The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 26:30-35)

The Passion of Christ

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What does our relationship to Jesus depend on?
2. What does the Bible say about making promises or vows?
3. After all Peter had experienced with Jesus, why did he deny even knowing Him?
4. How does the exchange between Jesus and Peter concerning Peter’s denial give us a powerful hope when we fail our Lord?
5. Another factor in Peter’s failure, as we see in v.31 of today’s text, was Satan, who took the opportunity to sift Peter like wheat. How was this a help for Peter instead of destruction as Satan intended?
6. How can the church today learn from Peter’s experience when He denied the Lord?
7. If salvation does not come and go depending on our faithfulness or unfaithfulness, upon what does it depend?
8. God’s standard of perfect faithfulness is much too high to meet in the flesh; so, how are we to meet that standard?
9. Since we don’t receive salvation on our merits, according to the Apostle Paul, how do we receive it?
10. When we come to Jesus, according to Paul, it is not because one day we just up and decided, as the song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus;” so, by what means do we come to Jesus?
11. According to Paul, Jesus’ work in us doesn’t stop at redeeming us and keeping us secure. What else does He do?

Introduction

Probably the best-known part of the Bible is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. One of the best-selling items of jewelry is a cross. People everywhere know the meaning of the cross and the details of the crucifixion of Jesus even though they may know little about the rest of the Bible. No other world religion has a savior who died for their sins. Muhammed, Confucius, and Buda or countless Indian gurus were only leaders of a religion; none died to save their people. All Eastern religions are familiar with Jesus, His death and resurrection even though they don’t understand exactly why Jesus died, nor do they trust Him for the forgiveness of sins.

So, today our study is about the final hours of Jesus’ life and how he suffered to forgive us our sins. Our analysis begins with the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. So severe was His suffering that He sweated drops of blood, which science says is a possibility under extreme stress. We began our study:

Matthew 26:30, “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 31Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. 32But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.33Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. 34Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. ₃₅Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.”

In verse 30, following the Lord’s Supper, Jesus and His disciples walked out to the Mount of Olives, where the Garden of Gethsemane is located. The gospel of John, that devotes five chapters to the events and conversations during the meal, records that Jesus told His disciples that He would be leaving them soon, referring to His ascension into heaven. Peter was curious and asked Jesus where He was going, and Jesus said they would follow later, meaning they too would die and follow Him to heaven. At the time, Peter did not fully understand Jesus’ purpose, but he declared in John 13 that he would lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus replied to Peter that he would deny Him three times that very evening.

As we look a Matthew 26, we see Jesus saying as they left the upper room for the second time that Peter would deny Him. In verse 31, Jesus says not only will Peter deny Him, but all the disciples would abandon Him before the night was over. Even though Jesus had told the disciples before of His suffering and impending death, it had never registered with them, and they were probably stunned as they heard this prophecy from Jesus. They had no way of knowing the violence that was about to happen and therefore was unprepared to deal with it; so, out of fear, when it happened, they departed from Jesus as He said they would.

They had trouble accepting what Jesus told them, and Peter responded in verse 33, “Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” In verse 34, Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Once again, in verse, Peter responded, “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.” In verse 31b, Jesus supported His prophecy by quoting Zechariah 13:7, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.” 

Jesus was God, but He came into this world as a man with emotions and feelings, so it must have been difficult not having the support of those closest to Him in this time of excruciating suffering. Although Jesus knew the disciples would depart from Him in the time of His greatest need, it must have been a sorrowful experience. However, there was a light at the end of the tunnel; Jesus said to them that He would meet them at Galilee after He was resurrected from the dead. That did not register on the disciples either because they did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead even though He promised them He would. As heartbreaking as the situation was, Jesus never gave up on the disciples; this is an example for us and our relationship with Jesus because our relationship with our Lord depends not on how we respond to Him but it depends on Him and His power to relate to us. That is a great thing to understand: Even though the disciples rejected Jesus when He needed them most, He never left them. Our eternal hope is not dependent on how well we serve the Lord; it is secure by the power of Jesus to keep us and present us to the heavenly Father when life on earth is over.  

To further understand that, we need to look closer at Peter, the chief Apostle. Again, on the Mount of Olives, in verse 35, Peter responds to Jesus, committing his full support: “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” I’m sure Peter had every intention of keeping his word to Jesus. When we make a vow as Peter did to Jesus, we need first to consider whether we will be able to keep it. There is a strong emphasis on this in Scripture: “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth,” Numbers 30:2. However, sometimes we fail because we don’t anticipate what the future might bring. Peter did not realize that Jesus was about to be brought before the Sanhedrin, falsely accused, convicted, and then sent to Pontious Pilot to be sentenced to death. 

So, when fear overtook Peter, he denied even knowing Jesus. It is strange, after having been with Jesus for some three years and seeing His power to heal and even raise the dead, that Peter would doubt Jesus when he told him that he would deny Him. Peter was a proud and somewhat indignant person who blurted out things without thinking; this would change in time as Peter matured, and was eventually crucified. According to tradition, Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same fashion as Jesus the Lord. 

