In these 5 verses, Jesus tells His disciples that in just two days He will be killed. And He was killed - just as He said He would be. In fact, everything that God says will happen ends up happening exactly as He declared. And in this message we'll learn how we can build our lives on that kind of certainty.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
So last week, Jeff finished wrapping up the Book of the Covenant in Exodus with us this week, we're making the jump back into our study in the gospel of Matthew and we're picking up right where we left off a couple of months ago. Which brings us to Matthew. Chapter twenty six. We're going be looking at Verse is one to five tonight. So if you have your Bible with you and I hope you do, please take it and go ahead right now and turn to Matthew twenty six and find Verse is one to five as you make your way there.
I have a famous quote I want to share with you. All the way back in 1789, Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Have you heard that quote before? Sounds like a legit quote, but there's only one problem with it. It isn't a true statement. Death and taxes are very probable, but they aren't certain it's a good idea to pay your taxes. You should pay your taxes. Right now, I'm encouraging personally, everyone watching to pay your taxes.
But taxes aren't certain, they aren't absolute. Now, I don't encourage anybody to do this, but if you didn't want to pay your taxes, there's something that you could do about it. You could you could technically sell all your possessions given to the poor and go and live off the grid in the wilderness, somewhere out in the boonies and hide from the government to avoid paying taxes. So there is a way around taxes, not fun or encouraged, but possible, which then means in this sense, taxes are not an absolute certainty.
There's a way around them. Now, death seems a little more certain than taxes, and it is more certain, but is death absolutely certain? Not if you believe the Bible, it isn't there are two reported incidents in the Bible where a person didn't die, but instead God took that person right into his presence alive. You know, I'm talking about students of the Bible. You'll know this, Enoch and Elijah, both of these men are figures in the Old Testament.
And God took them both before they could ever taste the sting of death. There's also two future groups of people who will not taste death before they enter into the presence of God. The first is the church that is alive on the earth at the time of the rapture. The second group is the believers who are still alive at the very end of the seven year tribulation period. When Jesus comes back to set up his kingdom here on Earth, both of these future groups of people will not die.
They will enter into eternal life without having had to taste the sting of death. So I'm sorry, Mr. Benjamin Franklin.
Death and taxes are very, very probable, but they are certainly not certain. Which leads me to ask the question, is there anything in this world that is absolutely certain? The answer is yes. And that's what I want to show you. Which brings us to our text tonight. I'm going to give you a brief commentary through these five verse is the beginning of Matthew. Twenty six. But then I'm going to draw your attention to one particular word in this passage.
This is a word that the Lord has not allowed me to shake out of my mind these past couple of weeks. This one word is key to understanding something that is absolutely certain in our world today. And so if you will take a look at verse one with me as we walk through this text together, verse one starts like this when Jesus had finished all these saints. So to stop right there for a moment, all these things are the things Jesus taught his disciples in response to the question they asked him back in Matthew 24, verse three there, they asked Jesus saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming end of the end of the age?
The disciples asked Jesus about what was going to take place before he comes back to set up his kingdom on Earth. Jesus then spends all of Chapter twenty four and all of chapter twenty five telling them the signs to look for. That will happen before he returns. Now, Jeff and I spent a couple of months walking us through these two chapters, which is also known as the Olivet Discourse, and those messages can be found online if you'd like to hear them.
But that is what the all these scenes are in verse one. Let's continue.
So when Jesus at Venice finished saying of sorry when Jesus had finished all these saints, he said to his disciples, you know that after two days, the Passover is coming. This is a great piece of information, this lets us know where we are on the timeline in relation to Jesus upcoming crucifixion, this verse is tells us it's Wednesday. We know that Passover is on Friday, which Jesus says is only two days away from where where they are in this scene.
Passover on Friday, minus the two days that Jesus refers to in this verse, makes the day on which he says these things are Wednesday. Verse 8 do so, you know that after two days, the Passover is coming and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified.
And when you or I really want to communicate something to someone, you really want someone to understand what you're saying.
One of the tactics you can use is the tactic of repetition, saying the exact same thing over and over and over and over again so that the message is really, really clear, crystal clear. Parents of little kids, can I get an amen? Now, did you know that this is now the fourth time that Jesus has told his disciples that he was going to be killed? I put these references on your outline, but he told them back in Matthew, chapter six, verse twenty one.
He told them the second time in Matthew, Chapter 17, In verses, 22 and 23. He told them a third time back in Chapter 20, verses 18 to 19. And now he tells them here again in Matthew, chapter 26, verse two. I think by the use of Jesus repetition, I think Jesus really wanted his disciples to know what was going to happen to him, don't you think?
