Matthew 26:30-46, Tough Guys for Tough Times?

Matthew chapter 26 starting in verse 30 hear the word of the Lord and When they had sung a hymn they went out to the

Mount of Olives Then Jesus said to them you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written

I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered But after I am raised up,

I will go before you to Galilee Peter answered him though. They all fall away because of you.

I will never fall away Jesus said to him truly. I tell you this very night before the rooster crows.

You will deny me three times Peter said to him even if I must die with you,

I will not deny you and all the disciples said the same Then Jesus went with them to a place called

Gethsemane and he said to his disciples Sit here while I go over there and pray and taking with him

Peter and the two sons of Zebedee He began to be sorrowful and troubled and then he said to them. My soul is very sorrowful even to death remain here and watch with me and Going a little farther.

He fell on his face and prayed saying my father If it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless

Not as I will but as you will and he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter so Could you not watch with me one hour?

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak

Again for the second time he went away and prayed my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done and Again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy

So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again Then he came to the disciples and said to them

Sleep and take your rest later on see the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners

Rise, let us be going see My betrayer is at hand

Hey, the Lord has blessings to the reading of his Holy Word So are you a tough guy got any tough guys here think you can bear a lot

You can you can take it You're tough. You can handle anything dished out to you

Is that your attitude? I Used to think that of myself. I remember distinctly Thinking that of myself

When I was walking the streets of Addis Ababa Ethiopia I had a just a few seconds before Given two ladies who was sitting on the ground at the root of a tree some coins

They were begging with their hands stretched out for whatever passersby like me might give them

They had leprosy. I could tell that they had leprosy because on their outstretched hands They had no fingers.

I Gave them a few coins and crossed the road and I thought to myself What an emotionally tough guy

I am I'm not like another Canadian missionary who had arrived in Ethiopia and was so traumatized by the destitution and suffering that she saw just on the car ride from the airport to the mission compound that she had a breakdown and would not

Come out of her room. I Could walk through the heart of what was at least at that time

Maybe it still is the one of the poorest cities in the world Give two leprous women coins and go about my own business without a qualm

I Can handle it I'm tough. I Thought the same thing about myself about nine months later when we were back in Singapore I was speaking at our church there and talking about our experiences describing the poverty and Suffering and how death comes so quickly and easily and I could look out in the audience and see

Just by the expressions on people's faces that I was having an emotional impact on people. They were moved with compassion

By the suffering that I was recounting. I was able to elicit in them stirring them feelings

But it was also as if I was standing outside myself watching myself stir their emotions

While I was feeling none at all Well, that was April that year by August same year we were in Chicago And I was taking a class entitled the art of the personal essay and for that class

I wrote an essay about our experiences in Ethiopia, which ended with the words and there was blood everywhere

For the final class we were supposed to read our essays out loud to the class but before I could get to that last phrase

I choked up I broke down sobbing and There I was before a bunch of strangers

Downtown and what bills itself as a tough town right in the loop as they call it as They say they're in the heart of what they call themselves the city of big shoulders broken up Sobbing for all the dead

Apparently I'm not such a tough guy after all So, what about you are you tough?

You know, we live in a society that extols just kind of believing in yourself You can do it. Whatever does it kill you makes you stronger?

This is totally untrue But when the mind what the mind can conceive the body can achieve tough times don't last but tough people do

Our schools in particular are brimming over with inspirational posters and slogans telling the students, you know, believe in yourself

Follow your own path. You can do whatever you set your mind to Positive affirming language and so what used to be called a report card is now called a progress report

Assuming that everyone has progress to report. So the feeling of many is that they can do anything.

They set their mind to that's what They've been told from the little kids. Nothing is too hard for them. They are tough people and they can overcome anything

They just wanted enough and so they aren't so impressed with people who are really good at something

Because you know they feel Maybe they're the kind that sits there on their couch watching the Olympics and thinking, you know after drinking whatever they're drinking

I can do that too. I could do that They feel if they only had the time they had the inclination

They can do whatever they set their minds to they could be a virtuoso at a musical instrument.

