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Countdown to Betrayal · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We're going through Matthew and that's not important. What's important
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is that Matthew goes through us. There's a difference, isn't there?
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's one thing just to gather information and kind of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: move from one chapter to another. It's another thing entirely
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: for what we glean from what Matthew.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Has written for our lives.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: So that we're different this week than we were last week.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Because of something that stood out from what we heard
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: or saw, the Lord showed us.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: We're in Matthew 26.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be reading these verses first 16 verses, and you'll
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: observe a sharp contrast in brief vignettes.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Don't miss them.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: You move from one scene to another, and they are
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in sharp contrast to each other. I'll be reading from
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the New Living Translation. You may have another version. which
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: you'll follow along in. They're pretty much the same. This
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: one reads a little easier for those who don't bring
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a Bible or are not familiar with their Bibles. But
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: once you have found Matthew 26, please stand together out
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of respect for the Word of God.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: When Jesus had finished saying.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: All these things, He said to his disciples, as you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Passover begins in two days and the Son of Man
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: will be handed over to be crucified.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: At that same time, the.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Leading priests and elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the high priest, plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and kill him. But not during the Passover celebration, they agreed,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: or the people may riot. Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: at the home of Simon, a man who had previously
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: it over his head. The disciples were indignant when they
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: saw this. What a waste, they said. It could have
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: been sold for a high price and the money given
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, replied, Why
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me?
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: You will always have the poor among you, but you
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: will not always have me. She has poured this perfume
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: on me to prepare my body for burial. I tell
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you the truth, wherever the good news is preached and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: throughout the world, this woman's deed is will be remembered
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and discussed.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Then Judas Iscariot.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: One of the 12 disciples, went to the leading priests
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and asked, how much will you pay me to betray
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Jesus to you? And they gave him 30 pieces of silver.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: To betray Jesus.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Father, thank you for your word that lives and abides forever.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you for giving it to us. We didn't write
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a line of it, but holy men of God, as
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: they were moved along by your spirit.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Were led.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: To write under the God-breathed inspiration power of the Spirit.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: This account, these lines, these very words that capture our attention.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: May we not remain the same because of what we
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: hear today. Deliver us from the perfunctory attitude of another
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: church service, another sermon, another offering, another few minutes, another
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: few songs, and we're back to business as usual. God
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: forbid that we would be caught in that plague. minister
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: deeply to us, touch our lives, change our thinking, break
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: our habits, alter our direction so that we are better
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: moms and dads, better single adults, better people in a
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  Speaker 1: world that has long since lost its way. May Christ
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: be honored by the way we live and now by
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  Speaker 1: the way we give. In the matchless name of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: we pray this. Everyone sit.
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  Speaker 2: Amen. Please be seated.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: The stench of death was in the air. No one
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: knew it better than Jesus. The disciples had no idea.
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  Speaker 1: A few men met in secret planning a murder, not
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: just any murder, but the murder of the Messiah.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: The disciples were still caught up.
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  Speaker 1: In the pleasant scene that had been theirs along the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: slope of the Mount of Olives.
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  Speaker 2: Remember?
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had sat down and begun to review the plans.
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  Speaker 2: For the future.
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  Speaker 1: They had asked a few questions and he, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: unloaded the truck of information. Not only about immediate future,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: but the ultimate future and their heads must have been swimming.
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  Speaker 1: Little did they realize that they were only, really only hours.
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  Speaker 2: From his breathing his last. Oh, he knew everything. He
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: knew it all.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew, looking back in recording the events, remembered the salient issues.
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  Speaker 2: That were worth recording.
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  Speaker 1: And so when he sat down to put his account together,
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  Speaker 1: he reviewed in his mind scenes that he had lived out.
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  Speaker 2: What an amazing thought.
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  Speaker 1: The things we read about centuries later, Matthew had lived out.
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  Speaker 2: Just a little before he wrote about them.
