says the 1st and the last, the one who is dead and came to
3:41
life. I know your affliction in
3:43
poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who
3:48
say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan.
3:52
OK, that's Jesus speaking there. OK, Jesus here in his revelation
3:57
and Paul in First Timothy 4 they agree.
4:00
OK, there are true teachers and false teachers who teach a true
4:06
Judaism and a false fake Judaism where we are beginning today,
4:13
getting back to our walkthrough verse by verse in the Gospel of
4:16
Matthew. OK, chapter 26, verses 26 to 50,
4:21
This message I have entitled The First Crushings of the Holy
4:27
Olive, The First Crushings of the Holy Olive.
4:30
And my first main point is that the Lord's Supper communion is
4:36
the fulfillment of what Moses and of what Moses and Isaiah
4:39
wrote and prophesied. And because of that, the Lord's
4:43
Supper communion is proof that Christianity is true Judaism,
4:49
OK, but let's go ahead and look at the actual text, OK?
4:55
Our first verses for this section are going to be Matthew
4:57
2626 to 30. As they were eating, Jesus took
5:02
bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and
5:06
said, take and eat it, this is my body.
5:09
Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to
5:12
them and said, drink from it all of you.
5:14
For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
5:17
for many for the forgiveness of sins.
5:20
But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from
5:24
now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my
5:28
Father's Kingdom. After singing a hymn, they went
5:31
out to the Mount of Olive. And for our first topic of
5:35
discussion in this point, I want you to key in on verse 28.
5:40
When Jesus says, for this is my blood of the covenant in
5:44
reference to the cup, He says, this is my blood of the
5:47
covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
5:52
sins. All right, I want you to keep
5:54
that phrase in your mind as we bounce over to Exodus chapter 12
5:59
and verses 21 to 27. OK, this is what the Scripture
6:03
reads in Exodus. Remember, keep this in context
6:08
of Jesus saying that Passover cup is his blood.
6:12
Verse 21. Then Moses summoned all the
6:14
elders of Israel and said to them, Go select an animal from
6:17
the flock according to your families, and slaughter the
6:20
Passover animal to take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the
6:24
blood that is in the basin, and brush the lentil and the two
6:27
doorposts with some of the blood in the basin.
6:29
None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.
6:33
When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood
6:37
on the lentil and the two doorposts, He will pass over the
6:41
door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.
6:47
Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your
6:50
descendants. When you enter the land that the
6:53
Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe
6:56
this ceremony. When your children ask you, what
6:59
does this ceremony mean to you? You are to reply, it is the
7:02
Passover sacrifice to the Lord. For He passed over the houses of
7:06
the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, and he
7:10
spared our homes. So the people knelt low and
7:15
worshipped. OK, I want you guys to really
7:19
catch this about communion, about the Lord's Supper, all
7:22
right? The Last Supper of Jesus and his
7:25
12 disciples was not a new ritual.
7:28
This is not something new inherently that Jesus is, you
7:33
know, imparting here, but rather the ancient festival of
7:36
unleavened Bread, which was itself just one part of the
7:40
Passover celebration. The Last Supper is proof that
7:44
Jesus was a Jew and that Christianity is Judaism.
7:47
And in this world, in our culture, where Judaism and
7:51
Israel and all things like that are becoming more and more
7:54
unpopular, it's good to remind people of the true Jewishness of
8:00
Christianity, that it is Judaism, all right.
8:04
As we just read in Exodus, Passover was when God commanded
8:08
the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt to do a couple of things
8:12
right. Select a lamb or goat from their
8:15
flock. Have that creature kept with
8:17
them until the appointed day and time, usually the 14th of
8:20
Nissan. Then they would slaughter their
8:23
chosen animals as a community at twilight on the 14th of Nissan.
8:28
They would apply the blood of that animal to the vertical door
8:31
posts and the horizontal top beam.
8:35
They would eat the meat of the slaughtered animal and leave
8:38
nothing left on the plate. And during this time they also
8:42
ate bread with no yeast, bread without a puffing up from hot
8:46
air effect AKA pride, and remove it from their homes.
8:50
And in the midst of all of this, they were always to explain to
8:53
their children that all of this was in remembrance of when God
8:57
spared Israel from wrath by using the blood of an innocent.
9:03
So I mentioned Moses and we looked at him, and I also
9:06
mentioned Isaiah. Let's take a look at him.
9:08
OK, I'm going to quote to you Isaiah 42, verse six.
9:12
OK, this this saying right here also shows up in chapter 49,
9:19
both of which come from servant song poems that describe the
9:22
Messiah in increasingly specific detail with each song.
9:27
What you're looking at on your screen here, Isaiah 42 verse 6
9:31
and this from song number one. OK, Isaiah 42 verse 6 says I am
9:37
the Lord. I have called you for a
9:39
righteous purpose and I will hold you by your hand, I will
9:43
watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for
9:48
the people and a light to the nations.
9:52
OK, but when you jump ahead to Isaiah 49 verse 8, you see it
9:59
says the same thing. This is what the Lord says.
10:01
I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in
10:04
the day of salvation. I will keep you and I will
10:06
appoint you to be a covenant for the people to restore the land,
10:10
to make them possess the desolate inheritances.
10:13
OK. They both say that this servant
10:18
to come, that this good servant who is much better than the
10:23
wicked servant that Israel has turned out to be, the actual
10:26
obedient servant that God will bring in the future will be
10:29
appointed to be a covenant. He will be appointed by the Lord
10:35
to be a covenant for the people, not to make a covenant with the
10:40
people. All right, do you catch the
10:42
difference? All right, and keep in mind
10:46
covenants are made. Covenants are ratified through
10:49
the shedding of blood in the Bible.
