Latest / Grace Longmont / JOHN49 - Arrest

Transcript

JOHN49 - Arrest · Grace Longmont

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Grace.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Right.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Cut it out.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I no, I feel very honored.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not some conquering hero.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: I just took three months off.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: So uh first things first, if you've started attending in the last three months, hi, I'm Jeff.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh I've been here 14 years, and I had a great time to reflect on my 14 years here, and I plan to be here another 14, which will get me to.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: I did the math.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Another 14 years from now, I'll be 65.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'm out.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh Lord willing, let's just make it through today.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: How's that?
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do want to cover cover a couple things before we get too too far into the text.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, again, thank you for the honor you showed to Abby and I and our family.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh the many, many cards of encouragement, the gifts.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: It's just I'm overwhelmed by the honor.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a successful sabbatical because so many people did so many awesome things while we were gone.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: So I think we need to honor Pastor John.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Now, generally, you want your substitute to be worse than you.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: But how awesome is it that God has blessed us with a youth pastor who has a doctrine in preaching and can bring us God's word like the Pentateuch that he did.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: So uh thank you, John.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh, all of our pastors who stepped up and pulled my weight for three months.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful for them.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you give a great thank you hug to James and Ali and uh Chip and Bethany and Carla.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Carla really won't want the hug, but give it to her anyway.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Um just everybody on staff, full-time, part-time volunteers, you guys make this place healthy.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: And I can only get away the way I did because you guys are awesome.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for that.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and really all of you who were here and stepped up and lived out being the body of Christ.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the sabbatical I took seven years ago, the church was in a very different place back then.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: We were still running two campuses, it was pre-COVID, and uh we were basically running two churches with one staff, and we were all fried and burned out, and I was the most burned out, but while I was gone, boy, it was weird.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: So to be able to do it healthy and to come back healthy is just awesome.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And we praise God for that.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and for all of you who lived in unity and managed your affairs well and contributed financially and with your presence and volunteered, and some of you led ministries, and some of you decided to manage conflict in-house and not make it a church issue.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm not taking that back now that I'm here.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, keep handling your business so that we can be a healthy church.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh, love it.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: But uh, one of the things I've been asked since being back, and especially the pastors were curious about this because there's stereotypes that when the senior pastor goes to a conference or on a vacation or a sabbatical, they come back with this brand new vision that's gonna change everything.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm Moses and went up on Mount Sinai or something.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: I didn't.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate that you don't have a golden calf when I came back.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: But one thing I do want to do differently, or at least more intentionally, during our services, is praying.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Chip said in the video, and we've said it every week now for a long time, we're a praying church.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: And I I think we are.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: I know many of you pray consistently.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: I know we wouldn't be healthy without the prayers of the people in our church.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: But when we gather here, we spend a lot of time trying to hear from God through his word, which is super important.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: But to let the Lord hear us and maybe to listen in silence is something I want to do more regularly and intentionally.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: And so, in the spirit of being back here with so many things I'm thankful for, I want to take the next few minutes as a church and just give you the opportunity to sit quietly with your Lord and be thankful.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Just pray prayers of thanksgiving to God.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: So whenever somebody might ask you, well, what do you do at that grace church?
5:01
SPEAKER_00: When we get together, we pray.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: So the length of this time might feel awkward to some of you, or some of you might be like, I just got started.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: But I want to put some time of our services to prayer.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: So let's just do that.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Be thankful in prayer for the next few minutes.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, from the tiniest things we can remember to the grand things of your redemptive plan, we have so much to be thankful for.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this church.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for gathering us here today.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you're working a plan that we only see part of.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for creating all of the things we enjoy.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for fixing what we break.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the brotherhood and sisterhood of belonging to you, and the joy that comes with belonging, and the freedom that comes with forgiveness.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, that you sent your son.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: In the coming weeks, as we think and prepare ourselves for the celebration of the incarnation of Jesus' arrival, and as we study the texts that tell of his sacrifice and his crucifixion, resurrection, let the first thought when we think of Jesus be one of thanksgiving.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Help us today as we study your text and as we think about you.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Help us to find stability in knowing who you really are and who we really are.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: That is what to properly understand you and what you have made us to be.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: That we will be brought into all of the joy and all of the love that proceeds from you.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: I pray for your presence to be in the message in our hearts, helping us understand things that we can only understand by the power of your spirit.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: We pray these things in Jesus' name.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's been three months for me.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: I hope I remember how to do this.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: But it's also been five months since we were in the Gospel of John.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: So we are going to be back in the Gospel of John.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 18 is where we left off.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: And we left off right as Jesus has finished the upper room discourse with the disciples.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: So chapters 13 through 17, Jesus is in the upper room.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: They're having their Passover meal.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is telling them about the Holy Spirit who's about to come, telling them how to abide in him.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: And he's just finished, and now they are walking out where he will meet his fate.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: So the scene we're going to talk about today is the arrest of Jesus.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've had three months to think about this passage.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: So I hope you're ready for some deep end stuff.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to refresh our memory on some of the themes.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: And some of the themes that John has been weaving into his gospel, so we're not starting cold after this time.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: And one of the major themes of John is who is Jesus?
