Father, we do praise you. Thank you for the privilege to
come and praise you this morning.
We pray now as we give our attention to your word, that you
would help us to give it the attention that it deserves
because it comes from You. And so Lord, help us to silence
the distractions or help us to lean in.
Help us to be all here. Lord, I believe you have a word
for us and Lord, make us good soil to hear it that it might
bear fruit in our lives. For your glory we pray in Jesus
name, Amen. Our text this morning is John 18
verses one through 27. Please follow along in your
Bible or in the bulletin. When Jesus had spoken these
words, he went out with his disciples across the Brook
Kidron where there was a garden which he and his disciples
entered. Now Judas who betrayed him also
knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers
from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with
lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came
forward and said to them, Whom do you seek?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said to them, I am He. Judas who betrayed him was
standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am
He, they drew back and fell to the ground.
So he asked them again, Whom do you seek?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus answered, I told you that I am He.
So if you seek me, let these men go.
This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken of.
Those whom you gave me I have lost not one.
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the
high priest servant and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, Put your
sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that
the Father has given me? So the band of soldiers and
their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and
bound him. First they led him to Anas, for
he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest
that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised
the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should
die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus and
so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to
the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the
high priest. But Peter stood outside at the
door. So the other disciple who was
known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant
girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in.
The servant girl at the door said to Peter, You also are not
one of this man's disciples, are you?
He said I am not. Now the servants and officers
had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were
standing and warming themselves. Peter also with them, standing
and warming himself. The high priest then questioned
Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
Jesus answered him. I've spoken openly to the world.
I've always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews
come together. I've said nothing in secret.
Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard me and what
I said to them. They know what I said.
When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by
struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Is that how you answer
the high priest? Jesus answered him.
If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong.
But if what I said is right, why do you strike me?
Anas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming in himself.
So they said to him, You also are not one of his disciples,
are you? He denied it and said, I am not
one of the servants of the high priest.
A relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked, Did I
not see you in the garden with him?
Peter again denied it and at once a rooster crowed.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, please be
seated. Some sermons you prepare with a
smile on your face, and others you prepare with a tear in your
eye. The difference between all the
light in John 17 and all the darkness in John 18 is striking,
and it demands a different kind of sermon.
In John 18 we have some of the darkest moments for Judas, Peter
and Jesus. Jesus has moved from the upper
room where he was with his friends to the Garden of
Gethsemane where he will encounter many enemies.
But shockingly, 2 of his friends, Judas and Peter fail
him. In his Gospel, John has given us
the most exalted picture of Jesus.
Think of the I AM statements and the teachings and his
relationship with the Father and the miracles.
But now John also gives us the most humbling picture of
humanity, of us, the Word of God.
It's like a mirror, and we hold it up and gaze into it.
But as we do that this morning, just like so many other
mornings, the picture is not pretty because we see a
reflection of ourselves in Judas and Peter, these weak and flawed
men who fail. And they remind us that we are
weak and flawed men and women who fail in our own ways.
We've betrayed and denied the Lord, and we don't need clever
illustrations to bring it to life right here.
Judas and Peter are the living illustrations of our false
discipleship. But in their failures, we also
see the faithfulness of Jesus, who presses through betrayal and
denial in faithful love for his people.
So we're taking time this morning to learn from these men
and their failures and the faithfulness of Jesus.
So in chapter 18, we really see the failures of Judas and Peter.
We have to go back in the story to understand what happened.
How did they get here? Why are they like this?
And so we'll go back and then we'll come forward and see what
we can learn from Judas and Peter and then Jesus.
So as we start with Judas, we learn that we can live close to
Jesus and not know him. Judas had all the benefits of
living close to Jesus. Jesus called him to be one of
the 12 part of his inner circle, friends, Co laborers.
He had access to everything that we want for ourselves and our
friends and our children. Judas lived close to Jesus
teaching and his example and his miracles.
Think about it. He heard the sermon on the
mount. He was in the boat when Jesus
calmed the storm. He was there when Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead. Judas spent three whole years
travelling and ministering with Jesus.
We have to assume Judas was sent out with the rest to preach and
heal and cast out demons. We have to assume that it must
have gone well, that he had a fruitful ministry.
He had all the evidence that should lead to a life changing
faith. But in the end, in chapter 18,
we see Judas betraying Jesus. And I want us to see two
striking things about the betrayal.
First, Jesus knew it would happen.
