Matthew 26 (Part 3) :31-56

--- Matthew chapter 26, I like to Call this section that we're dealing with here this morning a night of shadows and we're going to be picking it up In the 31st verse you'll remember that we ended last time with the the Last Supper Jesus meeting with his disciples to go through the the whole Passover celebration During which they saw him begin to reinterpret those elements To call attention to himself as we move on to this section I gotta tell you guys there's there's a sense That we're walking really on holy ground in these verses I There there there are times when I'm studying through the word to bring it to you on a Sunday morning and I feel like you know the passage just practically teaches itself and and I just need to kind of go through and jot down some notes and that sort of thing and and then there are other passages that I really wrestle with and I felt as I was kind of Going through this that that that and the theme is kind of wrestling you know about the whole Garden of Gethsemane, but as I as I went through these verses there was just such a sense of awe in my heart of my inability to bring these verses to you in any sort of a sense that would convey the power that they contain and and the the essence of just what Jesus suffered on our behalf and I felt so Incapable of really doing justice to these these verses So much of what Jesus struggled with not only in the Garden of Gethsemane, but also later of course on the cross is so shrouded for us with mystery and I as a teacher my desire is to go through the word and Share it with you and be able to kind of bring out things that are going to bring greater clarity and and and dimension and understanding to the passage and I found myself struggling in Matthew chapter 26 to convey really anything of of any sort of a understanding to the passage because I don't Understand a great deal of what goes on in these verses. There's so much here that I just don't get I Trust that as we go through these verses together. You'll kind of see what I mean, but I think for the sake of Clarity maybe the greatest clarity we better pray right let's just ask the Lord Father God We come to you, please Lord send your Holy Spirit To open our hearts and to enlighten our minds and our spiritual understanding to what we're looking at here in Matthew 26 this section Lord that we're dealing with today I You know, I read it and I have to confess Lord, you know this I was tempted this morning just to read it not say anything just Because I feel like I feel so small in my ability to convey anything of the importance or Insight of these passages Lord. I I feel like it's one of those things that I read and I want to put my hand over my mouth And I want to be careful not to Not to dilute it in any way or to take anything away from the power and the majesty and the severity That that these verses convey to us father, it's it's sobering beyond understanding the gravity of these things Is so powerfully apparent Lord I just all I can say is, you know, I remember when the first Adam Was in a garden The whole sinful thing began and I am so grateful for the second Adam who in this garden overcame and Allowed himself to go to the cross with confidence Bearing our sin So, thank you, thank you Lord, I know we'll spend eternity saying that But we say it again today. Thank you. Now guide our study of these verses. I Pray in Jesus name Amen, let me read through them and then we'll go back and just kind of look at him again beginning in verse 31 Here of Matthew 26. This is

But after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee Peter answered him though. They all Fall away because of you. I never I will never fall away and Jesus said to him truly I tell you this very night before the rooster crows you will deny me three times Peter said to him even if I must die with you I will not deny you and all the disciples said the same and Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee He began to be sorrowful and troubled and then he said to them. My soul is very sorrowful even to death Remain here and watch with me and going a little further He fell on his face and prayed saying my father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me Nevertheless, not as I will but as you will And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter so could you not watch with me one hour Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Again for the second time he went away and prayed my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it your will be done And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again And then he came to the disciples and said to them sleep and take your rest later on See the hour is at hand. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise Let us be going see my betrayer is at hand and while he was still speaking Judas came one of the twelve and With him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying the one I will kiss is the man Sees him and he came up to Jesus at once and said greetings rabbi and he kissed him Jesus said to him friend do you do what you came to do? and then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him and behold one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and Struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear Then Jesus said to him put your sword back into its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so at that hour Jesus said to the crowds Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me day after day? I sat in the temple teaching and you did not seize me But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled Then all the disciples left him and fled stop there if you would please We'll have to pick up the rest of that chapter later But this section that we're looking at here today Begins with very solemn words words that were certainly upsetting to the disciples and that is that he said you will all fall away Because of me This night and I want you to notice that Jesus didn't just tell the disciples that they would fall away He told them why did you catch that? He said you will all fall away because of me in other words Their association with Jesus that night would become so dangerous to them That that fear would overtake them and they would literally run for their lives and fear is something That is very very hard to relate to until you're going through it at the time, isn't it? Sometimes we we we we can perceive fear from a distance and it doesn't see like to seem like such a bad thing Until we're going through it It's particularly difficult for men to do that to perceive fear from a distance and to understand it It was particularly difficult for Peter to understand What that would mean? but in the middle of verse 31 and we'll get we'll get to Peter actually later on we're gonna talk more about probably next week or the week after depending on how things go here as we go into the Easter celebration, but He he has his own he'll get his own day in the Sun here in the middle of verse 31 You'll notice that Jesus said for his written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered He's quoting the book of Zechariah here where that passage is essentially given and it's a very natural thing that he's talking about here You know when the when the the shepherd is is struck The sheep are obviously going to be scattered because it's the shepherd who keeps them together It's the shepherd who draws their hearts together and brings them together as one and he's not Excusing them here for the scattering that's going to take place this very night, but neither is he condemning them? He's speaking here of kind of the natural response of the flock, and he is knowing, recognizing, he is going to allow himself to be struck. And he recognizes that it's a natural thing that the sheep might be scattered, but this is a principle that is given to us in the Word of God. You strike the shepherd, the sheep are scattered. And believe me, Satan knows this principle. He knows it very well. Uses it very, very often. Don't be surprised, people, when you hear of a senior pastor somewhere who has fallen into some kind of a sin because he has been struck by the enemy. The enemy is not unlimited in his ability to affect our lives negatively. He doesn't have all power like God does. And so he has to strike where he's going to get the most bang for his buck. Don't be surprised when it's a pastor of a big church who is struck in some way by the enemy because the enemy knows this principle from the word that when the shepherd is struck, the sheep will be scattered. And you have to know that when you hear of something like that, that Satan is always seeking to scatter the sheep. And just a reminder of this as I was going through studying this passage caused my heart to remember and pray for flocks. You know, sometimes, you know, we're so quick to throw stones. We'll hear about someone who's gone through a situation like that and we're immediately like, oh, man, not again, or something like that. And our hearts are not filled with the compassion that they ought to be for the flocks that are affected by those sorts of things. Listen, Satan did that not so much to hurt the pastor. I mean, sure, he wants to get the pastor and bulldoze him. Of course, he does. Of course, he does. But he wants to get to the people. He wants to drag down as many people as he possibly can. And so he's going to strike the shepherd if he can get at him. And his desire is to scatter the flock. What happens when the flock is scattered? We see this. Good grief. How many times have you watched Wild Kingdom? You see this sort of stuff. When the predators make their way to the flock, it is their desire to scatter it. Why? Because when the flock is scattered, their vulnerability increases. Do you know, Christians, why we come together as the body of Christ? Do you understand the strength that is inherent in the connectedness of people in the body of Christ, one with another? Do you understand that? People will say from time to time, well, I don't need four walls to be a Christian. Of course, we all understand that. Don't even bore us with those kinds of details. That's not the point. The point is you were born into a family. You are part of the family of God. And the purpose of that family is that we might protect one another, pray for one another, encourage one another. The Bible says, encourage one another daily as you see the day approaching. And in that passage, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, which is the habit of some. Why? Because we want to have a big church meeting? No, because there's an inherent safety that goes along with the idea of Christians gathering and staying connected. Sure, you can be a