Our text this morning is found in the beginning of the chapter that we've just read together, John 18, and we'll be considering verses 1-11. John 18, verses 1-11. It opens in verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook, where was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples." This morning we reach the last section of the Gospel of John. This is the beginning of the end, if you will, 138 verses remaining in this fourth Gospel. You'll have perhaps noticed some of the differences between the Gospel of John and the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which we call the Synoptic Gospels. John's Gospel was, of course, written last. And you'll note that the Holy Spirit leaves out some of the details in John that we find in the other three. But it also adds a great many details that we don't find in the first three Gospels. You think, for example, of our text, we have the name, Melchizedek, the name of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. But more substantially, you think of what we've just covered in chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17, which are given to us in great detail. But one of the things that you'll also note is the proportion of material in the Gospel of John. I said that we're coming now to the beginning of the end, but if you step back and look at John as a whole, one-third of the entire Gospel is devoted to the last handful of days. of Jesus' ministry, and especially the details pertaining to the night before and his crucifixion. And so we're coming to the climax, and the climax begins with the arrest of our Lord. And so that's what we're considering this morning, the arrest of our Lord. We'll note four things from these 11 verses. First of all, Christ's voluntary offering. First of all, Christ's voluntary offering in verses 1 to 4. You'll remember from your knowledge of the Old Testament that the priest had a number of responsibilities. He was to teach and instruct the people, he was to pray for the people, and he was to offer sacrifices for the people. Now we've seen in chapters 14, 15, and 16 Jesus instructing his disciples in that last farewell discourse with the truths that would furnish them with help for his departure. We saw him praying for his people in the high priestly prayer in chapter 17. And now Jesus is turning to the atonement. And it is a voluntary offering. that he brings, the offering up of himself. We're told that they cross over the brook. Kedron, or Kidron, this is on the east side of Jerusalem, and that brook ran between the city itself and the Mount of Olives. For those who have been following the afternoon sermons, you'll remember just a few weeks ago how, in the days of Reformation, at the time of Josiah, that he tore down and burned ashes, the idolatrous altars, and he poured those ashes into the brook that the Lord Jesus is now crossing. And there's a number of other important points historically with regards to references to this body of water. They go into a garden, we're told. And it is, I think, good for us to stop and pause here and think about the significance of that. It was in a garden that sin began. And it is in a garden that the salvation from sin or recovery from sin is also unfolding. It was in the garden that the fall took place. It is in a garden here that the Lord Jesus Christ is actually triumphing. Of course, Adam's garden had everything delectable. It was a pleasant place, a pleasant atmosphere, whereas the garden that Jesus enters is one of great affliction, one of great pain. In the first garden, mankind was lost. In this one, the Lord Jesus Christ is undertaking to save them. We're told that he goes into this garden And we're told that it was Christ's habit to resort to this particular place. So Jesus' prayer habits were well known. Think of Daniel in the Old Testament. People knew you could count on him. Stated times of prayer were predictable. And it's no less the case with our Lord Jesus. He was a man given to prayer, and his patterns for prayer were known. And as the text tells us, Judas himself was well aware of this. And so what does that mean? It means that Jesus is purposefully going to the place that he knew Judas would go looking for him, seeking for him. And so he knew, where is Judas going to look? He's going to look in the garden. And so the Lord Jesus Christ heads there. You see how he is sovereignly orchestrating the circumstances. And he is putting himself in the path that was necessary to lead to the cross. Judas is referred to twice, in verse 2 and verse 5, as the one which betrayed the Lord Jesus. Now, this is so familiar to us. I mean, we know about Judas Iscariot and we know about his betrayal of the Lord. That word betrayed, that word betrayal, is a loaded word. It is an emotionally intense word. The whole concept of betrayal is gut-wrenching. And it ought to be. I mean, in one's experience, it is gut-wrenching. The violation of the deepest and most secure bonds between two people, the trust that had been there. One thinks of the sense of betrayal and adultery or abandonment, or of the experience of being knifed, as it were, in the back by a close friend. Here is Judas Iscariot, the one which betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he shows up, not by himself, but with this impressive overwhelming force, probably at least 200 Roman soldiers are with him, along with the various servants and officers connected with the Jewish leadership and establishment. And so you have this motley crew of Jews and Gentiles that are coming to seek the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, in verse five, we're told, Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. You think of that. Here is Judas, whom we could say often stood with the Lord. He sat at the feet of the Lord and received his teaching. He stood by the Lord in the great miracles that unfolded throughout his ministry. He slept near our Savior night after night, and now we're told that he is with them. with the enemies, rather than with Christ. It's also notable, I think, that Judas knows that this is the place of prayer for Christ. And there's something particularly evil in the fact that he secures this place, hallowed place, of spiritual exercise. as the location in which he would hand over our Lord and Savior to his enemies. One has to ask, as you come to passages like this, what is in man? What a world of evil is to be found within the heart of man. Here we see that those that are endowed with the highest possible privileges, the