10:51
So if that's the case, how is it possible for a person to be a
10:57
covenant for a people, right? Make sense of it.
11:01
Said you were appointed to make a covenant with the people
11:05
because then some other thing dies when you make it right,
11:07
usually an animal. But if you're going to be a
11:10
covenant for a people, how would that work unless that person who
11:16
was appointed to be a covenant died to establish a covenant by
11:20
spilling their own blood? Well, then it would work, right?
11:26
So back in Matthew when Jesus takes the cup of the Passover
11:30
celebration and says this is my blood of the covenant which is
11:34
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
11:37
Which covenant is he talking about, the Mosaic covenant or
11:41
the new covenant that Isaiah talked about and Jeremiah talked
11:45
about? Well, I would say both in a way.
11:51
All right, Obviously, just looking at the immediate context
11:55
here in Matthew, Jesus is saying this as they are in the middle
11:59
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
12:00
He is saying this about the elements of the Feast of
12:04
Unleavened Bread, and those elements are obviously tied to
12:08
the Mosaic covenant, the Law of Moses.
12:10
What was the blood of the Mosaic covenant, Right.
12:14
The blood of the Mosaic covenant was the blood of every lamb,
12:18
goat, bird, etcetera, that was brought for any of the
12:22
sacrificial purposes in the Torah.
12:24
Sin offerings, guilt offerings, peace offerings, offerings for
12:28
the recognition of healings in Leviticus 14, offerings to
12:32
consecrate the priests, and on and on.
12:35
All of this blood from all these various sources are Jesus's
12:39
blood applied retroactively as a lived prophecy and lesson about
12:44
what God always planned to do in and through the sun.
12:49
OK, Paul actually explains this concept in depth in Hebrews
12:54
Chapter 9, verses 19 to 22. All right, this is what Paul has
13:01
to say here. Let me go and highlight it.
13:04
For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the
13:08
people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and
13:12
goats along with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled
13:16
the scroll itself and all the people.
13:18
All right, All right. Paul, the person I believe to
13:21
have written Hebrews, right? Paul is not just pulling this
13:23
out of thin air. Everything he's writing here you
13:25
can go read about in Exodus. OK, Moses really did sprinkle
13:30
the scroll itself and all the people with blood saying this is
13:33
the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.
13:36
That is the actual phrase that Moses used.
13:38
This is the blood of the covenant.
13:40
In the same way he sprinkled the Tabernacle and all the articles
13:44
of worship with blood. According to the law, almost
13:48
everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding
13:51
of blood there is no forgiveness.
13:55
OK, so Jesus in Matthew is taking this concept of the blood
14:01
of the first covenant, and he's saying that the blood of this
14:05
covenant is me. It it, it's, it's mine.
14:11
But more than that, Jesus is saying that the ancient Passover
14:15
festival, down to the elements of the meal itself, are about
14:19
him, but even more so are him. Not in a Catholic
14:22
transubstantive way, but rather their very purpose is to clarify
14:27
His purpose thousands of years later in 1st century Judea.
14:32
Right? But even more than that, His
14:36
blood is also the foundation of this eternal new covenant where
14:40
Jesus was made a covenant through death and remains a High
14:44
Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, mediating his
14:48
own death and lifeblood unto sinners for the forgiveness of
14:52
sins and regeneration by the Spirit of God.
14:55
Jesus is claiming to be, in this passage of Matthew 26, the very
15:00
heartbeat and soul of Judaism from Moses time and before
15:06
onwards into the future and eternity.
15:09
Christianity is true Judaism, and Paul also expounds on this
15:18
in Hebrews chapter 10. All right, Verses one to seven
15:24
and 11 to 14. Right?
15:26
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and
15:30
not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the
15:34
worshippers by the same sacrifices they continually
15:37
offer year after year. Otherwise wouldn't they have
15:39
stopped being offered since the worshippers purified once and
15:42
for all would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
15:45
But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after
15:49
year. For it is impossible for the
15:51
blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
15:53
Therefore, as he was coming into the world, He said You did not
15:56
desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.
16:00
You did not delight and whole burnt offerings and sin
16:03
offerings. Then I said, see it is written
16:05
about me in the scroll of come to do your will God.
16:10
And then further down here. I love this verses 11 to 14,
16:13
every priest in the law of Moses system, every priest stands day
16:19
after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices
16:23
time after time, which can never take away sins.
16:26
But this man Jesus, after offering one sacrifice for sins
16:30
forever sat down. He's not still standing, His
16:33
work is done. He sat down at the right hand of
16:35
God. He is now waiting until his
16:37
enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has
16:41
perfected forever those who are sanctified.
16:47
Back to Matthew. OK, now I want you to focus on
16:49
this part of 26 to 30. When Jesus says that, he tells
16:53
us that he will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now
16:58
on until that day when I drank it new with you and my Father's
17:01
Kingdom. Why does Jesus not take
17:04
communion? What is the point?
17:08
Well, I would say this. OK, Jesus waits to eat the
17:12
communion for our sake. OK, Jesus says he will not
17:18
partake of that Passover cup until the Kingdom of the Father
17:21
is fully actualized. But why?
17:24
Well, prepare to be amazed folks.
17:26
Prepare to be amazed. As King, Jesus follows his own
17:31
law in teaching and fulfills the Word of His own command.
17:35
If you recall all the way back in the Sermon on the Mount,
17:38
specifically Matthew 5, verses 23 to 26, Jesus says this.
17:43
If you're offering your gift on the altar, and there you
17:46
remember that your brother or sister has something against
17:49
you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.
17:52
First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister.