Jesus knew it all the way back in John 670.
You remember the Bread of Life sermon.
And people can't handle what Jesus is saying.
And a lot of people go away and are no longer following.
And Jesus asks his disciples, do you guys want to leave too?
And that's when Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
The very next verse Jesus says, did I not choose you?
The 12 And yet one of you is a devil.
Jesus was talking about Judas. He knew this was going to
happen. I believe he knew it from the
very start. So let that sink in that Jesus
knew Judas would betray him and he called him anyway.
As strange as it sounds, Judas was part of the plan and Jesus
knew it. But it's also striking.
The disciples didn't know it. They didn't see it coming.
They didn't know it. In John 1321, after the foot
washing, when Jesus says truly, truly, I say to you, one of you
will betray me. John says right there.
The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he
spoke. And in Matthew 26, the disciples
are just distraught and they all start asking, is it I Lord?
Is it I Lord? Is it I Lord?
They had no idea Judas life had given no indication that he
would betray Jesus. Judas was the pastor who goes
off the rails and no one saw it coming.
He was the spouse who walks out on the marriage and then walks
out on their faith. And no one would have predicted
it would be that person. God's hand seemed to be upon
Judas's life. The disciples didn't even get it
at the table when Jesus said it is he of whom I will give this
morsel of bread when I have dipped it.
Which makes me think that Judas had to be sitting close to Jesus
that night, close enough to share the same bowl.
Think about that. close enough for Jesus to say to him what
you're going to do, Do quickly, and close enough that maybe he
said it quietly enough. The disciples hardly caught it
because John says in 1328 no one knew why Jesus said this.
They thought Jesus was telling Judas to go buy something, they
need it. Think about it.
If the disciples actually knew what Judas was going to go do,
do you think they would have let him walk out the door without a
fight? We know Peter has a sword, even
if he's not good with it, so what's the point?
The disciples had no clue Judas was orchestrating the most
infamous betrayal in history. Behind the scenes.
He has struck this deal and he is about to hand Jesus over.
What a warning for all of us. We can live really close to
Jesus and not actually know Jesus.
We can be in corporate worship every Sunday.
We can read the Bible and Christian books, we can be
active in ministry and not actually have a saving
relationship with Jesus. Listen to Jesus terrifying words
in Matthew 721 through 23 words. I imagine Judas sat and listened
to not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the
Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father
in heaven on that day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name
and do many mighty works in your name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
It's the ultimate warning for Judas and for anyone who lives
close to Jesus without knowing him.
It's easy to think of following Jesus like baking a cake.
So we take these different ingredients and mix them
together and outcomes a cake. So for us and for the people we
care about, think, oh, we'll take some word of God and prayer
and fellowship and worship and mission and mix it together and
out will come a disciple. But the transformation happens
when we bake a cake. Why?
Because you put it in the heat, you put it in the oven, and it
becomes like a whole new thing. And that's what seemed to be
lacking in Judas's life. The light, the heat of the Holy
Spirit. Because we can live close to
Jesus, but apart from the work of the Spirit, our eyes will not
be open, our heart will not be caused to beat.
We'll remain dead. Our life won't be changed.
We'll just be a mix of ingredients.
Without the fire, we'll be a whitewashed tomb, beautiful on
the outside, hiding dead bones on the inside.
Does this describe you? Are you in all the right
Christian places, saying all the right Christian words, doing all
the right Christian things? But if you're honest, lacking
life, lacking heat, if that's you, do you feel the warning
from Judas's life? In John 12, four through 6, we
get one clue about what was going on in Judas heart.
You remember the scene? Mary had anointed Jesus with
this expensive ointment and Judas complaints that it's been
wasted. Why would you waste this on
Jesus? And Judas asked why was it not
sold in the money given to the poor.
He acts like he has this genuine concern for the poor.
But John tells us he said this not because he cared about the
poor but because he was a thief and having charge of the money
bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
I don't know when John figured that out.
That's not clear. I bet he put it together later.
But this is clear. Judas had unconfessed sin in his
life and it was greed. He was a thief.
He was stealing money people gave to support Jesus ministry
and he was acting like he cared about the poor.
Remember Paul's words in first Timothy 610 and think about
Judas as you hear this. For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil. It's through this craving that
some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves
with many pangs. Can you relate to this?
Maybe, like Judas, you just wish you could have a little bit
more. And because of that love of
money, you can be bought. There's a price at which you
will walk away from Jesus. I think about Esau in the Old
Testament basically trading his birthright for a cup of Stew.
