Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth, who keeps truth forever and forsakes not the works of His own hands. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us confess our faith with the Church of All Ages reciting the Apostles' Creed. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost. I believe in Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. And our scripture reading is from John chapter 18, the gospel according to John chapter 18. And I will read from verses 1 through verse 12. John 18, beginning with verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted tither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh tither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He spake, Of them which thou gavest Me have I lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Then the band and the captain of the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. Let us pray. Our gracious, glorious God, how gracious Thou art to make it where we can come back again another time this day to come before Thee as Thy people to seek Thy face and to worship Thee to show our gratitude to Thee as a body, as a church. Lord, Thou art so good to us. Thou art so loving. We thank Thee, Lord, and praise Thee because of Thy wisdom, because of Thy grace, because of Thy love. Help us, Lord, to realize that this life is not worth living unless we are living it for Thy glory and truly desiring to seek Thee in everything that we say or do or think. Help us, Lord. We pray that this very worship service may be used by Thee to keep our hearts in such a state of worship that we would go out these doors and enter this week with a heart of worship in all that we do. Oh, help us, we pray. May Thy Holy Spirit be with us. We ask Thee that as we contemplate these words that we have read and soon to be preached, we pray, Lord, that Thou would be with us, that Thy Holy Spirit would apply the preaching of Thy Word to our hearts. that our lives, Lord, would be parallel to the Scriptures. And we pray, Lord, that we would realize all the areas in which we must come to Thee with great humility and with confessions. Lord, we do confess our sins. And we ask, Lord, that Thou would forgive us that Thou wouldst cleanse us. O Lord, who are we? But people who have sins that do prevail against us. But Lord, we thank Thee that Thy Word does point us to Christ where we are certain of the purging of all these sins. And Lord, we do know and do confess that it's the Lord Jesus who makes that possible. It is through Him, dear God, that we do come to worship Thee. It's with an eye to Christ. Lord, although there's no blood involved in our worship services today as there were in the Israel of the Old Testament, we do know, Lord, that we look to Christ where there was blood involved. where there was the pouring out of His life, the innocent for the guilty, the holy for the unholy. And we do thank Thee, Lord, that His righteousness by faith was transferred to Thy people, to us. And Lord, we pray that Thy Word would reach into the hearts of those who cannot confess that, that Thou would give them the words, give them the heart to look to Christ and be saved, to see in Him the Savior of sinners. Oh, we pray, Lord, save lives even this afternoon. And we pray that Thou wouldst help us realize how Christianity is nothing but a continuous look to Christ. Oh, we pray, Lord, work in that way in our lives and turn our hearts to Jesus. and that it would stay there and never leave. Lord, we do thank Thee for the leaders of this congregation and we pray that Thou wouldst bless them, bless the elders, bless the deacons. Be with them in their many decisions to be made and plans and considerations, especially concerning the meetings to come in this week and considering also a location, a building, Oh, Lord, we pray for Thy guidance and unity in regards to all of these details. Lord, do make it all well and give wisdom to all the different men in the congregation that would help these choices. Lord, give grace and give kindness, give unity, we pray. And we do thank Thee that there are these choices to be made. For we're reminded of our brethren who are in countries and conditions, Lord, and we do pray for them and do remember their bonds and the secrecy with which they must call upon Thy name. Oh, Lord, help us to not take for granted that we do have these choices to be made and this freedom to come together in a rented building and worship Thee more than five or ten people where countries they're not allowed to, but they're families. And in secrecy, O Lord, be with those of our brethren, be with those especially who are in bonds, who are in prison, who are suffering. Be with those who are in China and in North Korea. Lord, bless them with the thoughts that Thou art near unto them as Thou hast promised that blessed would be those who are persecuted for Christ's sake, that they would indeed be blessed and be happy even amidst such difficulties that they're in. And on our part, Lord, help us to be very grateful as we're concerned and prayerful for them. And we pray also, Lord, for the Sweetman family, and pray that Thou wouldst bless them in their departing