17:55
And then coming off your gift, reach a settlement quickly with
17:59
your adversary while you're on the way with him to the court.
18:02
Or your adversary will hand you over to the judge and the judge
18:06
to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.
18:09
Truly, I tell you, you will never get out of there until you
18:13
have paid the last penny. All right, so when Jesus says
18:18
that he's not going to be taking the Communion Cup until the
18:22
Kingdom is fully actualized, hear that in light of his
18:29
commands here. Jesus, instead of partaking in
18:32
this religious right, remembers that there is still beef, there
18:36
is still hostility between him and the unregenerate elect.
18:40
OK, Jesus leaves the Passover table to prioritize the ministry
18:45
of reconciliation, and after that ministry is finished, when
18:49
the Jews come back and the fullness of the Gentiles have
18:52
come in, then Jesus will drink to a fully maximized Passover in
18:57
the Kingdom of His Father. Because Jesus desires to reach a
19:01
settlement of repentance quickly with those who are as
19:04
adversaries as we both are on the way to His court so that he
19:10
won't have to throw us into his prison hell forever.
19:15
OK, Jesus is the only king in history who follows his own
19:20
rules. Is that not amazing?
19:22
Is that not amazing? But while we're here, I think
19:27
that this idea to that this verse also speaks surprisingly
19:32
to the problem of evil suffering and why it seems like God is
19:36
quote doing nothing about it. OK, one big reason, perhaps the
19:41
biggest, is because Jesus is prioritizing the forgiveness of
19:45
sins over the full and total punishment of sins for a limited
19:51
time, OK? And this is a moment where we
19:55
can be real, we can talk real, we can be vulnerable here on
19:59
this channel. OK.
20:00
I'm just going to be honest with you some days.
20:03
The fact that Jesus prioritizes the forgiveness of sins over the
20:06
full and total punishment of sins for a limited time.
20:10
The fact that that is a fact will sit better with you on some
20:14
days than other days. All right, But you need to know
20:19
it's not unjust. It's not.
20:23
It's not unjust for God to do what He wants.
20:25
It's definitely not unjust for God to desire to show mercy in
20:30
this way in and through his sons death on the cross.
20:33
And additionally, it's why you're saved now, because Jesus
20:39
is long-suffering, because God is long-suffering and patient.
20:45
You're saved today if you are saved listening, right?
20:50
And that brings me to the Third Point of conversation in this
20:55
message, right? Stop saying that Christianity.
20:59
Christians hear me. Stop saying that Christianity is
21:02
relationship and not religion, OK?
21:07
First things first about that, right?
21:10
The first thing that's first about that is that an organized
21:13
religion is just a religion that utilizes a text or texts to
21:19
canonize doctrine and theology. OK, you can have a religious
21:23
power structure without a holy book.
21:25
People think that you need a holy book to have a religious
21:28
power structure. You don't.
21:29
All right, Folk religions have a religious power structure
21:33
without a holy book. Witch doctors in the African
21:36
jungles and early native tribes have had religious power
21:40
structures without necessarily canonized holy books.
21:44
OK, But in our culture today, for various reasons, mainly a
21:49
sense of shame at being connected to and pushing and
21:52
organized religion, Christians create a distinction between
21:57
religion and relationship for the purpose of saying
22:00
Christianity is not a religion. And guys, guys, Christians,
22:05
faith, family, my beloved brothers and sisters in the
22:09
faith, hear me when I say this, OK?
22:12
Hear me when I say this, telling lies will not win people to the
22:18
truth. At some point, people will
22:20
either discard that lie you told them, or else their practice of
22:26
religion will be damaged, dysfunctional.
22:28
They're altogether dead when they realize that they were
22:31
conned into an organized religion when they were promised
22:34
a relationship with no religion. OK, Jesus is going to say to
22:38
that person, be alert and strengthen what remains which is
22:41
about to die. For I have not found your works
22:44
complete before my God. The Book of Revelation chapter 3
22:47
verse 2 and James chapter one verse 27.
22:50
He says pure and undefiled religion is to visit widows and
22:56
orphans in their distress. He does not say pure and
22:58
undefiled relationship. No, he says religion.
23:03
OK in the Matthew text that we were just looking at all right.
23:08
Jesus did the following. He prayed for the food they ate
23:12
before eating it. He engaged in a Jewish religious
23:15
ritual that comes from a canonized holy book with an
23:18
authoritative prophet in Moses. Then he himself instituted A
23:23
deeper understanding of said ritual and commanded his
23:26
followers to partake of it. He sang a worship him after it
23:30
was all said and done. So in some you have corporate
23:32
prayer, corporate worship via song, religious rites
23:36
referencing a centrally authoritative religious text.
23:40
Yes, folks, Jesus had his followers follow him right into
23:45
an organized religion. He did.
23:47
And now for the next chunk of the message, The false bravado
23:51
of the flesh Part 1. OK, Part 2 of the false bravado
23:56
of the flesh is probably going to be in the next episode.
23:59
OK, But verses 31 to 35 in Matthew 26, let's read.
24:05
Then Jesus said to them, Tonight all of you will fall away
24:08
because of me, is written. I will strike the shepherd, and
24:11
the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after I have
24:15
risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
24:18
Peter told him, Even if everyone falls away because of you, I
24:21
will never fall away. Truly, I tell you, Jesus said to
24:25
him, tonight before the rooster crows, you will deny me three
24:29
times. Even if I have to die with you,
24:32
Peter told him, I will never deny you.
24:34
And all the disciples said the same thing.
24:36
We see right here the false bravado of the flesh on display.
24:40
But isn't it interesting that Jesus says they will fall away
24:44
because of him and relates it to Zechariah's to prophet
24:48
Zechariah's prophecy concerning the salvation of national Israel
24:52
in the future. Is that not interesting?
