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Week 4: When Abandonment Meets Divine Sovereignty
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We gather together as 2819 Church, striving for the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples. To our digital family watching from across America and around the world: you are our family, and we pray for you, believe God for you, and thank you for being part of this family.
If you're not yet a follower of Jesus Christ, we acknowledge your presence. You could belong to us long before you believe. We are aware that time is running out on humanity. By the grace of God, in a moment of prayer or during worship or as the word is proclaimed, you may sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I urge you: surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ before time runs out on you. There is no one prepared to die apart from the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a church, we have been studying the book of Matthew for the last three years. We are now in our final teaching series called Cross to Commission, walking through Matthew chapters 26–28. These are the apex of Matthew's writings. Everything from chapter 1 to 25 has been building to this moment.
Matthew wrote to prove to a Jewish audience that Jesus was the promised Messiah—that He is King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. These final three chapters are critically important. They record the final days and final hours of the one you call Lord and Savior. They record what we call the Passion of the Christ—the greatest event in human history when the Lord Jesus Christ was sacrificed and died on the cross for your sins and mine.
Without that sacrifice, we would all be hellbound. No matter your morality, no matter your good behavior, no matter what you think about yourself—we have no hope apart from the cross of Jesus Christ. No human being has hope apart from it.
Paul said, "If Christ is not raised, all of this is in vain." When we talk about the resurrection, it should well up joy in your heart, especially if you are a follower of Christ. Jesus is the only founder of a world religion who was raised from the dead and was seen alive by over 500 witnesses. Other world religion founders are buried and are not coming back to life. But our Lord rose from the dead.
Our text today is Matthew chapter 26, verses 30–35. Six short verses that capture a profound moment in the life of Christ and His disciples.
As I was preparing this passage, I thought about the greatest blessings we have in this life: our human relationships. It is through human relationships that the Lord funnels into our experience comfort, joy, laughter, strength, shoulders to lean on, memories, and bonds that transform lives.
Some of the greatest blessings we will ever know come to us on two legs as God works through our human relationships. They make life more meaningful and enjoyable. Almost all of us can testify to the great things we have experienced through the deep bonds we have in marriage, friendship, mentorship, coaching, family, and brotherhood and sisterhood.
But here is the dichotomy of human life: from the same well of relationships that brings our deepest joys also comes our deepest pains and sorrows. Among the greatest categories of pain a human being can experience because of relationships is the pain that enters through betrayal and abandonment—when the person you love betrays you, when the friend betrays you, when the family member betrays you, when the business partner betrays you, when the spouse walks away, when the father abandons the child, when the person you loved not only betrays but abandons you in your hour of greatest need.
I know what it is to be on the receiving end of the pain of betrayal. I know what it is to experience abandonment by people you love, especially when you need them most. The scripture says about Jesus that He was a man acquainted with sorrows and grief. He knew the joys and pleasures of human relationships—spending time with His disciples, going to weddings, experiencing laughter and joy. But Jesus also knew the pain of betrayal and abandonment, especially from those who thought they could walk with Him through anything.
This is a very difficult pain to endure when you have been betrayed or abandoned. It is difficult to walk through, and it is difficult to bounce back from. Jesus, who was fully God, was also fully human. This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us that as a great High Priest, He can identify with the pains you and I experience in this life.
It was in the final hours of Jesus' life. He was in the city of Jerusalem in a room—the Upper Room—with His closest disciples, His closest friends. These twelve men had spent three and a half years walking with Him, eating with Him, talking with Him, doing ministry with Him, sleeping with Him, and traveling with Him.
On a Thursday night, just hours before He would be crucified, the Lord got down on His hands and knees and washed the feet of men He created because He was God in the flesh. In that room that night, He said, "One of you will betray me." Then the spirit of the devil entered that man, and he left the room.
In that Upper Room, Jesus began to teach His followers about the coming of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit. He said, "I am the true vine." He said, "I am the way." He began to teach them that they would be hated and would have hostility against them in the culture. He taught them about the work of the Holy Spirit in the earth.