Matthew mentions Peter’s three denials at the end of this chapter again, and we will consider them further when we get there. But the point that needs to be made is Peter was not condemned for denying Jesus and therefore losing his salvation, as would surely be the accusation today by some denominations who deny the security of the believer. We can appreciate Matthew for recording this exchange between Jesus and Peter because it gives us a powerful hope even though we sometimes fail our Lord. It brings to mind that passage in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 not of works, lest any man should boast.” Once again, our salvation is secure in Jesus alone and not in how strong our faith is or our commitment to the Lord.

Luke gives us further compelling evidence that Jesus continued to stand with Peter even in Peter’s weakest moment: “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. 29And I appoint unto you a kingdom, and my Father hath appointed unto me; 30That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me,” Luke 22:28-34.

The above passage is evidence that Jesus promised the disciples rewards in the heavens for standing with Him through all His trials. Jesus gave this promise even knowing the disciples would abandon Him and be scattered and Peter would deny Him. Even though the disciples failed Jesus at a crucial time, it did not indicate an overall failure nor the true feelings of their hearts toward Jesus or a lack of faith in Him as their Messiah and savior. The weakness of the flesh sometimes causes our faith to be inconsistent at times, but be assured, just like the disciples, that our faith will grow stronger as we mature in Christ. Another factor in Peter’s failure, as we see in v.31, was Satan, who took the opportunity to sift Peter like wheat as Jesus said he would. In those days, sifting wheat removed the impurities, so God allowed Satan to do what he did to get rid of some of Peter’s impurities. It worked because Peter became one of the staunchest believers in history. Satan’s intentions to disqualify Peter backfired, and Peter became a rock, and Jesus said he would hold the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

I believe that Jesus wanted His church to learn from Peter’s weakness so we could gain from it what happens when our faithfulness to Him fails. Despite our best intentions, we routinely also deny Jesus by our actions and words. We say we love Jesus and want to obey and follow Him, but sometimes what we do is the opposite. Today, there is a danger in the church of repeating Peter’s denial of Jesus, not directly but indirectly by accommodating the world in how we worship and the things we accept that the church once shunned. For example, some churches even call homosexual pastors and staff members. The preaching of the Bible has also fallen in disfavor, and the worship style has gone for the traditional and now favors a rock and roll concert. The motive for the change is to attract the world to the church by becoming more like the world. The objective is to build a church physically rather than spiritually.

More and more in our world today, it is easier to deny Jesus rather than face the consequences of standing firm in our faith. If our salvation depended on the strength of our faith and our actions, we would be in great trouble. Peter is the example; even though he denied even knowing Jesus in a time of stress, Jesus did not cast him out but instead forgave him. Peter also grew from his failure and became a stalwart believer willing to give his life for the Lord. We must be aware that we are weak in the flesh and cannot be faithful enough to overcome it. Only in the strength of our Lord can we possibly persevere in stressful times. Salvation does not come and go depending on our faithfulness or unfaithfulness; the power of the Lord keeps us through it all. God’s standard of perfect faithfulness is much too high to meet in the flesh; it can only be met at those times when we are walking in the power of the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

It is a mistake to think you can maintain your relationship with Jesus through your faithfulness, the same pride, and arrogance that caused Peter to stumble. Peter was so sure that he would be faithful to Jesus that he would never abandon Him and then goes on to betray Him three times in a row, even declaring he never knew Jesus. If our faithfulness to Jesus were the only thing that assured our relationship to Him, we would be bound for failure, but there is much more to the relationship; the faithfulness of Jesus to you keeps the relationship in tack and not your faithfulness to Him. Our strength comes from Him and is not something we generate ourselves. Our salvation is secure not by our power but by the same way we are saved, through faith but primarily by God’s grace. We don’t receive salvation on our merits; it is as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

When we come to Jesus, according to Paul, it is not because one day we just up and decided, as the song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus;” no, it is much more than that. Jesus came for us and invited us to join Him in everlasting life. It is not our righteousness that saves us; it is the righteousness of Jesus. According to Paul, Jesus’ work in us doesn’t stop at keeping us secure. He not only redeems us and keeps us, He also sanctifies us, making us into the person He wants us to be. It comes by our submission to Him and not by our self-effort.

Even after Peter denied Jesus, Jesus promised that he would meet him along with the others in the Galilee, and Jesus went on to promise Peter that he would join Him in heaven a little later. Thanks to God that His promises are more powerful than our will. Even when we are unfaithful to God, He remains faithful to us. That is possible because Jesus died to secure our forgiveness. God preserves our faith, not we, who are often weak and unfaithful. When we fail the Lord, we can remember Peter, who also failed at a crucial time, and yet Jesus forgave him, did not give up on him, but preserved him to do excellent work for the kingdom. He will also forgive us if we are repentant and use us in His kingdom work.

When he matured in his faith, Peter spoke from his own experience. He wrote in 1 Peter 1:3-7, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”

Remember that salvation is through God’s mercy who redeemed us because Christ died and rose again to assure our salvation. We are sealed and kept through God’s power until we shall be with Jesus in heaven one day. Satan or no other thing can take us away from God. We are safe in His hand, and our eternal inheritance cannot be lost or taken away; it is forever preserved and reserved for us in heaven. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen,” 1 Peter 5:10-11.

Finally, remember the promise Paul assured us of in Romans 8:33-35, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Blessed be the God of heaven who redeems us and keeps us. Let us praise Him today for His mercy and His goodness towards us even when we, like Peter, fail.