24:55
OK, and what he's quoting here is Zechariah chapter 13, verse
24:59
7. But or that's in the passage,
25:04
right? Zechariah chapter 13.
25:05
Now let me go ahead and pull that up for us.
25:09
Yeah, this is the full verse right here.
25:11
Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7. Awake against my shepherd,
25:16
against the man who is my associate.
25:18
This is the declaration of the Lord of armies.
25:21
Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
25:23
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
25:27
OK, But something I want you to note here is when it says
25:31
shepherd against the man who is my associate, OK?
25:35
The Hebrew of that verse that Jesus quotes makes it clear that
25:41
Yahweh is giving this command about a Co equal OK, sword awake
25:46
against my shepherd, against the man who is my companion, OK?
25:52
And when you look into this word, a myth, companion, fellow
25:57
neighbor, OK, companionship, hence a comrade or kindred man,
26:05
OK. And when you look down at the
26:08
topical lexicon here, this word designates A fellow associate or
26:13
companion who stands on equal footing within the covenant
26:17
community. All right.
26:19
This word always describes A peer-to-peer relationship in
26:23
which mutual obligations are assumed.
26:26
It is more personal than a mere other person, yet broader than
26:30
an intimate friend, OK? And heck, even the lexicon
26:34
recognizes that in Zechariah it rises to describe an exalted
26:38
companion standing next to Yahweh himself, right?
26:42
Why is this important to note? Because Christianity is true
26:46
Judaism, OK? This idea of a multi personal
26:50
God of one being that is multi personal comes from the prophets
26:54
Prophet Zechariah himself. Prophet Zechariah himself is
26:59
prophesying that the Lord of Armies declared for the sword to
27:04
awake against the man who is his associate, right?
27:09
That would be the Father commanding the sword to awake
27:12
against his son. And Jesus is saying that that's
27:16
about to happen right now. He's called for the sword to
27:21
strike me. And you sheep of mine will be
27:24
scattered. OK, there's also something else
27:28
interesting to note here, right? If you remember the parable of
27:31
the soils in Matthew chapter 13, verses 20 to 21, we see Jesus
27:37
saying this, that the one sown on the rocky ground, this is the
27:41
one who hears the word and immediately receives of joy.
27:45
But he has no root in a short lived.
27:47
When distress or persecution comes because of the word,
27:50
immediately he falls away. OK, the disciples at this point
27:56
in Matthew 26 had clearly received Jesus with joy.
28:00
They're following him for goodness sake.
28:02
But Judas brought distress and persecution, and they
28:06
immediately scatter. Based on the words of Jesus and
28:11
their own actions here, the disciples at this moment are
28:14
more rocky ground than good soil.
28:17
All right, that should be an encouragement because they
28:19
didn't stay this way. The same rocky ground apostles
28:23
in a very short amount of time, we'll go on to become the ones
28:26
that we know from the book of Acts.
28:30
Amazing stuff. The transformation that Jesus
28:33
can do in a man. OK, all the disciples were truly
28:37
too weak to make a stand, but though thought themselves too
28:42
strong to even stumble. OK, we need to be humble people.
28:47
We need to be humble on our walk with Jesus.
28:50
All right, let's move on. All right, verses 36 to 50, the
28:55
Garden of Gethsemane. I'm ready for this All right,
29:00
I'm, I'm ready to oh, there's going to be a, there's going to
29:03
be a good meditation. Y'all All right, so let let's
29:05
read, let's read the scripture, right?
29:06
Verses 36 to 50. Then Jesus came with them to a
29:11
place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, Sit here
29:15
while I go over there and pray. Taking along Peter and the two
29:20
sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
29:25
He said to them, I am deeply grieved to the point of death,
29:29
Remain here and stay awake with me.
29:32
Going a little farther, he fell face down and prayed.
29:35
My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me yet
29:41
not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples
29:45
and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, so couldn't you
29:51
stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you
29:56
won't enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the
30:00
flesh is weak. Again.
30:03
A second time he went away and prayed.
30:06
My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be
30:10
done. And he came again and found them
30:13
sleeping because they could not keep their eyes open.
30:18
After leaving them, he went away again and prayed 1/3 time,
30:21
saying the same thing once more than he came to the disciples
30:24
and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting?
30:28
See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into
30:33
the hands of sinners. Get up, must go.
30:37
See my betrayer is near. While he was still speaking,
30:42
Judas, one of the 12, suddenly arrived.
30:45
A large mob with swords and clubs was with him from the
30:49
chief priests and elders of the people.
30:52
His betrayer had given them a sign.
30:55
The one I kiss, he's the one arrest him.
30:59
So immediately he went up to Jesus and said Greetings, Rabbi
31:03
and kissed him. Friend.
31:05
Jesus asked him, why have you come?
31:09
Then they came up, took hold of Jesus and arrested him.
31:14
OK, all right, so let's do some work in the Garden of
31:18
Gethsemane, OK? My goal with this meditation and
31:24
Gethsemane, I think, I hope, is to draw your eyes and your
31:28
attention to parts of this account that you might not think
31:34
too much of usually. All right, most people know to
31:37
think about the obvious here, right?
31:39
When Jesus has my Father. If it is possible, let this cup
31:42
pass for me yet. Not as I will, but as you will.
31:45
OK me personally, if you're the type of person to listen to a
31:49
podcast like this, I don't think you need me to do a, you know,
31:54
to take a long time explaining that yet.
31:57
Not as I will, but as you will. The importance of prioritizing
32:00
the will of God over our own will.
32:03
The importance of subordinating our will to the divine will.