In that room, He gave the Holy Spirit a pronoun: He. "When He comes, He will teach you all things and He will remind you of all things and He will convict the world of sin." We have too many people who think they are theologians because they have platforms and too much heretical doctrine in America where we think that because we want God to be a God of inclusion, we call God "he, she, or it." The Devil is a liar. The scriptures do not support that. God has a pronoun: Father, Male. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit a pronoun: He.
Woe to those who change the word of God. For the Lord said from His own mouth, "You cannot add to the scriptures and you cannot take away from the scriptures." The last time I checked, God was a He.
On that Thursday night, hours before He would be betrayed and crucified, God gave His followers a perpetual ordinance: the Lord's Supper. The bread represented His body and the wine represented His blood. He said, "This is the blood of the new covenant." He was explaining to them: I have now fulfilled the law. The old has passed away, and now a new ordinance was coming into humanity—the ordinance of the new covenant, with Jesus as the head of that covenant.
In that room, He prayed over them and prayed for all of us who would follow after Him. And it was in that room that we come to this passage where Matthew recorded a very difficult conversation.
Before they left the Upper Room, Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn together. Then they went out to the Mount of Olives.
I want you to notice something powerful: they sealed this solemn, prophetic, important moment with a song. They showered their teaching in worship. They showered their teaching in singing. I believe this was their custom—sitting in circles, talking, teaching, loving one another, then breaking bread, sharing wine, and singing a song together.
This is what I want for us. I know it is new. We have the same opportunity each week when we come to solemn moments like this, where we sit and listen to the proclamation of God's word, and then we want to take a moment to sing over you after that. But we don't like to lean into these moments. Instead, we are more concerned about beating our brother to the parking lot instead of singing in the presence of the Lord. We are more concerned about getting to a restaurant instead of eating the bread of life. We are more concerned about getting to the merchandise station instead of sitting in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We have been dishonoring God's presence and dishonoring solemn moments. We act like we will always have these moments. But these disciples did not know this was the last time they would sing with the Lord. They had no idea this was the last time they would experience corporate worship together.
We run in and run out. We take this for granted: "I'll do better next week." But you have no idea if this will be the last time we have corporate worship together. Someone here may not be here next week. And at the rate we are going, if we don't take a stand for Christianity, if we don't vote right and pray right, in ten years the scriptures might be illegal in America. Do not say you were not warned.
There is another entity taking over the whole world while we are playing church that will persecute Christianity and put believers to death. Do not say God did not send a prophet to America.
Through diplomacy and the people we vote into power, and through aggression, we will see the persecution of Christians if we don't stand up and wake up and vote right and pray right and take a stand for this word.
These disciples had no idea this would be the last time they would sing corporate worship together. This is why when you are mature, you learn to discern moments and lean into them. When you are in the presence of people who are wiser than you, you sit there and you listen and you learn. When you sense the Spirit of God moving in an atmosphere, you sit there and you enjoy His presence. You don't even know if He will call you home next week.
They sealed off this solemn moment with worship, not knowing it would be the last time they would have an opportunity to gather like that in corporate worship. Then they went off to the Mount of Olives—a gentle slope just outside the ancient city of Jerusalem.
At the base of that mountain is a garden. It has olive trees, some of them two thousand years old. Some of those olive trees were there when Jesus was there. It was at the Mount of Olives where the Lord would often go to spend time with His disciples in that garden. Jesus would often go to that garden to hang out with His disciples—a place where He could slip away for respite, for relaxation, for intimacy with His friends.
It was easy for Judas to find Him there, especially when your betrayer knows your movements, watches your movements, observes who you hang out with. Judas was very familiar with the movements of his Lord.
It is also on the Mount of Olives where the prophet tells us that the Lord will return. When He returns to the earth, His feet will touch the top of that mountain. That mountain will split in half. Water will run out of that mountain. The bitter waters of the Dead Sea will turn sweet.
And when they arrived at the Mount of Olives, Matthew records a very painful conversation between Christ and His disciples. Matthew, who was there, recorded what happened.
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." (Matthew 26:31)
The Lord goes into the garden and He looks into the eyes of the ones who are closest to Him. And He said to them, probably with pain in His heart: "Tonight, all of you are going to fall away from me. You all will abandon me on this night."
