PT-3 "Intro to Matt. 26:31-35

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2024 9:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-3 “Intro to Matt. 26:31-35”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:31-35

 

            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." 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 begin with another important quote from John MacArthur’s commentary.  “This is a lesson every child of God needs to learn and relearn.  Because it is not difficult to stand firm in the doctrine and moral standards when we are among fellow Christians, we are tempted to think we would never desert our Lord by compromising those truths and standards.  But when we are out in the unbelieving world and are separated from the strength of Christian fellowship, we discover how unfounded such self-confidence is.  Paul even had to remind the faithful Timothy that ‘God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline’ (2 Tim. 1:7), because Timothy had evidenced some proneness to be ashamed of his Lord (v.8).”  “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

 

            I can understand how easily it is to kind of fall away from serving the Lord when away from the church family.  I worked in a foundry and the co-workers who worked there were men and women who were certainly not godly people and at times it was easy to be dragged down by them, but the truth is there is no place in the life of a believer for shame of Christ or for defection and desertion.  Shame of Christ is characteristic of unbelievers (see Mark 8:38) and should never be found in Christians.  Because of his continual reliance on the Lord, Paul could truthfully affirm to his son in the Lord “I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).  Then to the Roman church Paul declared with equal confidence, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

 

            It would be during this last night that the disciples were with Jesus being taught by Him, and then all of a sudden He is taken away and they will all flee that they will very rapidly learn that without His help faithfulness to Him is impossible.  No believer is equipped in his own understanding or power to engage in spiritual warfare with the flesh, the world, and Satan.  The important truth is beautifully expressed, John MacArthur writes “by nineteenth-century hymn writer John E. Bode in the hymn, ‘O Jesus, I Have promised.’ In one stanza the affirmation “I shall not fear the battle’ is qualified by ‘if Thou art by my side,’ and the affirmation ‘Nor wander from the pathway’ is qualified by ‘if Thou wilt be my guide.’”

 

            Here is another important quotation from MacArthur’s commentary:  “In predicting their desertion the Lord also taught the disciples another lesson about His divine omniscience.  Precisely as He declared all of them fled in fear when He was arrested a short while later that some evening (Matt. 26:56).

            “Although the disciples are essential participants in this account and are instructive examples for us, Matthew’s central focus, as always, is on Christ as King.  It seems the gospel writer’s intent is to preserve the dignity and glory of the King of kings even in the midst of defection, betrayal, and supreme malevolence.

            “Skeptics are inclined to ask such questions as: ‘What kind of leader is this whose followers all leave Him in the time of His greatest need?  What kind of leader is who has so little control over those under Him that He cannot keep them from running away when the battle gets hot?  Have not many men heroically stood their ground for lesser causes and in face of greater danger?  Ho could one who made such great claims as Jesus have been such a poor judge and builder of men?’”

 

            Lord willing we will get some answers to these important questions in our next SD.

 

5/7/2024 10:27 AM

           

 

PT-2 "Intro to Matt. 26:31-35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2024 12:31 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 26:31-35

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 26:31-35

 

            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." 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.”

 

            Now as I look at this passage I have the advantage of knowing what will happen because of studying this many times.  However I do have to say that I am learning things that I either did not know before of have forgotten them, which is possible as my memory is not what it use to be.  What I see here is the disciples of Jesus were dealing with what I call the flesh, they were processing what Jesus was saying through their own minds, thinking that they were totally able to do what they felt that they were capable of doing.  The truth is they will learn that this would not happen the way they thought it would.  I can say that the disciples should have known what was going to happen to Jesus because there are places in the Old Testament that have predicted what will happen to Jesus, places like the 22^nd Psalm, and the last part of Isaiah 52 through chapter 53.  Their minds were thinking that nothing was going to happen to the Lord and that they would soon be seated with Him on twelve thrones judging the tribes of Israel.  John MacArthur writes “The self-affirmations they expressed on this occasion were based on false feelings of personal strength and commitment.  They thought their ability to handle temptation and intimidation was greater than it was.

            “Of all the things Jesus could have said to them, of all the things about which He could have warned them, He chose to tell them on this occasion of their imminent and certain desertion of their Master.  Their failure to live up to their high estimation of themselves would prove to be a profound and unforgettable lesson, a lesson that, along with the reality of the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell them would change the course of their lives.