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  Speaker 1: And when he gets to what we know as the
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  Speaker 1: 26th chapter of his account, Everything is riveted to the cross.
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  Speaker 2: Everything.
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  Speaker 1: Which explains the length of the chapters. The longest in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Matthew's account. Chapter 26. Chapter 27. He covers it all
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  Speaker 1: in just two chapters. Beginning with, well, what we might
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  Speaker 1: call the secret counsel chapter. Where a conspiracy is being planned.
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  Speaker 1: And he takes us all the way to. The nailing
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  Speaker 1: of the Savior to the cross.
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  Speaker 2: His burial. And the tomb. Sealed shut.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: And.
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  Speaker 2: It must have been.
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  Speaker 1: Anguishing for Matthew in writing some of this to relive it.
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  Speaker 2: When he writes so.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus having finished saying those things, he was there. And
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: when he writes of the Passover that was upon them,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: he remembers. And Jesus makes the comment in verse 2,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: as you know, Passover begins in two days and the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.
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  Speaker 2: Didn't register. They didn't get it.
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  Speaker 1: If I count correctly, this is now the third, fourth time.
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  Speaker 2: He's mentioned this. One time he even.
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  Speaker 1: Said, I will be crucified and I will rise the
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  Speaker 1: third day from the dead.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't get it.
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  Speaker 1: So unaware were they of the whole scene that when
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: they got to the tomb that was empty, stone rolled away,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and there was nobody. They stared, wondering, where have they
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: taken him? We can be so like that. Before we
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: look with condemnation on those men, let's realize how many
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  Speaker 1: messages have come and gone today And we've long since
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  Speaker 1: forgotten them. Could you even recall what was said two
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago? Or one week ago? Do not forget this day.
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  Speaker 1: Don't forget this time. Matthew is preparing us for the
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  Speaker 1: most gruesome, grisly scene of death known to mankind.
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  Speaker 2: A body hanging.
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  Speaker 1: On a cross, alive, held by spikes until he breathes
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: his last, and left there, many cases until the vultures
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: came and insects fed upon the bodies. This is death
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  Speaker 1: at its worst. Because we're familiar with it, we can't
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  Speaker 1: smell it. If we're not careful, we won't even remember.
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  Speaker 2: So let's be careful.
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  Speaker 1: When Winston Churchill prepared his memoirs around World War II...
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: beginning around 1948 and beyond, he looked back and ultimately
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  Speaker 1: it covered six marvelous volumes, some of my most treasured
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  Speaker 1: in my library. I love the name of the fourth volume,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: The Gathering Storm. The Gathering Storm.
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  Speaker 2: In that volume, early.
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  Speaker 1: On, he introduces us to the twisted, depraved mind of
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  Speaker 1: Adolf Hitler. And how through his deception and the maneuverings
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  Speaker 1: of events, he broke treaties and lied as he laid
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  Speaker 1: the groundwork for wiping out one country after another. that
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  Speaker 1: had no idea what was coming. This conspiracy is like that.
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  Speaker 1: This is the gathering storm, if you will. And Matthew
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  Speaker 1: waves no flags. There aren't exclamation points along the way,
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  Speaker 1: but he trusts us as readers to enter into the
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  Speaker 1: scene and to feel it How wrong to read this
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  Speaker 1: and not feel it. And so for some time I've felt,
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  Speaker 1: and now I invite you to feel this countdown to betrayal.
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  Speaker 1: Feel what it must have been like to have been
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  Speaker 1: a disciple. Feel what that meeting was like that Caiaphas
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  Speaker 1: led in that secret chamber. Every time Caiaphas is mentioned
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament, he's working against Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Every time.
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  Speaker 1: He hopes to weaken his message. He hopes to question
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  Speaker 1: his integrity. He hopes to spread doubt about his message.
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  Speaker 1: Caiaphas despises Jesus because he has the audacity to expose
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  Speaker 1: the hypocrisy of the chief priests.
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  Speaker 2: And the scribes and Pharisees. How dare he do that
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  Speaker 2: to us? So they planned his murder.