Christian outside of four walls. Sure, you can go up into the Idaho mountains and enjoy the presence of God and worship and pray and get into the word and all that kind of good stuff. But you will experience a vulnerability in your lives that you wouldn't if you were obedient to God and you stayed connected with the body of Christ. Don't play into Satan's hand. You know, I know that a lot of crazy, stupid, ridiculous, and hurtful things happen within the context of church life. I understand that. You think I don't know that? You think I don't understand that I don't see that stuff going on? You think that's a revelation to me? You think I haven't personally been hurt by people? Of course, I have. And I've hurt people in, you know, myself as well. So why do we keep coming back together? Because we know it's the best thing for us, right? And we were never told to get our eyes on people in the first place, you know? We're told to keep our eyes on Jesus, weren't we? The shepherd and overseer of our souls. We come together because it's necessary. We come together because it's prudent. We come together because it's safe. And yeah, things happen, and they give us being a part of the church, being connected, and being intimate with people gives us plenty of opportunities to exercise our Christianity, and forgiveness, and tenderheartedness, and patience with people, doesn't it? Sure. Well, so let's do that. You'll notice here, Jesus also, when he speaks of the fact that the flock will be scattered, he also foretells their return. Look at verse 32 with me in your Bible. He says, but after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. He doesn't talk about their failure as if it's the end of the world. He doesn't say, you know, tonight, all of you guys are going to fall away. And you know what? I think that's pretty much the last straw. You guys have been boneheads pretty much from day one. And you're going to desert me, and you're going to run off in the time of my greatest need. So you know what? I think this is going to be pretty much it. I'm giving you guys all your pink slip. He doesn't say that at all. In fact, that's what I would probably feel like saying. But the incredible forgiveness, you know, of this man as he begins, knowing that they're going to abandon him in the time of his greatest need, he's already passed it. He's already dealt with it. He's already moving on. He's already talking about what is to come. He's saying, you know what? And then after all this big, huge, enormous failure of yours, where I will be made to stand alone and make no mistake about it, Jesus stood alone, bearing the sin of the world. But after that, by these men whom he considered his closest followers, Jesus said, but you know what? We're going to come back together again, and I'm going to go before you, and I'll meet you in Galilee, and we're going to have a party. Believe me. And so he begins to speak of the restoration of these guys. Of course, all this talk about failing is a little bit too much for Peter. And, you know, in verse 33 and following is the section where Peter says, you know, oh, no, Lord, not me. These guys maybe, not me. You're the one who named me the rock. Rocky ain't going nowhere. Now, Jesus has to tell him, you know, actually, the fact of the matter is, Pete's going to be even worse for you. These guys are going to abandon me. You're going to do that as well, but you're going to throw in denial on top of it. Of course, you know, Peter says, of course I won't do that. And we will deal with Peter at a later time. We'll go back over those verses. Verse 36 tells us that then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. Gethsemane, at that time, not so much today, although there's a remnant of olive trees, this is on the Mount of Olives. But it was hugely a place of olive orchards at that time. And the word Gethsemane, get this, you guys, means olive press. Yeah, it speaks of the process of weight and pressure being put on the olives that it might extract the oil, which was used by the Jews for many things, not the least of which was the lighting of lamps and so forth. But isn't that interesting that this very place where Jesus experienced this unspeakable pressure of what was about to take place and the forsaking of him by his father because he was made to be sin for us, this place is called the olive press, very fitting place where Jesus would spend this time of intense prayer. Verse 37 tells us that after he kind of told the disciples to stay put, he took the three that were the closest to him, and that was Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that would be James and John, and he went a little bit further with them, and then he himself went a bit further. And it says that before he did, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. And the Greek word here for sorrowful is very difficult to put in human, human. In our English language, probably even human terms may even be correct from the sense that it speaks of a sorrow that is just what Jesus said. It's a sorrow unto death. It is literally a sorrowing from which someone may very well die. And it's hard to even describe that sort of a thing, but it was so heavy that Jesus felt he might not survive. And it was so difficult and so stressful that God actually dispatched an angel, we're told in one of the other gospel accounts, to come and