It's not so tough Or be an NBA player. Yeah, you can do that You could be out there playing with a bronze shirt.

I just don't like it They can publish a good book or be a great speech maker or run a four -minute mile or make great art or even

Be a good Christian Maybe I don't have the time right now But none of that is too tough for me the poster on the wall at school.

Tell me so Some people believe confidence is like money. You can never have too much

It's true confidence is like money if you have too much of it unearned it spoils you

We see in this passage a great demonstration of self -confidence a man who thinks he's a he's a tough guy

But he hasn't yet met a tough time and how much confidence ourselves really deserve

We see that here in four parts First the Shepherd then the self -deception third the sorrow and finally the sleep

How much confidence do we deserve And how much should we believe in ourselves how tough are we really well, let's test it

Let's take some of the take some of the best men hand -picked by Jesus himself

And take them out of a society that largely strove to to study and to obey the

Word of God Israel at this time was like a it was basically an Old Testament Bible belt Let's take some of these men who they are the cream of the crop.

They're the best of the best and Then let's train them for three years You know intensive day in day out making them close and connected

Teaching correcting and encouraging and then let's prepare them perfectly, but they have been alerted to what's coming plenty of warning

What's about to happen? They have a last meal together. They have more warnings. They even sing a hymn together then finally after all that Then we'll put them under some pressure

Let's let's put them through a tough time Let's see how tough they really are see how well they they hold up and hold together

That's not like an easy test, isn't it? Surely we who believe in ourselves so much We could we could do that.

We were there even the average person could pass a few years She just applied themselves, but the best of the best, you know should be easy for them.

They should be alright. They're tough enough, aren't they? How much confidence? Do we deserve?

Well, the Lord Jesus tells them in verse 31 you will all Fall away, literally stumble every one of you will like trip and fall

Every one of you will fail some worse than others, but you will all fail tonight

You aren't tough enough for what's coming You will fall away because and he says because of me in verse 31 notice that because of me

In other words what I do tonight And Jesus here is implying that he's the active one here, isn't he?

He's not just a victim all that transpires to him. He is because of his choices

But because of what I do tonight Jesus is saying will result in you stumbling now so far for these disciples discipleship has been

Mostly theory I think you know Jesus has talked about the kingdom of God his teachings

How he must give up his life a ransom for many his Teaching to them that you must be willing to take up the cross and follow him.

That's that sound good. That sounds great But they haven't really had to be tested whether they'll do it here

He first he gives him over warnings about how he is to be betrayed and crucified And they probably think just hearing about it is enough to make them tough

They haven't yet been through any really Tough times not yet People are so often told something

Whatever it is. Ethiopia is poverty stricken war is brutal marriage isn't all sweetness and candlelit dinners a baby isn't all fun and games

And yet it makes no impact They think it's just so many words and so they have a breakdown when they see fingerless beggars

They join the army to play war in Afghanistan And then they suffer shock the first time they are shot at they get married and wonder why all why are all my fantasies coming?

True, they have a baby and wonder why is that they screaming it to in the morning? Here they've been told

They're put on notice They're told again and the Lord Jesus even quotes scripture to them

To try to get their attention Back himself up. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

Oh We think They think at least oh, we'll stick together We'll support our leader.

He's our friend Nothing nothing could tear us away from him. They won't abandon him after three years

There will be what we would now call I guess group cohesion Surely, they know

Tough times don't last but tough people do But the shepherd will be struck notice according to this passage who will strike the shepherd.

I Will Quoting the Lord The Lord strikes the shepherd

Here's the paradox of human evil achieving God's good goals

Who think about it who literally? physically Struck him. Well the men of Pontius Pilate and Herod and the chief priest was what they did wrong

Yeah, certainly it was unjust ended up eventually was murder. It was against God's command.

God had commanded them You shall not murder But it was also God's decree God ordered it here.

