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[0:00] There we go. See, now it's way too loud. Alright. This is the one place I go where my passage is assigned, so this is going to be interesting.

[0:16] ! Matthew chapter 26 and verse 1, and I'm going to read from the English Standard Version. I made a comment, and I want to clear this up, I'm not King James only.

[0:30] I made a comment last time I spoke here, and three people, I don't want to say who they are. They are brothers. None of them are here. I don't want to call out their names, but they're like, are you King James? No, I'm not.

[0:44] I love the King James. That's what I grew up memorizing, so that's what I quote, that's what I read, that's what I'm comfortable with. But I'm going to read from the ESV, because I love that translation as well. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.

[1:32] And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.

[1:49] For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she hath done it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

[2:07] Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.

[2:20] And from that moment he sought opportunity to betray him. And the Lord will bless the reading of His word. Let's open in prayer. Our God and Father, I just ask for help as we look at this passage.

[2:31] I ask, Father God, that you would ultimately be glorified. But I pray, Father God, that as we look at your word, that our lives would be transformed. And Father, that as we go out into the world around us, Christ would be seen in our lives.

[2:44] I pray, Father God, that you would hide me behind the cross, give me clarity of thought and ease of speech. I ask this in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So, I got my tea.

[2:56] I started drinking tea instead of coffee. Someone said amen? Amen. Amen.

[3:07] Amen. So, I like to make my points I try and make with alliteration. And so, I'm going to give you my points.

[3:20] And then if I address them as such during the message, then fine. If I don't, then you'll be okay. But the title I would put over this passage, that I was thinking to myself, you know, what do I, what do I title this?

[3:36] You know? And you could ask the guys from my church, I'm not a big fan of the titles. They asked me a week before, what's your title? I'm like, well, I just, I don't know. I'll let you know. Right?

[3:46] Is that right? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll let you know. An encounter, or encounters, plural, with Christ. Encounters with Christ. And I want to look at the characters.

[3:58] And you say, well, all the way through this book of Matthew that we've been studying, there's been encounters with Christ. But I want to look at the characters in this passage who have had an encounter with Christ, or will have an encounter with Christ.

[4:17] Okay? I want to look then as well at the consultation in secret. That would be that conspiracy that's going on behind closed doors.

[4:32] I want to look at the cost, the cost of the service, the costly service. And then I want to look at the colluding individual. See, I told you alliteration.

[4:43] The guy who's planning something to betray his friends. Judas Iscariot. Okay? So that's where we're heading. Hopefully we get there. If not, I'm sorry.

[4:55] And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings. This is not the first time when Matthew uses this phrase. Okay? There are several discourses.

[5:09] The Sermon on the Mount. At the end of it, Matthew records, Jesus finished these sayings. And there's five occasions in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus finishes the sayings.

[5:21] And the Olivet Discourse that you just finished up is that last of the sayings. There is no more teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. There is more teaching because we know there's the Upper Room Discourse from the Gospel of John.

[5:35] But there's no more teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. The events are going to unfold that are going to take Christ to the cross. And it says here that he says, you know that after two days is the feast of the Passover.

[5:52] Well, you have this consultation in secret. And you have these characters here. You have Caiaphas. And Caiaphas is the high priest. Now, we understand as well if we were to read the other Gospels that Annas and Caiaphas were both the high priest.

[6:09] Caiaphas was the high priest. Annas had been disposed. But in the Jewish religion, that was not how you did things. The Roman government had no saying over the Jews' religion.

[6:22] Okay? But they had disposed Annas. Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, we understand that from the Gospel of John, was made then the high priest.

[6:34] The priesthood passed from father to son, the Levitical priesthood. The Roman government couldn't say, hey, you know what, you're not going to be the priest. But at this time now, it was a political thing to be the high priest.

[6:48] And so Caiaphas, according to Josephus, had the longest reign, if you will, or rule as a high priest.

[6:58] He's going to fall out of favor down the road shortly after the crucifixion and resurrection. He's going to fall out of favor with the Romans. But this is a position of authority that he's in.