There is the Lord, hours away from being brutally beaten to the point He is unrecognizable. Isaiah said the Lord was beaten so bad He could not be recognized. Not these little fake pictures you see of Christ on a cross with a perfect face and perfect lips and perfect hair. No, that is not biblical. Isaiah said Jesus was beaten so bad He was unrecognizable—a massive lump of blood and flesh. They could not recognize His face. He was beaten so badly.
He is hours away from carrying one of the most brutal beatings recorded in human history. He is hours away from a crown of thorns. He is hours away from people spitting in His face—people He created. He is hours away from carrying a cross beam down the Via Dolorosa all the way to the top of Golgotha to be executed for your sins and for mine.
He is hours away from begging His Father if there is any other way this could be done. "Please Lord, let this cup pass from me." He is hours away of looking for an option out of what He is about to suffer. His humanity is rising up on the inside of Him.
He did not endure that pain as a spirit for you. Since we love sin so much, He endured that pain as a man for you. He is hours away from carrying the sins of the whole world while His Father turned His back on Him. And in the time He needs His friends the most, He looks them in their eyes and He prophesies to them. Not next week, not next year, not next month—tonight.
You all will abandon me on this night. You all will leave me alone on this night. You all will be offended at me on this night.
Hours from now, these men will witness one of the most brutal beatings in history. They will witness Christ carrying a cross. And in their mind, they will think, "We are not ready for all of that." You have been with Him for three and a half years. You ate with Him. You taught with Him. You traveled with Him. You did ministry with Him. Peter, you walked on water. You have seen Him raise the dead. But you only follow Him until it is inconvenient.
Before we condemn them, you and I do the same thing. We love to name Christ until it is inconvenient. We love to be faithful to Christ until it is inconvenient. We love to keep showing up for Christ until it is inconvenient. We love to say we love Him until He demands something of us we don't want to do.
This is the American way. How people are faithful to the Lord until He demands something of them that makes them feel uncomfortable, pushes them out of their comfort zone, or pushes them to a place of inconvenience. We have too many of us who follow Christ so long as it is convenient for us to follow Him.
But don't tell me to forgive. Don't tell me to reconcile. Don't tell me to let something go. Don't tell me to be faithful. Don't tell me to be generous. Don't tell me what to do with my home, my children, whatever the case may be. We are no different than these disciples. They followed the Lord and called Him rabbi and called Him teacher, and they talked about their love for Him. They did all of that until it was inconvenient. And we do the same thing.
But I want to draw your attention to these words: "For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." The Lord in this moment quotes from Zechariah the prophet. The Lord now takes the prophetic words from Zechariah chapter 13, brings it all the way to the present day, the first century, and applies that passage to Himself.
This is so powerful. I wish I could spend a whole message unpacking the fact that all of the Old Testament points to Christ. From Genesis to Malachi, it is all about Christ. The Exodus is all about the deliverance of Christ. When they passed through the sea, it was the baptism of Christ. When they set up camp, they set up camp in the form of a cross. If you could fly over it with a drone, you would see the children of Israel set up like a cross, prophesying the death of Christ. All of the laws point to the fact that we need Christ. The entire Old Testament reveals Christ.
But I want you to see this. He says: "For it is written." Why is this powerful to me? Because watch—the Lord tells them: "You're all going to abandon me this night." And then the next thing He says: "It is written."
You're all going to abandon me this night. It is written.
Oh, their abandonment is not accidental. Their abandonment of Christ is inside the sovereign will of Almighty God.
So you mean to tell me the failure of these men was inside the will of God? That the Lord was not caught by surprise by the fact they were going to abandon Him, because it was already written that they would abandon Him? It was written that the Shepherd Jesus would be struck, crucified, and His followers would scatter.
So you mean to tell me that the Lord knows about our failures, even those inside the context of His perfect will? So you mean to tell me there are some things you have failed at, fallen in, made mistakes about, that did not catch God by surprise? That there are some things you have done that actually happened inside the context of God's will?
Yes. I am telling you right now that there are some areas you have failed, some places you have fallen, some mistakes you have made that God absolutely allowed. And He allowed it because it was written for the purpose of fulfilling the plans He has for your life.
Some of you have been persecuting your old self for so many years, not realizing the thing—the area he let you fail, the mistakes He allowed you to make—some of that God used to produce in you the man and woman you are today.
