Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Reverend Eric Alexander: As we open our Bibles this evening at John chapter 18, we are, as you would readily recognize, beginning a new section of John's Gospel. Indeed, it is the final act in the drama of God's redeeming purpose in Jesus, which John is now beginning to unfold to us. We have been spending the last three Sunday evenings in that amazing 17th chapter of the Gospel, which describes for us what is often called Jesus' High Priestly prayer for his own coming glorification, for his disciples, and for those who ultimately will believe in him throughout the world.

And there is a sense, of course, in which it is true that Jesus is continuing his High Priestly function as he turns in chapter 18 to this last act where he is about to offer himself up on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. Because the high priest function was not only to bear the needs of the people into the presence of God and intercede for them, it was also to make atonement for their sin. And here, as it were, while the whole of heaven holds its breath, Jesus is not only bringing an offering, he is becoming an offering as he draws near to the point where he is going to lay himself on the altar as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.

Some, of course, see this whole section of John's Gospel from chapter 14 onward as a fulfillment of the three great offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will probably know that it is common to think of Jesus fulfilling the office of Prophet, the office of Priest, and the office of King. And in chapter 14, when he begins what we call the Upper Room Discourse, when he is addressing his disciples in these last moments of their time with him in the world, he is as the Prophet teaching them. Then in chapter 17, he is as the Great High Priest praying for them.

And now in chapter 18, he begins to stride, as it were, towards the cross as the King of Glory who has come to release his people from their captivity to sin. And you will notice how this comes out in chapter 18 and verse 37, where Pilate says to Jesus, "You are a king then?" And Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason was I born." So he appears in this section as the Prophet, as the Priest, and as the King.

John highlights for us, of course, the sense of pathos, the extraordinary solemnity of these chapters that begin at chapter 18 by drawing our attention to two things that seem to shadow the occasion in a particular way, as though there were not enough shadow by what it is that is to happen to the Lord Jesus Christ as he dies the death of sinners. Yet there are two other shadows that John paints in for us. One is the betrayal of Judas, and the other is the denial of Peter.

Indeed, it has been thought by some who have read this chapter in the light of the Old Testament—and if you had just recently been reading 2nd Samuel, you would see it—that there is some significance in Jesus crossing the Kidron Valley. Did you notice as we read, when he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley? Now, the Kidron Valley is a place with great historical significance. The Kidron Valley in 2nd Samuel chapter 15, some of you may know, is where David, the king of Israel, went in tears crossing this very valley during the time of his son Absalom's rebellion.

And he was in the midst of one of the lowest points of his entire life, as not only had his son Absalom rebelled against him and gathered the people of Israel away from David, but Ahithophel, who was David's close friend, had betrayed him into the hands of his enemies. And the Kidron Valley was the place which historically was famed for this. Now, here it is bound to be of significance. Here is Great David's Greater Son walking through the same valley, betrayed and denied by his familiar friends.

And there is no question that John, who sees so much rooted in the Old Testament scripture, would have recognized this as being of significance too. The thing we need to keep reminding ourselves of, of course, is how extraordinary it is that these two men who surround Jesus and whose story is interwoven with his, even in the literary form in which we read it this evening, how these two men had been so close to him. They are extraordinary figures, and Judas Iscariot carries with him down through his days this tag, "Judas, who also betrayed him," or here in verse five of John 18, "Judas the traitor was standing there with them." It was the thing, of course, that he was remembered for.

And you might have asked with these two who were part of the disciple band, what was it that had brought this sudden collapse? Because to those who were coming to see the situation for the first time, that is undoubtedly how it must have seemed. Here was Judas one week part of the disciple company, indeed holding office within it, and the next week standing skulking in the shadows seeking some means by which he would betray him. And Simon Peter, who had been perhaps the most vociferous and noisy of all the disciples, the one who thrust himself into the foreground, standing now in the background and three times ultimately with curses so that he would convince them that he belonged to them rather than to Christ, denying him.

But really, for neither of them was it a sudden collapse. It is important for us to see that few spiritual collapses like that are sudden. I was watching the news one evening a week or two ago and there had been that dreadful flooding in the southwest of England, and there were people standing round the wreckage of their homes and seeing a river coming down through their main street—some horrifying pictures and damage—and people were commiserating with them. And someone said, "Oh, this is no sudden disaster. This has been building up for years, actually."

Those who knew about this river further up, away from this town, they would have seen the weakness. They would have recognized the signs. Something was building up there that people ought to have noticed and now the damage has been done. For Judas, that was certainly true. It had been a three-year process which had begun, I have little doubt, when with as much genuineness as you could have imagined, he was called into the disciple band and responded. And there was little probably outwardly that would have distinguished him from anyone else.