[7:12] And so Caiaphas is here. The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin is there. The elders of the people. And they're conspiring together in secret about what they're going to do.

[7:23] And this isn't the first time. They did not like the Lord Jesus Christ. They hated him.

[7:35] Why? Because he was the Messiah. And I think that they really understood that. But if there is a king coming, and they're not part of that in-group, they're going to be ousted.

[7:52] And they didn't want that. They was in a good, favorable position at that time. Right? It says, in the palace of the high priest. This was not some podunk little house that they lived in.

[8:06] Right? It was a palace. It was a well-to-do place. And they come together, and they come together in secret. And so you have this group of people.

[8:16] I said we're going to talk about the characters as well. But you have this group of people who hated Christ. They are going to stand in front of Pilate and say, we don't want this man to reign over us.

[8:27] Away with him. Crucify him. How can we get rid of him? You know, I tell you there's people in the world today who don't want to have anything to do with Christ. They cannot stand Christ.

[8:39] They hate him. They that hate me without a cause, the psalmist would say, speaking messianically of the Lord Jesus Christ, are more than the hairs of my head. They hated him.

[8:54] They didn't want him. They wanted their own religion. They wanted their own way of doing things. They wanted their own riches. Their own philosophy of life.

[9:09] They wanted to live comfortably. And that's not what Christ says, right? Christ says, all who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. They wanted to live comfortably.

[9:21] And the way that they could live comfortably was to not have Christ anywhere around. Not submit to his rule. Not submit to his authority. Not submit to his person.

[9:33] Not to submit to who he was and what he came to do. And they didn't want him. And so they would come together in secret. And say, what can we do to kill this man?

[9:43] That will solve the problem. That really shows their ignorance of scripture. But they thought that they were going to be able to solve the problem. Well, they say this.

[9:59] They say, we want to do it not during the Passover. We don't want this to happen during the feast.

[10:10] You see, the people, the Jews, they appreciated who Christ was. Not all of them. But there were many who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:21] There were many who followed him. Some just thought he was a prophet. But some truly understood who he was. And the priests, again, the Sanhedrin, this consul, they're wanting to make things favorable for them.

[10:38] They don't want to have an uproar in the city. They don't want to have a mob beating down their door in the city. So they say, well, let's not do it during the feast. Again, I would suggest that shows their ignorance of the scriptures.

[10:54] The Lord, he says this. He says, you know that after two days is the feast of the Passover. You know what's going to happen. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ, he knew what he came to do.

[11:12] And he told his disciples, this isn't the second time, this is the third or fourth time. And all through his public ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke concerning his death.

[11:24] This didn't take the Lord by surprise. But he again says, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed.

[11:35] The Passover is two days away. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He's going to die. And the Lord Jesus Christ would come as our Passover. Paul would say this in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

[11:49] Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. You see, the Paschal Lamb had to be slain during the Passover.

[11:59] There wasn't any other time for it to be slain. That was instituted by God thousands of years earlier. Go back to Exodus 12. God gives a timeline for the Passover.

[12:12] You'll do this this time. You'll do this at this time. You'll do this at this time. And then at this time, you're going to kill the Lamb. And the blood's going to be shed at this time. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, the Passover's coming.

[12:27] Two days away, I'm going to be slain. I'm going to be betrayed. Ultimately, I'm going to be slain. The Lord Jesus Christ knew what he came to do.

[12:38] And he came to do it wholeheartedly. He came to give his life a ransom for all. He came as a sacrifice for sin.

[12:52] One sacrifice for sin forever. He came to lay down his life. And it is through the Lord Jesus Christ as the Paschal Lamb that we have redemption.

[13:06] Through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ didn't just say, now that I'm going to die. He's focusing in. Luke would tell us that as he's heading this direction, Luke, the writer Luke would tell us that he set his face as a flint.

[13:26] He wasn't going to be turned away. He was going to do what needed to be done. And two days is the Passover. The Sanhedrin, their secret conspiracy.

