Here, God's Word taken from Matthew 26, verses 1 through 5. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, you know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, less there be an uproar among the people. Imagine a homeless preacher who publicly speaks out against everything you were taught and everything you believed. The Jewish elite were faced with something even more disturbing. This Galilean from Nazareth publicly opposed them and had taken center stage in Jerusalem. Why would they want to kill Jesus? Why would anyone want to kill the Son of God? This passage in Matthew 26 follows Jesus' harsh public rebuke of the Jewish elite. Beginning in Matthew 21, we see Christ entering Jerusalem, triumphantly on a donkey and to the praise of thousands, tens of thousands of Jews, particularly Galileans. And then shortly afterward he is seeing chasing out those from the temple who exchanged money right in the very temple. And later on he publicly promised to destroy the temple. Jesus Christ was on a very dangerous mission. And in verse 1 and 2 of this passage he gives the fourth and final prediction of how he would complete his glorious mission. He says when he will be crucified and he says it's at the Passover. He says where and it's in Jerusalem and he says how by which means it's crucifixion. First century historians label crucifixion as the chief form of punishment. It was worse than being burnt alive, even worse than being decapitated and far worse than being torn by wild beasts. Jesus says he will be crucified. My friends, God is sovereign and always has a good purpose in view. Because God has a plan, he is not arbitrary. Mysteriously God's plan includes the existence of evil. And these men in chapter 26 and verses 3 through 5, they are evil. We see them chief priests and elders conspiring to kill Jesus. Why would they want to do this? From reading Matthew we could deduce that they were envious of Jesus, not only so, they were jealous of Jesus. And more importantly, they feared losing control of the people to whom the Lord had entrusted to them. Note that they met at the high priest's palace, a very place of honor. And Matthew uses an adjective stealth and it is defined as taking advantage through craft and underhanded methods. These men of God had stooped so low as to use deception in order to realize their evil plans. The Scripture tells us that the unregenerate heart is an enemy of God. Despite Rome's harsh treatment of the Jews, Jesus pulls the greatest threat to these elite. In some ways it's similar to what we refer to as the Stockholm Syndrome. They had sided with their oppressors. They had sided with those who abusing them against one of their very own. When I think of the situation under which God had sent his son, we could look back to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28 and realize that Israel was under a curse. They were under God's curse. Listen to verses 49 through 51 in Deuteronomy 28. God says the Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed. It also shall not leave you green, wine, or oil. The increase of your herds or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. These conspirators were too blind to see their pitiful condition. They wanted Jesus dead and by any means necessary. And so Matthew uses the verb they wanted to hand over Jesus. In essence, they wanted Rome to do their dirty work for them. Jesus will not only die a horrible death on the cross, his followers would become subject to the same if Jesus is found guilty of treason. And so they killed two birds with one stone and they concluded that this would end this movement of this Galilee and his followers. Why? Why would they want Jesus dead? I believe that Jesus was a threat to their roles within Israel. He was a threat to their relationship with the Jews and he was a threat to their riches that they had gained. He was a threat to their roles within Israel because they were the representative of God's people to the oppressive Roman army. They benefited by being elders and priests at a time when Rome occupied Israel. Jesus was a threat to their relationship with the Jews because these were the shepherds of God's people. These were the people to whom God's people would turn to in times of trouble. These were the people who had much power over the people of God. He was a very serious threat to their riches. Any good Jew would travel to Jerusalem no matter where they live around the Mediterranean. They would travel to Jerusalem certain times of the year to honor and observe the feasts. Undoubtedly, there were tens of thousands of people from all over the known world who needed a place to stay. So no doubt these men were in charge of hotel and tourism. Then not only did they would need a place to stay, they would need animals for the sacrifices and they would sell the animals right there in the temple. Temple worship for these men was big business and Jesus wanted to destroy their way of life. Most importantly, they could not control Jesus. I believe they fear true revival. Mysteriously, again, I say this God's plans includes the existence of evil. However, evil cannot undermine God's good purposes. Christ Jesus was appointed Israel's Passover Lamb. In the book of Exodus chapter 12, God told Moses to institute this Passover. He told them to kill the Lamb and have each household take its blood and sprinkle it and swear it on the doorpost and then roast the flesh of the Lamb and eat it with their claws on, with a sense of urgency for that very night. The Lord Himself will pass through Egypt and He will judge Egypt and where He sees the blood He will pass over. Not only this, He instructed Moses to establish the Passover as the beginning of a new year for the Jews. A new year, not of slavery, but a year of freedom from the enslavement of Egypt. My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Passover Lamb's blood protected God's people from His judgment. The sacrifice of the Passover Lamb satisfied God's wrath upon Egypt. God works in and through humans to accomplish His purposes. Theologians call this concurrence. Paul tells us that He tells us this in Philippians. He says, work at your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because it is God who is working with you. God is always working with people for His glory and the good of His people. However, He is not coercive. God will not want us to do anything against our will. Jesus' brother James says in chapter 1 and verse 13, when anyone is tempted, do not let him say that he is tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil. So Caiaphas, God's high priest, must offer the Passover Lamb. And Jesus will be offered as the final Passover. Not afterwards according to Caiaphas in his cohort, for He is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. He is God's Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the world. And even though this was God's eternal decree, concurrence here by the high priests does not absorb these conspirators of their actions. These men are culpable. They were the ones to blame. They wanted Jesus dead at their own time and in their own way. And the sovereign Lord embodied in Christ says, no, I will give my life according to the Word of God, according to the will of God, according to the Scriptures. Here's some things I would like for us to take away from this afternoon's meditation. One, the good purposes of a sovereign God brings enormous comfort to His people. God is always in control. And in this vein, Jesus who is the very God, who's the very bosom from the Father. He is in control here and He has always been in control. And He says, lo, I am with you to the very end of the age. Why? Because all power has been given unto me. All authority has been given unto me. I also want us to note that power, wealth, status and success can become dangerous and insidious traps for the people of God. Pray urgently for pastors, for men like me and others. Pray urgently for us and pray urgently for political leaders. That we might not lose our first love, nor become fearful of true revival from the Lord. Jesus' blood still protects and delivers all who repent and call upon His name by faith. How would you respond if you were to discover that Jesus opposes your way of life? What makes you think that you would react differently from the men who conspired against Our Savior? May the Lord help us by the power of His Holy Spirit to recognize the Lamb of God who has come to take away your sins and my sins and worship Him and love Him and serve Him all the days of your lives in Jesus' name.