But gradually, the thing that had happened in Judas's experience was that he had developed that most sinister of spiritual diseases: a detachment, a secret detachment from the Master's deepest purposes. He was involved with the Master's activities—let me underline—and probably enjoyed them, but he gradually became detached from the Master's deepest purposes. And so you find, you will remember, a few chapters back in John, in John chapter 12, when Mary, one of Jesus' friends, took this costly gift that she had and poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

It was a remarkable evidence of devotion to the Lord Jesus, that kind of extravagant expression of her love for him, you see. And Judas was embarrassed and annoyed. And you notice what John says: one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages, you know." So he said this kind of high spirituality, this pouring out of love for Christ, this expression of something that he knew practically nothing about, he said, "Why didn't we do something for the poor?"

Now, it was not that Jesus did not care for the poor. Nobody cared for the poor like Jesus. But it was not that Judas did care for the poor either. The only person Judas really cared for deeply was Judas. John tells us that, incidentally, in chapter 12, verse six: "He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money, he used to help himself to what was put into it." And Jesus said, "Leave her alone." One of the other Gospels tells us he said, "Wherever the Gospel is preached, this will be spoken about concerning her because this is the essence of the Gospel. This is what devotion to Jesus will produce."

But deep down in Judas' heart, there was this detachment from Jesus' deepest purposes. It is something undoubtedly that we need to examine our own hearts about. I speak for myself; I certainly need to examine my own heart about that. How easy to be involved in the Master's service. How easy to be engaged in it and perhaps even recognized in it as somebody who, like Judas, held a place of responsibility. And yet deep down, your heart can be more and more detached from the deepest purposes of Jesus, and then the collapse came.

I think that materialism had a lot to do with Judas' collapse, incidentally. It is rather interesting that on these two occasions when scripture is diagnosing for us what was wrong with him, it says in the first place he did not care about the poor, he just cared about getting money for himself. And then when he goes to betray Jesus, he says, "How much? How much will you give me?" And that whole area is one we really need to settle before God before too long.

For Peter, I reckon there had been two things that had been building up over the years, and you can detect them through the Gospel record. One was a refusal from quite early on to yield himself to Jesus' plans for the redemption of a people. You remember how in Matthew 16 at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had confronted Peter and the rest of the disciples and asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter calls out, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus pronounces a blessing upon him and says, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father."

Then he begins to reveal to them a little more of his purpose: to be a humble, crucified Messiah. And Peter immediately turns and begins to try to tell Jesus how he ought to plan the future. "This be far from you, Lord," he says. "This will not be part of your plan," he says. And Jesus turns and says to him, "Get behind me, Satan." This same unwillingness appears just a little back in John's Gospel in chapter 13, when you remember Jesus was again beginning to portray to them how he was going to become the suffering servant, and he bowed down at their feet and began to wash the disciples' feet.

And when he came to Peter, Peter said to him in John 13:8, "You will never wash my feet." And again you see, here is Simon Peter setting and pitting his own will against Jesus, and wanting Jesus to be a savior after his plan rather than after Jesus' plan. And for Peter, that was something that Jesus challenged many times over, but he refused to yield himself utterly to the Lord Jesus' plans. And the other thing is that he is developing right through until chapter 18, verse 10—we read it in our passage this evening—an increasing self-confidence.

In John chapter 13, do you notice how when Jesus is telling them that he is going to love them to the end, and Peter asks him in verse 36, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." And Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Then Jesus answered, "Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times."

And that spirit of self-confidence led to this expression of fervor and self-display which you find in chapter 18, verse 10, when the company with Judas gathered around Jesus, and Simon Peter, we read in verse 10, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. It bears all the evidence of an eyewitness's report, does it not? The servant's name was Malchus. And Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away."

Now, it is this kind of self-centered, self-confident spirit which increasingly dominates Peter's life, and it is obvious that it is crowding out Jesus' will in his life. Bishop Ryle, whose expository thoughts I often commend to you, says, "It is not those who for a time are most demonstrative and fervent whose faith is always deepest." Let me read that to you again: "It is not those who for a time are most demonstrative and fervent whose faith is always deepest."

You know, there's a third man, as they say, in this chapter—not just Judas and Peter, but somebody who is almost anonymous and you could easily miss him. And that, of course, is John. Notice in chapter 18, verse 15, "Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the priest's courtyard," and so on. But you see, John the disciple is an example of quiet godliness and consistent discipleship, and true faithfulness to Christ, and of an unchanging love to him, which is the very quality on which God sets most value.

Do you see how important that is? These men like Judas and Peter are set up in scripture as beacons, so that the rest of us might see them and avoid shipwreck. That is why they are there. And John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is set before us as an example. Well, betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter, the Lord Jesus comes to this garden, which is almost certainly the Garden of Gethsemane. And you will notice how he comes. Let us concentrate the rest of our time in these few moments on this picture that John gives us of Jesus now approaching this last act in his life when he is to give himself up as a sacrifice for sin.

He comes into this situation in three roles, as it were. First of all, he comes as the Son of God revealing his divine glory. That is in verses one to six of chapter 18. When Jesus comes into this grove and Judas and the detachment of soldiers come with him, you notice in verse four, Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. Now, as I mentioned to you a few Sunday evenings ago, Jesus responds with just two words. "I am," he says—translated here, "I am he."

And Judas the traitor was standing there with them. But here is Jesus coming, speaking the words that are really the words of the eternal God by his covenant name, and he says, "I am he," and they fall back. Now, this is a considerable detachment of soldiers and of servants of the priests and leaders of the Jews, and they come out with Judas. Some imagine the number may be something in the region of a hundred. And as Jesus comes out and stands before them, he says, "I am he."

Now, this, as we were discovering the other week, is one of these occasions when the Lord Jesus is manifesting his glory as the Son of God to them. He had stood before people before; they knew he was Jesus of Nazareth. But now he comes and identifies himself, and something happens here which is of great significance for the redeeming work that he is to undertake. He is the very Son of God himself in the glory that belonged to him eternally, coming to deal with the question of human sin. So the Christ who is to die on Calvary is none other than the very Son of God in his eternal glory, bearing the sin of his people.

Now, this is the significance of this extraordinary incident. When Jesus said in verse six, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. So he comes as the Son of God in his divine glory. But you notice, secondly, in verses seven to nine, he comes as the Savior of his people in a revelation of his divine compassion. Look at verses seven, eight, and nine: again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" and they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." "I told you I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go."

What's the point of that? Well, it is, of course, that the Lord Jesus Christ has this amazing sense of compassion and care for his own. Having loved his own, John tells us, he loved them right to the very end. And here he is, as it were, already substituting himself for them. "If it is me that you want," he says, "let these men go." And John recognizes it; he says this happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

Now, of course, that is what Jesus said in his prayer to his Father. "They are yours," he says. "You gave them to me, and not one of them is lost except the son of perdition." So here is Jesus revealing himself as the Son of God in his divine glory, as the Savior of his people in his divine compassion. This is but a foretaste, you see, of this amazing care that the Lord Jesus is to show for his people. Because he is not just to stand out to be arrested in order that they might be freed; he is to stand before the judgment seat of Pilate and to hang upon the cross in order that they might be delivered from their sin. And there is the compassion of Jesus, which is demonstrated here.

You notice finally how he comes not only as the Son of God revealing his divine glory, and they fell back in amazement before that shining brilliance, and the Savior of his people revealing his divine compassion, but perhaps most extraordinary of all—and here you get foreshadowings of Calvary in every one of these situations—he is revealed as the substitute for sinners in his divine mercy. Peter takes his sword and has a way to get Jesus out of this situation where it appears that he is going to be trapped, ensnared, arrested, and then crucified. And Peter opens his sword out and lets fly at Malchus, the servant of the high priest.

And Jesus commands him, "Put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" Now, that, of course, was said by Jesus, as you would recollect, within the confines of Gethsemane. And you will remember how there, just before this happened, he had faced all that it was going to mean to be a sin-bearer. We last Sunday gathered together at the Lord's table and we rejoiced in the cup of salvation that God sets before us. "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord."

But here, the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane sees a cup that is coming before him, presented to him by his Father. And he says in Gethsemane—the whole prayer is about the cup—"Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." And again he prays, and again, and then, "If this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, your will be done." Now, what was that cup Jesus saw in Gethsemane? The cup of suffering, some say. But our Lord Jesus never shrank from suffering of a physical kind like that.

No, no, that cup has a biblical history. That cup is seen all through the Old Testament, in the Psalms, in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, in Habakkuk, in Zechariah—you discover it everywhere in the Old Testament. It is a cup that stands for the judgment of a holy God upon sin. What is poured into that cup? The answer is the vials of God's wrath and judgment upon sin. And as the Lord Jesus looked into that cup, this is what his soul shrank from in Gethsemane: bearing the judgment of God upon sin.

And ultimately he said, "If this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, your will, not mine, be done." And he had settled that matter by the time he came to this incident in chapter 18, verse 11. And he says to Peter, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" He is here as the sin-bearer, drinking to the last dregs for us the ultimate judgment upon sin, which comes in this cup that is before him.

That is the depth of the compassion of Jesus for sinners. That is what we are talking about when we come to him as our Redeemer. And that is where we ought to learn the ultimate lesson that both Judas and Peter teach us negatively and Jesus teaches us positively: that there is nothing in the whole universe that matters so much as doing the Father's will. Have you learned that lesson yet? Let us pray together.

Our blessed Lord, we cannot begin to comprehend the amazing love with which you have loved us. We worship you for our Lord Jesus, and pray that in your great mercy, you will melt our hearts and touch our lives this evening that we may say to you, "Not my will, but yours be done," for your name's sake. Amen.

Mark Daniels: You're listening to *Hear the Word of God* with the Reverend Eric Alexander, a minister in the Church of Scotland for over 50 years. To access more Bible teaching from Reverend Alexander, visit hearthewordofgod.org, where your generous contribution will help us sustain and grow this ministry. That's hearthewordofgod.org. You could choose instead to mail a check to this address: 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17601. Or call 1-800-488-1888. This program is a presentation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. I'm Mark Daniels. Thank you for listening. Please join us again next time for Eric Alexander and *Hear the Word of God*.