[13:38] And said, well, let's not do it at this time. Let's not do it when there's a feast going on. Man's plans and God's plans are often two different things. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he went to the cross.

[13:58] And you can time it out perfectly. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood was shed between the evenings.

[14:12] That's when the Jewish day started in the evening. Six o'clock in the evening. It went to the six o'clock the following evening. So whether you believe that he was crucified on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, whatever standpoint you take, you can do the math.

[14:26] And he was crucified between the evenings. He shed his blood. That's exactly when they were planning to not do it. And the high priest, think of this.

[14:37] Think of Caiaphas. He's going in, into the holy place. On the Passover. And he's, he's, he's, he's there with his offering.

[14:52] With his wave sheaf. And the moment the Lord Jesus Christ, the Paschal Lamb said, it is finished. The Bible tells us the, the veil of the temple was written too from top to bottom.

[15:04] I think, I think, I think Caiaphas jaw dropped and hit the ground. Had to have. And I wonder if Caiaphas, we don't read anymore about Caiaphas after the crucifixion.

[15:16] I wonder if Caiaphas had a realization of what he had done. I don't know. It doesn't tell us.

[15:28] But we have Caiaphas and we have those representative of those who hate Christ. And we have their secret council together. We have the Lord Jesus Christ.

[15:41] The Passover Lamb. Who sacrificed for us. And he says, I'm going to the cross. I'm going to be betrayed. And, and what does he do?

[15:55] He goes to Bethany. Bethany is a place where he spent some time. He had friends there. He tells us about Simon.

[16:07] And Matthew, we don't know a lot about Simon the leper. I was laying in bed the other night. I couldn't sleep. And I'm just going through my mind. And you have names of people in the Bible.

[16:19] Saul of Tarsus. A place. But then you have some of those names that are characteristic of what they did. Or who they were.

[16:30] John the Baptizer. I don't think he was Baptist. So I call him John the Baptizer. Judas Iscariot. You have those who had their father's name.

[16:44] Right? And that's how they're known. Simon the leper. Imagine being known as Simon the leper. Think about that for a moment.

[16:56] Leprosy. Just a disease that just ate the body up. Disgusting. And we understand from Scripture.

[17:07] Not from this text. But from the overall view of Scripture. That he couldn't be a leper no more. He had a house. He was in town. Right? So that meant he was purified.

[17:21] He was clean. But he always had that name attached to him. David Thomas.

[17:33] The guy who can't talk. Or says bold and old. Is that how I'm known? Simon the leper. What a testimony though.

[17:43] I wonder who cleansed him. I wonder who cleansed him. This is what we know. Luke records a different Simon.

[17:56] This is all we know. I wonder. And we have those people. Individuals. And it doesn't matter what sort of sinner you were.

[18:07] Christ Jesus came into the world. To save sinners. Of whom I am chief. There's no difference.

[18:22] But we have those. Who may have committed more heinous. Crimes. We have children. And they're like. Well I'm not a sinner. You know.

[18:32] Yeah I tell you. Every child who walked out of here. To go to Sunday school. They're a sinner. No. And I will.

[18:44] Wow. But you know what. They're not any worse or better sinner than I am. We have a man here. Who is hopeless and helpless.

[18:57] Had no ability to save himself. And what does he do? After he's been cleansed. After he's been saved.

[19:09] If you will. Who does he have over? The Lord Jesus Christ. How many of us. Really understand.

[19:21] Our hopelessness and helplessness. Before. We were saved. Or maybe. You're here today. And you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:33] Maybe you're here today. And you're sitting here. And you say. You know what. I'm still hopeless and helpless. Let me tell you about a man who can save you.

[19:45] The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He knew we were sinners. By nature and by practice. He knew our hopelessness. And our helplessness.

[19:56] And he came from heaven. To die on the cross for your sin. And the Bible says this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be saved.

[20:08] It's that simple. So I ask you. Have you believed. On the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have.

[20:19] You're kind of like Simon the leper. David. You know what they call. My dad used to call me. Trouble. I know it's hard to believe.