Verse 8 three, then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest whose name was Cleophus and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. Now, this isn't a new plot that has sprung up overnight, the religious leaders of Jesus, they have been plotting his destruction for a couple of years. Up until this very point, we can pinpoint the birthplace of their conspiracy to kill Jesus. Way back in Matthew, Chapter 12.
Here's what it says, In verses nine to 14. And this is on your outline as well. He started in verse nine. Jesus went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? He said to them, Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out of how much more value as a man than a sheep.
So it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand and the man stretched it out and it was restored healthy, like the other verse, 14. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him. How to destroy him. So the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus back then, and they have been waiting for an opportune time to do it, and that time is quickly approaching. Verse five, but they say the religious leaders, they said not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people, we're going to murder an innocent man, but not in a way that's going to bring any backlash on us.
Lest there be an uproar among the people, they say we don't need any negative press over this issue to the crowds at this point, haven't turned on Jesus yet. They will and only a couple of days from this scene. But for now, the crowds are pro Jesus and the religious leaders. They recognize this and they don't want to do anything to jeopardize their standing with the public. So they wait for a more opportune time to have an innocent man murdered.
Now. Over the next several weeks, we're going to be following Jesus on a journey through the rest of the twenty sixth chapter of Matthew as Matthew details for us, the steps that Jesus took on the way to his crucifixion. As Jeff and I teach through these upcoming verse is, I am convinced that people will have their lives changed because of the things that we encounter together in this study. So get excited for the weeks to come. But now I want to share with you this one word I was talking about earlier, this word that the Lord hasn't let me shake out of my mind for these past few weeks.
It's In verses to read the verse again. Jesus says that you know, that after two days, the Passover is coming and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified. The word the word is will. And if you like underlining things in your Bible, go ahead and underline that word there. Depending on what translation of the Bible you use, your Bible might say the word will is or is to be underlined, whatever it says there.
Well, not might not, maybe not. There's a really, really, really good chance. Will the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified this? It was an absolute certainty that the event Jesus said was going to happen wasn't fact going to happen exactly like he said it would.
Why such certainty, think about this what can stop a God from doing something that he said he's going to do? Short and simple answer, nothing, nothing, the scheming of the religious leaders couldn't alter the outcome of Jesus crucifixion. The political climate in Rome at the time could not alter this outcome. Herod pilot Caesar. None of them could alter the outcome that God had predetermined. The wishy washy crowds gathered together in Jerusalem for Passover couldn't alter the outcome.
Satan and all the demonic hordes could not alter the outcome. But whether the politics, the economy, nothing that you could possibly imagine could alter the outcome of something God said will happen. And two days after the scene in Matthew, 26, Jesus was crucified exactly like he said he would be. God said he was going to do something, and when God says he's going to do something, that thing, whatever it may be, and you can just fill in the blank.
That thing is already as good as done even before the event comes to pass, if God said I will do it. You and I can't do stuff like that. We can't say with absolute certainty that a particular event will happen sometime in the future and then have a guarantee that it will come to pass. Imagine I tell you that we're going to I'll meet you at Starbucks Thursday, this Thursday at 4:00 p.m. and then Thursday rolls around and they jump in the car 20 minutes before I said I would meet you there and I'm on my way.
And then I hit every every single red light that exists between my house and that Starbucks. A train is crossing and I have to take a detour. There's a car accident I didn't plan for and I finally get around the accident and then I get a flat tire.
And by the time I get to Starbucks, it's two hours later than the time that I told you that. I said, I will be there. Our intentions can be good, but we can't speak future events with absolute certainty. We can't. And the Bible tells us not even to try. Listen to what James says in his epistle in Chapter four verses 13 to 15 is on your outline. James has come now. You who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life for? You are a mess that appears for a little time and then vanishes instead. You ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
So you and I can't speak future events with any kind of absolute certainty. But you know who can. God, God, the words God speaks are absolutely certain.
Why is this why are God's words so absolutely certain when he speaks them? Why can you cash those checks that God writes with the words of his mouth? Why can you take it to the bank every time?
It's because of who he is, is because of who God is, the unique things that make God, God are the things that make the words. He speaks absolutely certain that he's omnipresent, which means that God is everywhere. At the same time, he sees absolutely everything.