highest privileges of all, can lead down into the lowest depths of wickedness. And it takes place one step at a time. I mean, here is, Judas is not a pagan. Judas is not, you know, someone who is completely detached, as it were, from Christ or from biblical religion. He is a son of the covenant. He's part of the visible people of God. He's, in fact, in that most restricted and closest band of 12 disciples who were nearest and dearest to our Savior. Judas was one who had access to copious amounts of knowledge, of doctrine. So he would have been instructed more thoroughly than the masses had, and he would have been able to articulate that. not only as one who had been raised as a Jew, but at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Indeed, we're told that He, along with the other Twelve, were sent out to teach others. And so, here is a man who's seen Christ, heard Christ, touched Christ, walked with Christ, watched Him, in all of these circumstances, all of these privileges, all of the access that he's had to the Lord Jesus Christ, all the miracles that he's seen. whose own mouth had repeated the things that he had been taught, and yet he is spiritually barren." barren, no fruitfulness whatsoever. It's a solemn warning to us. It's a very solemn warning. Having access to Christ, having been furnished with great privileges, being numbered among the people of God, being close to all of the blessings of the Lord's ordinances, being able to articulate doctrine yourself is no guarantee that you are saved, that you are indeed a Christian. The Bible teaches us to take heed lest we fall, and especially we need to beware of tolerating any single besetting sin. Judas had his, and it ate like a cancer through his soul, and ultimately consumed and destroyed him. We need to beware of being at peace with any besetting sin. And it can be bitterness, and bitterness is excused, and it's tolerated. Perhaps it's secretly nursed. Bitterness is allowed to flourish, and there's all sorts of justifications, and we put a thin veneer on it of expressing our hurts, and so on and so forth. I mean, it can be greed, it can be lust, it can be love for the world, it can be a whole host of things. But the fact is, just as one flame that is left unextinguished can burn down a whole house, one sin that is left unchecked can ruin a soul. And so we need to be aware of what there is to learn. Remember Lot's wife? Yes. Remember Judas Iscariot as well. It is a word of warning that we not be content with merely the superficial externals without the internal and substantial realities of gospel fruitfulness. You come to verse 4 and it says, Jesus, therefore, knowing all these things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? So Jesus knows all that we've described here. He knows what's in Judas. He's told him at the supper, What thou doest, do thou quickly. Sent him out, giving him time to prepare for the mischief that he was concocting. He knew about the intentions of the Jewish establishment. He knew about the threats of the Roman soldiers. He knew not only what would take place in the garden, but what would follow and where all of this was going. And he willingly and deliberately pursued it. That's the point of verse 4. Knowing all this, all these things that should come upon him, he went forth. This is a voluntary offering. Jesus is running headlong into the battle. Jesus is hurling Himself into the storm. And when they tried to crown Him as He entered into Jerusalem, what did He do? He withdrew Himself. But now they come to crucify Him. And the text says, He went forth, yielded Himself up to them. Whom seek ye? And Jesus takes the initiative. He goes to them and He speaks first. Whom seek ye? This is not the language of a guilty criminal, is it? It is the language of one who is pursuing a voluntary offering. Secondly, we have Christ's divine power in verses 5 and 6. Christ's divine power. They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. 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. So Jesus asked them, who do you want? They say, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus responds, and they collapse upon the ground. Now, you know, I am sure that Jesus' answer is literally, I am. So you'll note in our translation that the word he, the pronoun he, is in italics, because the King James puts into italics what is not found in the Greek itself. And so he's saying literally I am, two Greek words, ego, a me, emphasis, I, I am. Now we've noted throughout the Gospel of John what we call the seven I am sayings. So we went through them. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd and so on. I am the way, the truth and the life. Now we have We saw there that it was a pronouncement of Christ's divine glory, right? It's taking us back to the days of Moses. It's taking us back to Exodus 3, where God reveals Himself in the burning bush to Moses. And Moses says, who is it? Who do I say is sending me? And the Lord says, I am. It's the name Jehovah. The Lord says, I am, and Jesus is taking this title to himself because Jesus, of course, is Jehovah. Here we have a pronouncement of divine glory. And so all of those seven I am sayings crescendo here in John chapter 18. And it's as if Christ's omnipotence is breaking through. And His voice knocks this band to the ground. And so it's a display of His miraculous power, the miraculous power that we've seen over and over and over again. And the whole thing is meant to communicate that to us. Jesus says, I am, and they all are knocked clear off of their feet to the ground. They fall backwards. Now, you realize, because Most of you have studied your history in school at least, in Roman history, and you probably know something about the Roman legionaries. I mean, this is the premier fighting force in ancient history. The most disciplined, the most skilled group of soldiers on the planet at the time. They were not known for breaking ranks. They were not known for stumbling or fumbling matters. And so the whole notion of these Roman soldiers being knocked off their feet is something that should strike us. And this is a display of Christ's divine authority. He pronounces His name, and that in and of itself is enough to push them backwards. So He is not a helpless victim. There is nothing that is preventing the Lord Jesus Christ, preventing His escape from the cross. Christ died because He willed it. Christ died because in His sovereign power, He gave Himself as a sacrifice on behalf of His people. Now, you think for just a moment, if