[20:32] I'm such a saintly figure. Your middle name is trouble. That's what my dad would tell me. You know what.

[20:43] The one whose life has been changed. By the gospel of Christ. And this is a radical change. And I want to tell you.

[20:54] Anyone who's passed. From death to life. That is a radical change. Wouldn't you agree? This means yes.

[21:05] That's a radical change. If someone who's dead. And I tell you what. Have you ever preached at a funeral before? When someone is there. And they're lying.

[21:16] In that coffin. Imagine that person came up. Out of their coffin. You'd be excited. Especially if it was your mother. Yeah. That's a radical change.

[21:30] And what does he do? He wants to have fellowship. With the one who radically changed him. He wants to enjoy dinner. With the one who radically changed his life.

[21:47] The Lord Jesus Christ would say this. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice. And open the door. I will come into him.

[21:59] And sup with him. That is eat dinner with him. Or eat lunch. Or whatever y'all call it up here. I'll eat dinner with him. And he will eat dinner with me.

[22:12] How many of you eat dinner with your friends? I'm going to say this again. I'm not Pentecostal. It's okay to raise your hands.

[22:23] I'm not going to be offended. Some of you. Yeah. Anyhow. I digress. We had a birthday party up here last night. Growing up I was told Christians don't party.

[22:35] But we had a birthday party last night. With who? Two of my friends. And we ate dinner together. We played volleyball together. It was awesome. We had cake. Chocolate raspberry cake.

[22:48] Together. We do stuff with our friends. And if you don't. Maybe they're not your friends. Maybe you need to find some friends. But how often do we not want to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

[23:07] How often is that second nature for us? How many of you get up in the morning and say, you know what? I've got to get to work.

[23:18] I don't have time to read my Bible. Yeah. It happens. Oh, I'll get to it at lunchtime. I don't get lunch.

[23:29] Now I've got to get to it when I get home. Now I'm home. Now I want to sit down and I want to spend some time with my wife. Or maybe out in the garage away from my wife. I don't know. But definitely not with the Lord. Does anyone struggle with that?

[23:45] Yeah. We should have a desire. Our life has been radically changed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our life has been changed by the gospel of Christ.

[23:56] It's the power of God to salvation. It wasn't cheap. And the God of the universe stepped out of eternity in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. To show his love for me.

[24:09] To die for me. To take my place. God, the Father, bankrupted the vaults of heaven. I tell you, friends, he bankrupted heaven to send his only begotten son.

[24:21] There wasn't anyone else he could send. To change me. To save me. To save me. And to save each of you. And this man here, whose name still bears that of a leper, says, you know what?

[24:38] Come on in and have dinner. Come eat. What's standing in the way of us having fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

[24:52] What's in your life that is hindering your fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it work?

[25:06] Is it relationships? What is it? Is it sports? I don't know. The Lord Jesus Christ sits down.

[25:18] What time do I need to be done? The Lord Jesus Christ sits down. And it says, there came unto him a woman.

[25:31] A precious service. A costly service. A precious service. Matthew doesn't record who this woman is. I do believe it's Mary of Bethany.

[25:52] But I'm not going to build a message on that premise. That's for another day. Matthew does not tell us who this woman is. What does Matthew tell us?

[26:05] She comes in with an alabaster box. A box of perfume. A box of ointment. Did I say that right, Teddy?

[26:17] Maybe a little oil in there. And what does she do? It says she poured it on his head.

[26:28] This woman here, I would suggest, is the epitome of worship. Worship is a heart that is enamored with who God is.

[26:53] Not only what he's done, but who he is. But who he is. And this woman, she knew who the Lord Jesus Christ was.

[27:13] And she comes in and she pours out the best of what she had. And it's easy.

[27:28] And maybe you've done this like me. That's a lot of money. Anybody ever done that? You know, you just pour something. We'd be sitting at the table here. And a woman walks in.

[27:40] And she just takes this expensive alabaster box. And just pours it out on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[27:55] You ever bought cologne or perfume? Anybody here? Yeah. Okay. I have too. It's expensive. How many of you would go down and buy you some Gucci or some, I don't even know what the other types of perfume are, you know.