minister to Jesus and to give him strength so that he might go on and have the strength to go on and to carry on the work that he was to finish on the cross. In fact, the suffering was so great, so horrific. Luke, I'll put this one on the screen for you, but Luke actually says that, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of... blood falling down to the ground. I. This is one of those holy ground things, I don't know how to explain this, I don't know how to describe it, I don't even know what to say. Except one thing. I'm impressed. I'm impressed with the first line of that verse, because it says, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And it's always spoken to me, such volumes, and I don't have time this morning to really address it any more than to say, sometimes when you and I are in agony, that's the last thing we do is pray. We'll pray when, you know, we feel like praying or whatever. But but Jesus. The prayer that Jesus offered up in the Garden of Gethsemane was was a prayer that ultimately ended in victory, because when he finally was confronted by those who came to arrest, there was. There was a peace that had come over him, there was a resolve. That had come over him, which didn't seem to be there during this time of intense prayer in the garden. And I appreciate that, because so many times people, even though we may be in agony or we may be really struggling, we go and pray, but we stop short of actually finding an answer or our arrest. Do you ever notice, Christians, that sometimes we go into the place of prayer and we leave the place of prayer before we have found any resolution? We will go to the place of prayer in agony and we will come out of the place of prayer in agony. We will go into the place of prayer needing rest and peace from God, and we will come out of the place of prayer as just as much needing that same rest and peace. And I like the fact that Jesus didn't give up. And I believe that this is a this is an example for you and I. To to to pray until there's a breakthrough. To pray, to keep praying, you know, there's there's some nonsense that has kind of circulated in the body of Christ over the years from some of the ultra faith, hyper faith. People that tell you that if you pray more than one time about anything, it shows you don't have faith. Well, I got news for you. Jesus went back to the place of prayer and said the same thing. Now, who is going to look Jesus in the eye and say that he is delinquent in his faith? That would be a really, really dumb thing to do. And I think that you and I should learn from this example that we just keep going back. Sometimes we go and we pray and then we come and then sometimes people will even call me after they prayed. It's like Pastor Paul, I prayed and it didn't help. What are you coming to me for? What are you coming to me for? You think I got anything to add to that? You think I'm going to just hold up my hands and just go, well, I guess prayer doesn't work then or something like that. I mean, it's like, well, do what Jesus did. Go back. And if you don't get the result that you want, go back. And if you don't get the result you want, go back. And being in agony, he returned to prayer. He doubled, redoubled his efforts to go back and find that solution. To find that peace. And we find that he did, in fact, as we kind of read through these sorts of things. This is the thing that's difficult about. Reading this passage to me is the fact that it's nighttime, it's the it's the middle of the night. You know, normally you and I are sleeping and. And that's a good thing that we're sleeping at night because night can be particularly difficult, can it, when you're struggling? I mean, when you're going through a hard time, when you're really feeling pressed like that olive in the olive press and life is pressing on you and you feel like the life. Your own life is just oozing away, isn't nighttime the worst? It's it's it's I got to tell you something, just by way of confession, they say confession is good for the soul. We'll try it here. I find nights extremely difficult when I'm going through a hard time. When sleep. Fleas from my eyes and I am left to just sit and stare at the ceiling or look into the darkness and just the imagination goes bananas. And believe me, I've got a good imagination. And it seems that Satan just likes to use the nighttime to torment like no other time. So when Jesus said to the disciples, stay here, you know, and watch with me. He obviously wanted them to share something of this time with him, and we know that they didn't, they fell asleep. But he wanted them to be there because what was going on that night was so horrible. It was so difficult, he knew that this was a night of shadows. And when the enemy would be attacking again and again and and and he was so horrified, I was so blessed that that this morning Brandon actually made reference to this passage. Second Corinthians 521 probably gives us one of the greatest insights about why this was so horrible. It was because for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God, but Jesus. Knew that this process was now underway by which he who knew no sin would people I don't even understand this, he would become sin. Just let that soak in for a minute, because I can't add anything to it. I wish I could, but I can't. I don't know what it means when it says Jesus