God even takes responsibility for it. I Will strike the shepherd The Roman soldiers and Herod's men were just God's tools.

They held the whip or the hammer but God held them That evil was not outside the

Lord's control But God didn't do evil Because from him he was punishing the

Sun for our sins God Struck the shepherd Isaiah 53 10 says it was the will of the

Lord to crush him Jesus will be coming up against the will of the

Lord again soon We might argue that well God does not cause evil. Well, that's true

But he will use it Here is the most evil deed in history It's a betrayal a sacrilege a blasphemy to carry out a murder a great injustice

Really the greatest injustice and each of the people that committed those sins are responsible for them and Yet God worked through it all.

I Will God declares strike the shepherd and the result of God's act is that the sheep are scattered

They won't stay with the shepherd or with each other tough times prove That they're not so tough

They're all just sheep We can see here that that the enemies of God Satan who prowls around like a hungry lion looking to devour some sheep or the

World trying to conform us mold us into its image and so hating the ones who stand up For what the

Word of God says or even our own sinful nature that resists his will it wants to hear how good we are

For our will to be done Wants to think about ourselves, you know, it's not so tough

Our pride tells us those enemies will first Want to strike the shepherd then the sheep scatter and the sheep are easy to pick off You know one by one without protection

Without a church to keep them together or shepherds to watch over them the shepherds are the ones who stand in the way between the wolves and the lions and the predators and the helpless sheep

Today many American sheep Think they don't really need shepherds They're tough enough.

They can they can do it without them. Oh, they may like religious entertainers They'll watch them on TV or maybe they'll even go personally to hear them

But they think they don't they don't really think they need a shepherd They can do without that. And so when the wolves attack

They'll scatter Here it is. God who strikes the shepherd who's the good shepherd and when he does what are the shepherds men do?

Are they tough guys? Well, they say they are But when it comes to really seeing the Good Shepherd get struck they show

What even the best of men are made of? Though the Good Shepherd promises that he will regather the sheep

He'll bring them back together. He says after I'm raised He says in verse 32. He will meet them in Galilee.

He's consoling them He's comforting them even ahead of time as the Good Shepherd. He's given them sort of a preemptive

Consolation the smitten shepherd and the scattered sheep will be reunited back in their home territory

That's the shepherd willing to bear the strikes of the father knowing his sheep will abandon him and That they're not so tough despite all their tough talk.

He consoles them in advance Then self -deceit speaks up Peter won't stand for himself to be doubted

He insists in verse 33. I will not fall away He's self -confident.

He must have been raised a little Called Simon, you know, you could do anything you set your mind to Simon. He thinks he's a tough guy.

He applied himself He's given up his life for three years to follow the Good Shepherd. There's no way he thinks that he will abandon him now

He believed he could bear up under anything tough times don't last but tough people like me do

He thinks to himself Nothing could shake him. Oh, there's my runaway. Oh that John over there.

They might he might run away. Not me. He's brimming over with self -confidence

But so often self -confidence is self -deception That's why we need a church not only for singing and preaching and teaching but to keep each other real

To know each other and hold each other to account not to enable each other a flattery. Sure Peter Even if all the others stumble we know that you're you're tough

That's what many people think is for today. No, you need a place to be taught and to use your gifts, but also

To be in relationships in which people know you in which you'll be told the truth, you know, you can't bear up under that You need to break off that relationship.

You need to give more spin less You need to get real Here in verse 34 the

Lord Jesus tells Peter straight out you will deny me three times In other words, you're not so tough

Peter not nearly as tough as you think you are But Peter is still so self -confident still the tough guy even

I must die with you. I will not deny you and Sounds good done it. Surely he believed it.

He believed it with all his heart because he believed in himself I've heard people say

My wife and I are behind you 100 % After a little while you realize they must be behind you so far behind you.

You can't even see them anymore people love to believe in themselves just love to believe in ourselves to believe that when the pressure is on when loyalty is tested when

We have to choose between right and wrong when the crucial moment comes when tough times are here

Well, we'll be the tough guy who will last All others might fall away. Not me.

