Dealing With Evil The Messiah's Way Series

Dealing With Evil the Messiah's Way

Text: Matt. 26:47-56

Introduction

1. Illustration: The attack [of Pearl Harbor] took place [December 7, 1941] on a sunny Sunday morning. A minimal contingent of soldiers was on duty at the time. Most offices on the base were closed and many servicemen were on leave for the weekend. New technology, including the new radar mounted on Opana Point, were in place, manned and functioning at the time of the attack. The incoming Japanese attack planes were detected by the radar and reported, but were mistaken for an incoming group of American planes due from the mainland that morning. While on practice maneuvers outside the harbor that morning, an American destroyer spotted a Japanese submarine attempting to sneak into the harbor. The submarine was fired upon, immediately reported — and ignored (www.U-S-history.com)

2. Despite these and many other warnings, Pearl Harbor faced great loss that day. The losses and ill preparedness came from one major cause…no one believed it could really happen.

3. We are in spiritual warfare. Sometimes we call it a bad day or blame it on mean people, but many times we are under heavy assault from the devil.

4. The question is, how are we going to deal with it?

5. Sometimes it will come from...

a. Unexpected Places

b. We can choose to combat in the natural

c. We can choose to combat it in the Spirit

6. Let's stand together as we read Matt. 26:46-57

Proposition: We need to deal with the enemy’s attacks the way Jesus did.

Transition: First we need to realize that they attacks can come from...

I. Unexpected Places (47-49).

A. One of the Twelve

1. There were two problems with Pearl Harbor.

a. We thought the relationship with Japan was friendly. In fact, during WWI we were allies.

b. We didn't think they would attack us.

2. This is a great illustration of what sometimes happens to us in the spiritual realm. Sometimes the devil uses those close to us when he attacks us.

3. This great truth is illustrated for us in the account of Jesus' arrest and betrayal.

4. Matthew tells us, "And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people."

a. Judas left Jesus and the others during the Last Supper in the Upper Room to finish making arrangements for the betrayal.

b. The garden was a favorite meeting place for Jesus and the disciples, so Judas knows where to find him. He arrives with a large crowd of armed personnel.

c. Matthew highlights the treachery by referring to Judas as “one of the Twelve.”

d. This is insider betrayal, an unbelievable exploitation of a trusted relationship.

e. Judas was one of the twelve apostles, a disciple, a supposed follower of the Lord.

f. Just a few hours before, that very evening, he had been sitting at the table of the Lord eating bread with Him.

g. Now, ever so quickly, he had turned away and had actually taken the lead in betraying the Lord.

h. Because they are sent by prominent men of Jerusalem, the band that comes to arrest Jesus is probably the temple guard.

i. They come prepared for armed resistance from one they suppose is a messianic revolutionary (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).

j. The most heavily armed of those coming with Judas would be a contingent of Roman soldiers assigned by Pilate for temple security, who were authorized to carry swords (machairai), the short double-edged weapon used in hand-to-hand combat.

k. Levitical temple police and personal security guards of the chief priests and Sanhedrin carrying clubs also probably make up another large detachment in the arresting crowd.

l. They have been sent by the chief priests and the elders, the ones with whom Judas made arrangements for the betrayal; they represent the highest authority of the Jewish people and are endorsed by the Roman governor's own forces (Wilkins, NIV Application: Matthew).

5. Not only does Judas do an unspeakable betrayal of Jesus, but he also does it in an unspeakable way. Matthew tells us, "The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.”

a. A kiss was a sign of special affection among family members and close friends, or of a disciple’s honor and affection for his teacher.

b. Judas’s kiss is thus a special act of hypocrisy (cf.

c. Proverbs 27:6 (NLT)

Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

d. The word that is translated "with a kiss" actually comes from the root word in Greek which refers to brotherly love.