You were in a false religion inside His will. You failed in that season inside His will. You were mad at God inside His will. There are some things that God has allowed in your life. There are some things God has allowed in your life that He allowed inside the context of His will.
This is the beautiful marriage between sovereignty and human weakness—sovereignty and humanity. God absolutely planned and knows about all of your stumbles.
I know what it is as a young believer to fall away from God. I know what it is to run from a pastoral call for four years when the call to this seemed too much for me to bear. I bounced in another direction. Four years running from God. I know what it is to fail God early in my relationship with Him. I know what it is to fall and make mistakes. And I know what it is to look over my shoulder and say, "Look what God has allowed that has helped to produce in me the man that I am right now."
What I am living right now is called a second chance. My faithfulness to Him is on steroids because I have already abandoned Him in the past.
You better believe God used this abandonment to change these men. You better believe these men never forgot about this abandonment. You better believe that these same men who were cowards on this night were the same men who were powerfully preaching the gospel after they saw a resurrected Jesus.
You better believe that the Holy Spirit used this failure to produce in them a faithfulness that would cause them to even become martyrs for Christ. And you better believe that the same God who transformed these men through failure is the same God who is able to transform you and strengthen you and preserve you and build your character through the things you have failed at, not just through your successes.
This is how we don't let the devil rob us of our testimony. Not only that I was faithful, but that I made mistakes and God still used it for my good. Thank God for Romans 8:28, that He works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I look the devil in the face and say: the God that I serve works all things. Paul did not say He works some things. No, He works all things for good for those who love Him and are called. This is how you don't let the enemy keep persecuting you for things that are behind you. Because if it is under the blood, it has been weaponized.
My failures more than my mountain tops produced in me the faithful man I am today. Maybe that is not your story. But that thing you keep running from—maybe God wants to use it.
It is not a big platform or a large Instagram following or thousands of people that made me faithful. I was faithful when there were 50 of us. I was preaching like this when 2019 started with 183 people.
These men will get another chance. I know what it is to get another chance. Some of you—it is the things that you despise sometimes the most that God will use as a scalpel to perfect something in your heart that made you a better man, a better woman, a better husband, a better father. It is your failure with the first child that made you a better father with the second child. It is your failure in the second marriage that made you a better husband in the third.
The Lord knows how to use all of that. The only stuff He won't use is the stuff you won't let Him.
So we give Him access to the mountain tops and the valleys. We give Him access to the successes and the failures and let Him use all of it for your good. For it is written.
So He told them, watch—all of you are going to abandon me tonight. The Lord had to bear the pain of that. But watch this next verse:
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. (Matthew 26:32)
The Lord just looked these men in the face. Watch the text. The Lord looked these men in the eyes and said, "You're going to abandon me." And the next thing He says: "But after."
He said, "But after I am raised up, I am going to go before you." He is talking to them in future context. He is already telling them, "You're going to survive what you're about to go through."
The fiery trial they are about to go through that night—He is telling them, "You're about to go through a fiery trial and you're going to survive it." He is telling them to their face: "You're about to fall and get back up. You're about to fail and get back up. You're about to go through a fiery trial and you will survive the trial."
I am talking to all of you who have experienced a but after—who have looked trials in the face and felt the peace of the Holy Spirit letting you know you will survive the very thing you are about to enter.
Underline "But After." You're going to fail me tonight. But after. I have lived "but after." After I am raised, I will go ahead of you.
He is already saying: "You will fail me as a group. You will fail me tonight. I will be your shepherd tomorrow still."
You will forsake me, but I will not forsake you. You will abandon me, but I will not abandon you. You will betray me, but I will not betray you. You will fall away from me, but I will not fall away from you.
He says, "I will go ahead of you to Galilee." He is already telling them, "I am going to be a shepherd on the other side of this. You will forsake me tonight. I will not forsake you."
For all of us who have hurt God, have bad seasons, messed up somewhere—He will not abandon you the way you abandon Him. Will not forsake you the way you forsake Him. Will not turn His back on you the way you turn your back on Him.
He said to them: "After I am raised," notice He did not say, "After I get up for myself." He said, "After I am raised," meaning someone else will raise me.
I have so much faith in the Father. I will go to the cross because I have confidence He will raise me from that tomb. Oh my God, this is Jesus showing faith in the Father, willingly putting Himself to death with confidence. While I am laying in there, He will raise me from that tomb.