No, I'll be the one I'll be the loyal one They think it'll be will be strong and stand up and be bold that's what

Peter thought such people are rare Really? They're very rare. I don't know if You all realize how rare those people are

Because I think some of you are those rare kinds of people It is self -deceit to believe in ourselves

God will strike the Shepherd the self -deceived will will scatter They'll scatter precisely because they believe in themselves because their confidence is in themselves and their own perceived

Toughness and not in the Lord then comes the sorrow the sorrow

Surely the Peter and the rest are so so basically so full of themselves. So self -confident just adds

To the sorrow there all this time all this teaching. They're just so out of touch with themselves

That's got to be sorrowful With that weighing on him. He comes into an olive orchard.

Jesus doesn't and a garden called Gethsemane to pray

And he took Peter and James and John's or the inner core with him a little further into that garden and he revealed that he was

Sorrowful and troubled he said in verse 38. My soul is very sorrowful even to death

He's admitting that he felt so weighed down With sorrow just after that Passover and that dinner and the singing psalms of praise so weighed down He felt the sorrow would crush him

He could see what was coming He knew there was for the cross that he had come.

He was he was not unable to feel it The cost of it the agony he could feel it to the full

He's already begun to feel the agony here It starts here with this heavy sorrow heavy enough to crush him

He felt then later every punch every slap every thorn every nail and worst of all

He felt the gloomy darkening clouds of estrangement of abandonment of Loneliness of being separated from his friends and disciples and most of all from his father

He is here now already the man of sorrows

Acquainted with grief That he prays prostrate on the ground

My father In verse 39. Here's the most most intimate

Prayer, he is the son to the father from eternity past and perfect union

Then if it is possible in verse 39, he conditions his request if It is possible

You know just a few chapters earlier the same gospel Matthew chapter 21 verse 22 The Lord Jesus said and whatever you ask in prayer

You will receive if you have faith It's one of those promises some prosperity people like to take and think you would

I mean you can get a car and healing you Live forever basically until you just fade away 100 years old or whatever it is.

They take that Jesus said that And so yeah, if someone has faith, they have a trust in the

Lord. They will receive whatever they asked for Certainly, we can be assured that Jesus had perfect faith

And so he is going to receive his prayer in Hebrews chapter 5 or 7 referring to this prayer here

It says that Jesus offered up prayers with loud cries and tears To him to that is to God who was able to save him

From death and it says there God heard him God saved him from death

Because of this prayer So we have the promise that if we ask anything it will be granted and The end the fact that Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears and was heard

Therefore we conclude most certainly that Jesus's prayer was answered God granted it

That if it was at all possible He would be spared the cross

So the only way that he goes to the cross is if there is no other way possible

Well, there was perhaps one way for it to be possible for Jesus to avoid the cross that was simply

That God choose to save no one If no one saved there would be no need for a sacrifice

No need for the Sun to come in the flesh and to live as a man for 30 plus years suffer thirst fatigue sorrow and Often not even have a suitable place to lay his head many nights

He wouldn't have to be scorned and rejected he could simply hug his shoulders. He could simply not care

He could tell us, you know tough luck you fell I gave you a guard perfect guard you fell and just said you're done for he could damn us all to hell

Just by leaving us be like a callous man letting a child Drown in the icy lake that they fallen into, you know, but you could think well

He should have known better Why should I risk my life or my comfort by rescuing him?

That's the way Jesus could have been spared the cup if God would only have chosen just To let us go to leave us be

But God is love So because of that who God is

God is love Amazingly God will not just let us go

God is also just he's holy and so he would not have allowed sin to slide So being love he chose to save some being holy and just he had to pay the penalty

For the sins of those that he would save because he is love So we see it was not possible.

There is no other way it was necessary and that added to his sorrow

We are in such a condition that we cannot save ourselves that we are helpless by ourselves That we can't do it.