8:49
SPEAKER_00: If you remember from a year and a half ago, or if you just happen to know John 1 pretty well, in the beginning was the word.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: And John establishes in the first sentence Jesus is the grand unifying theory of everything.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: He's not just some guy from Nazareth.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: He's not just a good teacher.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: He was in the beginning with God, and he is God.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: And he is the answer that everybody has been looking for throughout all of human history.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: John is also writing his gospel a couple decades after the other three Gospels were written.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: So he is familiar with Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And so what John is doing in his gospel specifically is filling in gaps, telling the story in a thematic way as opposed to just a chronological way, and probably even answering questions that some of his audience would have.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I read the three gospels, John, but who was it that pulled the sword out to cut off the guy's ear?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Because the other gospel accounts just say a disciple.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Will you tell us who it was?
9:53
SPEAKER_00: And John's like, it was Peter.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: It's Peter.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: It's always Peter.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: But some of these themes he's putting in there are light versus darkness.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: Or the phrase we've used a lot in the Gospel of John, behold, believe, have life.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Somebody bears witness so that you can behold, so that you can believe, so you can have life.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: Again and again, this theme is there.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: One of the things in our culture that we need the Gospel of John themes for is if Jesus is these things, what do I do?
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Who am I?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times our culture wants to answer the who am I identity questions without worrying about Jesus at all.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's usually the go-to way of doing it.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: And so we've found ourselves in this complete chaos of identity.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: We play identity politics.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Movies and TV shows have to push identity themes.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys were aware, there was an election this week.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some of you celebrate the results, some of you are aggrieving the results.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Based on social media, a percentage of you doubt the results.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: I have my own thoughts about how things went, but but I was thinking about the election because I was thinking about this passage too, and I wrote this down.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: I said, politics are essentially a referendum on how people view themselves.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: What our political opinions are are based on what we think of humanity.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: How people should act, how people need to be corrected so they don't act.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: People who represent my worldview of people.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: And my team thinks this, and the other team thinks this.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully you're all smart enough to not pick a team.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: But what happens is because we're so lost on our identity and who we are as people, we just chase down the loudest voice, or we refuse the loudest voice.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: But at the end, how about AI?
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the world of AI.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: I saw some movies when I was a kid that this is bad.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know, maybe it's good.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, as a musician, I generally don't like AI because they're making my job obsolete.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: But as a preacher, I'm pretty sure there are things that AI can't do.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'll always have this job.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: But what's at the heart of it?
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, what's real?
12:40
SPEAKER_00: What's just a facsimile versus what's real?
12:44
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for humanity?
12:46
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for me?
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Who am I?
12:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, the thinkers that I respect have all written and taught that you can't understand you without understanding God.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what John is saying throughout his whole gospel.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Right out of the gate, who is Jesus?
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, he came to his own, but they rejected him.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: But to as many as received him, then this is what can become of you.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I'm still sketchy on who Jesus is.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how about seven I am statements?
