PT-2 "Introduction to Matthew 26:36-46)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2024 10:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 26:36-46”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:36-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!’”

 

            I will conclude the quotation from MacArthur’s commentary on the introduction to these verses. 

 

            “As we look further into our Lord’s last night before death, we grasp what we can of the sacredness of this powerful moment in His life and ministry.  But we realize that no amount of study or insight can give more than a glimpse of the divine-human agony He experienced there.

 

            “One of Philip Bliss’s beautiful hymns contains the words,

 

‘Man of sorrows, what a name,

For the Son of God who came,

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!’

 

            The hymn writer borrowed his description of Christ from Isaiah, who predicted that the Messiah would be ‘a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’ (Isa. 53:3).

 

            “There is no record in Scripture of Jesus’ laughing, but there are numerous accounts of His grieving, His sadness, and even His weeping.  He wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35) and wept over Jerusalem at the time of His triumphal entry (Luke 19:41).  Jesus knew sorrow upon sorrow and grief upon grief as no other man who has ever lived.  But the sorrow He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane on the last night before His crucifixion seemed to be the accumulation of all the sorrow He had ever known, which would accelerate to a climax the following day.

 

            “We cannot comprehend the depth of Jesus’ agony, because, as sinless and Holy God incarnate, He was able to perceive the horror of sin in a way we cannot.  Therefore even to attempt to understand the suffering of Jesus that night on the Mount of Olives is to tread on holy ground.  The mystery is too profound for human beings to comprehend and even for angels.  We can only stand in awe of the God-Man.

 

            “Like every other aspect and detail of Jesus’ life and ministry, His agony in the garden was integral to the foreordained, divine plan of redemption.  It was part of Jesus’ preparation for the cross, where the climactic event in the work of that redemption would transpire.

 

            “Ever and always the teacher, Jesus used even this struggle with the enemy in the garden the night before the cross to teach the disciples and ever future believer another lesson in godliness, a lesson about facing temptation and severe trial.  The Lord not only was preparing Himself for the cross but also, by His example, preparing His followers for the crosses He calls them to bear in His name (see Matt. 16:24).”  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

 

            “Matthew 26:36-46 reveals three aspects of Jesus’ striving in the garden:  His sorrow’s His supplication, and His strength.  And in clear contrast to their Lord’s unremitting struggle we see also the disciples’ indifferent lethargy.”

 

            I have to say that after listening to two sermons on these verses that my heart is very open to learn more about things that perhaps I have never thought of in the way that they will be presented as we move through these verses in the following days.

 

5/16/2024 10:40 AM

 

           

 

PT-1 "Intro to Matthew 26:36-46"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2024 9:19 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 26:36-46”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:36-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!’”

 

            I begin this introduction with a quote from John MacArthur’s commentary where he quotes a portion of a sermon given by Charles Haddon Spurgeon which he preached on April 12, 1885 which was named “The Man Christ Jesus.”  “It will not be enough for you to hear, or read [about Christ]; you must do your own thinking and consider your Lord for yourselves…The wine is not made by gathering the clusters, but by treading the grapes in the wine-vat: under pressure the red juice leaps forth.  Not the truth as you read it, but the truth as you meditate upon it, will be a blessing to you…Shut yourself up with Jesus, if you would know him.’ Just before that he had said, ‘[Yet] I am never more vexed with myself than when I have done my very best to extol his dear name.  What is it but holding a candle to the sun?’  Spurgeon concludes, ‘I cannot speak as I would of Him.  The blasé of this Sun blinds me!’  (The Metropolitan Tabernacle, vol. 31 [London: Passmore & Alabaster, n.d.], pp. 209,213). 

 

            If someone wants to listen to this sermon read by someone it can be found by searching the internet for Spurgeon’s sermons as I believe that most of his sermons can be found.

 

            I have to say that a couple of days ago that I listened to John MacArthur’s two sermons on these verses from Matthew 26:36-46 and I have to say that the messages given on these verses from MacArthur were a wonderful experience.  He stated that he spent much time thinking about what he was going to say and wished that he could just preach one sermon which would last well over two hours, but knew that would not be possible.  I have to say that I was moved by what is found in these verses and I hope that I can convey that as I attempt to write about them over the next few days or perhaps it will take more than a week to go through them, we will see.