He's omniscient, which means that God's all knowing. He knows literally everything that can be known, real, actual or possible or potential. He knows it or. He's omnipotent, which means that God's all powerful, he has all of the power, there is nothing that God cannot do. And he is the truth. Which is impossible for God to tell a lie. Put all these things together, these are just a handful of the attributes of God, and we when you consider who he is and what he's like, you begin to realize that he alone has the ability to say things with absolute certainty that will take place in the future.
They are going to take place simply because he is God. And he said they would.
Now, why should this matter to anyone, why should this matter to you, why should you care about absolute certainties in this world? Well. Because it would be it would be totally devastating if you built your life with something that wasn't absolutely certain. Let me illustrate what I mean by sharing with you a well-known kids story. This one's called the three little pigs you might have. You're probably familiar with this.
Three little pigs each built a home for themselves. The first little pig made his home out of straw and the second little pig made his home out of sticks and the third little pig made his house out of bricks. Then the big bad wolf comes along and he huffs and he passes and he tries to blow down each and every single one of those houses that the three little pigs had just erected.
And what happened? Well, the houses that were made out of straw and sticks came tumbling down, but the house made of bricks did not. Now, the exact same thing can happen to any one of us if we build our lives out of stuff that cannot stand up under the pressures of life that come against all of us at one time or another. What what happens when the big bad wolf tries to huff and puff and blow your house down? What happens when the pressures of this life come crashing down against you?
Will you be able to stand or will you come crumbling down? Well, it all depends what's your life built out of, is your life built are the stuff that is flimsy stuff like straw or sticks, or is your life built out of stuff that is absolutely certain stuff like the bricks in the story of the three little pigs? Here are some questions to ask yourself to see what kind of stability your life is built with. Does your life, as you know it, depend upon the government operating in a certain way?
Does it depend on what political party is in power? Does it depend on what policies are being rolled out? Does your life depend upon their being civil unrest in our country? Does your life depend upon the economy, the employment, the stock market or a certain kind of standard of living that you are most comfortable with?
Does your life depend upon certain relationships being intact with friends and or family? Does your life depend upon health, yours or a loved one? For many people in our world today, their life is tied directly to how well some or all of these things are doing in any given moment.
And just so you know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with these things in themselves. But these things are not stable factors. These things aren't the bricks that you need to build your life out of. If all these things are intact and in place at the same time that anybody's life would have the appearance of being steady, that wouldn't be a surprise. But what if these things changed? What if they were taken from you? How would you respond? These things are flimsy, like straw and sticks, and they can change in a moment.
And if the steadiness of your life is built upon things like these and they fall apart on you, then what do you have left to hold onto? What would you do if or when the economy crashes and your money is gone, your job is gone and all of your investments disappear overnight? What if overnight you lost your home bank forecloses on you or a fire burns it down? What would you do if or when the peace that we have enjoyed for so long in our country was gone in a single day?
What if all we knew in Canada was martial law for the rest of our lives? Or what if another country came against us and takes away our freedoms? See, we need to step out of our bubble every once in a while and realize that this stuff happens on a regular basis all over the world.
But what if it ever happened to us here? What would you do if or when your health is gone? What would you do if or when all morals in our society are finally gone? What would you do if or when family and friends are totally gone? What would you do if or when life is gone?
Someone else's or even your own? What would you do if or when any of these examples would to become a reality in your life, would you fall into depression, hopelessness, despair, anger, violence, crime? Would your life fall apart or would you be able to endure? This is just my personal observation, but when I observe people in our world today, I see a bunch of lives that aren't steady and are not ready. I see lives that are going to crumble easily when real pressure comes.
People today have lives that are easily shaken. They have lives made out of straw and sticks. And when the powerful gust of wind comes, their lives are going to fall apart. And so what do you need to do if you want to withstand the storms of life when they come and that's when it's not an EF? What do you need to do if you want to withstand the storms of life? Well, you need to build and I need to build.
We all need to build our life with bricks. Building your life with bricks is the equivalent of placing your hope in something that can never change. That can't be taken away from you once you have it, that can never be destroyed if you want to be steady. You have to build your life with something that is absolutely certain. And what have we learned in our lesson today, what's one thing that is an absolute certainty? Anything that God says he will do is an absolute certainty, because nothing can stop God from doing his will.
These are the bricks that you need to build your life with if you're going to build a life that can stand up against any pressures that come against it. Now, I've compiled a list of some of the I will promises of God on your outlines. So you have them there as a resource. But I want to highlight one of them right now to show you how to interact with the promises that God says he will do, how to build a life with them.