from New Jersey and arriving in their new home and living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Be with them, Lord, and bless all of the details in moving and settling, that all would go well, and traveling mercies as well. We thank Thee, Lord, for the years that they were allowed to be here. We thank Thee, Lord, for every family that's able to worship together with this body of believers. Bless each family. Be with each one. And be with those who are sick and who need Thy help in healing and strengthening. Do comfort their hearts to know that Thou art a Father who is watching over them. Please give, Lord, what is needed, Thy grace most of all. And we pray again, Lord, that Thou wouldst bless us in the remaining of this service. Be near unto us, we pray, that Thy Holy Spirit would be directing our hearts to worship Thee aright, and in the preaching of the Word, O be with us, Lord. Bless the words preached, and bless our hearts as we receive it, that it would be for Thine honor and glory. For we ask in Jesus' name, Amen. we shall be singing Psalter 60 after our offerings are received. And our first offering is for the PRTS student support and the second offering will be for the tuition assistance. I lift my soul, in Thee my trust repose. My God, O good, be not to change, be more triumphant, ♪ Shall be good to shame ♪ ♪ That humbly prayed for thee ♪ ♪ But those that will fully transgress ♪ ♪ On them the shame shall be removed ♪ Show me thy path, O Lord, teach me thy perfect way. O guide me in thy truth divine, and lead me day by day. to be salvation sent, and patiently through all the day upon the island. ♪ All thy mercies, Lord, their tenderness adore ♪ ♪ And all thy loving-kindness, Lord, for days have paid ♪ Our sermon shall be based on John 18, but I shall read at this moment specifically verses 5, 8, and 11, and a small portion of each. In verse 5, I'll begin where it says, Jesus, the very second phrase. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. Jesus' response to his arresters, I am he. And verse 8, Jesus when he answers again, I am he, the second phrase says, if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way. And verse 11, a command he gives to Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Amen. This account that we have read, that John exposes in chapter 18, specifically the verses we've read from 1 through 12, is known as the arrest of Christ. And the very phrase, the arrest of Christ, has all to do with the theme of what we find in this passage. The arrest speaks of deep humiliation, of darkness, of great sorrow. And Christ speaks of glory. He is the only begotten, the first begotten Son of God. the Righteous One, the Holy One. And we put these two together. Arrest, humiliation, sorrow, darkness, and Christ, glory, salvation. When we put these two together, there's really a great mystery. How can Christ, the Son of God, be arrested? And indeed, John makes it really clear that that's really not, in essence, what's happening. Christ is in control of everything, and He turns Himself in. But of course, His arresters are guilty of arresting Him. And it's parallel to when Christ is on the cross, and when He dies, literally what happened was that Christ gave His life, but the people who are there desiring that are guilty of murder. So we see in this passage, this double aspect in the arrest of Christ. We see darkness, but we see glory as well. And we will move, considering these two aspects, the theme then of this message is darkness and glory in the arrest of Christ. And the two points will be the darkness, and we'll consider the darkness specifically, And this will be mainly with the help of the other Gospels, because they do focus on the deep distress and deep anguish and darkness surrounding Christ and within Christ during this moment. But then we'll see also the glory involved during this moment in Gethsemane. And this will be specifically in these verses that we read in John. And that is the focus of John. He's showing, yes, it's true, it was a moment of great darkness, but not without great glory. So let us consider the darkness in the arrest of Christ first. That's the first point. And now, This is not where the darkness in the life of Christ, the humiliation, and darkness is a word that's paralleling the concept of humiliation. It's not here that it began. If you read Philippians 2, 7, there Apostle Paul does inform us that it began really when Christ was born. There it says, that humiliation came at the moment that He took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. So, when Christ came as a baby, although we do celebrate with great joy because of course we're thankful He came, but for the reality of Christ, that was already a great step of humiliation, where the Creator becomes a creature. He becomes one who has the human body and comes to be in this world amongst other humans. And not as a king in a palace, but as a servant. And so it really began there. But this moment in Gethsemane really marks the moment where the humiliation of Christ begins that great descent down. And it gets worse and worse until the moment, not only of the cross, there's great, yes, humiliation