The Debbie Taylor Williams Podcast

Debbie Taylor Williams: Let's get started, shall we? Father, by Your sovereign pen, and Yours alone, do we read and study what You accomplished for our salvation. We love You and praise You, and thank You, Holy Spirit, that You have inspired the writers, the gospel writers and all of them, and now we can go back and be a bystander and grasp more than ever before what Your plan was, what Jesus did for us.

If there is one in this room who has not yet called on You, I pray that today would be the day. In Jesus' name, Amen. Open your Bibles to John 18. We are looking, as you can see on your listening guide, how Jesus is arrested and stands trial before Annas, he stands trial before Pilate. This is from John 18, but he also stood trial before others.

Pilate finds him not guilty, yet he releases Barabbas. And as we look at this and how ludicrous it is that he as the judge will bang his gavel and say, "I find this man not guilty," then instead of releasing a not-guilty man, this not-guilty man will go on to be crucified. And you will find, as Acts 2:23 says, that this is all in the sovereignty and in the foreknowledge of God.

You may or may not want to turn to Acts, I will read it for you, but Acts 2:23, when Peter is preaching after Pentecost, he said, "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God."

So we see the doctrine of the foreknowledge of God, the sovereignty of God, and how God in His foreknowledge allowed this to happen and why it was for you and me. A sample of the list of the laws that the religious authorities broke during the trial of Jesus include: 1. Conspiracy: judges were forbidden to conspire against an individual for the purpose of condemning them. 2. Neutrality: judges had to be neutral and impartial. 3. A rigged trial: judges were to weigh all the evidence and render an honest, fair verdict.

4. Bribery: no arrest or trial could be conducted if a bribe was involved. 5. Illegal timing—and they broke four laws with this, which is where again we see the sovereignty of God: no part of a trial involving a capital offense could be conducted at night; there could be no trials until the morning sacrifices had been performed; trials could not proceed on the eve of a Sabbath or on a feast day; and in cases involving capital punishment, an acquittal could be issued the day of the trial, but a guilty verdict could not be issued on the first day of the trial.

6. Illegal location: the Sanhedrin was to administer trials in a public, pre-established location. 7. Lack of a charge: trials must present a concrete charge against the accused that can be verified or falsified, which of course we know they didn't. 8. Lack of defense: in cases involving capital crimes, the trial begins with a statement on behalf of the defender. 9. Lack of evidence: convictions were based on two or three witnesses whose testimonies were in agreement. 10. Violation where we continue to see the sovereignty of God: prisoners were to be treated fairly and humanely by those who judged them.

Yes, there's more. 11. False witnesses: witnesses were only to testify to what was true. 12. Improper prosecution—and I'm going to go ahead and go through a few of these more because we'll continue studying them next week. 13. Forced self-incrimination: it was unlawful to use a defendant's testimony about himself. 14. It was blasphemous for the high priest to tear his holy garments. 15. Ignoring the evidence: judges were to carefully consider the evidence on both sides before rendering a just decision.

16. Faulty verdict: the verdict was to be taken one vote at a time starting with the youngest member. If a verdict was unanimous for guilt, the defendant was automatically acquitted. Now, isn't that interesting? If a verdict was unanimous, the defendant was automatically acquitted because they knew that probably a room full of 70 people would not all agree. There would be at least one person who would disagree.

17. Hasty decision: in capital trials, a death sentence was to be delivered the day after finding the defendant guilty. 18. Murder: you shall not murder. And so we see in this what Peter explained: the sovereignty of God. And while you and I look at it and we think this is absolutely crazy how all of this transpired, why did God allow it to all transpire? It was because of the Father and the Son's and the Spirit's great love for you and me.

And I know that you, as I, will continue to feel more deeply—and not just have it be a feeling, but an inner gut spiritual cognizant recognition of what Jesus has done for us, right? I know you must feel that way. So let's look and begin reading in John 18 and we're reminded how Jesus has just had this High Priestly Prayer where He has prayed for Himself that He would glorify the Father and He's prayed for the disciples, He's prayed for the world, for those who would come after Him.

In verse 1, it says, "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden in which He entered with His disciples." Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. And again we see, if you look at that name Judas and you look at the prior chapter, chapter 17, in verse 12, Judas is referred to as "the son of perdition." But Judas was not innocent, even though it was by the predetermined plan that God would use Judas.