What would you trade Jesus for? For Judas, it only took 30
pieces of silver. It's probably about four months
wages back then. And this is the closest thing we
have to a chink in Judas armor, like a foothold that Satan could
use to get into his life. And I think that's what happened
because Judas refused to bring his darkness into the light.
He sat on that secret and he gave Satan an inch and Satan
took a mile. So Luke says Satan entered into
Judas, and John says the devil put it into his heart to betray
Jesus. But this was only possible
because Judas made it possible. He opened the door of his heart
for the Prince of Darkness to enter.
Imagine Judas sitting at the table with Jesus, hearing some
of this most amazing teaching from the last few chapters.
But he didn't know Jesus. He sat there pretending to be a
disciple, and then he walked out, grabbed some soldiers, and
betrayed Jesus with a kiss, with a sign of affection.
Do you have unconfessed sin in your life?
Is there some dark secret no one knows?
If you do hear this, just like Judas, people won't know it.
But Jesus knows it. And if the story of Judas
doesn't scare you, I fear for you.
I don't want any of you to live close to Jesus but not know him.
So consider Judas this morning. Cry out to God, Holy Spirit,
open my eyes. Help me to bring my darkness
into the light. Jesus, forgive my sins and make
me new. So if you're living close to
Jesus but don't know him, I pray that even this morning he would
save you by the power of his grace.
Now, as we turn our attention to Peter, we're reminded of a
different lesson. It's this.
We can know Jesus but not understand his mission.
We can know Jesus and not understand his mission.
The author Michael Card argues that Peter is the only other
fully formed character in the Gospels.
Think about that. We have Jesus and we have Peter,
and everyone else is kind of a bit character.
But what a gift that it's Peter, right?
This man who's so like us, so ordinary and relatable, No
formal education. He loved to fish.
He was a small business owner. We learned so much about Jesus
just by the way he interacts with Peter.
So think about Peter's story from the beginning.
He was drawn to Jesus. His brother brought him to
Jesus, and he comes and he's excited.
Peter loved Jesus from the start, but he didn't love Jesus.
Mission. This is clear in Matthew 16 when
Peter has one of his highest highs and one of his lowest lows
back-to-back. First Peter confesses you are
the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus is excited
and calls him blessed and tells him the Father has revealed this
to him. Very next text says Jesus starts
to explain to the disciples that the Christ will have to suffer
and be killed and be raised on the third day.
I really think Peter missed the raised part but he didn't miss
the suffering part. So he hears that the Christ will
suffer and he he just goes crazy.
Peter takes Jesus aside and starts to rebuke him says for
far be it from you Lord, this will never happen to you.
And in this moment, Jesus says to him, get behind me, Satan.
From high to low. Jesus came to die for his
people. And here's Peter standing in the
way of that mission. In that moment, Peter was
opposing God's will. He was more devil than disciple.
So Jesus would talk to the disciples multiple times about
his plan, about his mission, but they never seemed to get it
because they had no category for a savior who would suffer or
even a savior who would serve. So Jesus washes Peter's feet and
takes this place of a servant and Peter resists that.
And then in our passage, Jesus hands himself over to be
arrested and Peter resists that. He takes up his sword and starts
swinging. He's fighting for Jesus.
Thankfully he wasn't great with a sword.
He probably wanted a head and just got an ear.
And you know, in another text that says Jesus on the spot
heals that ear, Peter turns to violence because he doesn't
understand Jesus mission or he understands it all too well and
just doesn't agree with it. Jesus planned to save his people
and build his church through suffering and sacrifice through
costly love. But Peter thinks the movement
should be more about power and privilege.
Peter loves Jesus, but he doesn't love his mission.
He has his own agenda. So Peter does the wrong things
you could say for the right reasons.
He loves Jesus. He wants to save them from
suffering and that's what he tries to do, but Jesus doesn't
thank him for it. Peter probably expected a thank
you for standing up for me. And Jesus rebukes them.
Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that
the Father has given me? Can you relate to Peter?
Do you know and love Jesus but struggle to get on board with
this mission? You hear him saying deny
yourself and take up your cross and follow me and you're like,
yes, Lord, I love you. But that sounds really
uncomfortable. Could we maybe just do it with
power and privilege? Could we maybe just save
ourselves and our children from suffering?