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  Speaker 1: What they don't realize is that this death was planned
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  Speaker 1: before the foundations of the world. And the beautiful, mysterious
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: plan of God now dovetails with the hatred of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: As we see God at work, bringing his son to
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of his coming. You see, unlike you and
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  Speaker 1: like me, unlike the two of us, when we're born,
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  Speaker 1: we're being born to live. Our hope is to live
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  Speaker 1: a full life.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus came knowing his life would be short. He came
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  Speaker 2: to die.
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  Speaker 1: And in light of that ordained plan, He knew he
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  Speaker 1: would never live to see age 35. Older than most
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  Speaker 1: of us. Or younger than most of us, I should say.
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  Speaker 1: Younger than most of us. So Matthew changes the tone
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  Speaker 1: from one scene to another with very simple, smooth transitions
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  Speaker 1: that you'd miss if you didn't.
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  Speaker 2: Really feel what he's writing.
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  Speaker 1: After Jesus had finished saying all those things that he
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  Speaker 1: said on the mount, and the disciples are caught up
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  Speaker 1: in all of those things, he says to them, as
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son
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  Speaker 1: of Man will be handed.
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  Speaker 2: Over to be crucified.
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  Speaker 1: At that same time, the leading priests and elders were
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, plotting how to capture
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  Speaker 1: Jesus secretly.
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  Speaker 2: And kill him. Can you imagine?
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  Speaker 1: Act as though you don't know the story. It's really
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  Speaker 1: the only way to read it, for it to impact you.
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  Speaker 1: Here is one who has never done one thing wrong
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  Speaker 1: in his entire life, Here is a man who has.
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  Speaker 2: Only healed those who were sick.
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  Speaker 1: And ministered to those who were broken, touched and encouraged
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  Speaker 1: lives that had come to an end. And here are
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  Speaker 1: people ready to kill him. So short-sighted are they that
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the one thing they can imagine is.
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  Speaker 2: Revenge. Getting back.
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  Speaker 1: Thinking that by killing him, it's all over. When in fact,
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  Speaker 1: it sent the message around the world. From a human
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  Speaker 1: point of view, it appears tragic, but from a divine
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  Speaker 1: point of view, it is exactly as the Lord God
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  Speaker 1: planned for his son, When he came.
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  Speaker 2: He was to be crucified. So we read in verse 3.
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  Speaker 2: That they were. They were meeting at the residence. Of Caiaphas.
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  Speaker 2: If this were a movie. The scene would fade. From
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: verse 2.
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  Speaker 1: And blend into the beginning of verse 3. As we're
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: brought into this scene.
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  Speaker 2: Where there is the planning of the murder.
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  Speaker 1: And the one who carries the conversation is Joseph Caiaphas.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Listen to a few background comments from one New Testament student.
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  Speaker 1: Caiaphas was high priest. We know very little about him,
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  Speaker 1: but we do know one most suggestive fact. In the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: old days, the office of high priest had been hereditary and.
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  Speaker 2: Had been for life.
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  Speaker 1: But when the Romans took over, High priests came and
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: went in rapid series, for the Romans erected and deposed
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: high priests to.
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  Speaker 2: Suit their own purposes. Between 37 BC.
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  Speaker 1: And AD 67, when the last was appointed before the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: destruction of the temple, there were no fewer than 28
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: high priests.
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  Speaker 2: Caiaphas was high priest from AD 18 to to A.D. 36.
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  Speaker 1: An extraordinarily long time for a high priest to last.
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  Speaker 1: And Caiaphas must have brought the technique of cooperating with
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the Romans to a fine art. Now go back to
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  Speaker 1: verse 3. At that same time, leading priests and elders
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  Speaker 1: were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas. There's our man.
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  Speaker 1: He's identified as the high priest. What concerned them, they
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: were plotting how to capture Jesus secretly.
