Jesus Loves Us

Campbell Chapel Free Will Baptist Church

Ironton, Ohio

Campbell Chapel FWBC of Ironton Ohio - Pastor Bob Bradley

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Free Will Baptist Church
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Ironton, Ohio 45638

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Jesus Loves Us

March 5, 2008

Bob Bradley

_________________________

Easter Bible School

John 18:1-13

Introduction

This will tell us something about how and what was really in Jesus Christ’s heart.

When things are going good, we may say a lot of things, but when push comes to shove, where the rubber meets the road; people will tells us what is in their hearts. Jesus knew that it was just going to be a matter of hours that He was going to be dying. He knew that He was getting ready to leave. As you read John 17, it is a wonderful portion of scripture to tell us how much that Jesus Christ really loved us and what He has given to us and provided for us. It is just a wonderful story.

We turn back to the Sermon on the Mount where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and Jesus said, “Our Father, which art in heaven…” and so forth. We call that the “Lord’s Prayer.” However, here in John 17, this is actually the Lord’s Prayer. He is praying here and He spent a long time here praying. When you read the accounts of the gospels, you find out that…we studied last week in John 13, the events that happened in the Upper Room—The Last Supper. We know that they ate together and Jesus told them there that one of you is going to betray me and they all began to look at one another and say, “Is it I.” Jesus said, “He that dips his hand with me in the dish or eating with me, it is going to be him that is going to betray me.” He looks around and Peter says, “They all may betray you, but not me. I’m not going to betray you. They may kill me, but I’m not going to betray you.” Anyway we know that the group broke up.

John 18:1-13

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.

6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he : if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,

13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

Remember the events that have taken place on Thursday night; He is going to die on Friday. They have had the Supper in the Upper Room somewhere, probably, around 6 or 7 o’clock. We know that Judas has left the band. He has already made arrangements to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. We know that deal has already been worked out. We know that Judas leaves the Upper Room and goes to get them. Judas knew where Jesus was going to go because the scripture said here that He went there many different times to pray.

Remember there are probably a million or two people in Jerusalem during this time because it was Passover season. There were people everywhere. Jesus knew what was coming. He had already told them, “My hour has come.” He knew that He was getting ready to die. He wants to get away from the crowd. He wants to get away from all the hustle and bustle. He wants to get out where He can get alone with His Father and He can pray.

That is a good lesson for you and me. When things are down, and when things don’t look good and the dark clouds are hanging very low, then the greatest thing that we can do is pray. The greatest thing that we can do is slip away somewhere and get on our faces before Almighty God and He will strengthen us.

As Jesus was praying, the Bible says that His sweat became as great drops of blood. There is no doubt that He prayed for an hour, two or maybe three. No doubt, He was exhausted, physically exhausted because of the weight that He was carrying and He knew what was coming.

The Bible says that an angel came and ministered unto Him. What that means is the angel came and strengthened Him because of the things that were going to take place. We know that Judas leaves the Upper Room. Judas goes to get the chief priest and the elders. Jesus comes out of probably Mary’s house in Jerusalem, comes out and goes through probably the Eastern gate; comes down the hill towards the Cedron valley.

If you read the book of Samuel and different places you will find out that the Cedron had some significance. We know that David was there and different things had happened in this place. We know that there is a garden there, the garden of Gethsemane; a garden filled with olive trees. We know they would take the olives on the trees and put them in a press and press the oil out of them and use the oil and sell the oil. However, here is where Jesus goes to get alone with God. He gets alone there. He brings the eleven with Him. He gets down to a certain place and they stop. He leaves eight of them here. He takes Peter, James and John. The Bible says that they go about another stone’s throw farther and they stop here then Jesus goes a little farther. He begins to pray.

Father, if it be thy will let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done. Do you know what Jesus was doing? He was not trying to get out of going to the cross for us; it wasn’t that at all. Do you know what He saw? He saw the suffering, the agony, the shame, and all the things that were going to go on with the cross. We may think that it was only for six hours. It was only just for a short time, but just think how He was hanging there with the weight and sin of all mankind hanging upon His shoulders. That was weight that was pressure like you and I will never understand what He was facing here and what He was looking at.