Church history is just littered with stories of people doing the
wrong things for the right reasons, relying on the worldly
power instead of the Holy Spirit, conquering our enemies
with quick violence instead of the long Rd. costly love.
Have you ever noticed though, wherever the church seems to
enjoy power and privilege, it seems like decay and decline are
just right there with it. But when God's people faithfully
endure persecution and suffering, the church grows.
There's revival. We see amazing things, but we're
still tempted to find a shortcut around suffering.
Because it's easy. Easy to send people on crusades
and hard to send people to go plant a church.
It's It's easy to send soldiers. It's hard to send missionaries.
It's easier to fight theological battles with people than to lay
down our lives for them. So the big point is it's easier
to grab for a crown than take up a cross.
But Jesus makes it so clear the cross comes before the crown.
So why do we think life will go differently for us?
Well, because we're like Peter. We think we can know Jesus and
not love his mission. But it's a profound disconnect,
isn't it, To love someone and not love their mission.
To say I love you, but I kind of hate what you're about.
And Jesus won't leave us there. And over time, the Lord changed
Peter in beautiful ways. So when an older Peter wrote his
letter First Peter, he had a very different perspective.
And if you go read it this afternoon, you'll see how much
he talks about the reality of suffering in the Christian life.
He calls us to faithful endurance as we suffer for
Christ. He calls us to rejoice even as
we share in Christ's sufferings. And the traditional story goes
that that Peter was crucified upside down because he didn't
think he was worthy to die like his Lord.
So Peter was naturally proud, but the Lord humbled him.
And Peter was naturally violent, but the Lord made him willing to
suffer for the cause of Christ. God used Peter's failure in the
Garden of Gethsemane to make him into a man who would follow
Jesus in his mission. And he'll use our
misunderstandings and failures to get us back on mission. 2IN
John 18 we see Peter lashes out to try to save Jesus from
suffering and then in the next scene he shrinks back to try to
save himself from suffering. We see Jesus trial starting with
Anas and it will continue as we go forward in the coming weeks.
Anas was Caiaphas, his father-in-law.
He was the former chief or chief priest, high priest.
He was like the high priest emeritus, a man with real power,
just no job anymore. But the soldiers take Jesus to
him first. He's kind of the man.
We won't focus on the interrogation because Peter's
really our main concern. But I think John was the other
disciple. He's always so hesitant to list
himself, but he, I think, was the one known to the high
priest. It was John who helped Peter get
in the door. It was John who witnessed this
moment so that we would know about it.
And what John does is highlight the contrast between Jesus and
Peter. Peter denies Jesus in verses 17
and 25 and 27. Earlier when Jesus could deny it
as at his arrest, he said I am he, I am he, I am he.
Now in a similar situation, Peter says I am not, I am not, I
am not one of his. And in between Peter's denials,
what we see is Jesus is on trial.
In the midst of that, Jesus is the one in real trouble.
And yet he denies nothing. Go talk to the people I've
taught out in the open. Go, go hear what I said.
I'm not hiding anything. And Peter's just watching from
the sidelines and he denies everything.
Which is amazing because in Matthew 2635, Peter tells Jesus,
even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.
And it says all the disciples said the same.
But their confidence cracks when the threat gets real.
Can you relate to this? We make these bold promises, but
when the when things get real, we fold.
We do the unthinkable. We act like we don't even know
Jesus. When has the heat gotten turned
up at work or school or in the neighborhood?
Have you ever denied that you're with Jesus or with his people?
When have we denied Jesus? Why do we do this, and what will
it take for us to have the strength not to do it again?
We're not going to find that answer in Peter.
And so we turn our eyes away from Peter, and we turn our eyes
to Jesus. So when we look at Jesus in John
18, what do we see? He is faithful to love us and
give himself for us. In John 18, he's arrested.
In John 19, he's crucified. And yet in both chapters, John
makes it clear that Jesus is reigning.
He's in control. This is in no way an accident.
This is his hour that He's been talking about in John, the
moment for which He came. This is how He'll bring glory to
the Father and salvation to his people.
This is how He'll fulfill the promise of the of the Old
Testament. Prophecies are being fulfilled
even in Judas. This is all part of the plan.
Look at verse 4. Jesus knew all that was going to
happen to him, and he didn't run.
Judas and his army come with lanterns and torches.
They're expecting a search. They're expecting a fight.
But Jesus is in a familiar place.
It's a place Judas knew well. They had probably had many sweet
times there together, which just adds to the pain.