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  Speaker 2: And kill him. But not during Passover.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: You and I, most of us, being Gentile, don't understand Passover.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: It isn't a festival on our calendars. But in those days,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: it was the major festival. Preparation in Jerusalem was extensive.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: And population in the city swelled enormously at Passover. According
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to Josephus, Jewish historian, some 256,500 sacrificial lambs were slain
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: during a typical Passover festival. And because tradition required that
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: no fewer than 10 people were to eat of one lamb,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: do the math, the number of celebrants could have exceeded
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: 2 million. 2 million people swelling the ranks of the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: little city, little in our estimation, of Jerusalem. Since they
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: came from all over, including Galilee, Many admirers of Jesus
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: who had witnessed his miracles and heard his teachings would
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: have been in the crowd. They were sympathetic to his cause.
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  Speaker 1: It would be too risky to arrest.
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  Speaker 2: Him with so many of them around.
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  Speaker 1: They would riot, and that's the last thing Romans allowed.
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  Speaker 1: No public riots. In fact, Their preference was no public
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: meeting of any size. Suddenly the scene changes from a
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: hostile group making dark plans to a gathering of joyful celebration.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Look how Matthew writes. He moves from this room where
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: murder is being arranged to a little room village named Bethany,
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  Speaker 1: where one Simon is hosting a meal.
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  Speaker 2: Simon, known as Simon the leper.
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  Speaker 1: Here again, it's strange to our ears because we don't
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: deal with leprosy in our culture today.
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  Speaker 2: Very little of it is.
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  Speaker 1: Ever even mentioned in our lifetime. Most of us could
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  Speaker 1: say we live and die and never knew one person
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  Speaker 1: with the disease. Not so in that day. And when
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  Speaker 1: one was a leper, one was an outcast.
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  Speaker 2: For life. Not even buried among the family. And the
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  Speaker 2: thought of.
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  Speaker 1: His being cleansed of leprosy, never refer to one as
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: being healed of it, but cleansed of it, was so
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  Speaker 1: impossible Once you got it, you died with it.
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  Speaker 2: But Simon didn't.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt Jesus has cleansed the leper Simon, though he
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  Speaker 1: still lives with the tag Simon the leper. And so
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  Speaker 1: he calls this gathering together maybe to celebrate since Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was among them. And What a marvelous celebration it must
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: have been as he describes the change that's come over
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  Speaker 1: him as a result of being cleansed of this awful
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  Speaker 1: dread disease.
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  Speaker 2: And in this setting of harmony and intimacy, all men, in.
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  Speaker 1: Bursts a woman, unannounced, And she walks right up to
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  Speaker 1: this group that had gathered for a meal.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I don't understand meals in those days.
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  Speaker 1: Most of us only have artist renderings from Middle Ages
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and beyond.
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  Speaker 2: And so all the disciples are sitting in.
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  Speaker 1: New England ladder-back chairs at a long table looking at
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  Speaker 1: the photographer. Ooh.
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  Speaker 3: Ooh. Ooh.
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  Speaker 2: All of these faces.
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  Speaker 1: They're not in chairs, and it isn't a long table,
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  Speaker 1: and they're not all facing one direction. It's a low
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  Speaker 1: table like a low coffee table, and you reclined at
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  Speaker 1: a meal. You leaned on an elbow, and you ate
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  Speaker 1: with your hands. What a great idea. You could shovel
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  Speaker 1: it in.
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  Speaker 2: You know, whatever it was, you just ate it. You
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: get a little soft there, you dip it in there,
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  Speaker 2: you eat that, you dip this over there, and you'd
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: eat that.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the way they were reclined at the table.
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  Speaker 1: Really a relaxed, casual setting. And that's where they were
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: at this meal. Again, it was customary that only men
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  Speaker 1: would be together. And in comes a woman who remains
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  Speaker 1: unnamed in Matthew's gospel. Thankfully, we had Mark's account and John's.