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Where Jesus says, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the resurrection in the life, I am the way, the truth in the life, I am the sheep, uh shepherd, the good shepherd, I am the door for the sheep.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: John wants us to know who Jesus is.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: Politics will never answer the question.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Good friend of the church, Heath Hardesty, is a pastor in San Jose.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: He wrote a great book called All Things Together.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of the only book I read on sabbatical.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: I make no apologies.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: I only wanted to read one book and I read it.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: But in it, he talks about this.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: And he says, in our search for self, we look for answers without including God.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And so we're like castaways drinking salt water.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: The more we drink, the more we increase our thirst.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: And the more we clamor toward authentic humanity without turning to Jesus, the more frantic, violent, and fractured we become.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: In a nutshell.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: I think the problem with our world, one of the many, we have lost our fear of God.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: John Calvin, I Abby and I got to go to Geneva, Switzerland, and I got to see John Calvin's church.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: A little aside.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: If you go to the cathedrals, the great cathedrals in Europe, people go in there to pray.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: And I've seen a lot of the Catholic ones over the years, so I'm like, we Protestants aren't very good at this.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: But then I saw John Calvin's church in Geneva, and I'm like, oh, we can be.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: We can totally be good at this.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: We just have to want to do it.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: But Calvin put it this way: he said, our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists entirely of two parts: the knowledge of ourselves and the knowledge of God.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: We did a series on wisdom before sabbatical started.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Calvin would say, there is no wisdom unless you seek to understand who God is first.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Or A.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: W.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Tozer, another great preacher, wrote, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Where am I going with all this?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: The Gospel of John is at its heart, written so that we can know who Jesus really is.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: And only once we're there can we figure out where we belong.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Or how do we react to situations in our lives or in our world or in our politics?
15:56
SPEAKER_00: And so this scene that we're going to read about here of the arrest of Jesus, it's a famous scene.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of ways we can go at it.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: But the way John retells this event is all about who Jesus is.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: So you ready?
16:19
SPEAKER_00: John 18, I'm going to invite you to stand when you find it in your Bibles or on your phones.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read verses 1 to 12.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: 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.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: 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.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, Whom do you seek?
17:00
SPEAKER_00: They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, I am he.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: So he asked them again, Whom do you seek?
17:15
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, I told you that I am he, so if you seek me, let these men go.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Of those whom you gave me, I have lost not one.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: The servant's name was Malchus.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said to Peter, Put the sword into its sheath.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?
17:41
SPEAKER_00: This is God's word for us today.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons I'm glad we're diving back into John here is because we are entering the end game of the Gospel of John, where he's gonna pay off themes.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: In writing, playwriting, or movies or TV shows or whatever, there's this concept called Chekhov's gun.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard about this?
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Comes from the Russian playwright check off.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Not the Star Trek Chekhov, but the Russian playwright checkoff.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: And he said this.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: If you introduce a gun in Act 1, you gotta fire it by Act Three.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: It's basically the rule of writing that says if you're gonna foreshadow, you gotta pay it off.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna show a scene where the bomb hits the lizard, Godzilla's gotta show up.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: I just saw the Godzilla movie was great.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, you can't set something up and then not pay it off.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: John has been setting up so much that we get to recap today so that we can see how he's gonna pay it off.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Again, the light and darkness themes.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: How about this one?
19:07
SPEAKER_00: The behold.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: What do you seek?
19:11
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist in chapter one said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: See, the behold theme is there.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: The first disciples went and told each other, come and see what we found.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: Jesus healed the man born blind, and he said, I am the light of the world.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: See, come and see.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: What do you see?
19:31
SPEAKER_00: What are you looking for?
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Jesus asked Nathaniel.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus has two questions in this scene in chapter 18.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
19:43
SPEAKER_00: He has one question he asked twice.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: What are you guys looking for?
19:48
SPEAKER_00: Whom do you seek?
19:51
SPEAKER_00: That's John's question to all of his readers.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: But all of that is just precursor to this moment where Jesus is like, hey, I know you're looking for me, but I want to hear you say it.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Behold the lamb.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Even that's a setup.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Not the behold part, but the lamb part.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: What's a lamb good for sacrifice.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Behold the lamb that takes away the sin of the world.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: How is he going to do that?
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's a lamb.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, how's that going to pay off?
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, you introduce the lamb in chapter one.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be sacrificed before the book is over.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: This passage starts with when Jesus had spoken these words.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: What words?
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, go back to the end of chapter 17.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus known as the high priestly prayer.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: It's where he prays for his followers.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And he finishes it by saying, O righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Another huge theme in John.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: The love the Father and the Son share is now available to the followers of Jesus.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: The life of the Trinity is the everlasting life we receive.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Where does that life come from?
21:26
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, who has been alive forever, because it's the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father, and there's one God.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: That life given to the followers of Jesus is a theme in John.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: So if you're going to introduce that as the concept in the beginning, John chapter 1, in him was light, and that light was the life of men.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, what happens in the end when that life is snuffed out?