So here's an example. Here's how people in this scenario build their lives with straw and with sticks, if these people place all of their hope, all of it in the economy, their job or their bank account or the food bank or the grocery store as the primary as the only as the main way that they know that they're going to be provided for if they if they put all their hope in those things. And they say because of these things, I will always have food on my table.
That is building your life out of straw. Why? Because every one of those things I listed the economy, job, bank account, food, grocery store, every single one of those things could be taken from us overnight. And what happens of all those things are here today and gone tomorrow. Are you going to be worrying about starving to death? Do you actually starve to death? That's put in your hope in straw here is building with bricks, I place all of my hope in God, I have faith I will have my needs met no matter how bad things in the world get.
Why? Simply because God said he will provide for me. Listen to what the apostle Paul says, God, the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul says to us in Philippians, chapter four, verse 19, and my God underline will, my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. God said he will do this. Do you see how certain that is just because he said so? Sometimes God uses the current state of the economy to provide for the needs of his people.
Sometimes he uses supernatural means to supply his people's needs, whatever he needs in any given moment. That's what he'll use.
If you want an example of how God supplies the needs of his people without using the regular things that we're so accustomed to using, just think back to how he sustained his people in the wilderness for 40, 40 years after they came out of Egypt. Think about another one. Think about how he used a raven to bring Elijah food while he was in hiding. How about jump to the New Testament? You think about what Jesus did when a small boy brought him a few small loaves and a couple of fish.
How many people ate that day out of nothing? Do you see God is going to do what he says he will do? He says he will provide for your needs. That is certain. And there is nobody or nothing to stop him from doing it. Believe God believe he is going to do what he said he is going to do. Trust in him alone, put all of your hope and faith in him alone for everything you need in this life.
He will not disappoint. But everything in this world will eventually disappoint because everything in this world is merely straw or sticks. If you trust in the things in this world to do what God says he will do for you, what will you do when the world fails you? Now, I'm going to put this all together. Here's how you build a life that will endure through trials. I want you to think about and grow and learn how to think about every promise God makes to you.
Think about them one at a time, one by one, and add to your your reservoir of promises stockpile the promises of God. Now, every time you learn a promise, every time you meditate on a promise of God, every time you trust one of his promises, a single promise, that's like taking a brick and laying it down on the foundation. Now then you find another promise and you meditate and you trust it and you believe it. You take that brick and you lay it on the foundation and promise after promise of God.
You put around the foundation of your life and you build up this house, this brick, sturdy brick house built on the promises of God. And you do it over and over and over again, building them upon your life. And as you go, you look back at your life and you see all of this unchangeable absolute certainty your life is built upon. It's built upon something that cannot change. Now, what's going to happen when the big bad wolf comes to blow your life down?
Like Jesus, you say it's written, it's written, it's written. And the enemy flees. The dust settles. And you remain. And pray with me. Father, we worship you. Lord Jesus, we worship you, Holy Spirit, we worship you, we worship you, Lord, that you are immutable, you are unchanging. You have all the power in the universe at your disposal. You are a God and there is none like you.
You are steadfast, you are steady. You remain in awe of yourself. You are immovable. And the words that you speak to us are absolute certainty. You're the only thing certain in existence and in all of creation. Lord, your over creation, you're over at all. But even in it, you're the only thing that we can experience that we can know without any kind of shadow of any kind of doubt that you will remain. And Lord, you bring us into relationship with you.
We yoke ourselves to you as believers. We've turned from our sins. We've trusted in the finished work of the cross where you died for our sins, Jesus, and you're buried and you rose again and you make yourself available to us. Those of us who repent and come to you, we are yoked to you. We have your spirit. Fill us. And the only steady thing that exists in all of the universe is inside of us. And your words you give to us as building blocks and bricks for our life to build a steady life of faith that whatever happens, whatever circumstances take place around the world in our lives would ever come to to battle against us, waged war against us, pressing against us from every side we are able to stand, not because we are strong, not because the circumstances in our life are strong, but because you are our strength.
Father, I pray that you build up the faith of your people right now, let them turn from putting their hope and faith in things that cannot save practically and put all of their hope and faith in you. Lord, remind us of your word, fill us with your promises, empower us to know them and to understand them and to live in light of them, do this for your people, Lord. And I pray that if anyone's watching this message doesn't know you, Lord, Lord, bring them to yourself right now.
Lead them to yourself that they say, I don't want to I don't want to live apart from God. I want a relationship with God right now. Show them their sin, show them the cross and lead them into a relationship with yourself. I pray. And all God's people said amen. Amen.