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  Speaker 1: to tell us that this is Mary. She's the sister
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  Speaker 1: of Martha and Lazarus. They live in Bethany, same village,
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  Speaker 1: different house. But she comes on the scene for a
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  Speaker 1: specific purpose, unrelated to the meal. Again, I urged you
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  Speaker 1: to feel it. So put yourself in her sandals, in
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  Speaker 1: her place, as she walks in this all-male gathering, and
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  Speaker 1: she brings with.
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  Speaker 2: Her a priceless treasure.
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  Speaker 1: It is a small container called an alabaster jar of perfume.
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  Speaker 1: Another writer calls it nard. This particular container Perfume is
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: extremely expensive. Ladies, you would know the cost of perfume
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: better than us men, unless we're husbands, and then we
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  Speaker 1: would know only because we're the resisting ones who say,
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  Speaker 1: do you have.
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  Speaker 2: To get something that expensive?
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  Speaker 1: But you would never get something that costs 25 to
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  Speaker 1: 30 thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 2: You would not go there. But she had this in
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: her possession.
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  Speaker 1: Someone asked me following the earlier service, how could a
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: woman of her meager means have wound up with something
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: this expensive? Probably hereditary. Probably passed along to her from
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the family. Or given by a wealthy friend. But this
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: is an immensely valuable wealthy.
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  Speaker 2: Perfume. And it's in this jar, sealed, and we read that.
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  Speaker 1: She came in with this beautiful alabaster jar and she
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: breaks it and she pours it on the head and
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: we know from Mark and John's words, she came to
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: his feet and she smeared it on his feet and
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  Speaker 1: let her hair down.
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  Speaker 2: And with her hair, she smears it across his feet
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: and his legs.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: This is shocking stuff. First of all, a woman is
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  Speaker 1: in an all-male gathering. And of all things, she does
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  Speaker 1: this spontaneously, unannounced. And by the way, she never says
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: a word here or in the other accounts. She doesn't
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: come to preach. She doesn't come to give a little devotional.
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  Speaker 2: Doesn't quote a book. a verse of.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Scripture from the Old Testament. She just does this pantomime
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: of extravagant, spontaneous worship. That's what happens. She knows of
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: no better way to express herself her adoration of Jesus.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Than this.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: She breaks the ointment over him and pours it on
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: his head as he's reclining at the table and then
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: goes down where his feet and she.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Pours it on his feet. What a moment. But the disciples...
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: We read the word, they were indignant.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Not, oh, what a marvelous act of worship. Not, what
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a loving woman of God whose adoration knows no bounds.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Stand back, men. Look at this. None of that. Their
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: first response is, what a waste. Look at it. What
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: a waste, they said.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: It could have been sold for a high price and
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the money given to the poor. But they are so pious.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Since when are they so concerned about others?
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: The point is, they don't know what to say, so
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: they decide to say the wrong thing. And they yell
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: at her for what she has done.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Jesus' response is magnificent. It's always magnificent. Look at what
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: he does. But Jesus, aware of this, replied, why criticize
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: this woman for doing such a good thing to me?