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I hope there's a payoff for that.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: There is.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: We're going to celebrate Easter the Sunday before Christmas.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: You'll want to be here for that.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: But this is how it's all paying off.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so specifically to this passage.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has spoken these words.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: He went out with his disciples across the brook Hidron, where there was a garden.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: What are the first three words of John?
22:28
SPEAKER_00: John's gospel, if you remember or if you want to cheat.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, does that sound like a theme?
22:36
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: And there was a garden.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: What happened in that first garden in the beginning?
22:49
SPEAKER_00: God was betrayed.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Well, now John, who started his gospel by referencing Genesis, is telling us there was a garden.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: And something's about to go down.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Now you might think, Jeff, really?
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Just the word garden?
23:08
SPEAKER_00: You're going to connect those dots?
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, yes.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: And you can add to it after the resurrection when Jesus meets Mary Magdalene and she thinks he's the gardener.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: That's coming up in John.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: And why did she think he was the gardener?
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, she wasn't expecting that the eternal life would still be alive.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: But also because he is the gardener.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And he planted the garden.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: And he led the disciples to a garden.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: And he hung out with the disciples in the garden because he knew his arrest was going to happen in that garden.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: They didn't arrest him at the wedding of Cana.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: They didn't arrest him in the temple courts.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: He even says, I was in the temple courts teaching.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: You didn't arrest me there.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: No, why?
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Because the betrayal happens in a garden.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Judas' betrayal is telling the story of humanity.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: If you introduce a garden in chapter 1, you pay off the garden in chapter 18.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Judas's betrayal is wholesale.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not saying we are all Judases.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: He had a very unique role in salvation history.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: If you're going to identify with somebody in Scripture, don't pick Judas.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: But inasmuch as we are found in Adam, this is telling our story.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And John gets very specific about this.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: It says, Judas having procured a band of soldiers.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I don't know what you picture in your head a band of soldiers is.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: This is a very loose translation to a very specific Greek phrase.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Detailing 600 Roman soldiers.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, were there all told 600?
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, checking that phrase against history, sometimes it was less than that, sometimes it was maybe like 200, but never below 200 to use that phrase.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: So anywhere from 2006 Roman soldiers are there that night.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: And not just them.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: Some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: So he got the temple brute squad.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: And the Roman soldiers.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: So Judas is leading a gang of Jews, Gentiles, and the spiritual forces of darkness to take down God in the flesh.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: That is representative of everything.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: And the best part is they are outnumbered.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Because what John wants us to know almost more than anything else is Jesus is not scared.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: He is directing everything.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: All of the action.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Who's in charge?
26:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's be conservative and say 400 Roman soldiers and the Temple Brute Squad.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Are they armed?
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: They were there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: But they don't know who they're there to get.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they know they're after Jesus of Nazareth, but they don't know who he is.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: There weren't pictures on the internet of who this guy was.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: They needed Judas to point him out.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: And John is like, yeah, Judas was there.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: John doesn't detail the whole kiss thing.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: That was in the other gospels because John knows his readers already know that part.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: He's going to tell them things like, yeah, Judas was there standing with them.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Make no mistake, the disciples were on one side, the garrison and the brute squad were on the other side, and Judas was with them.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: But who talks first?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: In John's account, Jesus.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And what does he say?
27:33
SPEAKER_00: What are you looking for?
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Whom do you seek?
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Word for word, what he said to the disciples in chapter one.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, we're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard of him?
27:51
SPEAKER_00: So there's seven I am statements in the Gospel of John.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Went through them earlier.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: I am the bread of life, I'm the light of the world.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: This is number eight.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't just say, Oh, you're looking for Jesus?
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Hi guys.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: He says the name of God in response.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: I am.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: You're looking for Jesus of Nazareth, I am.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
28:27
SPEAKER_00: They all fall over.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm no expert in history.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm kind of an expert in history.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: But one thing I do know, Roman soldiers don't just fall down.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: That's bad form.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, could you imagine Navy SEALs and green berets?
28:55
SPEAKER_00: All fall over because somebody talked.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Why does John tell it this way?
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Because he doesn't want anyone thinking, oh, he's a good teacher who got himself into some hot water.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: He is God incarnate.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: And when he says his name, people bow.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of well-trained, best army in known history to that point fall over.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: Because at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: And John's like, yeah, I was there, that's what happened.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: And then the best part, Jesus had to remind them to arrest him.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: They're all on the ground, and he's like, weren't you looking for somebody?