            “The incident recorded in 26:31-35 is integral to Matthew’s presentation of Jesus’ preparation for the cross.  As He prepared to die for the sins of the world, Jesus needed to teach the disciples the need of continually dying to themselves (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3, 31; 2 Cor 5:15) and of never trusting in themselves (cf. 2: Cor. 1:9).”  Now I want to quote these verses mentioned in this section so we will understand things better.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (1 Cor. 15:3).

31 I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily (1 Cor. 15:31).

15 And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (2 Cor. 5:15).

9 Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:9).

 

            MacArthur goes on:  “Besides the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection and the empowering of the Holy Spirit within them, perhaps the most important thing the disciples needed was an honest awareness of their own weakness.  They desperately needed the poverty of spirit (see Matt. 5:3) ("Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.), without which no person can come to Christ and without which no believer can be effectively used by Christ.  The first step to spiritual strength is the sincere, humble acknowledgment of one’s own spiritual weakness (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9-10).” 

“9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

 

5/6/2024 1:10 PM

PT-1 "Intro to Matt. 26:31-35"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2024 7:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 26:31-35”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference: Matt. 26:31-35 

 

            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." 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.”

 

            The first thing that I want to say about these verses is that I listened to John MacArthur’s sermon on these verses yesterday and all I can say is that I am looking forward to studying these verses even further than what I learned from His sermon.

 

            One of the things that we will be looking at in this section is pride, humility, relying on one’s self, and relying on the Lord through His Spirit.  How to really become strong in the Lord and means it will take a change in order to do that.  A person has to truly realize that they are weak.  Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians: “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). 

 

            In this section the disciples thought that they would be strong enough to face what the Lord was about to go through, and even though the focus is on Peter’s statement all of the disciples fled away as we will see, and Jesus knew exactly that they would do this as He knows everything including what is going on in my life with some struggles that I am going through and have gone through for many, many years. 

 

            Now because it is Sunday morning and I usually write shorter SD’s on Sunday mornings I will quote some of what MacArthur wrote in his introduction to what he calls “Helping the Impotent Disciples.”

 

            “As much as Christians might like to think of themselves as being spiritually strong, those who are mature know from experience as well as from Scripture that in themselves they are weak.  They would like to think they could never deny the Lord, contradict His Word, or be ashamed to be called by His name.  But they know that every believer succumbs to those things from time to time.  They find themselves in an environment of unrighteousness but do nothing  to correct it.  They have an opportunity to speak for Christ but say nothing.  They need to be bold for the cause of Christ but instead are timid.

 

            “When I was you I often thought of what I might do if the Lord sent me to a place of difficult service where I faced the choice of being obedient to Him or risking death.  I had read many stories of Christians who were martyred rather than renounce their Lord and I wanted to believe I would have such devotion.  But I always had doubts, because I knew that in situations far less threatening than martyrdom I had failed to be as faithful as I should have been.

 

            “We look back to the apostles as model believers, as men of supreme faith who unflinchingly endured every hardship and persecution for the Lord.  But it was not until after Pentecost that they did indeed become such men.  On the last night of Jesus’ earthly life, contrary to their self-confident assertions of loyalty and bravery, they demonstrated anything but faith and heroism.  They discovered, along with everyone who reads and records of Scripture, that, in themselves, they were fearful, cowardly, and impotent.”

 

5/5/2024 7:56 AM

The Duration (Matt. 26:29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/4/2024 8:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  “The Duration”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 26:29

 

            Message of the verse:  “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

 

            Once again I want to mention that the Passover celebration that our Lord celebrated with His disciples was the very last Passover celebration that was celebrated in the eyes of the Lord.  Yes, people still celebrate the Passover, but any observance of it since that time has been based solely on human tradition, the perpetuation of an outward form that has long since lost its spiritual significance.  However for those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, that event in the upper room began a new remembrance of redemption that the Lord will honor until He returns.