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Now look at the next line.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Look at it.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: You will always have the poor with you. You will
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: always have the poor among you. but you will not
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: always have me. She has poured this perfume on me
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: to prepare my body for burial. To tell you the truth,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: wherever the good news is preached throughout the world, this
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: woman's deed will be remembered and discussed. And by the way,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: here we are centuries later doing that very thing. She's
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the star of the show, if you will. But she
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't come to be the star. She comes overwhelmed with
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: her adoration and knowing she may never see him again.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: She brought her most expensive possession and pours it all
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: over him. Notice where. Here we read it's going on
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: his head.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: The other disciples, the other gospel writers write of pouring
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: it on his feet, taking her hair and smearing it
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: on his feet. As expensive as this perfume was, we
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: can be certain of this, that fragrance remained on his
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: body even when it became a cadaver.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: It is the most precious aroma.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: That's often overlooked by all of us who preach the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: message of Christ. When they nailed him to the cross,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: the fragrance was on his head under the.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Crown of thorns.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: When they pulled him from the cross and lifted the
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: body from the spikes, those ugly holes in his feet,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: the fragrance was all around his feet. When he came
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: out of the tomb, the fragrance was with him. And
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: for those hours that followed when they were around him,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: you could smell the worship of Mary.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: All over him.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Praise God for Mary, for that kind of worship. Samuel
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Stennett by the middle 18th century sits down and begins
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: to put into words what may have been her thoughts.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: All conjecture, but I think very well might have been.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior's brow. His head
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: with radiance glories crowned his lips with grace or flow
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: his lips with grace or flow. He saw me plunged
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: in deep distress and flew to my relief.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: For me, he bore the shameful cross. And carried all
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: my grief. And carried all my grief.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: To him I owe my life and breath and all
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: the joys I have. He makes me triumph over death
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: and saves me from the grave.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: And saves me from the grave.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Since from his bounty I receive such proofs of love divine.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Had I a thousand hearts to give. Lord, they would
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: all be thine. They would all be thine. I love
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: that hymn.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: She would have sung it with Samuel Stennett. Those were
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: her feelings. And Jesus could hear from her actions.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Why she did what she did and all the disciples
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: could think of probably.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Out of envy was what a waste What a waste.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: And then he adds, I'll tell you the truth, wherever
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: the gospel is preached, this woman will be attached to
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: the message.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: She'll be remembered and discussed.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Before I go further, may I add this for all
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: of us. There are moments when our worship needs to
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: reach such a peak We care little what others think
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: or say. I have, I'll just confess, I've often been
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: in my study and I come to a passage, as
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: I did in this one, and I just sang at
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the top of my voice. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: the Savior's brow. It was marvelous in his presence. For
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: you it may be in your car. It may be
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: alone on a walk. It may be gazing at some
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: marvelous scene that only God could have put together.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: Let it out. Let it out. You know what I love?
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: She didn't care that the room was filled with only men.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: They couldn't sing anyway, so She was in there lost
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: in wonder, love, and praise, as Wesley writes.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: And while lost.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: In praise, she cared little what they thought and even
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: less what they said, as you will when you truly worship.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Or does this sound strange to you? Are you so
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: contained and so restrained that everything is gauged by what
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: someone may say or think?
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Her model is marvelous to witness. Judas couldn't take it.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: If you follow the story of Judas, you realize that
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: he is losing patience. being zealous at heart, and waiting
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: for the moment Jesus will begin the move against Rome
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: and overthrow that kingdom, but not seeing it come, Judas
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: is now disillusioned.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: And remember, remember Judas. He's seen the miracles. He's heard
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: the teaching.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: He's been right there witnessing the whole thing as Jesus
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: has lived this marvelous life and when he sees this
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: woman in this act of spontaneous and extravagant worship by
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: the way one of the other gospels says that Judas
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: led the pack in this criticism deceiver that he was
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I mean Judas is a thief he had been trusted
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: to be the treasurer of the group he held the
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: purse and yet he pilfered from it and here he
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: is seeing this woman lost in her praise and that's
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: all he could stand look at it for yourself in
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: this passage 26, verse 14.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: Then, don't miss the connective. Then, when? When the woman
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: has poured out the perfume.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: leading priests. But by the way, how did he know
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: where they were meeting?
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: I thought they were meeting in secret. And by the way,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: why did they let him in knowing he was one
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: of the 12?