 

            He goes on to write “Even when one’s best is done to study about and meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ, it becomes clear that the mystery is far too deep for human comprehension.  We know and believe that He is fully God and also fully man, but to state and even sincerely believe such a paradox is not to understand it.  It is far to profound even for Christian minds enlightened by the Holy Spirit to fathom.  With humility, awe, and reference we follow the Lord on His circuitous route to the cross.

 

            “By now it was probably near midnight on the Thursday of Passover week in A.D. 33.  Jesus’ three years of ministry were completed.  He had preached His last public sermon and performed His last miracle.  He also had celebrated the last Passover with His disciples.  But infinitely more important than that, He had come to be the last and ultimate Passover Lamb, the perfect and only sacrifice for the sins of the world.”

 

Lord willing we will finish this introduction in the next SD.

 

5/15/2024 9:45 AM

PT-4 "The Disciples' Ignorance" (Matt. 26:33-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2024 8:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-4 “The Disciples’ Ignorance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 26:33-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “33 But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.”

 

            I want to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary on this SD, which will be the last one in this section and this chapter.

 

            “The presence of the now-indwelling Holy Spirit within them doubtless was the source of the power in the apostles’ new-found courage and dedication.  But even the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ is no guarantee of faithfulness.  Long after he had been indwelt by the Spirit, Peter discovered again ho spiritually unreliable and impotent he was when he acted in the flesh rather than in the Spirit.  Having been intimidated by the Judaizers, he refused for a while to have fellowship with Gentile believers and was severely rebuked face to face and publicly by Paul for his hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-14).

 

            “It therefore seems certain that another factor besides the indwelling Spirit contributed to the apostles’ later faithfulness—namely, the lesson they learned so bitterly at the end of the Lord’s ministry about their own ignorance and foolish self-sufficiency and about Christ’s divine omniscience and gracious sufficiency.  They remembered His patient love and mercy in pulling them back to Himself, despite their cowardly and despicable defection. They had experienced His mercy so intimately and so profoundly that they were determined never to forsake Him again.  But they knew that, in themselves, they were as weak as ever and that their only prospect for faithfulness was total obedience to the dependence on Him.

 

            “Could they have known it, the restored disciples would joyously have sung the beloved hymn “How Firm a Foundation,” two of the stanzas of which are:

 

“Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,

            For I am they God, and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

            Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

 

The soul that on Jesus hath learned for repose,

            I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, through all hell should endeavor to shake,

            I’ll never, no, never no, never forsake!”

 

            A very precious hymn, for sure.  5/14/2024 8:55 AM  

PT-3 "The Disciples Ignorance" (Matt. 26:33-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/13/2024 12:12 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-3 “The Disciples Ignorance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:33-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “33 But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.”

           

            There are times when I read through John MacArthur’s commentaries that he just writes long sections that don’t have the verses that he is going over in these sections and those are the times when I like to quote from the commentaries. 

 

            “The disciples were still ignorant about many things.  They were ignorant of their own weakness and of Satan’s strength.  They were ignorant of the great power that fear would soon have over them.  And they would not accept Jesus’ interpretation of the Old Testament prophecy He had just quoted regarding the shepherd’s being struck and the sheep being scattered.  In other words they were willfully ignorant, because they persisted in trusting their own understanding above the Lord’s.

 

            “Like the disciples, believers only parade their ignorance when they claim to be wise, courageous, and self-sufficient.  And often, as with the disciples, the Lord allows them to learn the hard way that they are really foolish, cowardly, and weak.

 

            “In humble, sinless grace Jesus was willing to go to the cross and shed His blood for the proud, foolish, and sinful disciples.  Although He knew they soon would be ashamed of Him and even desert and deny Him, He was not ashamed of them.  In spite of their pride, weakness, desertion, and denials, He would draw them again to Himself in perfect love.  In a gracious act of divine mercy He would forgive and restore them.

 

            “Thankfully, our Lord is devoted to restoring disciples who have fallen and been unfaithful.  In his first epistle John reminds his readers of that comforting truth.  ‘If we confess our sins,’ he wrote, ‘He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).  Paul echoes that wonderful grace of recovery when he instructs spiritual believers to act as Christ’s agents to restore in love fellow believers who have fallen into sin (see Gal. 6:1). 