32:05
I don't think you need me to spell the hell for you, OK?
32:11
You know, if you're the kind of person to listen to a message
32:13
like this, whether you're young in the faith or old, you
32:16
understand the importance of not my will, but your will be done.
32:21
All right. I want to bring your attention
32:24
to other parts of this account that sometimes can go neglected,
32:28
but that emphasize this yet not as I will, but as you will that
32:33
make it more impressive? That should make it easier for
32:37
you to worship Jesus and make that worship and gratitude that
32:40
come out of you towards Jesus all that more deep and powerful
32:44
and potent. So let's do work in the Garden
32:49
of Gethsemane today. Firstly, what is the
32:54
significance of this place? Then Jesus came with him to a
32:56
place called Gethsemane. What is so significant about
32:59
this place that we're told the name?
33:02
Well, partly because this is an eyewitness account, and so
33:06
anchoring all these events in real history, real places, is
33:10
actually very important if you're just reporting what
33:13
actually happened. But it's deeper than that.
33:15
The name Gethsemane means oil press in Aramaic and Hebrew.
33:20
OK, so Jesus came with them to a place called oil press to the
33:26
oil press. Jesus went willingly to the oil
33:30
press. Hence the title of this message,
33:33
the first crushings of the holy olive.
33:36
When Jesus willingly goes to this garden named Oil press, he
33:41
gets crushed here in a few different ways simultaneously.
33:46
OK, but let's before we get into this, let's zoom out, look at
33:50
the big picture in scripture, right?
33:52
Jesus is called the second Adam by Paul.
33:55
Isn't it amazing? The first Adam in a garden that
33:58
is a paradise and he fails. And yet here we're going to look
34:03
at the second Adam in a garden that sounds like it's a lot less
34:07
fun to be in an oil Press of a garden, and yet he doesn't fail.
34:13
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
34:17
OK, but let's look at these first crushing's of the Father's
34:21
holy olive Jesus. All right, we see the first one
34:25
right here in the text. All right, Jesus straight up
34:29
tells him in verse 38. I am deeply grieved to the point
34:34
of death. Remain here and stay awake with
34:37
me, all right. His soul is sorrowful to death.
34:42
His soul is grieved the point of death.
34:44
Why? Because of the cup of suffering
34:48
that is in front of him. That's the immediate next thing
34:50
he talks about. He mentions being grieved to the
34:53
point of death and what comes out of him as he falls to his
34:56
face and prays as if it is possible in any way for the cup
35:01
to pass, to let it pass. So we know that's what's
35:06
grieving him right now. The cup of suffering that's the
35:09
first crushing is knowing that there is suffering ahead and
35:14
knowing that you have to go through it.
35:16
OK. And by the way, all of these
35:18
sufferings that Jesus goes through are all sufferings that
35:21
we ourselves in various ways to various degrees, we'll have to
35:27
go through. And even if we are blessed to,
35:31
for the most part, have, you know, health for most all of our
35:37
life on earth, unless we die suddenly or something, we are
35:41
going to have to face this first crushing, right?
35:47
That there's suffering and death ahead and there's no way to
35:50
avoid it. Father, let the cup pass from
35:53
me, but not as I will, as you will.
35:56
The first crushing. But then we see the second
36:02
crushing. OK?
36:04
And for that, I want us to look at Luke's account of this very
36:10
moment. OK, Luke chapter 22, verse 45.
36:15
OK, Because Matthew does tell us that after he went to go pray,
36:20
he came back to the disciples and found them sleeping.
36:23
But Luke gives us a little bit more context on why they fell
36:26
asleep. Luke 22 verse 45, he says when
36:30
he, Jesus got up from prayer and came to the disciples, he found
36:34
them sleeping, exhausted from their grief, exhausted from
36:41
their grief. OK, this my friends, is the
36:46
second crushing of the olive. His friends, Jesus's friends,
36:51
the friends that God the Father gave to Jesus, are leaving him
36:59
deal with this burden alone because they are wrapped up in
37:05
their own grief. This is the second crushing, but
37:09
I want us to learn a lesson from this second crushing of the
37:13
olive when we now don't hear me wrong, all right?
37:19
There are times in life to be mournful and to lament and to
37:23
grieve. I'm not saying that grieving is
37:25
a sin inherently, right? What I am saying is that I want
37:31
us to consider that when we are wrapped up in our own griefs
37:36
that we may be neglecting to be there to help shoulder the
37:40
burden of another brother or sister in the body.
37:46
OK, the disciples did not pray and fell asleep because they
37:53
were wrapped up in their grief. And because they were wrapped up
37:58
in their grief, they end up not praying.
38:00
And because they don't pray, they end up falling into
38:04
temptation. See.
38:05
But all of this started because they handled grief poorly.
38:12
They handled grief poorly. They, in their grief, pulled
38:17
back from fellowship with their suffering Savior, and because of
38:22
that, they ended up in temptation, right?
38:26
We'll be talking about that in more detail in the next episode.
38:29
But for now, from Jesus's perspective, his friends, the
38:34
friends that God the Father gave him for ministry, have left him
38:39
to deal with his burden with literally the weight of the
38:43
world alone. That's the second crushing, all
38:47
right, Looking at suffering, looking at unavoidable suffering
38:52
is hard. It becomes a lot easier when you
38:55
can look at unavoidable suffering with a crew of
38:58
friends, with a crew of family around you.
39:01
But Jesus was denied even that in this moment, in this moment
39:07
in the olive press, All right. But now we come to the third
39:12
crushing of the olive. His own body suffered
39:16
hematohidrosis according to Luke's account, right verse 44,
39:23
Luke chapter 22, verse 44. Being in anguish, he prayed more
39:29
fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to
39:34
the ground. OK, if you remember my message
39:38
about the baptism of anguish, we see that on display here.