29:48
SPEAKER_00: He has to ask him again.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: He knows what's in their hearts.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: John told us that in chapter 2.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: He knows what's in man's hearts.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: He knows his time has come.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: He told his mom in chapter 2, My time hasn't come.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: He is in full control of everything that's happening.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: He has to remind them to arrest him.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: But then he says, okay.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: You gotta let these guys go.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: And they don't argue that point.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna get to how Peter handles the rest of the evening next week.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: But in this moment, Jesus is still telling them who they're allowed to arrest.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm reminding you guys you're coming from me, and since, okay, now you've acknowledged that, sure, okay, we're all on the same page, you don't get to touch these guys.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Why?
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, because there's themes that are getting paid off right now.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: And this is going to go the way the author wants it to go.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: And so you don't get to arrest them because there's a prophecy that has to be fulfilled that I didn't lose any of them.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: The prophecies are being fulfilled.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: None of this is happening at the will of Judas.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: None of this is happening at the will of the Romans or of the high priest and his servant Malchus.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: It's happening because the author said it's going to happen this way.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, who knows all, and knowing all that would happen to him, said these prophecies are going to be fulfilled.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: So that's one prophecy that's being fulfilled in this moment.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: He preserved the disciples to the end.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: How about some more prophecies?
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Flip back to Isaiah 53.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: If you're talking about the arrest, beating, crucifixion of Jesus, you're going to be in Isaiah 53.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: But Isaiah 53, verse 8.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: By oppression and judgment, he's being taken away.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: That's happening.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: How about Psalm 41?
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 41, verse 9.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Even my close friend and whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: That's Psalm 41, 9.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: Even my close friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his head against me.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, that could be any betrayal.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: How do you know that's about Jesus?
32:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, because in John 13, Jesus quoted this exact verse talking about Judas at the Last Supper.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: And the betrayer raised his heel against me.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, that reminds me of another theme that was introduced in Act 1.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: The curse on the serpent in the garden, the first garden.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: That the offspring of the woman will crush your head, but you will strike his heel.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like it's being paid off right here.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: The one who shared his bread is now going after his heel in this moment.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: How about Zechariah chapter 11?
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Zechariah is at the end of your Old Testament.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: The Z books are at the end.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: 11.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Then I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And they weighed out up my wages as thirty pieces of silver.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to me, Throw it to the potter, the lordly price at which I was priced by them.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: So I took the thirty pieces of silver, threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Huh.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: Thirty pieces of silver being thrown into the house of the Lord.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: Payoff.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Chekhov's gun is getting fired, everybody.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: The garden is where it all goes down.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: And the prophecies are fulfilled.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Even the prophecy of John the Baptist, the Lamb who will take away the sin.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: It's happening.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: He's turning in, well, he's always been, but he is acting the part of a lamb in John 18.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: But a lamb who knows what's coming and is directing it to come.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: How about Genesis 22?
34:24
SPEAKER_00: This is where God tells Abraham, take your son and go up on the mountain.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And I saw an interview with a pretty prominent famous atheist who said, This story about Abraham sacrificing Isaac is why I'm an atheist.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Because it's immoral for God to ask for child sacrifice.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And I'm watching this, I'm like, you didn't read it, did you?
34:48
SPEAKER_00: You didn't actually read the story or know anything about bronze age God and worship.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: You don't know any of that stuff.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: But if you'd read to the end, you'd find out in Genesis 22, Abraham didn't sacrifice Isaac.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Why?
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Because God Himself will provide the animal for sacrifice.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: So should my son die for the sins of my soul?
35:10
SPEAKER_00: No.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Because God says, my son will die for the sins of your soul.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: And it is totally moral for blood to be shed for justice.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: It would be immoral of God not to do that.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: But how gracious it is that he would do it at his own expense, and not mine, and not yours.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: And that is foreshadowing that is being paid off in John 18.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the eternal God.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Who is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world?
35:54
SPEAKER_00: So how do we then live?
35:57
SPEAKER_00: How do we carry ourselves if this is true?