No matter how motivated how psyched up we get we have failed and we will fail

The only way out then is for someone perfect To bear our failures for us, you know, there was any other way

If we could if we could be saved if we could make it out of judgment by by just maybe just by trying harder

Applying ourselves to keep God's law better working more being inspired maybe by good examples being motivated by nice slogans that you can do it anything you set your mind to or deterred by threats if you break that law, you're gonna be hurt punished or Reasoned to salvation with philosophy with theology with sound arguments or even if God could just you know, just basically just wink at sin

And decide, you know, let it slide. Don't take it seriously anymore if we could get out any other way

If he would just maybe just make himself no longer a God of justice of being holy and pure if that was possible

Then the father would have gone that route Jesus asked in faith with loud cries and tears and he was heard he asked if there was any other way out let's take that other way and If there was any other way the father would have gone that other way, but there wasn't

He conditioned his request if It'd be possible because of our sins our sinfulness

It was not possible Then he prays for what What is really the heart of?

prayer In verse 39 for anyone who truly believes in the true God. This is the heart of prayer

When you come to God, this must be at the heart of why you're doing it how you're doing it nevertheless

He's given his request if it be possible that this cup pass Nevertheless, never mind what

I want not as I will But as you will nevertheless

Disregard this prayer if it contradicts your will even if it means my my brutal agonizing death nevertheless

And here we see really crystallized what it means to be a disciple even to be a son or daughter of God Yes, we have our desires.

We have our needs our cravings things we desperately Want maybe we'll pray for hours on end

God give us Whatever we hope the most most of the time

Those desires are are in the will of God And we can glorify

God by enjoying his gifts and maybe in other people in nature maybe in food and husband or wife and children and our property our money and leisure or in health and youth or an old age

But sometimes God wills things that we desperately wish he wouldn't to take someone we love to allow some sickness or loss in our family in our lives the trial then is

Whether we will accept What he can do that he can do so he can do as he wills that we can pray.

Please spare Please heal or protect or give But then we can say nevertheless

Not as I will but as you will Can we in our own

Gethsemane accept the will of God and allow ourselves to taste a little of what it means to be a man or woman of sorrows and acquainted with grief

Can we Or Here's an example for us of really of the perfect child of God But to reduce this to it is an example, but to reduce it to only an example for us a model for us to follow

We can do this too because we're tough enough if we just motivate ourselves No, we that's the way you think you missed the big picture.

We cannot first we cannot just follow first follow his example That's why him avoiding the cross is not possible we need much more than just a good example to follow

We need a sacrifice We need the guilt of our sins To be dealt with a just God is not simply going to pretend those sins where we were never committed

Just let's just forget about it start over and call that forgiveness Our guilt has to be dealt with and here the

Lord Jesus sees that he is the one to take our guilt And to bear the anger of God at us for our sins and that most of all

Makes him sorrowful So we ask for yes for any other way, but there is no other way

It's not possible for the for the cup of that Torture and that death and that betrayal and that alienation is to pass to pass from him

It's not possible because of the impossibility of Our nature

The impossibility of our nature is shown in the sleep He admits his sorrow in verse 38 and tells the disciples

To remain awake stay awake and pray with me Lest you follow fall into temptations stay awake or you'll fall away.

You'll be tempted if you can't stay awake Now you would think after having been told over and over again that he's about to be betrayed

That they would all fall away and so on that they would even they would be even more diligent If they be so much on their toes, they'd be so wary that they wouldn't have to be told to stay awake

When you when you think that all that's been going on that they that they couldn't sleep.

They would just be up Hyped up by everything that's happening But they're too impossibly

Self -confident In verse 40 he catches them the first time sleeping and I'm unable to take him seriously after all those warnings

He says the spirit your spirit indeed is willing But the flesh is weak

Even among the best of the best. Yes There may there may be desires in the heart to do what is right

But they find it impossible To put it into practice their bodies and their egos and self -confidence

Make them sluggish and As they pray that intensity wanes away

They feel the dinner in their stomachs and the wine in their system and the late hour and they just can't

Remember anymore We forgot what it was. What was it that Jesus was warning them about? What did he say as they fade off?