39:41
Jesus in anguish prayed more fervently.
39:44
You might say that the more fervent prayer was born out of
39:48
his anguish, and he was so anguished that his sweat became
39:52
like drops of blood falling to the ground.
39:55
And interestingly enough, people back in the day used to think
39:58
that the Bible, that this was the Bible adding mythological
40:01
elements to Jesus. But we now know that
40:04
hematohidrosis, the sweating of blood, is an actual thing that
40:08
can happen to people, all right? And hematohidrosis that doesn't
40:13
just. But it's not just the sweating
40:16
of blood, right? Any part of you that excretes
40:20
liquid can suffer A hematohidrosis, right?
40:24
You can sweat blood. You can cry blood.
40:28
That is a thing, right? You can have blood enter into
40:30
the tear ducts. And if you cry in that state,
40:33
you can cry blood. I myself have had a like I
40:38
myself have suffered a kind of hematohidrosis, but in the, in
40:42
the kidneys during a period in life when I was also extremely
40:48
stressed and pressed. I remember I, you know, I went
40:52
to the hospital for peeing blood and, you know, took me to the CT
40:57
scan, scanned everything. There was no injury.
40:59
There was nothing wrong per SE with the kidneys, right?
41:03
And when I realized that, I remembered, I actually
41:06
remembered the account of Jesus and Luke.
41:08
I was like, you know, Jesus sweat blood when he was
41:11
extremely stressed. And I was thinking to myself, am
41:14
I that stressed? Am I really in this kind of a
41:16
situation where I'm so stressed that I'm peeing blood?
41:23
I had to take some time for myself for a little bit.
41:25
And sure enough, you know, as soon as I got the stress levels
41:28
down, the peeing of blood went away.
41:34
And also, so I know from experience.
41:36
I know from experience that you can be so stressed in life that
41:40
blood just starts coming out of weird places because you're so
41:43
stressed out. But as far as the sweating of
41:46
blood is concerned, the cause and mechanism of action is
41:49
unknown in its entirety. We know what happens, not
41:53
entirely sure on the 100% on the insurance and outs of why.
41:56
And then the reason is because it happens so rarely in people.
42:03
Some ideas are that the fight or flight mechanism of the body,
42:06
right? You're having an extreme
42:08
reaction to your fight or flight mechanism.
42:12
It might also be that you're under extreme stress or extreme
42:15
mental contemplation. All right, But I want us to
42:19
consider the implications of both of these options in Jesus's
42:24
case. All right, if Jesus is sweating
42:27
blood in Gethsemane because of a hyper reaction to a fight or
42:35
flight response, that would mean that Jesus is all knowing slash
42:41
hyper aware, which as Christians, we all know this
42:44
already. But it's interesting to see
42:46
these things in areas of the Scripture where we don't usually
42:50
think about or we don't usually, excuse me, where we don't
42:54
usually think about, right. We don't usually think about the
42:57
Garden of Gethsemane as a place that proves or at least suggests
43:04
the omniscience of Jesus, right? The hyper awareness of Jesus.
43:09
But it kind of does when you think about it, right?
43:11
The fight or flight response in the biological body only
43:16
triggers in response to dangers you have a conscious awareness
43:20
of. If you don't know you're in
43:22
danger, you're not going to have a fight or flight response.
43:27
So Jesus's body would only have a fight or flight response if he
43:33
had a conscious awareness of the imminent danger that Judas was
43:38
currently preparing. The disciples aren't in a fight
43:42
or flight, they're in a depression, probably because of
43:46
Jesus's pronouncement about someone about a betrayer being
43:49
in their midst. But they're not fearful for
43:51
their physical safety, right? But for Jesus to be having a
43:57
fight or flight response, for that to be true, Jesus would
44:01
have to have awareness in this moment beyond the Garden of
44:05
Gethsemane. Is that not interesting?
44:09
Is that not interesting? Right?
44:10
And some people have different interpretations of how Jesus's
44:15
omniscience interacts with his human frame, right?
44:20
I don't know which camp I stand in, right?
44:22
Some people would say that Jesus was all knowing all the time in
44:26
his divine nature while he was, you know, while he was in the
44:30
incarnation. Other people would say that
44:33
Jesus treated his omniscience in a similar fashion to how you and
44:38
I can treat our physical eyesight, right?
44:42
As long as my eyes are open, I can see.
44:45
But if I deliberately choose to close my eyes as I'm currently
44:48
doing, then even though I have the capacity to see and even
44:52
though I have the ability to retain the capacity to see, I'm
44:56
choosing to close my eyes in a sense to that sense, right?
45:00
I'm making myself limited, but it's not an inherent limitation,
45:04
all right? Some people think that's how
45:05
Jesus interacted with his omniscience, right?
45:07
That at direction of the Father, he would open his mind and close
45:13
his mind to his own omniscience. Maybe, maybe right.
45:18
But if that is the way that it happened, is it not interesting
45:23
that it seems that with divine sense Jesus in Gethsemane was
45:30
watching a friend, Judas, prepare the very instruments for
45:35
his crushing. The Pharisees, the soldiers, the
45:39
crucifix, while he himself is waiting in the olive press
45:44
itself to be crushed. This is the third crushing to
45:49
know that there is suffering ahead, to have the God ordained
45:55
team that is supposed to be supporting you and backing you
45:58
up fail in this Crucible in this olive press and then have to
46:03
watch the very preparation for your destruction on divine
46:07
pay-per-view. That's the third crushing.