on the cross, but it goes all the way to His burial. When you see the One who gives life being buried, do you realize how there's great contrast there? But that is as far as it went. because on the third day Christ arose from the dead. And we are here worshiping the Lord Jesus, worshiping God through Christ on the first day of the week, specifically because that's when Jesus came out of the grave, where death could not hold him any longer. And so we really do focus on the glory of Christ. Christ never again has been in a humiliation aspect. He is now exalted, His name higher than any other name. But let us, as we consider then this great beginning of the depths of darkness of Christ, let's consider in different aspects where it can be seen. First of all, it's in His situation. When you consider the situation, the reality of Christ around Him, you see this darkness. Consider here that we have the Creator in the hands of His own creatures. Now, He has been among other humans, and remember they wanted to put their hands on Him, but they weren't able to at other times. He did exercise an aspect of His sovereignty in a way where they were not allowed to put their hands on Him in this arresting way. And He was able to divert from them when they were wanting to throw Him from the cliffs, when they were wanting to throw rocks at Him. There were those times. But now it came the time where their hands are upon the Creator. And they take Him, and they bind Him, and from this point on in the text, you have all of these words coming again. The idea of taking Jesus, took, the idea of Him being bound, and the idea of Him being led. Now contrast that with the reality that this, whom we're speaking of, is the Creator of each one of those who are handling Him in that brutal way. Every soldier who took Him and bound Him, who took Him from one place to the next from this point on, were all creatures of His. So just consider, you really see the darkness that Christ is entering upon. If you follow with me, look how this is really the emphasis of the text from here on. With verse 12, the last verse that we read, I'll read it again. Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him. And then verse 13, and led Him away to Annas first. So you see there's that taking, that binding, that leading Him. And then if you work down to verse 24 in that same chapter, It's the next phase of where Jesus went. It says, from one man to the next to be a judge upon the judge, the king of kings being taken from one man to the next as a criminal. And then go on to verse 28, and it says, Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. So this is now where he's before Pilate, a pagan judge now. judging the Lord Jesus Christ. And then if you go to chapter 19 to verse 16, I'll read from verse 16 to 18, where finally Christ is bound to the tree itself, to the cross. Chapter 19 beginning with 16 says, Then delivered He, meaning Pilate, Him, therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him. on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. So you see, from this moment in Gethsemane, Christ is deliberately handing in His freedom. He won't go anymore to friend's house in Bethany. He won't go anymore to the temple to drive people away or to speak to little children. He won't go anymore to the seaside to preach sermons, to feed 5,000. All the freedom that Christ had, He's setting aside now and handing himself in to these men who take him straight after several stops to the cross where he's bound with nails upon the cross. So there's darkness in the situation of Christ. But then also consider, not only is He the Creator in the hands of creatures who hold Him that brutally, but He's also the Holy One of God in the hands of sinful men. Christ has placed Himself, hasn't He, in the hands of people who loved Him before. Think of Him as a baby in a manger. That is incarnate God. voluntarily placing himself in the hands of humans. So vulnerable in a visual way. So much so that he was even then with an intent of others intent of killing him. And he was all at the mercy of course in a visual way. The God in his sovereignty protected him sending Joseph and Mary to Egypt. But you see that, that was a placing himself in the hands of creatures. Joseph and Mary loved Jesus. Although, of course, imperfectly, because they were human. But what is Christ doing now? He's placing Himself in the hands of men, whom He knows will spit upon Him, and throw rocks at Him, and mock Him, and act as if He's a king, but not believing He's a king, and flogging Him. That's what Christ is doing voluntarily. It's dark, the situation of Christ. But then, we also notice this darkness in the words of Christ. Christ Himself reveals that this is the reality. And this is where we look at the other Gospels. When we look at Mark 26, verse 39, we see really in Christ's words, in three directions, revealing His darkness. His words to God the Father, His words to those enemies of His, and even His words to His disciples. Matthew 26, verse 39 is that portion of the prayer where Christ pleads, and here it's read once, but He pleads three times this way, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. the