We know that He prays. He prays the prayer; He comes back and finds the disciples sleeping. He wakes them up and says, “Hey, guys can’t you even watch…one hour.” He goes and prays the same prayer again. We know that He does this again. He prays, comes back, and He finds them asleep again. He goes back and prays and third time then when He comes back the third time, He makes the statement, “sleep on.” As He is coming back and He gets back to where the disciples were at, Judas has already went to the chief priests, scribes and elders. They are coming now to get Him.

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

It is amazing. I have learned a lot over the years, but there were some things that I thought about today about this particular scripture that I had never thought about before.

When you go back to Genesis, do you know what you will find out? You will find that Adam, the beginning of the human race began in a garden. That is where it began at. Not only that, Adam’s sin, the first Adam, we know that is who the Bible says he was, Adam—he sinned in a garden. Jesus is now in a garden. Even though Adam sinned in the garden—and we know if you read the book of I Corinthians, we know that it speaks about Paul speaking about Jesus being the last Adam. We know that Adam sinned in the garden back in Genesis. We know that he brought reproach and death upon all mankind. Now, Jesus Christ is in a garden and He is about to purchase redemption for all mankind. It’s amazing!

We know we can read about heaven and some things that are there, but here he is in a garden. From where He left the Upper Room at with Mary and to where He got to where He is at in the garden, if I understand things, He probably traveled a mile. From where He was at in the Upper Room, where they The Last Supper to where He is at praying here now; it was probably a mile.

The Bible tells us something else here that I want you to notice. Keep this in mind. When He is praying, it is probably 8, 9, 10 o’clock at night. It’s dark outside. We know that it is cold. The Bible tells us that it is cold. If you read on down through here, when they take Jesus on in to Annas, and Caiaphas, we know that they build a fire in the court room because the Bible says it’s cold. We know that Peter goes out there and warms himself by the fire because he is cold. Therefore, we know that it is cold. Also, it is probably damp and dreary place down here in this valley. Here He is and Judas has already gone—the Bible says:

2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

Think about this. Jesus has been praying for an hour or two and from where Jesus is at and the road that would lead from Jerusalem down to where He was at, when He is praying and as He gets up from praying, do you know what from the valley he can look up the hill and see? He can see the soldiers coming. No, not because He knew they were coming but because they were carrying torches and lanterns.

If you would have been there that night and you would have looked up the hill back towards the city, you could have seen the soldiers coming several minutes before they got there. Can you imagine Him now? He knew that they were coming. He knew what was going to happen. He knew the very minute that they were going to get there. As He is praying, just think about Him looking up the hill and seeing all these torches coming over the hill and He knew that they were going to come to get Him. This is a sad story in many different ways and one of the sad things about his story is Judas—Judas and the opportunities that Judas had. I know that some folk want to teach that Judas got saved and backslid and all that. However, the Bible does not teach that. There is nothing in this scripture like that at all.

Judas was not a disciple. We learned a few weeks ago what a disciple was. We learned a disciple is a student, someone that is learning, someone that is an apprentice, someone that will attach themselves unto a journeyman to learn. Judas had not learned anything in the last three years even though he had followed Jesus, watched Him raise the dead, watched Him heal people, saw Him walk on water, he saw Him calm the storms but Judas had not learned anything about Jesus Christ. That is the sad thing.

When so many people are close to the church, they are around church people. They even come to church. They sit in the pews but they never learn anything. They never learn anything about God. I’m not saying that some people are not saved, but I am saying that there have been many that has come and been as faithful as any member that I have had, but they never got saved. That is sad. They are around all these events. They see God saving people. They see God do great things, but yet they don’t ever learn, or have enough faith in Jesus Christ to follow Him. That is a sad story.

Judas did not have to do what he did. Judas chose to betray Jesus. Judas chose to do what he did here.