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: I suggest he had been flirting with the idea for
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: some time and struck up a friendship. Conjecture, I admit,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: but how else can you explain that one of the
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: disciples is allowed in the meeting and immediately given an
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: audience with these murderers planning this conspiracy.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: And he has the audacity to ask, how much will
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: you pay me to betray him? Like a slithering snake,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: coiled and ready to strike.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: In fact, it reads, from that time on Judas began
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. But I should
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: return to this moment when he bargains with them, how
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: much are you willing to give me? For 30 measly
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: pieces of silver, verse 15, he agreed to be the traitor.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: There's an old English couplet I've quoted for years that's
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: worth mentioning here.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Still as of old, man by himself is priced for
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: 30 pieces. Judas sold himself, not Christ. Why, of course.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: Christ isn't for sale. Judas is. And he's cheap. What
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: a deal.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: This group of murderers never produced 30 pieces of silver
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: more quickly in their lives.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: They pulled it out and they laid it in front
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: of him. He grabbed it.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: He was on his way with plans.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: To carry out the betrayal.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: And he's the one earlier who had the audacity to
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: say to the woman, think of the poor. You could
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: have given this money to the poor. He cared nothing
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: for the woman or for the poor. What he cared
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: about was that anyone would worship this one who was
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: not doing what he.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Expected him to be doing.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: To betray him. A good place to pause and search
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: our own hearts.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: I think there is a timely and timeless lesson woven
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: through all of this that says everyone is either for
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Christ or against him.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: There's no neutral zone. In eternity, there is no neutrality.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: You will not find yourself in a comfortable place by
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: answering the Lord God, I'm still making up my mind.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: When you have breathed your last and you stand before
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: your eternal king, you better have your.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Mind made up.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: He looks for a time and opportunity to betray him.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: And surely it will come. Not long from now. In
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: the garden. And can't you see it? The act of betrayal.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: A kiss. Why, of course. So like Judas.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: Matthew has recorded the scene that we might feel, the
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: gathering storm, because it represents some of you today. Through life,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: events have occurred that have moved you toward or away
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: from the claims of Christ. And it may have been
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: as quiet and as secretive as Judas himself, who doesn't
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: announce his plans to those closest to him. In fact,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: I'm convinced by now he may have been much closer
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: to the enemies of Christ than he ever had been
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: to the fellow disciples.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing? He knew the Psalms. He knew the prayers.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: He could describe to you the setting when the lame
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: were healed and the dead was raised. But it never
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: touched his heart. Everyone is either for Christ Or against him.
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Every one of us. As well. Bow your heads will you.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: Right where you're sitting. Are you for him? Have you
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: told him? Does your life reveal it?
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Or is it all a secret, very diplomatically lived out,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: so that there would be those on the sideline who
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: would think of you as a disciple, when in fact
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: you are not that at all? I urge you to
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: move forward in the right direction as the message of
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: this passage reaches you. Turn to Christ. Lay out before
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: him all the things that have become a part of
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the struggle.
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: Tell him where you are. He knows, but he loves
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: for you to repeat it.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: And to acknowledge That all of that has created where
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: you are today. Wouldn't it be great if upon departure
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: on your lips.
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: Are words like.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior's brow. His head
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: with radiant glory crowned his lips with grace or flow.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: He saw me plunged in deep distress and flew.
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: To my relief.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: Trust in him now. Take his relief. Take his forgiveness.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. We search ourselves.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: in moments like this in every scene of the scriptures
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: we are somewhere.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: And today.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: The question is where are you If you choose Christ
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: for the very first time, we have men and women
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: available to help you. All of us happy to talk
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: with you about your soul. Don't leave unsure.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: Don't. Don't go there.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: This day could be your last. Thank you, dear Father,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: for your ministry in and among us. Thank you for
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: giving us a book that is so tied into our day.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Where we're able to see and touch and even smell
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: the scene.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: It makes us quiet. It captures our hearts.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: And we find ourselves wanting to affirm again more deeply
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: how grateful we are for the bounty we received and
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: such proofs of love divine. Had we a thousand hearts
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: to give, Lord, they would all be thine.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: They would all be thine.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: I pray for those who've never yet made this decision
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: That you would give them a restlessness.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Sleepless nights.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: Troubled heart. Until they turn to you. As Lord and Savior.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: This we pray through Christ.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Our Lord. Everyone said.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: The preceding message. Countdown to betrayal. was copyrighted in 2017
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021.
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: By Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 51:56
  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.