became sin on our behalf, other than the fact that what we know he bore the penalty of our sin. But you know what, it's one thing to bear the penalty. But it goes on here, it says he became sin so that we might become the righteousness of Christ. I don't I don't I don't get that. I that one just causes my mind to kind of do backflips. And yet it must for you and I speak of the essence of how horrible this thing was, you know, not just I honestly don't think Jesus was suffering that night just because he knew he was going to die. If that were the case, then frankly, there have been many people in history who will have suffered better. Knowing they were going to die. And that wasn't it, that wasn't it. It was becoming sin for you and I. It was being forsaken by the father, he who had never known any sort of a forsaken relationship with the father was going to anticipate this thing of being forsaken to the point where he cried out on the cross, you know, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was obviously a horrible sort of a thing. But before we before we talk about just exactly how horrible this thing was and, you know, it says in verse thirty nine that that his his prayer. Look at this with me, verse thirty nine and going a little further, says he fell on his face, got down on his face before God, saying, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. He talks about this this horrible night as a cup. A cup before you and I can really fully understand, you know, this thing, we have to look into some of the scripture as to what is what is this cup? That he is speaking of here that he wants to pass from him, let me show you three quick verses, first from Isaiah. Chapter fifty one, thus says the Lord, the Lord, your God, who pleads the cause of his people, behold, I have taken from your hand. Look at this, the cup of staggering, also known as the bowl of my wrath, which he says you shall drink no more than from Jeremiah chapter twenty five verses 15 and 16. Thus, the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I'm sending among them. And then finally, in Revelation chapter 14, it says and another angel, a third followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath. Look at this poured full strength into the cup of his anger. So what is the cup that Jesus is asking that it might pass if possible? It's well, it's very obviously the cup of God's wrath. The the cup of God's wrath, but there's something that you need to know about this cup that Jesus was made to drink It was the cup of God's wrath For everybody. I mean if anybody else ever had to drink this cup it was for themselves Okay, if anyone has ever made to drink the cup of God's wrath It's not going to be your cup that they're going to be made to drink. It's not somebody else's cup It's going to be their own cup. Do you understand that Jesus drank it for all and And and and whoever came up with the idea that Jesus only drank that cup for the people who would accept it Didn't fully read the scriptures because let me show you something here earlier You know look look at this look at this and from first John. He is the atoning sacrifice for our Sins and look at this and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for the whole world That was a cup that so far goes beyond anything that you and I could imagine That Jesus was horrified at the thought and prayed Lord if there's any other way Let this cup pass let me reword that statement that prayer He's basically saying father if there's any other way for the sin of mankind to be covered If there's any other way to take care of their sins to pay the price So That they might be paid in full I pray that you would do it and allow this cup to pass from me As far as we know As far as we know Jesus was met that night with silence because he prayed this repeatedly And that silence is very important and sometimes you know we Christians. We don't like that silence Sometimes people will say they you know I prayed and I got silence well You know what that can be an answer and it was an answer in this particular situation And it was an answer from God the Father saying there is no other way Listen with some yahu comes into you gets up in your face and says oh you guys and Jesus Let me tell you there are many many ways to Get to heaven Jesus is only one of them You know right then while that person is talking they know nothing of the cross and they understand nothing of Gethsemane Because Jesus the Son of God cried out and said if there be any other way I Asked you to do it. There was no other way If there had been another way I am convinced God would have answered that prayer by his son But there was no other way that we might be saved and Jesus went to the cross because of that Verse 40 and he came to his to the disciples and found them sleeping And he said to Peter So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation and then this statement the spirit indeed is willing But the flesh is weak by the way that if you want to just underline that part of that verse and just say that's me Because that's Christianity right there if you want to if you want to understand Christianity what it means to be a follower of Jesus That's pretty much us right there. That's that's you know, it's my calling card. I just whip it out and I go Yeah spirit is willing flesh is weak Yeah, didn't that describe