whole reality that Christ was realizing that He was about to receive this cup, and we will talk more about this cup in this message. This was the crucial aspect of the darkness that Christ was conceiving around Him, because He knew that this cup involved the wrath of God that would be poured upon Him because of the sins of His people. And Christ knew that on the cross, that very passage in the psalm would be fulfilled where He Himself would say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He knew He would drink it full on the cross. And it was as if the taste of that cup was already before Him. And in His humanity, of course, is where He pleads, if there be another way. But he understood that that was what God wanted him to do. That's why the end of this prayer is where he says, Not as I will, but as thou wilt. Well, so his words to God reveal the darkness that Christ was in. But then, also his words to his disciples. Matthew also 26, the verse before that, verse 38, is where he tells them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. And that's when He pleads with him, tarry ye here and watch with me. Christ, the Creator, wanted three at least, three friends that could stay by and at least be near while He pled with the Father and went through this hard moment. He wanted company. And this is encouraging for you and me. When you find people in distress, don't worry if you don't really know what to say and if the right words don't come. Very often, it's best not to even try. Just be there for those who are in a certain distress. And if you have to say something, open God's Word. That very often is the best thing you can do. but often also just to be near and let the person know you're praying, you're interceding. That's what Christ wanted. Watch, be with me, be near. It was even increasing the darkness, the sorrow of Christ to find them sleeping instead of watching. You know well this passage. And now there's also darkness revealed by the words of Christ to His captors. If we read in Luke chapter 22 beginning with verse 52 Christ reveals to his captors that there is darkness around him. Now this is not only related to the sorrow Christ was feeling but it did add to the sorrow that he was feeling. Luke 22 beginning with verse 52 the words of Christ so he says Be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staffs, Jesus says to his arresters, when I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. So Christ declares to his very captors, yes, there's darkness around me, Of course, coming from you, my captors, you are serving Satan and doing this. So there's darkness from Satan's kingdom, right so near to Christ, and all this sorrow in his soul. But also, lastly, we see the darkness Christ was under by His very brows, by His very façade. If you looked upon Christ's face, you would literally see a color of humiliation. Because as Luke 22 verse 44 reminds us, tells us, is that while Jesus had been praying, His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. You know how when you're working hard in a summer day and there will be some sweat, but often it doesn't pour, it just stays there. But you know how you work to a point where it starts pouring. Well, the sweat of Christ was not the kind that just stays there, it was the kind that dropped, great drops of blood falling to the ground and it was bloody. And some explain very clearly that this is very possible when people are under such great and not ending distress, that the anguish can be so great that the capillaries will burst and will mix with the pores and the sweat that naturally comes will be tinted in red because of blood. This is what happened to Christ. And you know that that blood, having come upon His body, and not just His face, a lot of commentators think, just like you and I would sweat in different parts, Well, in His robe there would be those blotches of blood that would dry and turn black. And so when you looked upon Christ, you could not but see darkness upon Him. His brows just revealing the blood that He was already shedding because of all that He was going through. But amazingly, amidst such darkness, there's also great glory. And this is where we come to the Gospel of John, verse 18, and those verses that we've read. And we will now concentrate then on this point, our second point, the glory in the arrest of Christ. We saw the darkness, and now we see the glory in the arrest of Christ. And we see it, first of all, as Christ reveals Himself. So in revealing himself, again verse 5, as soon as he sees those people coming, he's the one who initiates the dialogue. He says, Whom seek ye? They answered they wanted Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am he. And we know there is great glory as Christ revealed that it was Him. Because look at what happened to those people. Verse 6, As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward and fell to the ground. Now, our Bibles has He in italics because it's not there in the original. Because in the Greek, when you have the construction, I am, it understands the he, so it's not necessary to have the he. So literally Christ would have said, I am. And that is the very construction that would be the translation of the Old Testament of the name Yahweh. which also is a combination, I am, and that is the name of God. And there were other moments when Christ simply said, I am, like when he said before, Abraham was, I am. They understood that Christ was placing himself equal with God, and they were ready to kill him. And so what Christ is doing here again is doing the same thing, except there's an aspect which is Invisible to the eye, John doesn't say that there were sparks of light. It doesn't seem like there was anything visual, but it was completely there. Because these people went back, and the text says that they went backward. This is also the word giving the concept of departing. If it's meant to say that they were departing as if to run away from that revelation, they didn't go too far, because it says that they fell to the ground. Oh, some commentators tried to soften this out and they say, you know, they probably just retired because they heard that he's the one there to arrest, so now they're coming for a counsel and they're sitting down, as it were now, to decide what to do with him. And they try to act as if there's really nothing of glory there. They're just deciding now how they're going to do this. But they have to add and cut away a lot to really come up with that idea. Because the text says that they went backward, they departed, not to the sides, they departed back and they fell. The word fell does not mean that they sat. It does not mean that they had time to parley, to talk, to discuss. They fell to the ground when Christ revealed His name. So when they realized in a spiritual sense, of course, and they themselves most likely weren't understanding exactly what was happening, but Christ was revealing Himself and there's glory in the I Am of Christ. But then in verse 8, we see there's also glory in Christ giving commands And He gives two specific commands, and in these commands we see another aspect of how Christ is making it clear who's in control. It's as if Christ is saying, you are my captors, you think you have it all right, you have a leader, you have a betrayer, but I want to make it clear that I'm the one who's controlling all of this here. And so when they come upon Him, verse 8, Jesus says, I have told you that I am He, if therefore ye seek Me, He says, let these go their way. Let these go does not mean, please take me, but let them go. Jesus is not pleading. Let these go is an order, it is a command. Who of us would think of giving a command to people who come to arrest us? or thieves if they come. We go into the pleading mode, but not Christ. He goes into the commanding mode. And there's something not only commanding, but there's something prophetical here. Because it says in the text, John makes it clear, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake. And then the words of Christ again, "...of them which Thou gavest Me, have I lost none." Remember, Christ had prayed earlier to God, "...of them that Thou hast given Me, I have lost none." And now that captors come and His disciples are there, they might be taken, they might suffer. Well, Christ prayed that none would be taken, that they would all be safe. And so for that Word to be fulfilled, That command has to be obeyed. So Christ is acting here as a prophet, not only as a prophet who prophesied earlier and is there making sure that prophecy is carried on as many prophets of old would do. He has the power to make sure that prophecy will carry on. The prophets of old would have to plead with God that His Word would come to pass and that people would obey. Not Christ. He commands men, so that the word of God is fulfilled. And then there's a second command. And we see this in verse 11. And this command not as... The first command is to his captors. Now his second command is to his army, as it were. They come in a war against Christ. Well, Christ is the King and He has His disciples. Many of them think they are the army of Christ in a way that they need to use swords. And so Peter draws out his sword and is ready to attack. And he does attack. And he cuts the ear of Malchus. But Christ looks to Peter and He says, Put up thy sword into the sheath. He's commanding His army. No. No sword right now. Put it in. No sword. And Peter must obey. And he does. We don't hear of more warfare going on. So we see then the glory of Christ as He reveals Himself, as He commands, but also connected right here to this sheathing of the sword, also in showing mercy. Christ heals Malchus. We know that because Luke 22, 49 speaks of how Christ reached with his hands and touched Malchus and healed his ear. And you might say, well, that's one more miracle of healing. What's so different about it? Well, I'm sure you have the answer, don't you? It's true, Christ healed the blind. He healed the lame. He gave life to those who had death. But those were not people, were they, who were coming to strike Christ down, to bind Him? Was blind Bartimaeus wanting to kill Jesus? No. When you look at all those miracles, these were people pleading with Christ. Think of that lady who wanted to at least touch the hem of his garment and was healed. Malchus was not wanting to touch the hem of his garment in any way of faith. Some commentators believe that Malchus very possibly was one of the most courageous to stand up from that moment of glory and think, I don't care, I'm going to be the first one to grab hold of this man. And so Peter would have naturally stricken the very first one. We're not sure about that. But the logic here indicates that Malchus was certainly not in the very end of this band of evildoers. He was right there close. He was one planning to hold on to Jesus. And Peter strikes him. But Christ reverts back, as it were, to those moments of showing mercy and love to all those people who had come. And He touches his ear and heals. a man who plans to kill him. So there's compassion and mercy. There's really compassion when he tells Peter to put the sword down. Imagine if Peter hadn't. If he only got the ear of the first stroke in Peter's heart, most likely he thought of using now the second strike where it would get that man more effectively. So the putting the sword down had already an aspect of compassion. And not only that, Christ goes and heals that man. So you see glory there. You see glory as Christ heals those who hate Him. One who hates Him, right there. And now, a fourth aspect where we see the glory of Christ in this moment of great darkness is when we compare, when we take a moment now to compare Two gardens that scripture reveals to us. This is Gethsemane. This is a garden that we never forget. But there's another garden, isn't there, where we speak a lot about and where we hear a lot about. And that's the Garden of Eden. And it's interesting when we parallel those two. Even the ancient church fathers, the apostolic fathers would see this parallel, and recent commentators also do. This is nothing new, but it's amazing how this exercise really helps us see the glory. in that dark garden of Gethsemane. Well, let us do this parallel. Here's Eden. And there was great pleasure for mankind, wasn't there, in Eden. They could eat of every fruit except for that one of the tree. But they had paradise before them, Adam and Eve. They had such joy. It was a land of great blessings. But Gethsemane was a land of great agony for the Son of Man. In Eden, Adam and Eve were speaking to Satan while they spoke to the serpent. But in Gethsemane, the great dialogue is there, Christ speaking to the Father. That's the great dialogue of Gethsemane. In Eden, Adam sinned. In Gethsemane, Christ was already beginning the suffering for sinners and going that trail to Calvary where he would finally suffer fully for sinners. In Eden, Adam fell before Satan. But in Gethsemane, Christ is standing and men fall before Christ. And in Eden, Adam, because of his sin, he goes and hides himself. Gethsemane, because men are coming to get Christ, He comes and reveals Himself, not hides. And in Eden, as we saw just now, in Eden, we do see the sword being unsheathed. God places that angel with a sword, unsheathed, so that no man would go back in. But here in Gethsemane, we see the sword being sheathed. We see as a communication saying, no sword. The axis, I have to go to the cross because then by dying, men can come to me and be saved. The sword is sheathed. And finally, In Eden, Adam accepted that fruit and ate, and that was his sin. But in Gethsemane, Christ accepted the cup. He pled in regards to the cup, but then he understands he must drink it, and he's willing. And those were the words of Christ that we last read in verse 11. After he tells Peter to sheathe the sword, he says, "...the cup which my Father hath given me." shall I not drink it." So as we compare these gardens, we see the glory in Gethsemane because of Christ. And now this leads us to our last aspect where we see the glory of Christ, and it's in regards to this cup. It's in the acceptance of the cup. We noted earlier that the greatest aspect of the agony of Christ and of His sorrow was the reality that He would drink that cup shortly. Well, this is also what shows such glory because Christ is willing to drink this cup. Christ was willing to do it. He knew what Scripture demanded, what the law demanded of sin. Ezekiel 18.20 says, "...the soul that sinneth, it shall die." He knew that all of mankind would be condemned to death, but those whom God had chosen from the foundation of the world and given to Him as a gift could only be redeemed if He died in their stead, in our stead. And so he had to go to the cross. He was willing to drink of the cup. And this very willingness is where we see such glory, because he was willing to do that for his own, and in fulfillment with what he and the Father had decided would be done, even before the foundation of the world. And so when he tells Peter to sheathe the sword, to put it away, He's basically saying, don't stop them. Don't stop my arresters. What they came to do, although they're guilty of it and it's a sin as they do it, I have to turn myself in because I have to go to the cross. I have to drink the cup so that you, Peter, won't drink it. So that each one who would come to Christ would never have to drink a drop of this cup. If you have faith in Christ, You shall never taste a drop of this cup because of what Christ did. And this is the last consideration of the moment of glory in Gethsemane. And so before we consider some concluding applications, let us sing now Psalter Selection 94 verses 1 through 3 of Psalter 94. My mercy and my truth, O Lord, transcend the lofty sky. Thy judgments are a mighty deed, and as the fountains sigh, for Thou preserv'd this man and beast, is Thou forever mine. Beneath the shadow of thy wings, we may our refuge find. In the abundance of thy house, we shall be satisfied. On rivers of unfailing joy, our thirst shall be sufficed. In conclusion, first let's consider the two cups that scripture speaks of. Scripture doesn't speak only of the cup of God's wrath, it speaks also of the cup of salvation. Psalm 116 verse 13 says, I will take a cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Every Christian Everyone who has been born again, whom the Holy Spirit has indwelled, who has looked to Christ, and He has saved, has drunk from this cup. And you never stop drinking from it. Every time you read the Bible, every time you're praying, every time you live, and it's God giving you life, you are drinking of the cup of salvation. And heaven will be an eternal drinking of the cup. The Lord's Supper has this aspect in the very cup as we drink the wine and consider that that represents the blood of Christ. Isn't it communicating His death? Well, it's through His death that you have life. You see, it's the cup of salvation that gives you life. But scripture doesn't speak only of the cup of salvation. It does speak of the cup of the wrath of God. Another psalm, Psalm 11, verse 6, speaks of this cup. It says, "...upon the wicked he shall reign snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup." And this is the cup that the Lord Jesus Christ took when He was on the cross. He took the cup of God's wrath. When we say in the Creed that Christ descended unto hell, What that means is that Christ, when He was on the cross, He went in a spiritual sense, of course, to hell. He received, as it were, hell upon Him for you and I who would be worthy of hell. So you see, we will never know anything about that cup. A true Christian will never know anything about what hell is about. in sensing it, in feeling it, because Christ drank that cup for you. Some people might say, oh, but all the difficulties I go through, the crosses I bear, are those not like drops of that cup? No. Don't ever think that afflictions that you receive have anything to do with the cup of God's wrath. You see, the cup of wrath speaks of judgment, speaks of those who turn their backs on the only hope that men and women have, which is Christ. Those who close their eyes after they've lived in this life and never look to Christ in faith. They shall drink that cup. See, it's judgment, it's condemnation. But if you're going through afflictions, But you trust Christ. You're going through difficulties, but Christ is all to you. You see, these difficulties are actually part of the cup of salvation. Because God uses, and we see in God's Word, this is clear, God uses every difficulty, every affliction to bring us nearer to Him. So it's really the cup of salvation that you're drinking when there are difficulties. The truth is that Christians shall never drink a drop of the cup of wrath because Christ drank it full on the cross. People who try to live a certain way, hoping that maybe God will bless them because they're trying to be good, they're almost in a way trying to say, well, thou hast drunk the cup of wrath, but maybe I have to do a little bit of drinking also. No. Christ does not want anyone helping Him drink that cup because you and I cannot do it. If you taste a drop of it, it's eternal condemnation. And only Christ can do that for you and me. So you must flee to Christ completely as the one who has drunk it full for His own. And so when we consider the two cups, we can be very thankful and rejoice that there was glory in the midst of so much darkness. There is the cup of salvation for you because there was a cup of wrath for Him. And now another aspect, another application when we think of the arrest of Christ, darkness and glory, It really puts reality to this other verse. Psalm 211 says like this, Rejoice, which speaks of happiness, of glory, of mirth, but then trembling, which speaks of fear, of sobriety, of carefulness. How can those two be together? And see, you look around and you see that churches, usually, it's so sad that body of believers tend to go to these extremes. Either they're only on one side where fear is everything and there's really never a certain joy, but then what we live so much around us and in many countries is this focus on the rejoicing and people are happy and joyful, but they seem to not realize the aspect of darkness, the aspect of fear that there has to be, specifically in worship. When we are thankful to Christ for what He's done, when we see what He went through in Gethsemane, although it does bring us joy and happiness and fills our hearts with a smile and we want to go and show the love of Christ to people and be kind to others, but that does not mean that we come together and we show as it were that rejoicing and jumping and clapping and so much uproar that really happens in many congregations and they think that is true worship. No, that's losing the focus of where all that glory was. It was in the midst of all that darkness. When we come to worship, Yes, the joy is there, but it's never divorced from the reality that Christ bled on the cross and He sweat in Gethsemane. He was in the midst of so much darkness. You see, that brings sobriety to the worship of Christ, but with true joy. It has to be there in our hearts, and it has to be there as we go out these doors and into the world, and as we show love to one another. We must be joyful people, but with a sober heart. because we see where that glory was. It was in the midst of that darkness. So this passage really speaks to how our worship ought to be and how our life ought to be. Our life should be lived, yes, with joy, but sobriety as well. So whenever we're out there, we have to always remember, yes, the joy and happiness must be in our activities, in our life with friends. But aren't we supposed to still put a line somewhere? It can't just go all the way that way, and it only be joy and happiness. And a lot of people go wrong and start going into jokes that are really sinful. And they end up thinking, no, but Christianity is to be happy. And no, it's not that way. There has to be that sobriety that holds on to, as it were, that joy and puts it in the right place. And it can't be the extreme either, as if a smile would be a sin. We have to be careful and we have to think, I cannot but smile that Christ has cleansed me. But I cannot only be smiling because He was there before those captors and with His brows red as blood. And He did that for me. You see, it puts reality to our joy and it makes our worship sober and truly joyful. And now our last consideration, our last application is this, and basically it's in saying what we are not trying to do. A lot of people look at all of this and how Christ has suffered for us and they think like this, well, this is how Christ suffered for me, well then this is why I'm going to live for Him this and that way. And they almost live as if they're paying back for what Christ has done. This is not how God's Word is to be understood in this passage. It's obviously true that we should imitate Christ. And if He has suffered this way for us, we must go out and think there's no suffering that's too much. I want to live for His glory. I want to serve Him gladly. But never think that you're doing that in payment for what He did. We should never have that mindset. Our nature so easily tends us that way. But what this passage is doing is this. God, through the Holy Spirit, and using Apostle John, is saying, behold your Savior. Christ, the Creator, the Holy One, was arrested, placed Himself in the hands of men, and He did this for His own. He did this for you, if you are a child of God, if you have come by faith. And He did this, inviting you to come. He's the very One who said, come unto Me. And so this passage is saying, behold the Savior that you need. Behold the Savior you've believed in. Serve Him. Go out and love Him. And trust His love for you. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious God, we stand in awe in the reality that Thou art pleased to save us, to send Thine only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for sin. And Lord, we confess that there's nothing in and of ourselves that makes us deserve what Thou hast done. And as we contemplate the darkness in which Christ was found in His own soul and around Him and from the very kingdom of darkness, we thank Thee greatly, O Lord. We declare here our gratitude that He has done that to glorify Thee in saving us. Help us, Lord, to love Thee more for it, to worship Thee with great affection in our hearts as we stand in awe of what our Savior has done for us. O Lord, again we pray, save those who do not have faith. Give them what they need and an eye to Christ that they would live from this moment forward for Thy glory. We pray, Lord, give us a blessed week to remember Thy Word and to feed upon it daily. We ask this, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. After our second offering is collected, we shall be singing Psalter Selection 24 excuse me, 2-4-1 versus 1-4. ♪ Ever shall be born ♪ ♪ The never-merciful Lord ♪ ♪ By His promise shall I proclaim ♪ ♪ And every age shall know my name ♪ Forever built and firm and sure. A big gold desk that never dies. Let's have this change, let's make it last. ♪ Of truth and grace displayed ♪ ♪ Worthy as name, O God, and name ♪ ♪ And He, as Lord, and Heaven's Son ♪ ♪ Shall ever stand upon His throne ♪ to be thy wondrous works, O Lord. Thy faithfulness shall praise the land where holy ones have settled The King, the Lord, our Father's God, eternal King of Kings, who on the edge of death falls dead, performing wondrous things. Unseated, straight, and glorious name forevermore. Amen. And let His glory fill the earth from shore to shore. Amen. Receive the blessing of the Lord and go in peace. May the grace of God and the love of Christ and the communion of the Spirit be with you all. Amen.