 

            “After Pentecost the eleven men who had deserted their Lord in fear and shame were hardly recognizable.  When they were imprisoned by the high priest for preaching and healing and then were miraculously released by an angel, ‘they entered into the temple about daybreak, and began to teach’ again.  And when they were rearrested, flogged, and ordered by the entire Sanhedrin ‘to speak no more in the name of Jesus,’ they were ‘rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.  And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ’ (see Acts 5:12-42).

 

            Lord willing we will finish this section and chapter in the next SD.

 

5/13/2024 12:38 PM

PT-2 "The Disciples' Ignorance" (Matt. 26:33-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2024 7:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “The Disciples Ignorance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:33-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “33 But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.”

 

            This is the second time that Jesus said "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”  The trouble is that Peter did not believe the Lord any more this time than the second time, and this was only a few hours later that He said this to Peter.  MacArthur writes “With amazing brashness and pride, he obviously thought that, wise as Jesus was, He was mistaken about the dependability and courage of His foremost disciple.”

 

            In the times when Jesus was on the earth the Jews divided the night into four parts:  evening, which was from six to nine; midnight, which from nine to twelve; cock crow, which was from twelve to three; and then morning which was from three to six.  MacArthur adds “The third period gained its name from the fact that roosters began to crow about the end of that period and continued to crow periodically until after daybreak.”

 

            We can speculate that by the time that Jesus and His disciples made it to the Mount of Olives it was about midnight.  So Jesus prediction about Peter would happen within a very few hours, Peter would deny the Lord three times—before three in the morning, when a cock would normally begin to crow.  Peter should have realized that Jesus would not say this was going to happen to Him unless it was certain that it would, and no sooner had this third denial, which was augmented with a curse, come out of Peter’s mouth than “immediately a cock crowed” (v. 74).

 

            I could be said that Peter was a very prideful man and so that pride did not allow him to think such a thing was conceivable, as that is what pride will do to a man.  Peter’s pride on this occasion was manifested in at least three ways, MacArthur writes:  “In the first place he contradicted the Lord, as he had done at other times.  Shortly after Peter confessed that Jesus was ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ he ‘took Him aside and began to rebuke Him’ for predicting His suffering and death, ‘saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’’ (Matthew 16:16, 22).

 

            “Second, Peter’s pride was manifested in his considering himself better than all the other disciples, claiming that, although they might desert Jesus, he would never do so.  Third, he trusted in his own streingh, foolishly declaring, ‘I will never fall away’ ad a few moments later adding, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.’  Sharing Peter’s misguided self-confidence, through perhaps to less extreme degrees, ‘All the disciples said the same thing too.’”    5/12/2024 8:13 AM

PT-1 "The Disciples' Ignorance" (Matt. 26:33-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2024 11:43 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “The Disciples’ Ignorance”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:33-35

 

            Message of the verses:  “33 But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.”

 

            I have to say that there are times when I look at what Peter says as found in the gospel’s that I have to shake my head, and then there are times when I see myself in what Peter does and says.  Peter missed something that Jesus had said, and that was He said that in three days that He would rise from the dead.  Perhaps he was thinking about defending his loyal character, and that is why he blurted out "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.’”  MacArthur adds “Proud, self-confident Peter, convinced of the strength of his love for Jesus, presumptuously proclaimed himself to be the truest of the true.”

 

            One of the things that I want to talk about here is the great love that the Lord Jesus has for Peter, as He knows what will happen to Peter in the future, and what Peter will become in the Church, and so He is dealing with Peter in a loving way even though Peter was acting in a way that was not pleasing to the Lord.  As I was listening to a sermon, actually a sermon and a half on the 12^th and 13^th chapters of Zachariah, the love of God was seen in these two chapters.  As one looks at the history of Israel from the time that God called Abram all the way until the end of the tribulation period one can see an uphill and downhill relationship with the Lord.  In all His dealings with Israel one can see that God loves them very much even though He knows what mistakes that Israel has and will continue to make.  It will be at the end of the Tribulation period when Israel will finally realize what they had done to their Messiah and will mourn very much and will finally come to the point where as Paul writes “All Israel will be saved.”  This happens because of God’s great love for His chosen people, and as we go through this section in Matthew and see all the things that Peter and the rest of the disciples will do, God still loves them and will cause them to be a great part of the beginnings of the Church as He will use them to begin the Church.  I, for one who is a believer, am very thankful for the love of God as He knows me better than anyone else, and still loves me and I hope that He is not done with me yet and will keep me alive until He comes in the clouds to take me to be with Him forever.