you too? Yeah, that's pretty much all of us And you know, so Jesus isn't saying it in any kind of a you know condemning sort of a way It's just the reality of kind of who we are and that's why we pray right is a spray guys Because you know the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So you got to you know, pray and and so forth If you skip with me now down to verse 47 It says that while he was still speaking because in verse actually, let me read verse 46 rise Let us be going see my betrayer is at hand and while he was still speaking Judas came Obviously one of the twelve and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs These guys came heavily armed probably, you know, because they were afraid that you know, who knows how many followers there's going to be and and they might Decide to get violent and and of course Peter's only one that did and and it says that that Judas had arranged a Signal so that they might not mistake who it was That he that they were to seize and You know, it was gonna be dark obviously, so he wanted to lead them to the right person. So he came up to Jesus Greeted him greetings teacher kissed him verse 50 says that Jesus said friend do what you came to do and They and they basically grabbed him and then we're told in verse 51 that one of those That was with Jesus Drew up his sword and started swinging it and managed to cut off someone's ear Matthew was very very gracious probably had a pact with Peter. I Can imagine something like that happening, you know Peter going to Matthew listen dude if you ever write about this Would you just kind of not mention me by name on the whole sword ear thing because that was really embarrassing John's like it was Peter Pete Pete did it Peter did it. I was there. I saw it. Boom ear fell hit the ground That's how we know and you know Jesus Had to and it doesn't say it here in Matthew's account, but Jesus actually healed the the servant who had had his ear cut off and and Told Peter to put his sword verse 52 back in its place Great statement for all who take the sword will perish by the sword and I love this statement to in verse 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? You know, we're not to this day We're not exactly sure how many it doesn't really matter How many angels he was talking about because what we know is that when a Roman Legion was at its full strength It included six thousand soldiers. So if you put that together you come to 72,000 angels which would have been major overkill because you know, we saw single angels in the Bible wipe out Thousands of people in any given time and so you can only imagine what? 72,000 angels would have done for the situation had they been brought on to the scene But the point of this lest we lose the essence of what Jesus is telling us here Is that this is going according to plan? This is the difficulty see we can we can relate to Peter because this doesn't look like it's going well at all And so he feels like I need to do something out comes the sword, you know, don't give a fisherman a sword It's not a good idea. He's great with a net He's great with a hook. He can handle a fish with his eyes closed. Don't give the boy a sword you'll end up probably missing an ear and And and you know, but that's that's the heart of Peter but it's the heart of all of us when we feel at a loss to know what to do and we feel as we so Often feel do we not that things are out of control and Jesus says listen This looks like it's out of control, but it is not don't you think I could call and ask my father for for? Angelic host to appear here in a moment, but yet if I did, you know It would only frustrate the plan of God that plan that said that Jesus must suffer in our place and at that hour Jesus said to the crowds and I and as kind of a last conviction he says he basically asked them some questions here and he says You know, I every day I was in the temple courts and I was preaching publicly hundreds probably thousands of people listening since it was during the feast and and and we we know that Jerusalem would have swelled to a you know a huge Enormous multitude of people during the feast times and and Jesus says, you know, I was there every day Right there in the public eye You could have taken me anytime But you chose to do it now And you have to wonder if Jesus is giving one last appeal to the hearts of this crowd who had come along He's not trying to get out of what's going on But you have to you have to wonder if he's appealing to the hearts of some of those Individuals who had come with swords and clubs who just in a moment of time would think to themselves You know, he's right What am I doing? We've come here under the shroud of darkness why because that's how Satan operates in darkness That's where he does his thing Look at way back in the beginning of the book of John John chapter 30. You guys remember this? everyone who does evil Hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed But whoever lives by the truth doesn't that doesn't have a problem with the light they come into the light And they don't mind that it be seen plainly that what they've done. They've done through God, but but This whole situation was all too much for the disciples and this passage that we're looking at here ends with these words Then all the disciples left him and fled and in the end Jesus Went to the cross alone You ---