The Lord did not get up on His own. Let us not misread Romans when it says, "If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you." Jesus was not resurrected in His own strength. The Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead.
The Lord had so much confidence in the Father that He trusted Him even with His death. "I will lay in that tomb and the Father through the Spirit will raise me from the dead."
But that is not where the scripture stops. It says: "If the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you." See, you don't even know how powerful you are. You don't know the help that you have. You don't understand who lives on the inside of you.
Do you understand the power that lives on the inside of you? Power. The Holy Spirit lives and gives you the power to not be a slave to sin. The power to live holy. The power to pray the will of God. The power to lay hands and see people healed. The power to believe for miracles. The power to see signs and wonders—the power that raised Christ from the dead, resident in the Holy Spirit, lives on the inside of you.
You have an identity crisis because you don't understand the power of the Holy Spirit. You will be afraid of people because you don't understand the power of the Holy Spirit. You will be feeling helpless in times of need because you don't understand the power of the Holy Spirit. You will be saying, "I have an assignment, but I don't know how to do it."
Of course you don't. But you have the power of the Holy Spirit.
You think I am up here in my own strength? I come up here every week in weakness, and I preach in the power of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I cry the whole way home. I got up this morning discouraged, and I am preaching to you right now in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am the one that empowers you for every assignment.
You say: "I am afraid, but the Holy Spirit. I am insecure, but the Holy Spirit. I feel ill-equipped, but the Holy Spirit. I don't know how I am going to figure this out—but the Holy Spirit. I don't know how that door is going to open—but the Holy Spirit. I don't know what to do in this circumstance—but the Holy Spirit. I can't remember that passage—but the Holy Spirit. I feel too weak to pull this off—but the Holy Spirit."
How are we going to do access in three months? But the Holy Spirit. I feel the nudge to move to Atlanta to join 2819. Where am I going to get a job? Where am I going to live? How am I going to bounce back? But the Holy Spirit will lead in God.
Verse 33:
Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
Peter didn't hear the part about the resurrection. He didn't hear the part about the "but after." All he focused on is that the Lord is rebuking them for falling away, and he tries to explain away the rebuke. So he does what we do: he puts the other disciples down to prop himself up.
"They will fall away. Those ten—they're going to fall away because Judas already left. Those ten, they're going to fall away. Me? I'll never leave, Lord."
Peter is a victim of self-righteousness and a dangerous, misplaced confidence—confidence in himself, not in the one who is talking to him. In himself. And this is what we do. This is the danger of self-reliance.
We say: "I can do this without God."
"This marriage? I got this." "Parenting? I got this." "Ministry? I got this." "Business? I got this."
All of this is self-reliance. This is the danger of overconfidence in the flesh. We want to do ministry without praying, preaching without praying, singing without praying, marriage without praying, parenting without praying, business without praying.
You said, "I got degrees." You are shaking. You are doing business deals without praying. This is the danger of overconfidence, when you think you can do anything—fill in the blank—without God.
We have to avoid that.
Jesus says to him in verse 34:
"No, Peter, truly I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
Not only are My words not going to fall to the floor, Peter, but you will deny me. And you are going to be the first person to do it. Forget the other ten. You are going to be the first one to do it. They will make it to the morning and bounce. You won't even make it through the night.
Watch. This is the Lord revealing to His follower the blindness of his weakness.
Everyone under the sound of my voice: You all have blind spots. As strong as you think you are, as righteous as you think you are with all your degrees, all of your businesses, all of your acumen—there are people in this room you think are so strong, but what you don't see is that you have blind spots.
The Holy Spirit will punch you in your soul to show you those blind spots. This is why you should always be thankful for conviction. And you should always be thankful when God puts people in your life who keep telling you things about yourself that you cannot see.
You say, "Why does everybody keep telling me the same thing about myself?" Because it is there. You just don't want to accept it. We keep telling you about this area. We keep telling you about yourself in this area. That is why you should be thankful when you have a wife that tells you about yourself. You should be thankful when you have friends who tell you the truth about yourself, not people who will tell you what you want to hear.
This is what Peter could not see. He had a blind spot, and Jesus is revealing it to him.