 

            Back to Matthew chapter 26:33-35.  Peter seems to be like a self-willed child, that is hearing what he wanted to hear and believing only what he wanted to believe.  It was during the Last Supper, which took place only an hour before these verses we are looking at that Jesus had given the disciples a similar warning.  Speaking specifically to Peter Jesus said “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31).  MacArthur writes “Though directed right at Peter the ‘you’ in this verse is plural (humas), indicating that the warning extended to the other disciples as well.  They would all be so severely tested by Satan that it would seem as if they were being shaken violently like a tray of wheat in the harvester’s hand.  ‘But I have prayed for you [singular],’ Jesus went on to say, ‘that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers’ (v. 32).”

 

            I think that it would have been better for Peter to have listened to what the Lord had said and be thankful that He was going to protect Him, but instead Peter boasted, “Lord, with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death” (v. 33).  Jesus was unimpressed with that claim and responded to Peter “I say to you, Peter the cock will not crow today until you have denied me three times that you know Me” (v. 34).  With those compassionate but stinging words, Jesus singled out Peter as one who not only would desert Him but would even deny Him.

 

Tomorrow in the USA it is mother’s day and so I want to take this time to wish all the mothers who will read this a Happy Mother’s Day.

 

5/11/2024 12:14 PM

PT-2 "Jesus' Omniscience" (Matt. 26:31-32)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2024 10:28 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  PT-2 “Jesus’ Omniscience”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:31-32

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 32 "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’”

 

            Jesus is saying that in the broadest sense, the sheep that would be scattered will be Israel, and that is because Israel as a nation rejected and crucified her Messiah.  We know that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70 A. D. which was a result of Israel rejecting their Messiah, and after that they were scattered throughout the world for 2000 years only to become a nation 76 years ago in four more days as they became a nation again on May 14, 1948.  I have to say that just like when Israel was taken captive to Babylon and they had a chance to return in 70 years that many of them did not return, and so today there are many, many Jews around the world that have chosen not to return to their nation, and many of them are in the USA.

 

            Now Jesus is actually referring to the disciples when He says “the sheep.”  He said this to them while on the Mount of Olives, and they were the first group, as it were, representative of and picturing all those who would be scattered when He, the shepherd, was struck.

 

            Jesus would immediately encourage the disciples with the assuring words “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’”  MacArthur writes “Jesus faced death with supreme courage because He knew He had supreme power over death.  But the disciples were still afraid of death, and even of imprisonment or humiliation.  Jesus knew He would be raised from the dead by the power of His Father, just as He had predicted to the Twelve many times before (see Matt. 16:21; 17:9, 23; 20:18-19; cf. Rom. 6:4).  Even more certain than the faith by which Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19) was the divine omniscience of Jesus.  By that knowledge our Lord knew His heavenly Father would raise His only begotten Son from the dead on the third day.”

 

            MacArthur calls the disciples “hard-headed and weak in faith.”  For they should have remembered and believed those predictions that the Lord had given to them, and they should have remembered those whom Jesus Himself raised from the dead especially the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead where Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies” (John 11:25).  However fear had eclipsed their memory and it subdued their belief, something that fear can do to a person, even a true believer in Christ.

 

             Now one thing that we know that Jesus had was infinite patience and in that Jesus told them again that He would be raised and that He would then go before them to Galilee and He would meet them there.  MacArthur writes “That, of course, is exactly what He did.  Outside the garden tomb, the angel told the two Mary’s, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him” (Matt. 28:27).  When the resurrected Lord appeared to the two women a few moments later, He repeated the promise and the instruction (v. 10).  Sometime later “the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.  And when they saw Him, the worshiped Him” (vv. 16-17).  Matthew’s inspired record of the disciples’ tragic weakness clearly affirms the omniscience of the Lord Jesus.”

 

            Lord willing, we will look tomorrow at “The Disciples’ Ignorance” from Matthew 26:33-35).

 

5/10/2024 10:55 AM