3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Did you ever think about that much? Did you ever stop to consider what was going on here? Judas has made the deal with the chief priests and scribes for 30 pieces of silver—30, 40, or 50 dollars, that he will tell the chief priests and scribes where He is at so that they can come and get Him. It is just not a coincidence that this happened at night. With the popularity of Jesus, if they would have tried to get Him in the daytime or tried to go to downtown Jerusalem and get Him with all the people there and all the great things that Jesus had done; they would have had uproar on their hands.

Here they come. There is a word that I want you to remember. That word is band. That word in the original means “cohort” and the word “cohort” is one tenth of a legion of Roman soldiers. A legion of Roman soldiers is 6000, therefore one tenth of that would be 600. Here they come with six hundred people to get one man. They are coming with 600 people to arrest one man. They wanted to make sure they got Him, didn’t they?

The chief priests and scribes hated Jesus and wanted to get rid of Him. He was making them look real bad. They were supposed to be the religious leaders. They were supposed to be the ones teaching people about God, not somebody from up the road at Nazareth, not some carpenter. They were the ones that were supposed to be teaching people about God—not this guy. They wanted to get rid of Him. Six hundred of them come or there about with torches, lanterns and weapons. The majority of the people in this crowd did not know who Jesus was. If He had been standing in the middle of Jerusalem, they would not have known who He was. He would have just looked like anybody else. He had not been in there rioting doing a lot of things that got a lot of attention as far as negative things. These guys wouldn’t know who He was. The reason that I know that is because Judas had already made the deal with them for 30 pieces of silver but when he gets down to where He is at, “the fellow that I kiss is the guy, that’s the guy you need to arrest. You get a hold of Him and you hold Him fast. The guy that I kiss is the one that you want to take hold of.” That tells me that these soldiers that were coming did not know who Jesus was. They did not know what He looked like. They thought they were coming to get a criminal. They thought they were coming to get someone that was a real bad person. They had no idea what they were doing. They did not know who they were coming to get. Sure, they knew that they were coming to get this Jesus of Nazareth. They did not know who He was. They did not know what He looked like. They may have heard something about Him, but the sad part about it is that they were just following orders.

Here Judas is someone that has spent three years with Him and Judas is leading the way. Isn’t that sad. Judas spent three years, ate, watched, walked, and slept and all these things with Jesus and now just for a little bit of money, he has sold, he has betrayed Him and now he is leading a band soldiers to come and arrest Him. I think that Judas had some other motives in mind. No, I really don’t think that Judas thought that they were going to kill Him—if you read the whole context of things. No, I don’t think that all. However, that did not make any difference because he is the one that brought the crowd there. He made his bed and as the old saying goes, now he was going to have to lay in it.

3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

Here they are Jesus and the other disciples that were there, here comes this band, hundreds of them and no doubt they probably surround Jesus. He asks the question, “Who are you guys looking for?”

5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.

In our little skit tonight, we learned that Judas led them, but not only did he lead them there but it was just like—he was leading the enemies of Jesus where that they could get Him. He stood as they come to the garden to get Him. Judas chose to stand with the enemies of Jesus Christ.

I want to tell you something today, I have never saw in a time in all my life when we are seeing so many people siding with the enemy. When we choose the enemies of Jesus Christ, we are going to lose. There is no hope for you. If you choose and you live and you die being an enemy Jesus Christ, hell is your destiny. The lake of fire is where you are going to go for eternity. There is no hope for you.

Here Judas is standing in the crowd with all those that are around there. They ask who they were looking for. They said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, said, “I am He.”

6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

I would have liked to have been there that night, wouldn’t you? This should have got some of these guys attention. He just spoke the words, “I am, He.” That is great power.

He did not blow on them like we see some on TV do. He did not walk by and wave His arm. He did not come by and push on them. He just spoke and with authority and with the power that is in His Word, they just hit the ground.

Do you know what He could have done? He could have just killed them all. He could have just spoke His Word and they would have been gone. He is God; He can do what He wants to. Do you know what He was letting these guys know? You guys are not taking me, but I am willingly going with you. That is exactly what He was letting these fellows know.