And then are fast asleep Then he prays again the same my father

If this cannot pass Unless I drink it Your will be done

Can this pass him by? Is there any other way? The disciples sleeping again for the second time tell him the answer here

Here they are on one of the most momentous nights and in all of history. They've been fully warned ahead of time

But what is coming? They still can't stay awake The impossibility of human nature

That we returns to prayer If it is at all possible Let there be another way

Then he returns for the third time to the disciples sleeping again proving how weak even the best of us are Proving why it's not possible for there to be any other way than the cross

We can't save ourselves It's not time to sleep now the hour is at hand the time that he warned them about the

Son of Man as the one who brings in the kingdom of God on earth he is Betrayed now it is clear.

There is no other way the flesh is too weak even the best sleep when they should be alert and One even betrays him

That's human nature at its best at its best willing but weak and often not even willing

Our salvation is not possible in any other way than to the sacrifice of Christ Some people believe that they can please

God if they only get around it to trying harder When they decide to be willing it is this possible.

They just haven't applied themselves yet. Maybe they will when they get older And they get a little older and they have a little less to do.

I'll go back to church. They'll read their Bibles Then they'll pray then They'll get everything in order maybe when they have kids or or maybe when they retire

They're confident then they can do it. They just really haven't tried yet There are plenty of preachers who flatter such people telling them telling their audience and they can do anything

If they just try harder they can do it. They can please God their problem is they're just not committed enough yet Just muster up that commitment that'll take care of it one local preacher even wrote in the castle messenger that the gospel is the ability to become more

Christlike by more Bible -reading and praying and church attendance and so even most people who aren't doing those things yet Well, they think confidently about themselves.

Yeah, okay, that's not so tough. I Can do that I can do it when I when I get a mind to it

When my spirit is willing right now, of course, I have a life, you know, I got things

I got to do I can't do it now, but I appreciate this preacher for telling me that I can do it when

I feel like it But that's not the gospel the good news starts with the bad news that you can't to bring you to your own time of Praying with tears when you realize it is impossible

For you to save yourself that someone perfect had to take the cup of God's wrath that you have so abundantly earned and that offends the self -confident that offends those

Who think they're so tough that they can do it themselves the person full of self -confidence The person who thinks that he just too busy right now

That he has a family as a career. Yes. Oh, yes things to think about and yet, but he'll be able to get around to God Eventually, you know, he'll be able to please him when the time comes

He has a willing spirit those kinds of people are offended by being told that they're they're too sinful. They're too weak

They're really not so tough If they can't save themselves that someone else

Someone perfect had to go through the agony for them here. We see what the best of the best can do

When they're supposed to be awake and alert What do they do? they sleep and So we see why it's not possible that we could be saved any other way

Even if our spirit is willing Which is a rare miracle our flesh is weak

If after you profess to believe in this Christ Said that he is Lord.

You've committed yourself to follow him said your will be done But when it comes time to actually obeying

You don't have if you're honest with yourself, you don't have just a weak flesh. We all have that.

That's what Jesus Paid for beginning here this here begins his suffering

He's sorrowful and to death that suffering for our sins has now begun but if your problem is

You know if you're honest with yourself Not just not just weakness but an unwilling spirit

You don't want deep down really His will to be done

Then your problem was not that you need to try harder That you can do it.

You just exert yourself more Now they proved here that our problem is far deeper than that.

If your spirit is not willing then your problem Is that you have it yet?

Accepted what Christ did for you on the cross. Have you yet been to Gethsemane with him?

Understood his sorrow his longing for any other way but this

Have you felt? the agony and Have you yet seen that your sin made it impossible for there to be any other way?

than this Have you yet seen that this God who would serve you by doing for you what you could not do for yourself?

Then he is worth you saying to him Not my will but yours be done is your spirit your heart