 

            I realize that there are people in the church age today who don’t go along with what I believe the Bible teaches about what is going to happen in the future, that is that we are now in the church age which will end with the rapture of the Church, followed shortly by the seven year Tribulation period, followed by the Lord along with all His angels and raptured saints coming back to planet earth to end the battle of Armageddon which will be going on at that time.  He will then send the devil, antichrist, and the false prophet straight to hell and then will judge those who are left on planet earth, which will be many less than there are now.  The sheep will go into His kingdom which will last for 1,000 years; the goats will go into the place where all lost sinners are now.  The Lord will recreate the earth to a condition similar to when He first created it.  There will be many millions of people born during the Millennial kingdom and at the end of it there will be a short war as Satan will be allowed to come out of hell to start this very last war, for there will not be any war during the 1,000 year kingdom.  The Lord will end the war and then there will be what is called the great white throne judgment where only the lost will be.  After that the Lord will destroy the universe by fire as He has created a new heaven, new earth, and the New Jerusalem.  Eternity begins and what the Lord will have us do at this point I am not totally sure, but I do know that we will be serving the Lord throughout eternity. 

 

            Now let me go back to the subject at hand from Matthew 26:29.  MacArthur writes “Fruit of the vine was a common Jewish colloquialism for wine, which Jesus told the disciples He would not drink with them again until that day when He would drink it new with them in His Father’s kingdom.  He had instructed them to remember Him in the eating of the unleavened bread, which represents His sacrificed body, and in the drinking of the cup, which represents His shed blood as a sacrifice for sin.  “Do this,” He said “as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).  That memorial was to continue until that day in His Father’s kingdom.

 

            The Lord’s promise to drink with the disciples in that future kingdom was another assurance to them of His return, and assurance that would take on intensified meaning after His death, resurrection, and ascension.  “When I return to establish My kingdom,” He promised them, “you will all be there and you will all drink the cup new with Me.”  In other words, the Lord’s Supper not only is a reminder of our Lord’s sacrifice for our sins but also a reminder of His promise to return and share His kingdom blessings with us.  From those words we learn that the end of this present age does not signal the end of this observance.”

 

            This very important supper concluded with the singing of a hymn, which probably was Psalm 118, the last psalm of what is called the Hallel.  Then they went out to the Mount of Olives, which is where Jesus would pray fervently to His Father, be betrayed by Judas, and then be arrested by the officers of the chief priests and the elders.

 

5/4/2024 9:30 AM

 

             

PT-2 "The Doctrine" (Matt. 26:26b, 28)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/3/2024 11:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus: PT-2 “The Doctrine”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 26:26b, 28

 

            Message of the verses:  “this is My body….for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins”

 

            When the disciples picked up the cup Jesus said to them “this is My blood of the covenant.”  From Luke’s gospel we learn that the Lord specified “new covenant” (22:30), which clearly was distinguishing if from all previous covenants and this included the Mosaic covenant.

 

            MacArthur writes “When God made covenants with Noah and Abraham, those covenants were ratified with blood (Gen. 8:20; 15:9-10).  When the covenant at Sinai was ratified, “Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words’” (Ex. 24:8).  When God brought reconciliation with Himself, the price was always blood, because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22 cf. 1Pet. 1:2).  A sacrificial animal not only had to be killed but its blood had to be shed.  “The life of all flesh is its blood” (Lev. 17:14), and therefore for a life truly to be sacrificed, its blood had to be shed.”

 

            Let us now look at 1 Peter 1:18-19 “18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”   Verse 19 shows us that Jesus did not simply have to die but had to shed His own precious blood.  Jesus did not bleed to death, He bled both before He died and as He died, and this was from His wounds of the crown of thorns, from the lacerations of the scourging, and from the nail holes in His hands and feet.  After He was dead, a great volume of His blood poured out from the spear that was thrust into His side.

 

            I remember hearing something when I was a younger believer and it had to do with the type of blood that Jesus had.  I don’t know the type of blood that He had, but there was nothing in the chemistry of His blood that saves.  The Bible makes it clear that the shedding of His blood was required, as it symbolized His atoning death, the giving of His unblemished, pure, and wholly righteous life for the corrupt, depraved, and wholly sinful lives of unregenerate men.  MacArthur writes “Representative of the giving of that sinless life was the pouring out of that precious blood for many for forgiveness of sins.  That blood made atonement for the sins of all mankind, Gentile as well as Jew, who place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The many includes those who trusted in God before Christ died as well as those who have and will trust in Him after His death.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and every other true believer who lived before Christ, was saved by Christ’s atoning death, as are believers of the New Covenant age.  It was because of that truth that Jesus declared to the unbelieving Jewish leaders, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).