46:12
All right, so that's thinking about the fight or flight,
46:15
right? What if the hematohydrosis was
46:18
caused by extreme stress or extreme mental contemplation?
46:21
Well, that also makes sense for Jesus, right?
46:23
Because as we know, Jesus didn't just suffer physically, but
46:28
spiritually as well. All right, Second Corinthians
46:34
chapter 5, verse 21, Paul tells us that he made the one who did
46:42
not know sin, Jesus, be sin for us so that in him we might
46:47
become the righteousness of God. All right, He, Jesus, who is the
46:51
exact imprint of the Father's nature, became the thing he
46:56
hates above all else, sin to glorify the Father and rescue
47:02
us. Imagine if you will, if you hate
47:06
cockroaches like I do, I hate cockroaches.
47:08
Imagine if you hate cockroaches, that you were made to be a
47:12
cockroach on your child's behalf to save them from death.
47:17
How much, even though you're looking forward to the joy set
47:21
before you of receiving your child back from death, how much
47:25
would you hate every second of the experience of being made a
47:29
cockroach, the very thing you hate?
47:32
How much more would the Son, the righteous king of the universe,
47:38
absolutely hate the experience of being made sin while looking
47:44
ahead to the joy set before him of receiving us back from the
47:48
dead? Incredible.
47:50
All hail King Jesus, All hail king Jesus.
47:56
You know, I've seen this meme floating around, you know, from
47:59
an unpopular opinions conference of someone sharing this opinion
48:03
that Jesus did not suffer as much as the, you know, African
48:12
American slaves suffered, right? And, you know, people are
48:17
flipping out over it. And when people think stuff like
48:22
that, when people think that the sufferings of Christ weren't so
48:25
bad, one, you're not really understanding how bad at a
48:29
physical level crucifixion is, right?
48:32
As bad as everything that they did to my ancestors and in the
48:38
South was, and it was very bad. You'll see when we get into
48:41
Christianity versus a Ku Klux Christ, it was very bad.
48:45
They didn't make a new word to invent how painful some of those
48:49
torches were. Crucifixion was so bad, they
48:52
invented a new word to explain how bad the pain and suffering
48:58
is. And that word is excruciating,
49:01
right? Crucciating cross X out of pain
49:05
so bad it could only have come out of a cross, pain so bad it
49:09
could only have come ex crucifix, right?
49:14
But we always neglect the spiritual side of Jesus's
49:17
suffering, all right? Part of his suffering on top of
49:21
the physical was having all the sin of the world transferred
49:25
onto him. Every vile action from, OK,
49:29
think about it, from here to the cross, or at, you know, or
49:34
perhaps from the from the trial of the Sanhedrin to the cross,
49:40
whatever. From about here to the cross,
49:42
Jesus positionally is the sexually immoral, idolater,
49:48
adulterer, homosexual, thief, drunk, verbally abusive person,
49:53
swindler. From here to the cross, Jesus
49:55
positionally is the lawless, rebellious, ungodly, sinful,
50:00
unholy, irreverent, murderer and slaver, liar, perjurer, and on
50:05
and on it goes. This my friends, is the 4th
50:09
crushing being made sin for us that we might become the
50:14
righteousness of God. By the way, folks, if it felt
50:18
odd for me to put all those names alongside Jesus, if it
50:22
felt even blasphemous to hear that, I want you to understand
50:26
that it's no more odd than Jesus calling us the light of the
50:30
world in Matthew chapter 5 or here in 2nd Corinthians 521.
50:36
Us being called the righteousness of God.
50:39
OK, the grace of the grace of God gifted through the gospel is
50:45
scandalous in the extreme. And praise God for that, because
50:49
anything short of a scandal, love would not go to a cross to
50:54
rescue you, nor would it be powerful enough to transform you
50:58
and transfer you from the Kingdom of darkness to the
51:01
Kingdom of light and his beloved Son.
51:04
Amen and Amen. All hail King Jesus.
51:08
OK, but that brings me to where Jesus gives us this warning
51:14
about how to prepare for temptation, right?
51:19
Couldn't you stay awake with me one hour?
51:21
Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter into temptation.
51:25
The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
51:29
OK, what does Jesus mean by watch and pray so that you don't
51:33
enter into temptation? Well, First things first, I like
51:37
showing you guys the cohesiveness of Scriptures.
51:41
It's interesting that Jesus gives this warning to Peter and
51:46
the others, and in Peter's letter in the New Testament, we
51:50
see that he remembered this very thing Jesus told him.
51:54
Watch and pray so that you don't enter in a temptation.
51:57
And Peter writes for us in his In the end of all things is
52:03
Near. Therefore, be alert and sober
52:05
minded for prayer. Peter remembered Gethsemane and
52:09
he wants us to remember it. He wants us to remember it too.
52:13
He reiterates this in chapter 5, verse eight of his epistle.
52:17
Be sober minded, be alert. Your adversary, the devil, is
52:21
prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can
52:26
devour. Resist him, firm in the faith,
52:29
knowing that the same kind of suffering, the same kind of
52:33
crushings are being experienced by your fellow believers
52:37
throughout the world. OK, Peter, though he failed here
52:44
in the garden, take heart, people, that even though he
52:48
failed this lesson of grace, he would eventually learn the
52:51
lesson of grace. You have an enemy actively
52:56
hunting for prey. So even when you are grieved,
53:01
stay alert, stay awake. And even when you are grieved,
53:05
especially when you are grieved, stay awake and pray so that the
53:10
enemy of your souls does not snatch you up in a moment of
53:13
grief, in a moment of sleep, right?
53:18
Why does Jesus give us this command?
53:21
He tells us because the Spirit wills while the flesh is weak.