[28:13] I don't wear it. But women, would you go and get your good Versace perfume and bust that thing and just drop it out? I mean, if you dropped it on the ground, you'd probably be freaking out.

[28:25] Your husband would be freaking out too. I just paid $1,000 for that. I know it's not that expensive. But that's what the men were doing. They were freaking out.

[28:36] This is expensive stuff here. That did not occupy her mind at all. You know what occupied the mind of this woman? Christ.

[28:48] The person of Christ. Who he was. And I do believe it was Mary. And I believe that she looked in his eyes.

[28:59] This woman looked in his eyes. And understood who he was. And knew who he was.

[29:10] And knew exactly what he was doing. The Lord Jesus Christ is time and time again telling his disciples, I'm going to die. I'm going to go to Jerusalem.

[29:20] They're going to crucify me. And it wasn't until the upper room discourse. We don't find this information out until we get to the gospel. They're like, whoa. Now you're speaking plainly.

[29:31] Now you're not telling us any proverbs. Now we understand what you're saying. And the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they sung a hymn and they went out. They just figured it out that he's going to die. Not this woman. Not this woman.

[29:44] She had a heart that was occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. She had a heart that was enamored with the Lord Jesus Christ. A heart that was in love with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[29:55] Christ. Is that what characterizes our lives? Are our hearts just so enamored with Christ? And that we would give him the very best of our time.

[30:09] The very best of our abilities. The very best of everything that we have. And we would just pour it out. Dump it out. Say, here God, this is yours. This is for you. I struggle with that.

[30:27] It's hard. But that's what was in the heart of this woman. She just dumps it out. So we have this woman here.

[30:38] Who's in worship. Whose heart is full of worship. Who's pouring out. And we understand it was a year's salary. That's not a small amount.

[30:48] I don't care what salary you make. You work for a year for something. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of time. A year's salary.

[31:02] A year's wages. She dumps it out. Isn't Christ worth it? Isn't Christ worth it? Do our lives reflect that?

[31:16] Do our actions reflect that? Do our words reflect that? The way we behave. And if you're like me, sometimes it doesn't reflect that.

[31:31] May God work in our hearts. Change our hearts. Change our minds. May there be repentance. If this woman is Mary, you know where she spent her time?

[31:46] Shout it out. Where did she spend her time? At the feet of Jesus. Donald Bornhaus was a capable commentator and Bible expositor.

[31:59] Pastor of the Presbyterian Church up there in Pennsylvania. And when he was a young man, he was riding on a train. And you know what book he had out? It wasn't his Bible.

[32:10] It was a newspaper. And he's reading this newspaper. You know, he's just a young man, just a teenager. He's reading this newspaper. And he sits, and he looks across the seat.

[32:22] And there's a man sitting there reading his Bible. And he looks at the man. He's like, I want to be like you someday. I want to know my Bible. You know what the man said to him?

[32:33] You're not going to learn it reading the newspaper. You know what he did? He got his Bible. How do we spend his time at the feet of Christ?

[32:46] And I think it's telling that Matthew doesn't give us the name of this lady, the name of this woman. She's not here for accolades.

[32:56] She's here to worship. It's not about her. She didn't make this about her.

[33:08] The disciples, there are people back here, they're protesting this. What a waste. And I think that's my attitude at some time.

[33:19] What a waste. Let me ask you this question. If it's done for the Lord, is it a waste? It's easy to be like the disciples, to be armchair quarterbacks, to look at, to look at how other people are doing the work and say they're not doing it the way I do it.

[33:45] Who here likes to armchair quarterback? Ain't nobody want to put their hands up. Yeah. We all like to armchair quarterback. Wives, tell their husbands, you should do it this way.

[34:02] Yeah, there you go. And husbands, you know, I should do it this way. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we like to criticize and critique. We're looking at those who are doing the work and we criticize.