7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he : if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

The other eleven disciples were there and He says let them go. If you are looking for me then let these others leave. Jesus loved these fellows. As we read and studied back in John 17, He loved them. He prayed for them. He prayed that God the Father would keep them from evil, to bless them, to help take care of them. Now He knew what was coming. He their hearts was going to be broken. He said let them go.

9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

When you read this verse, He is not talking here that these people are going to be lost, that He don’t have the power to take of them. He is not talking about that at all. He is wanting us to understand how much that He loved them and how much that He did not want them to be hurt, how much that He did not want them to be arrested, how much that He did not want them to get in the middle of this thing. He knew that they could not do anything about it anyway.

10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

When we first look at this and don’t look at it deeply we may think that Peter is doing a great thing. When they started laying hands on Jesus to take Him away, Peter probably had a little short sword that he kept on his side and he jerked it out. He was going to kill this guy. He was not just trying to cut his ear off. He wanted to kill him. Peter was doing some things here that Peter should not have been doing. It was the will of the Father for Jesus Christ to die on a cross, to die there and shed His blood for me and you. Peter was trying to fight against the will of God. Peter was trying to take a stand to do some things that was not God’s will. Sometimes we look at things and even sometimes we do things that are not in God’s will. When we look at Peter and what he did we might think that is a great thing that he is trying to defend the Lord. However, He has already told him that He was going to die. He has already told them what was going to come about. He has already told him that His kingdom was not of this world. If went on to read the next few chapters it goes on “…if my kingdom was of this world then my disciples would fight…” He had already told Peter and the others here that was wrong. Not only that, but this could have cost Peter his life. If Jesus would not have healed, this guy and put his ear back on his head; Peter probably would have went with them—they would have arrested Peter also. Sometimes we do things we do things like thinking that we might be doing good things, thinking that we might be doing things that are going to bring glory to God, when in reality we are doing things that are just the opposite of that. I hope you have been reading a little bit in Jeremiah 36, 37, 38 or 39 about Zedekiah. Zedekiah was a fellow that God said you need surrender. You need to surrender and open up the doors of the city and let the Babylonian army come in and if you will do that then everything will be alright. You will go into captivity, but if you will do that then everyone will be alive, they won’t burn the place down, they won’t tear it up—but do you know what Zedekiah would not do? He would not do that. The Babylonians came and because he wouldn’t open up the doors when they came outside, he took off running, but they caught him on down the road and brought him back. Because he would not obey the voice of God, the first thing they did was kill his sons then the second thing they did was poke out his eyes. They then took him to Babylon anyway.

Many times we might think that would have been a bad thing to just open up the gates and let the enemy come in, but there is a line that we cross that there is no return until we face the judgment and chastising hand of Almighty God. That’s true. Many times we get caught up in our sin and we actually do repent but that does not change the fact when God says I’m going to chastise you or to judge you for what you have done, that does not stop that.

Peter here is trying to do a thing that most would have thought would have just been great, but he was doing some things that was against the will of God. We do that a lot. He cuts off Malchus ear and Jesus said, “Peter, put your sword up.” He had told him before that he that lives by the sword is going to die by the sword. There is a lot of truth to that. I thought about this guy many times. It is dark. He gets his ear cut off and his ear hits the ground. Jesus just reaches down and puts it back on there. He did not sow it back on there. He did not glue it back on there. He just put it back on there. Isn’t that awesome. One of His enemies, He healed just a matter of hours before He himself was going to die. Do you know why He did that? Had he not done that, Peter probably would have been arrested and there would have been another cross on Calvary instead of the three that were there. It shows us how much He loved even His enemies.

We are not to kill our enemies. Jesus tells us that we need to pray for our enemies. Do good to them that despitefully use you. We are not to go out and kill our enemies. We are to go out and try to get our enemies saved. We are to do good to them. We need to feed them when they are hungry. If they are cold we need to give them some clothes; not kill them. It is God’s will that we see our enemies come in and be saved.