53:27
Because of that dichotomy, He gives us this command.
53:30
OK and Paul agrees with this sentiment that this idea of the
53:37
spirit being willing and the flesh being weak.
53:40
If you're confused on what that means, Paul gives us some Holy
53:44
Spirit inspired commentary on this in Romans Chapter 7 verse
53:47
21, Paul writes, So I discover this law when I want to do what
53:53
is good, evil is present with me.
53:55
He goes on. For in my inner self I delight
53:58
in God's law, but I see a different law in the parts of my
54:03
body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me
54:08
prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
54:14
Right, He says earlier in this very chapter, Right, He says,
54:20
For I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my flesh.
54:24
For the desire to do what is good is with me.
54:27
The Spirit is willing. The desire to do what is good is
54:29
with me. Why?
54:30
Because the Holy Spirit is kind of regenerating me, but there is
54:33
no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I
54:36
want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.
54:41
The Spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.
54:46
And he gives this cry. What a wretched man that I am
54:49
who will rescue me from this body of death, this body of
54:53
death that cannot live up to the holy desires that the Spirit of
54:57
God has birthed in me? Who will rescue me from this
55:00
death? And he tells you who?
55:02
When he gives thanks, when he gives thanks, thanks be to God
55:06
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen and Amen.
55:13
OK, so why does Jesus tell us to pray?
55:15
Because our spirit is willing in the flesh is weak.
55:18
Why we pray to set our minds on the things of the Spirit so that
55:24
we actually live according to the strength God gives us as a
55:27
new creation in Christ, allowing us to do the good deeds the
55:31
Father has written for us to do. The Ephesians chapter 2, verse
55:35
10 in Romans chapter 8. All of it, OK, if we are not
55:40
watching, AKA if we are not vigilant, then we become blind
55:46
to how much we need to rely on God's grace and we stop asking
55:50
for more. All right, we're going to see
55:53
the effects of not praying next week in Peter's response to
55:57
betrayal. But for now, for now, at the
56:02
tail end of this particular message, I want us to look at
56:05
what comes out of Jesus when he is crushed with betrayal.
56:09
What came out of these first crushings of Jesus?
56:14
Love for an enemy in the middle of all those crushings stacked
56:21
on top of each other? Imminent sufferings, His God
56:26
ordained family dropping the ball and leaving him to carry
56:32
the load alone, watching Judas prepare the instruments for his
56:37
suffering and his very body being broken down under the
56:41
weight. In the midst of all of this,
56:45
Jesus still looks upon Judas and addresses him as friend.
56:51
All right, now for the theology heads in the room.
56:54
I know, I know that Jesus only ever uses this particular word
57:00
for friend when he's addressing a person or character in a
57:03
parable who is in the position of a friend while acting as an
57:08
enemy. I know that Jesus knows Judas as
57:11
being an enemy. I know that.
57:14
I know that he knows that. But what is there to learn in
57:18
the fact that Jesus does not address him the way we would
57:21
address an enemy? Think a lot.
57:26
John chapter 6 verse 37 says this.
57:30
Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who
57:35
comes to me I will never cast out OK In this moment when Judas
57:44
is betraying the Son of Man over into the hands of sinners with a
57:48
kiss. In this moment, once, once Judas
57:52
gives this kiss of greeting to Jesus, once that happens, it's
57:58
done. The betrayal is done.
58:00
Jesus is going to be arrested by the Sanhedrin no matter what
58:04
Judas does for the rest of this encounter.
58:06
But I want you to imagine, if you will, had Judas repented,
58:12
even here we have it on God himself and John 637 that He
58:19
would have never cast Judas away.
58:22
Even in the middle of betraying the Son of Man, Jesus has it in
58:27
Him to forgive you. That is what we learn from the
58:32
first crushings of the Holy Olive.
58:35
If you come to Him in repentance and confess Him as the
58:39
resurrected Lord of heaven and earth, even if you're in the
58:43
middle of betraying Him into the hands of sinners, He would save
58:46
your soul. All hail King Jesus, and we've
58:49
all done it. We've all betrayed him to a
58:52
certain degree. Have you ever had God answer a
58:56
prayer to save your life or get you out of a jam?
59:00
Right? And you said to yourself, God,
59:02
if you would Get Me Out of this, if you would Get Me Out of this,
59:05
then then I'll go to church, then I'll pray, then I'll fast,
59:08
then I'll be on the Word, then I'll love the Unlovables, then
59:12
I'll do all that stuff. And then God is merciful enough
59:16
to grant you salvation, to grant you rescue from your enemy.
59:21
And then you go back on your word and you go back to doing
59:24
what you want to do. You go back to living for
59:26
yourself. You go back to living as just
59:28
another part of the world. Jesus will forgive that if you
59:32
repent. Let's say you live in a country
59:35
where Christianity is illegal and you betrayed a Christian,
59:39
even a Christian family member, over to the authorities or
59:42
death. Jesus will forgive you if you
59:45
repent. Let's say God even brought you
59:48
into his Kingdom, into his church, and then you betrayed
59:51
him to chase after money, power, position, or prestige.
59:56
Jesus will forgive you if you repent of even that.
1:00:02
And that's the meditation I want you to lean on.
1:00:05
That's the meditation I want you to carry out of this podcast.
1:00:09
OK, as we close with a quick prayer, Holy Father.
1:00:15
Righteous Son and King of the Universe, Spirit of God, who
1:00:20
gives new birth from above. Save someone listening.
1:00:26
Save someone listening to this who knows that they are a
1:00:30
betrayer of Jesus Christ. Until next time everyone.
1:00:35
This has been foreign Saints. I'm St.
1:00:37
K urging you, everyone come alive.