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, tip one, don't do it Peter's way.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Peter wants to solve things his way.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, next week we're going to talk about Peter's denials.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: And it's easy when he's denying that he knows Jesus to be like, oh Peter, you coward.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing cowardly in what Peter does in the garden.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Again, hundreds of Roman soldiers.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: And Peter's like, I'll fight you.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: And he cuts off the ear of one of the brute squad from the chief priest.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if he missed, and he's just a bad swordsman and he was aiming for the heart.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: But I think you've got to be pretty skilled to get the ear.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus say?
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Put your sword away.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: How should Christians carry themselves in this world?
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Let's start there.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: Put your sword away.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: In the other three Gospels in Matthew, this very famous line comes next.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is not put together and does not grow through violence.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Ever.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: Put your sword away.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: This isn't the first time Peter wanted to solve things his way.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: He said to Jesus, You surely won't die.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Get behind me.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Satan.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: You don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Peter has a lot to learn.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: He's going to learn it the hard way.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: We'll study that.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: But God's kingdom is coming.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom has come.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom will grow.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: And it will not grow through the military victories of his followers.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: It will grow through the martyrdom of his followers.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: Because we are not to use the powers of the world to bring about the kingdom of God.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: World governments are going to world government.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: They do not have the resources from God to fix the problems.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: They have the sword, and they should govern in a way that is effective using the sword.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: The people of God are not to do that.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: We serve a king who all the justice and vengeance are his, not ours.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: I said to my friend one day, he's like, How are you doing?
38:29
SPEAKER_00: I said, You know what would be great if Jesus came back today?
38:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, wouldn't it?
38:34
SPEAKER_00: But he said, Yeah, but I have so many friends who would go on to eternal judgment if he did.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: I still have work to do.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: We still have work to do.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: And it is not the sword, it is the seed.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: Plant a garden.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just pulling this out of thin air and pulling it out of Jeremiah 29.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: Don't use the powers of the world to accomplish the kingdom of God.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Plant a garden.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 29 has a very famous verse.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: It goes like this: For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Plans to prosper you, etc.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: What comes before that, though, is, I think, even better.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Because Jeremiah is telling the people of God, you're about to lose your place of worship.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: You're about to lose your homeland.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: You're going to go into this place called Babylon, which to this day still is the metaphor for the enemies of God.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: How should you then live when you're not yet home?
39:40
SPEAKER_00: And in Jeremiah 29, he says, Plant a garden.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Raise up crops.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Raise up children.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Seek the welfare of the city.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: For in its welfare you will find your welfare.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Pray for it.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: You will outlive the enemies if you plant seeds.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the seed that is about to go into the ground in order to bear fruit.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: There was a garden in Babylon planted by the people of God.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: Quick aside, Malchus, who got his ear cut off and then healed.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: I want to know, did he still participate in the arrests after that?
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Or was he like, okay, that was a big deal?
40:39
SPEAKER_00: John gives us his name because I think he expects his readers would know who that guy is.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he became a follower.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I think gets overlooked a little bit here is he's not a Roman soldier.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: He is a servant of the high priest.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: So if he doesn't have an ear, he can't go back into the temple.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: You know what Jesus really did?
41:00
SPEAKER_00: He healed him so he could worship him.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that the theme of John?
41:12
SPEAKER_00: The day's coming and is now here that God is searching for people who will worship him in spirit and truth.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: He wants to heal us so that we can worship him.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to worship him whether we're in Babylon or back in the temple.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: Plant the garden, grow the garden.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Because there's still one more garden to come.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 22.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: Written by John.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Also on either side of the river the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: Your light and darkness theme is paid off.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: Your lamb theme is paid off.
42:29
SPEAKER_00: Your garden theme is paid off.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: What do we do while we wait for the king?
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Be a seed.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: Plant a garden.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we do want to follow you.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Which means we have to follow you.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: And we get distracted.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: But I am so thankful for this passage and this reminder that though all the powers of the world and the spiritual world are were against you, all you had to do was say your name, and they fell over.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: Help us to understand that's who you are.
43:22
SPEAKER_00: That you are king of all kings.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: You are the first seed and the firstborn from the dead.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: And that by following you, we inherit eternal life.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: Help our garden be one that can be a part of the healing of the nations.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: Help us as a church to be a part of the healing waters and the living waters that bring life to our surroundings, to our city.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: And help us to remember that doesn't come with the sword.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't come with world powers or politics.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: It comes by following you and by trusting your sovereignty over all things.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: Amen.