5/3/2024 11:58 AM

The Doctrine (Matt. 26:26b, 28)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2024 7:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  “The Doctrine”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                          Reference: (Matthew 26:26b, 28)

 

            Message of the verses:  “this is My body….for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins”

 

            As I go through this evening with Jesus and His disciples I am learning things about what was done on the Passover as that is what they were first celebrating, and then the Lord turned it into His Last Supper from where we received “The Lord’s Supper” or communion.  The breaking of the unleavened bread was a normal part of the traditional Passover ceremony.  However Jesus now gave it an entirely new meaning as He said “This is My body.”  The original unleavened bread symbolized severance from the old life in Egypt, carrying nothing of its pagan and oppressive “leaven” into the Promised Land.  It represented a separation from worldliness and sin and the beginning of a new life of holiness and godliness.

 

            Not Here is the change and it comes by our Lord’s divine authority:  Jesus transformed that symbolism into another as we have stated.  From henceforth the bread would represent Christ’s own body, sacrificed for the salvation of men.  Luke reports that Jesus added, “given for you: do this in remembrance of Me” (22:19, indicating He was instituting a memorial of His sacrificial death for His followers to observe.

 

            MacArthur writes: “In saying the bread is His body, Jesus obviously was not speaking literally.  A similarly foolish misunderstanding already had caused the Pharisees to ridicule Him and many superficial disciples to desert Him (See John 6:48-66).  It is the same misunderstanding reflected in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.  That literalistic notion is an absurd misinterpretation of Scripture. 

 

            “Jesus’ statement about eating His body was no more literal than His saying He is the Vine and His followers are the branches (John 15:5) or than John the Baptist’s calling Him the Lamb of God (John 1:29).

 

            “As the disciples drank of the cup Jesus said, “This is My blood of the covenant.”  From Luke we learn that the Lord specified ‘new covenant.’ (22:20), clearly distinguishing it from all previous covenants, including the Mosaic.”

 

            I think that I will try and finish this section in the next SD.  I know this one is short, but there are some very important facts in it that one needs to think about so that when believers participate in the Lord’s Supper they will have a better understanding.

 

5/2/2024 7:29 AM

 

             

The Directive (Matt. 26:26a,27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/1/2024 12:00 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  “The Directive”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Matthew 26:26a, 27

 

            Message of the verses:  “And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said “Take, eat;…” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying “Drink from it, all of you;”

 

            It is not really certain what part of the meal they were eating at this time, but the supper was still in progress, and our Lord instituted the new memorial in the midst of the old, as He instituted “The Lord’s Supper.”

 

            The first thing that Jesus did was He took some bread, and as He always did before eating He gave thanks for the food He was about to eat.  See Matthew 14:19 and 15:36 to show Him doing this.  MacArthur describes the following:  “The unleavened bread was baked in large, flat, crisp loaves, which Jesus broke into pieces before He gave it to the disciples with the instructions, “Take, eat.”  The fact that He broke the bread does not symbolize a broken body, because John makes clear that, in fulfillment of prophecy, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken”  (John 19:36; cf. Ps. 34:20), just as no bones of the original Passover lambs in Egypt were broken (Ex. 12:46).”

 

            The next thing He did shortly after giving out the bread when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying “Drink from it, all of you.”  MacArthur adds “The verb behind given thanks is eucharisteo, and it is from that term that we get Eucharist, as the Lord’s Supper is sometimes called.”

 

            He goes on to write “As would be expected, all eleven disciples drank of it (Mark 14:23).  It should be noted that the Roman Catholic practice of not allowing the entire congregation to partake of the cup is in direct contradiction of Jesus’ explicit directive, of the disciples’ obedient example, and of Paul’s later teaching (see 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 11:28).

 

            “Those two acts of Jesus were normal features of the Passover, in which unleavened bread was eaten and diluted wine was drunk at several points during the meal.  This was probably the third cup, called the cup of blessing.  Paul refers to it by that name in his first letter to the Corinthians:  “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?” (10:16). It is from the King James translation of that verse (“…is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?”) that Communion, another name for the Lord’s Supper, is derived.  A few verses later Paul refers to this cup as “the cup of the Lord” (v. 21).”

 

            I hope that this has been something that will be useful for those who read this and will think about it when The Lord’s Supper is given and you partake in it.

 

5/1/2024 12:26 PM