The fact is, both God and Satan know our weaknesses. God knew us before we were born. Satan can watch us and observe our weaknesses, right? And use them, which is what he did. If you go, though, with me to Matthew 26, you're going to see what happened in that Garden of Gethsemane. And it is extremely important because today's lesson is about temptations and about trials.

Are you going through any trials? Have you had any temptations this last week? Because Jesus is going to model for us how to withstand temptation and how to go through trials. And this is such an applicable lesson beyond us gaining the appreciation for what Jesus did for us. If you look, I would like for you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 26.

After Jesus had prayed and they had left the Upper Room and they sang a song that was typical following the Passover meal and they went to the Kidron Valley—and I don't know if you've been to Israel and been there, but Keith and I have been—and when you go from Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley and then you go up to the place of the Garden of Gethsemane, which is at the base of the Mount of Olives, you can see across the Kidron Valley to Jerusalem. And all this is going to play very much into Jesus's experience.

What we are going to find in Matthew 26 is Jesus being tempted again. And you may say, "Where in the world does it say that Jesus was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane?" Well, if you will look at verse 41, Jesus during the midst of Him praying and going back and forth three times, He says to the disciples, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." So what was on Jesus's mind was what was before Him. Was Jesus being tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane? Yes.

Because in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did right what in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve failed to do. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did what was right. In the Garden of Eden, Satan came to them and he tempted them with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. At the beginning of Jesus's ministry in Matthew 4, Jesus was tempted by the devil. And He was tempted by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

And now in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Satan waited until a more opportune time to test Jesus, Jesus's mind is on this temptation that, needless to say, both He and then the disciples would experience. He says to them, "Sit here while I go over and pray." And He took Peter and John the sons of Zebedee in verse 37 and began to be grieved and distressed. And He said, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

Luke 22:43 tells us an angel came and ministered to Jesus because, as you know, three times He went back. Jesus is on His face, and He is asking, "Father, if there is any way, let this cup—this cup—pass from Me." But it was not to be. And so Jesus said, "Not My will, but Yours." Three times Jesus prays and He says, "But not My will, Yours." Three is a significant number in the Bible.

And we are going to see three times—or at least two times—that Jesus said, "I am," when they asked who He was, and no doubt I would think there would have been three. And then we are going to find three times where Peter says, "I am not." "I am," Jesus says. And He has proved His deity and His power to overcome Satan in the domain of darkness and temptation and go through whatever trial that God has before Him. And in Peter, we see ourselves. We see humanity. We see human nature. And our words are, "I am not. I am not God."

However, as you and I know, through the sending of the Holy Spirit, we now have the great I AM in us. And that is your hope, that is my hope, as we look at God's sovereign plan fulfilled so that we might have His Spirit within us. If you go back to John 18 and we look at how Jesus is in this Garden of Gethsemane with His trial and this temptation and He submits His will to the Father, then it says in verse 3 of John 18, "Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priest and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons."

So Jesus, knowing all these things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" Here Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. And this Garden of Gethsemane is, as I said, at the Mount of Olives and it is very significant, this Mount of Olives. Gethsemane means the word "oil press." And I'll show you an image of that in a moment. But this was the place from which Jesus had gone into Jerusalem in His triumphant entry.

This is a place in Matthew 24-25 that Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse that answered the disciples' questions: "When will You return? What will be the sign of Your coming?" This is the place from which Jesus ascended back into heaven. And Zechariah 14:4 says this is the place that Jesus is going to return to earth. And this is a place of Jesus's betrayal, as we are reading.

After He said, "Whom do you seek?" they answered Him in verse 5, "Jesus the Nazarene." And He said to them, "I am." Now for our ease of reading, the English translators added the word "he." But in the Greek, it would have been "I AM." And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, "I AM," they drew back and fell to the ground. Why did they draw back and fall to the ground?

Job 1:20, you will find Job falling to the ground and worshipping Him. In Matthew 2:11, you will find the wise men falling to the ground and worshipping the baby Jesus. Jesus holds all power. He holds all power. And His is even recognized as one who has the voice of authority. So it didn't matter that they came with 600 soldiers. He said, "I can call forth twelve legions of angels." And a legion was at least 6,000. And so He's saying, "You bring your 600 men on. I've got 72,000 angels, big guys."