11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

The cup here was the suffering that He was about to go through. He says, “Peter, put up your sword. If I want to, I could call for legions and legions of angels and they would come and rescue me. That is not the will of my Father. I have to drink this cup, the judgment, the suffering that is going to come, all the pain and agony, all the things coming; I have to drink this. He was making it very plain.

12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,

He heals Malchus, and puts his ear back on and everything is just fine. He tells Peter to put up his sword. As you read the other context of the scriptures here when they lay hands on Jesus, the disciples scatter into the night. They were scared to death because they did not know what was going to happen. He had already told them that they were going to do that. He said, you are going to smite the shepherd and the sheep are going to be scattered. Jesus knew exactly what they were going to do. They made some brags about how tough they were and what they were not going to do. Even Peter, being a rugged guy, as tough as he was; made the statement, “Lord, I’ll never leave you. They may kill me but I’ll never deny you.” But Jesus said that before the cock would crow twice that Peter was going to deny him thrice.

13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

At this time it is probably one or twelve o’clock at night. They are taking Him back up inside the city walls of Jerusalem. They take Him to Annas used to be the high priest here. He is the father-in-law to Caiaphas. What that tells me is that Annas is still yet the fellow in charge. This is where the Sanhedrin, where the mob was already gathered. They knew what they were doing. They had made plans on what they were going to do. They were going to go down there and arrest Him and this is where they bring Him to. They bring Him back and lead Him away to Annas first for he was the father-in-law to Caiaphas which was the high priest that same year.

14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.

16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.

They take Jesus to Annas house. This is my thoughts, but the other disciple that was known to the high priest, I think was John. I don’t know that for sure but there are some theologians that think it could have been Joseph of Arimathaea, some thinks that it could have been Nicodemus, but I personally think that it was John. Because I don’t know that if it would have been Nicodemus or Joseph if they would have knew Peter that well to actually go out and bring Him in. I know that John knew him. From what I can find out John was very well known unto the high priest.

The other disciple goes in with Jesus into the palace. Peter stops at the door. He is on the outside. The Bible says that after a while that the other disciple that went inside with Jesus come and spoke to the maid that is guarding the door comes and brings in Peter. Now from 12 or 1 o’clock at night up until 6 o’clock on Friday morning they are going to shift Him around inside the city of Jerusalem. They are going to pull out his beard; they are going to spit in His face. They are going to do all kinds of cruel things to him. All of it was completely illegal for even the Jewish people because they were not doing it in the daylight hours; they were doing it under the cover of darkness.

Keep this in mind. All that He is going through, He is going through for you and all of us. He was going through this for all of us. He knew that just in a matter of hours, nine o’clock actually on Friday morning, that they were going to take Him and nail Him—take nails, they may have had some ropes around Him but they nailed Him to the cross.

A few years ago they came out with this story where they had found the shroud that He was rolled up in. I guess they wanted to sell tickets for people to come and look at this thing. However, as they unrolled it and unfolded it--(sure it had blood spots on it) but where His hands were at, there was not any blood. Friend, you drive a nail through your hand there is going to blood there.

He is doing this all for me and you. A few hours from this very time they were outstretch His arms and nail them onto an old tree. They were going to pick it up and bring it over to a hole that they had dug in the ground and they were going to drop it in the hole and that’s where Jesus was going to die.

He did that so you and I would not have to die. People that are saved are never going to die. We died out to sin when we got saved and we are never going to die. If you are saved tonight, you have eternal life. You are alive in Jesus Christ and you are never going to die. This body may give up the ghost. This will be buried somewhere one day but the real person, the real you on the inside will never ever die. Isn’t that awesome.

He suffered and died so that you and I can live. If you don’t know Him tonight, this would be a great night for you to make things right with the Lord. He loves you so much that He went to the cross, suffered, bled and died that we might be able to be saved; that we might have the great freedom, liberty, and the opportunity to know that He is our Savior. He is our rock, refuge, He is our strength but above all He did that so that we can be saved.

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