This is probably the first place Judas would look, and that's
where Jesus goes. And they're ready to hunt Jesus,
but he just hands himself over who's really in control.
In John 17, Jesus wanted his disciples to hear something as
he prayed. That's what Pete said last week.
I think. In John 18, Jesus wanted his
disciples to see something as he surrendered.
He didn't send them off to spare them this moment.
He wants them to see that he's laying down his life willingly.
And so he steps forward and asks, whom do you seek?
They say Jesus of Nazareth. And he says I am he, the
simplest I am statement in John, so simple that a lot of people
don't even consider it an I am statement.
But professional soldiers hear this name and they draw back and
they hit the ground. Has the name of Jesus ever
stopped you in your tracks and caused you to fall to the
ground? Jesus asked them again.
They say they're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
And he tells them again, I am he.
You remember in Exodus, God revealed himself to Moses as I
am, and he said he was coming down to rescue and deliver his
people from slavery. And now in John, Jesus is
claiming to be I am the God who came to deliver his people from
sin. But how would he do it?
Here we see the power of this name.
I am. We see what he's about.
What is his mission? Jesus uses the power of his
name. I am he.
I am he not to save himself, but to save his friends.
So he says in verse 9, if you seek me, let these men go.
The great I am came to give his life for ours.
If you seek me, let these men go and they let them go.
You would think they would take all of them, don't you?
But Jesus says take me, forgive them.
Jesus was telling them, my life for theirs.
And Jesus would tell you this morning, my life for yours, my
life for yours. Just think about Jesus love for
his people. He endures betrayal and
misunderstanding of his mission and denials here and then it'll
be trials and abuse and ultimately the cross.
But in the face of our failures, Jesus is perfectly faithful to
love us, and he presses forward to drink the cup of God's wrath
so that we can lift the cup of God's salvation.
And that's what Peter came to see one day.
That's what Jesus wants us to see today, that we cannot out
fail his faithfulness. If we will simply look to Jesus,
we cannot out fail his faithfulness.
Peter's denial in John 18 becomes this defining moment in
his walk with Jesus. And Jesus will come back to this
in a few chapters after the resurrection, but just think
about John witnessing this and imagine how hard it would be to
tell this story about his friend.
This one of his worst moments in his life.
I think it's so painful for John that you see at the end he just
says at once a rooster crowed. You can't even say any more than
that. But imagine what Peter must have
felt. And now think about your own
failures. Maybe even this week, this
summer, there's some way that you have failed Jesus.
Deny Jesus, betray Jesus. And if your heart breaks, I want
you to hear what Luke says in the same moment.
This is Luke 2261. And the Lord turned and looked
at Peter, And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he
said to him, before the rooster crows today you'll deny me 3
times. And Peter went out and wept
bitterly. So in Peter's moment of deepest
failure, what happens? The Lord turned and looked at
him. And the question is, what was in
that look? Was it a look of disappointment
and judgement? I don't think so.
I believe Jesus looked at Peter and loved him.
And it was that look of love that broke Peter's heart,
because it was a love that he couldn't understand and he could
never deserve. It was God's unfailing love for
a failing man. And that love would one day take
Simon, who really appears more like a pile of sand, and make
him, by the power of God's Spirit, a rock.
Peter So friends, in the moment of your deepest failure, I want
you to imagine Jesus turning and looking at you, not with a look
of disappointment or judgement, but with love.
And the question is, will you reject that love like Judas, to
your own destruction? Or will you trust in his, in his
faithful love like Peter? Will you let him change your
life? Will you let him swallow up your
failures in His unfailing love? So look to Jesus this morning.
Come to know Him truly, and then know the joy of following Him in
His mission. Love, so amazing, so divine,
demands our soul, our life, our all.
Let's pray together. Father, We're so grateful for
this text. It alarms us, it warns us, but
it also encourages us. I pray for those who feel like
Judas this morning or who feel comfortable, or would you
afflict them and help them to see the danger that they're in?
Should they not turn and run to Jesus or open their eyes, make
their hearts beat for you, and I pray that they would cry out to
you for salvation. I also pray for those who feel
more like Peter, who feel afflicted, who feel the
heaviness of their failures and their weakness and their sin.
Lord, would you comfort them today by the promise of your
unfailing love? Lord for all of us, we pray that
you would draw us closer, that we might know you truly and
follow you in your mission. Lord, take Your word and drive
it deep into our hearts and give us grace to understand it and
apply it now in Jesus name, Amen.