So again, in here, we see the sovereignty of God. We see the submissiveness of Christ. And I pray, by seeing Christ's submissiveness, it will encourage you and me to say, "Father, I don't understand this and I'm going through a hard trial, but I am going to submit my life to You." And they fell back. And then you know how they ask Him again, and in verse 9 again we see the sovereignty of God and the fulfillment of prophecy when He said, "Of those whom I have—You have given Me, I have not lost any."

You know about Simon Peter slicing off Malchus's ear and Jesus putting his ear and healing his ear again. All power. Jesus had all power. He had the foreknowledge of what was coming. He had angels at His beck and call. He had the voice of authority, Isaiah 30:30, and He had the power to heal. Jesus set aside that power. Isaiah 53:5 says He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed.

This is the oil press. He was crushed for our iniquities, like they crushed the olives. So, of course, it was appropriate that He was at the Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden of Oil Press, that night. And by His scourging, we are healed. What can we learn as we look at this? Temptation occurs even when we're in God's will. The devil knows our weaknesses and watches for an opportune time to tempt us.

Jesus permits the temptation not so we'll fail, but so that through it we'll know His presence, power, and glory. Do you remember when Jesus said that He would not be alone because the Father would be with Him in chapter 16, verse 32? And you and I are not ever alone whatever trial or temptation we go through. And we can be assured that Jesus, our High Priest, is praying for us.

We learn we are to watch and pray, as Jesus said. If you are facing some temptation, Jesus's marching order to you and me is watch and pray. Because that's what Jesus told the disciples to do. He said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." And he said, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." So decide beforehand, like Jesus did, what you will do if you are facing a temptation or you have resolved to abide more fully in Christ and there is something that is trying to keep you from that.

Whatever temptation you may face, Jesus decided in the Garden of Gethsemane again before He went through the trials what He was going to do, and He was going to do the Father's will. And that is what we need to do: decide beforehand. And then as Jesus said, "Don't enter into temptation." If you're facing a temptation, Jesus said don't enter into it. Don't enter into it by mulling on it.

Instead, respond with Scripture as Jesus did: "Man does not live by bread alone. You shall not put the Lord your God to a test. And go Satan, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." Jesus had been in the Garden of Temptation, the Garden of Gethsemane, and now He is prepared to go forth. Now we're going to see six stages of the trials that Jesus goes through. And this first one is in verse 12.

And the first one that we see are the religious trials that He will go through before Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin. There's a lot that John does not cover, but you are able, if you don't already have it, to look at and get these references so that you can go back and forth and track it. In verses 12 through 24 of John 18, we have what would be perhaps referred to as a preliminary hearing before Annas, who had been the High Priest.

And once a high priest, always a high priest. He was a very influential, powerful figure in the Sanhedrin. And so they decided to take Jesus to him first. And then later, of course, he would appear before the others. And it says that Simon Peter was following in verse 15, as well as John. And you know how John somehow knew—had a connection and was let in, and Peter was not.

In verse 18, it tells us that the slaves and the officers were standing there, and they had made a charcoal fire for it was cold, and they were warming themselves. And Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself. Why do I keep talking about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was praying and He prayed three times? And why do I keep talking about Jesus telling the disciples: "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation"? Because now Peter's being tempted. And is Peter watching and praying? No. Peter is standing and warming himself by the fire.

Where could Peter have been? Peter could have been a distance beyond, like Jesus had been a distance beyond the disciples, with his face on the ground praying. He wasn't. And the choice is yours. You can either succumb to the lust of the flesh—"Oh, but I like to eat that thing, I like to drink that thing, I like to say that thing, I like to do that thing, I can't help it." You can succumb to the lust of your flesh and do what feels comfortable for you, what your natural flesh likes to do.

You can succumb to the pride of life, the lust of the eyes. No doubt Peter was seeing what was happening. He was hearing what was happening, which feared him. You can succumb to the pride of life—"I don't want to be a part of something that's not looked upon highly, I don't want to..." All of these, these are temptations that the Scripture has listed, has recorded here for us. And Jesus has just shown Peter how to resist temptation, knowing that he was getting ready to be sifted like wheat.

Jesus had told him that in the Luke account. He said, "Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you." And this is the sifting. And he is not watching and praying. So that begs the question: are you watching and praying? Watching and praying, watching and praying, watching and praying. That is what we are to be doing. Had it been cold in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying? Yes.

So the same cold that Peter needed to warm himself by the fire was the same night cold that Jesus had not warmed himself by a fire, but He had prayed. He had chosen to pray and wrestle things out and submit His will to the Father. That is where every one of us needs to be, not succumbing to what our flesh feels like doing. We find that Annas questions Him and about Him and His disciples.

And Jesus replies that He's spoken openly. And then He draws to the attention in verse 21, "Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard." He's saying, "I'm supposed to have witnesses. You're supposed to have witnesses against Me." And then of course, an officer struck Him, the second abuse of many. Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the High Priest. And we're given an interlude here now about Peter, who was standing and again, it tells us in the Scripture, two times he's warming himself. Peter's taking care of his flesh.

So they said to him, "You're not also one of the disciples, are you?" and he had denied it. "I am not." One of the slaves of the High Priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" And we're told in Luke 22:57, Matthew 26:74, that he not only says "I am not," he says, "I do not know the man." And then of course, the rooster crows.

Now we go in John 18, it shows us before Pilate. But actually, if you turn to Matthew 26:57 that follows the passage right after Jesus had prayed, we see more information about him from Caiaphas. Because John 18:28 says, "Then they led Him from Caiaphas the Praetorium," but he had been somewhere before. And so we see him before Caiaphas in Matthew 27:57. And this is the passage where he is asked—and they bring false witnesses against him regarding the temple being built and rebuilt.

And then Jesus said in verse 64, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless, I tell you, whether you will hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of the heaven." And then the High Priest tore his robes and charged him with blasphemy. We find in chapter 27, verse 2, they delivered Him then to Pilate.

So if you go back to John 18:28, they led Jesus from Caiaphas, and it was early, and they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, the governor's palace, because they didn't want to be defiled. Oh yes, oh yes, they didn't want to be defiled. And so you see on the mount the different places that they were leading Jesus and we see the absolute hypocrisy that they did not want to defile themselves before the religious Passover because they were not supposed to, as Jews.

He had been before the Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin, which I didn't take the time to read also. And now he's going into the political, the Roman trial system instead of the religious one. And a Jew could not enter into a Gentile's place when they were participating in the Passover at that time. And so now they are before—He is before Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again.

Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. I'll share with you much more about him later, but a very interesting man in relation to the Jews, in relation to the nation of Rome, and what eventually happened with Pilate. He was a people-pleaser. He was a political people-pleaser, a politician. Have you ever seen that in our nation or world? And we are going to see just in our face Pilate seeing a situation knowing exactly what's going on—that the Jews were envious of Jesus, that He had done nothing wrong—and then he is going to do the opposite of which any sense makes.

They led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium and they didn't enter. Verse 29, then Pilate had to go out to meet them since they couldn't come in and ask for the accusation. And they said, "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you." They just totally sidestepped that answer, sidestepped the question. Again, do we have any of that going on in our political system? We just know how to kind of divert. And that's what they did.

So Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." And the Jews said, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death." Now when we first read this, we think, "Well, how in the world did they stone Stephen?" Didn't they stone Stephen? They put him to death. Well, Jesus was a much more highly visible figure, and people knew about him. Stephen was a less-known figure, especially among the Romans. And so they got by with that, as in again, politics. Politicians can choose to close their eyes to some things and open their eyes to other things that they want to be invested in.

Friends, we are seeing a picture of our world, are we not? It's important that you and I don't just study this as a historical document, although that is the first way we must study it, as a historical, spiritual, eternal instance. But as you and I march forward through our days and we say this world is crazy, why can't they see—perhaps some of those in authority over us—why can't they see? Why won't they do? Why won't they respond?

Well, Satan number one, he's blinded the eyes of unbelievers. And number two, there is the providential will of God. God will use ungodly people to accomplish His purposes. He's done it tons in the past. He's doing it right here in the Scriptures we're reading. And He also does it today. God will use those who refuse to acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord; He can still use them.

So we find here that Pilate said to them, and of course, this again, we're seeing the sovereignty of God, verse 32, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death," to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die. The Psalm—David prophesied in the Psalm the Messiah would die on a cross. And at that time, the historians that I have read say that the Roman form of crucifixion had not yet even been put into use.