[34:20] And maybe it's a guilty conscience. Maybe, maybe we should be doing the work. Have you ever heard this?

[34:32] If you don't like the way I'm doing it, go ahead and do it yourself. Yeah. Maybe we should. Maybe our hearts and minds would change.

[34:44] But she's not seeking accolades. She's, Matthew doesn't even record her response. I mean, you have one woman and I say that there may have been more women there, I don't know.

[35:02] It says there came in a woman. That's singular to me. Okay. But we know disciples is plural. So we know that there's several men there and what, and at least a woman, right?

[35:17] And she comes in there in this act of worship and they're, they're sitting back here laughing or laying down. However, they reclined at the table. I don't know. I don't have the, I'm not the authority on that, but they're sitting there laughing.

[35:29] The Bible doesn't record her response to any of this. And maybe there wasn't a response.

[35:43] And maybe there wasn't a response because her heart was so occupied with Christ. That's a possibility. And people are going to sit and they're going to scoff and they're going to say, what a waste.

[35:58] Is our heart that occupied with Christ? It doesn't matter what the world says. It doesn't matter what other believers say. This woman's not looking to be front and center.

[36:12] She poured out her all for the one who is absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt worthy.

[36:24] And anything we do for the one, the Lord Jesus Christ who's worthy, that's all that matters. He knows. He knows the woman's name.

[36:35] He knows the woman's thought. It says, why do you use trouble in the woman? She wrought a good work. Any time this gospel's preached is going to be told there's a memorial of her.

[36:50] And we're still talking about it today. 2025. Old Judas Iscariot, the colluding soul, the pernicious individual, he looks on.

[37:13] And he says, you know what? I can make some money off this. He sold out the Lord Jesus Christ for a month's worth of wages for the price of a slave.

[37:36] Think about this just for a moment. Judas. When we hear that name, you know, there's certain names you don't name your kid. Right? Jezebel.

[37:47] Right? Judas. Unless it's not Iscariot, then it's okay. But you think of someone, when you think of Judas, you think of someone who's betrayed.

[38:00] But think about Judas for just a minute. Three and a half years with the Lord Jesus Christ. three and a half years around the ministry of Christ.

[38:16] And at the end of it, all he could think about was me, was I, was his self. The Bible tells us that it was Judas who wanted the money.

[38:34] And so he goes to the Sanhedrin. He knew that there was wanted posters out, if you will. He knew what the price was. So he goes and he covenants with him.

[38:45] I'll give you the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. You know, I think those who truly spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ, who spend time at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, who sup, eat dinner with the Lord Jesus Christ, I think that those are the ones who are going to be enamored with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[39:18] And they're going to pour out their hearts in worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think that there may be some Judases, not here, I'm not saying here, I'm just talking in Christendom in general, come to church, maybe go to church camp, maybe show up and do stuff, but their heart was not radically changed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

[39:46] there was never a point in their life when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if Judas was maybe looking for power and position.

[40:04] Maybe, maybe in principle, he knew that this was the Messiah, the King. and maybe he's like, well, you know what, 12 disciples, 12 thrones, 12 children, 12 tribes of Israel, maybe I'll get me a seat at the table.

[40:23] And at the end of it, I think, he says, you know what, this isn't worth it. There are people who want power and position and authority, and it will keep them from bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[40:44] It will keep them from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to spend eternity in hell and the lake of fire.

[40:55] I challenge you as you go from here. Is your mind enamored with Christ?

[41:07] Are you willing to pour out your all for Christ? Our God and Father, we just thank you for this examples we have in Scripture.

[41:19] A Lord of different individuals, different characters. some who just conspired in secret to crucify the Lord of glory.

[41:31] Some who offered a costly and precious service. And some who colluded to crucify the King, to betray Him.

[41:44] Father, I pray that if there's anyone here who's lost, that they would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray for those who are saved, that our lives would be living examples, that our lives would be wholly surrendered to God, that our wills would be exchanged with yours.

[42:08]  Father, I ask that you would just watch over us and protect us as we go from here. I ask this in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen.