You can find this on page 904 of the Pew Bible, John chapter 18. Be looking at verses 12 through 27. John chapter 18, beginning at verse 12, hear now God's holy word. So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First, they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. But Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl, who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you also are not one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I am not. Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. They know what I said. When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, is that how you answer the high priest? Jesus answered him, if what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me? Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, you also are not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, did I not see you in the garden with him? Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. And thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Well, last week we looked at the first 11 verses of chapter 18, and there we saw that Jesus was in complete control of his arrest. He wasn't outwitted by Judas or outdone by the large contingent of armed soldiers. He was doing what he came to do, which is, of course, to save his people from their sins. He was drinking the cup that the father had given him to drink. He was standing tall, as it were, on the battlefield. Now, that was true during his arrest, and it continues to be true during his trial before the Jewish authorities, which we see in our text this morning. Now, what is interesting about this text is that John weaves Peter's three denials in and around Jesus's interrogation by the high priest. And Jesus' faithfulness is depicted then against the background of Peter's unfaithfulness. Jesus' strength is contrasted by Peter's, or with Peter's weakness. And Jesus' I am is set in contrast to Peter's I am not. Now, the purpose of telling the story in this way is not to disparage Peter. Rather, John wants us to see that Jesus is indeed the Christ. He wants us to put our faith in him. And we need to see that Jesus wasn't a false Christ or an imposter who tried to usher in the kingdom of God but failed because he was crucified. No, we need to see that Jesus was in complete control and he purposely laid down his life so that he then, by that, usher in the kingdom of God. And we continue to see that by Jesus's trial before Annas the high priest and against the backdrop of Peter's denial and failure. And so in order to expound this point, I want to first look at Jesus, and then look at Peter, and then draw some conclusions of that. But in verse 12, we see that Jesus is arrested. The soldiers bind him and take him to Annas, who, as we are told, was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Now, what's interesting is that Annas is also referred to as the high priest in verse 19. And so why would John refer to two high priests? I mean, what's going on here? Well, during the Roman occupation of Israel, the Romans appointed and deposed the high priest as they saw fit. Annas, for example, was appointed by a Roman governor. And then nine years later, he was deposed by Pontius Pilate's predecessor. And as you might imagine, the Jews did not like this at all. They hated Roman interference. And, of course, what Rome was doing was contrary to Scripture, because like the office of our Supreme Court, the office of the high priest in Israel was a lifetime appointment. And so, at least in the eyes of the Jews, Annas was, in effect, still the high priest, or at least high priest emeritus. Actually, it might be better to refer to Annas as the godfather of the priesthood, the Vito Corleone of the priesthood, if you will, because he was the patriarch of a high priestly family. At least five of his sons and one son-in-law, Caiaphas, were high priests after him. So this is why John refers to both men as the high priest, although only normally one person is considered the high priest. And it's also why the soldiers first take Jesus to Annas to be interrogated. But before we look at that, I do want to draw your attention to verse 14. And there we read this. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. See, here John is reminding us of what he had written about in chapter 11. And there, the Jewish leaders had gathered together to discuss what they were going to do with Jesus. They had seen that Jesus had become quite popular, and he was doing all these incredible miracles, and the people were beginning to think, maybe this man, this Jesus, is really indeed the Christ, and he's becoming quite popular among the Jews. But the thing is, is that the scribes and the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders are convinced that Jesus is not the Christ. They think that he is a false prophet, a blasphemer. And so if Jesus continues to become popular in the eyes of the people, if he actually tries to usher in the kingdom of God, they think he's going to fail because he's an imposter, a false Christ. And if that happens, then they know that the Romans will come in and wipe everybody out. That means they will lose their position, and the nation will be crushed. And they don't want that. And so they're trying to figure out, what are we going to do with Jesus? And it's at this point that Caiaphas said that it's better for one man to die than the whole nation. Better to kill Jesus than that the whole nation should perish. And then John wrote in chapter 11 that Caiaphas had unknowingly, or as he says, not on his own accord, prophesied about Jesus in that Jesus would indeed die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. And no doubt, John reminds us of this here in order to highlight for us the reason Jesus isn't using his power to stop his arrest, trial, and eventual crucifixion. Because Jesus could just say the word and that would be that. But he doesn't. No, he's arrested, he's tried, he's condemned and executed for us. He's going to die for the people of God. He takes our place. We deserve to die, but Jesus will take our punishment upon himself. That's what Isaiah said the suffering servant of the Lord would do, as we read in Isaiah 53. It's what John the Baptist essentially said when he first saw Jesus and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And it's what Jesus himself said that the good shepherd would do. That is, lay down his life for the sheep. And so Jesus knows exactly what he's doing. And it really shows in his interaction with Annas. He doesn't cower in fear. He doesn't beg to be released. He doesn't promise, look, just let me go and I will live the rest of my days in obscurity. No, Jesus stands tall and he speaks truth to power. And in verse 19, Annas questions Jesus about two things, his disciples and his doctrine. And these two points will form the basis of the charge against Jesus. And Annas quizzes him about his disciples, because then they can accuse him of insurrection. You see, they want to prove that he's gathering disciples in order to make a challenge against Rome. They want to demonstrate that he's a king in opposition to Caesar. And that, of course, is a capital offense in the eyes of Rome. And that will be the way in which they get Pilate to condemn Jesus. But Annas also grills him on his teaching because they think that he is a false prophet, a blasphemer. And that will be the reason that he should be executed from the Jewish side of the law. And so Annas grills him on his disciples and on his doctrine. But as many commentators point out, Annas is way out of line in doing all of that, because Jesus has been arrested. And according to their law, the proper procedure was not to question the accused, but rather first to produce witnesses and question them. But that's not what Annas is doing there. He's questioning Jesus. He's essentially trying to get Jesus to incriminate himself. But Jesus isn't going to have anything to do with that. I mean, he's obviously not guilty, but he's not going to allow Annas to get away with it. And he calls Annas out on it. Now, John doesn't tell us if Jesus says anything about his disciples. He may have avoided that subject in order to protect them from any harm. But he does, though, address the doctrine issue. And he points out that his teaching is well known. He was teaching in the synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come and gather together. There are countless witnesses of what he said and of his doctrine and of his teaching. He said nothing in secret. And so what Jesus is saying here is, Simply this, there are countless witnesses to what I've taught. The city is full of them, Annas, so why are you asking me? Why are you questioning me? Call the witnesses. Ask them. They know what I said. You see, Jesus is pointing out the unjustness of Annas' questioning, and he's calling upon him to do the right thing. Now, Annas' officers didn't like this rebuke of the high priest, and so one of them strikes Jesus with his hand and says, is that how you answer the high priest? How dare you? But that too is out of line, and Jesus says this, well, if I said something wrong, then show me, but if what I said is right, why do you hit me? Clearly then, Annas is getting nowhere with Jesus. He can't get Jesus to sign some sort of confession. That is because Jesus is not intimidated by the Godfather of the Jewish priesthood. He isn't overcome by the situation. No, just the opposite. He confidently confronts Annas about his unjust conduct. Now, at this point, it might be helpful to compare what Jesus does here with Paul's appearance before the high priest in Acts 23. Now, in that chapter, while Paul is speaking to the council, the same council that Jesus will soon face when he goes to Caiaphas. So while Paul is speaking to the council, Ananias, who is the high priest, orders Paul to be struck on the mouth. Paul speaks back, and he's promptly rebuked for speaking back to the high priest. Paul then apologizes for what he had done, because he didn't know he was speaking to the high priest, and according to the Scriptures, we must not speak evil about a ruler. Now, these two situations are very similar. Both Jesus and Paul are struck in the mouth, both speak back, but only Paul apologizes for doing so. And so we have to ask the question, why? Well, the reason is because Paul lost his cool and he insulted the high priest when he spoke back. He calls him a whitewashed wall. Now Paul, as good and as great of a man that he was, had feet of clay. Yes, he was provoked, but he shouldn't have insulted at that moment the high priest. Jesus, however, is the Christ, the Son of God. He doesn't have feet of clay. He is a perfect man. And even though he is provoked, He doesn't insult anybody. He doesn't insult the authority. He responds respectfully. He stands up to the authority, but he does so biblically. And we might also point out that Jesus has every right to do that, to stand up to authorities who are unjustly out to get him. Now some people will say that Jesus, what he's doing here, he's actually doing something in contrast to what he preached. Because after all, he told his disciples that if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, to turn the other cheek. But Jesus isn't turning the other cheek here at all. He's standing up for himself, the truth, and justice. But should have Jesus turn the other cheek here by remaining silent? Well, no, not at all. Because turning the other cheek isn't the same thing as being a coward or a doormat. It doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself in a court of law. It does mean, though, that you don't return evil for evil. It does mean that you don't take upon yourself the roles of judge and law enforcement. Now, Paul failed to turn the other cheek by insulting the high priest. He returned evil for evil. But Jesus righteously responded to injustice. And we may and should do the same. Now, we should not take the law into our own hands, but we should defend ourselves and others properly and justly. Now, since Annas gets nowhere with Jesus, and since they're on a very tight schedule to condemn Jesus before the Sabbath, he sends Jesus bound to Caiaphas to be officially tried in the Jewish court. Now, in stark contrast to Jesus stands Peter. And unlike Jesus, Peter is not arrested and taken away by the soldiers. As we saw last week, Jesus made sure of that. And so Peter's free to come and go as he pleases. And he uses his freedom to follow Jesus as we are told did another disciple, who is most likely John himself. And John is no stranger to Annas. We don't know how John knew Annis, but it's clear that he knew the family so well that he could automatically gain entrance into Annis' courtyard. But Peter, though, doesn't know Annis. And so he has to wait outside. And in light of that, John goes and speaks to the servant girl who kept watch at the door. And he tells the girl, look, Peter is my friend. I know him, so you can let him in. It's OK. But before she lets him in, she asks Peter a question. You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you? You see, this girl knows John, and no doubt she knows that John is a disciple of Jesus. And since John knows Peter, she suspects that maybe Peter is also a disciple of Jesus like John. And by the way she frames the question, it appears that she isn't a fan of Jesus. She expects him to say no to her question. You aren't his disciple, are you? See, like master, like servant. Annas hated Jesus, and no doubt his whole household hated Jesus. And now that hatred puts Peter on the spot. Does he confess the truth? Yes, I am his disciple. Or does he deny knowing Jesus? Now, he might be thinking at this point, well, I need to deny it in order to get in, because if I say, she won't let me in. Or, more likely, he's thinking that, well, unlike John, he is in a very precarious position. not John is the one who cut off Malchus's ear. And Malchus, it so happens, is a servant of the man whose courtyard he is trying to get in. So poor Peter, he's the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if anyone's going to get into trouble, it's going to be him. And if he says that he too is a disciple, then they might pay attention to him and somebody there might recognize him and point him out that he is the man who had the sword in his hand and who cut off Malchus's ear. And that wouldn't be good at all. And so Peter wants to remain anonymous. He doesn't want anybody to know that he belongs with Jesus. And so he tells the servant girl, I am not. striking against Jesus's two I am's in the first 11 verses. I am not. That's the first denial. Then Peter enters the courtyard. It's springtime, but in Israel, the evenings are cool. And so Peter joins the crowd over by the charcoal fire. And while he is there, someone asks the same question. You also are not one of his disciples, are you?" And Peter replies with the same answer, I am not. Still later, another person asked Peter the same question, but this time it's by a relative of Malchus. And to make matters worse, This man was there in Gethsemane because he says, did I not see you in the garden with him? You know, Peter's heart must have been racing a mile a minute and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Oh man, this is not good. He saw me there with Jesus? Well, maybe he saw me with the sword in my hand. You know, I can't be found out. And so Peter denied knowing Jesus a third time. And at that moment, the rooster crowed. Now, the main point that we need to see in all of this is that Jesus is in complete control. He's not a hapless victim, an unfortunate fellow. No, he's a mighty victor. Remember, back in chapter 13, Peter had said to Jesus that he was willing to lay down his life for him. And in response, Jesus told him this, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not grow till you have denied me three times. And that's exactly what happened. Jesus knew it all. He predicted it. He knew that everything, he knew everything that was going to happen to him, which goes to show that he was in control of everything that was happening to him. And so like Peter's denials, Jesus knew about his betrayal, his arrest, his trial, and his soon to be crucifixion. It was all part of the plan. Yes, the Jewish leaders did their very best to kill Jesus, and they did, but only because Jesus allowed them to. As he said in chapter 10, I lay down my life for my sheep. No one takes my life. I lay it down. And that's exactly what Jesus is doing here. He's on the road to laying down his life. He's no victim. He's no crushed foe. He's doing what he came to do to save his people from their sins, doing so in obedience to the Father. He's drinking the cup that the Father has given him to drink. And he doesn't falter in any way, even though he has the power to wipe everybody out. You see, unlike Peter, he stands tall through it all. And that too reminds us, does it not, that Jesus is the Christ and not Peter or any other disciple or any other Christian leader. Even though some Christians in the early church began to say, I am of Peter, we aren't followers of Peter or Paul or Paulus or R.C. Sproul. Peter didn't die for you. Peter isn't perfect. We see that here for sure. And the same is true with Paul. And yet we can be so enamored with gifted leaders that we end up clinging to them instead of Jesus. And we think that our leaders can do no wrong and they are beyond criticism. Well, Peter and Paul aren't beyond criticism. Sinclair Ferguson, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, whoever you might name, aren't beyond criticism. No one is. And so don't treat them like they are. You see, Christian leaders have feet of clay, like Peter, like Paul. And our hope is not in them. Which is why when they do stumble, our faith shouldn't be shaken. Because our faith shouldn't be in them, it needs to be in Jesus. Because he didn't stumble. Again, even though he had the power to save himself, he didn't. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And he did that for us. He did that so that whoever believes in him might receive the free gift of eternal life. That is why we need to commit our life to Jesus. Why we need to follow him. He is the Christ. His trial. His death at all proves that, that He is the Savior of the world. So turn to Him and He will save you from your sins and from the wages of sin, which is death. Believe in Him and you will live with God forever. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you for this account that we have been given, that we might know who Jesus is, what he has come to do, and how he is a mighty victor, even when he is humbled, even when he is falsely accused and condemned and killed, that even through that he was actually gaining the victory for us, that he was crushed for our iniquities. Lord, help us to see the truth about Jesus, that we might cling to Him, that we might run to Him and find life in Him. We might see that Jesus is the Christ, believe it, and by believing in Him, have life in His name. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.