Oh, the sovereignty, the magnitude of God's plan. Pilate entered again into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Because at this point, the Jews that were coming against Christ had realized that the only thing that they could use that would perhaps arouse Pilate's interest was if Jesus was trying to commit insurrection against Rome. "Hey, He's saying He's a king, and we have no king but Caesar."

And so Pilate asks him a very fair question, "Are You the king of the Jews?" and Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me?" And Pilate answered, "I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and chief priests delivered You to me. What have You done?" And these next verses, oh, they're wonderful, powerful. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Oh, ladies, I hope I pray you got it. It's the verse that I put on your listening guide.

Jesus right there is giving you and me the heads up: His kingdom is not of this world, His kingdom is not of this realm. There are two and more realms: there is the realm of God, and there is the realm of this world of Satan. Jesus says, "If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this world." There is a King, Jesus. He has a place, a Kingdom.

And those of us who see the truth—and that's what He went on here to say—when Pilate asked him, "So You're a king?" and Jesus said, "You say correctly I am a king; for this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 14:6, you know it: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

John uses this word "truth" 21 times in his Gospel, compared to Matthew once, Mark twice, and Luke three times. And John uses it 21 times: truth, truth, truth. The question really isn't *what* is the truth. The question is *who* is the truth. And Jesus said, "I am the truth." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" and then without waiting for an answer—which we could talk about—he went out again to the Jews and said, after weighing the evidence, "I find no guilt in him."

He should have at that moment been acquitted. He should have at that moment, even though wrongly he had already been slapped, abused, wrongly treated, he should have been let go. But we have a—say it with me—people-pleaser, a political people-pleaser. And so he hopes that he can maybe get away with this, actually in between, he sends him back to Herod—or he sends him to Herod for the first time because when he finds out that Jesus is a Nazarene from Galilee, he's like, "Oh good, I don't have to deal with this," because he didn't want to get in trouble with Rome with more bloodshed that he had been accused of before.

And so he sends him to Herod, you can read about that in Luke 23:6-12, and then they send him back to Pilate. And this is where of course Pilate's just thinking maybe this will work, maybe this will appease. You know, he's using all of his government political savvy. "Hey, a prisoner can be released." But not so, because you know that they cried for Barabbas. In this passage, what we see then and today: the world chooses darkness over light, injustice over justice, ignorance over facts, violence over peace, hypocrisy over holiness, questions but not wanting answers, lies over truth, and pleasing people over what is right, and violent people over innocent lives. And we see this even today, do we not, in our nation?

We learn Jesus had all power, but He set aside His right to use it and in love laid down His life for us. Is there anything that you have a right to in your life, you think, but Jesus might be calling you to lay it down so that He could accomplish His purposes through you? We find that people can practice a form of religion and think they are right, while in fact it is the opposite.

Jesus is the truth. And so we close with this question: Jesus said He is not of this realm, so how do we get to His realm? There's nothing we can do. We can't make wings. We can't do good enough. How do we get to His realm? And He tells us, Titus 3:5 says: be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And that word "regenerated" means new birth.

We have to become a new creation to get to God's heavenly realm and Kingdom, and that is through the gift that God gives us of the Holy Spirit who comes into us. "I'm the way, the truth, and the life." So we find this encouragement for believers: you can watch and pray so you don't enter into temptation. You can quote Jesus's words to the devil. And you might want to just jot them down and the next time you start to be tempted, just pull those out.

No, it's not about the bread I want right now, the flesh. No, it's not about this. No, it's not about... and you can say "not my will, but Yours." And there's some encouragement for unbelievers: you can pray. And I want us just to close our eyes right now and if you're not a believer, you can pray if the Holy Spirit is drawing you, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you—this is not a prayer we just rote-ly pray, but if it is the Holy Spirit who has opened your eyes up to the Kingdom of God, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I know You are the Christ, the Son of God. Thank You for dying for me. Forgive me and give me the gift of Your Holy Spirit. I want to live in Your Kingdom and serve You, You alone."

And for the rest of those of us who are believers, Lord, we just come in agreement with thanksgiving and praise to You, the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty. Amen. Thank you for being here today.