this is the case, in his humiliation at a time which seems to be a moment of great weakness and vulnerability, when men are actually coming to seize him and to judge him, if that's the case, what will happen in his exaltation? What will happen when he is the one who, as the exalted sovereign, assembles mankind in order that he might judge them? If this is true, if this is the response that people are knocked backward in these circumstances, think of the picture of every unbeliever on the last day who has refused to pay homage in this world to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has refused to acknowledge his lordship. who has refused to heed His Word and to repent and turn from sin unto Him, who has refused to receive Him and to rest in Him in saving faith. Well, it's terrible to even reflect upon, much less the thought of experiencing. But the unbeliever will be not only thrown backward, We're told that he or she will be compelled to bow their knee, every last one of them, not out of affection and adoration, but out of subjugation and in the horror of condemnation and judgment. Man will be forced to bow the knee and to say, it is true, it is true. He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Here we see Christ's divine power, and it is a great consolation to the Lord's people. We're looking at the captain of our salvation. We're looking at the Lord of hosts, Jehovah of hosts, the one who rules in the armies of heaven. And here He is, even in His incarnation and in humiliation in this world, He is standing with power in the face of those who oppose Him. How much more should we find soulless in the fact that this same Savior rules as the Lord of glory at the throne of heaven at this very moment, and then all of our bouts in this world, our bouts with unbelief and our bouts with the sin within and the sin without, all of the opposition that's raised, against Christ and His people and His church in this world. What solace is there for the Lord's people to take refuge in Him, knowing the Lord has never been a vulnerable victim. He's never been. found in utter weakness and bereft of any resources whatsoever. He is the Lord of glory, and we have every reason to put our full and hearty confidence in Him, to exercise faith in His mediation, and in that reign to trust the promises that He has given to us. This is Christ's divine power. But thirdly, we see Christ's loving protection. We see also His loving protection. All of these are disclosures of who Christ is at the time of His arrest. He is a voluntary offering, divine power, and loving protection. You see it in verses 7, 8, and 9. 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 hast given me. Have I lost none? Interesting here, isn't it? In verse eight, Jesus gives the Jewish leaders And the Roman government, whose representatives are there, Jesus gives them an authoritative command. He's telling them what to do, even in the process of them arresting Him. He says, "'If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way.'" While He is submitting Himself as a sacrifice on behalf of His people, He is simultaneously shielding His own flock. He is giving Himself to the smiters and shielding His lambs. Jesus is facing this climactic event, His arrest and the scourging and trial that will take place, and ultimately His crucifixion. And what is Jesus doing? He is thinking about them. He's thinking about them. Not about Himself. but about his own disciples. Here is the sympathy of our high priest. Here is the one who even now, with compassion and patience and sympathy, continues to intercede in and on behalf of each particular Christian and all of their specific circumstances. This is the sympathy of our High Priest, who is providing a protective power for His people. He didn't forget them. And He didn't forget their weaknesses. The fact is that the disciples at this moment are entirely unprepared for the trial and all that Jesus is going to experience. We're told in verse 9 that He did this in order that His Word might be fulfilled. It was the Word that we saw in chapter 6, verse 39, and we saw again prayed for in chapter 17, verse 12. But if you're thinking, which I hope you are as you're reading God's Word, you may be thinking to yourself, now wait a second, in chapter 6, And in chapter 17, it was clear to us that Jesus was speaking about the spiritual preservation of his people. that he was speaking about the fact that their souls would be kept and presented at the last day in glory. But here, it appears to be speaking about their physical protection, their physical well-being, that they're not gonna be bound in fetters and hauled off and interrogated and tortured and maybe even killed themselves. So how is this a fulfillment of Christ's word if it's really a reference to the physical well-being of his people? And the answer, I think, is easy, very easy. It applies to both, and it must apply to both, because their physical protection at this point was a spiritual protection. Jesus knows they are not prepared spiritually to hold up under the kind of persecution that they're going to face physically. right now, that they would buckle, that they would cave. Indeed, we see it with Peter. Peter isn't even thrown, as it were, into the torrent of that kind of suffering. He's merely questioned by a little girl and a couple of others, and he caves at that point. And so the point, Jesus knows that they cannot be tried beyond their strength. And so, he says, let these go, and indeed it is a fulfillment of both what he said and prayed. Christ knows the right trials for us. Christ knows specifically, he knows perfectly the kind of afflictions, the kind of testing, the kind of suffering that is necessary and appropriate for us. As I've often quoted Rutherford, he has 10,000 crosses from which to choose, and he tailor fits, he has tailor fit the trial that you are experiencing for you. He will not allow his people to be tempted above what they can bear. Now, there is a discrepancy, of course, between what we think we can bear and what God knows we can bear. Now, in our hubris, there are times we think we could bear a lot of things that the Lord knows there's no way we would be able to come out the other side successfully in. But there are other times when the Lord has thrust us down into the valley of humiliation, that we think the Lord has overwhelmed us. He's taken us in too deep, beyond where we have the capability to swim, and we're wrong. And the Lord knows, He sets the bounds. All of the excruciating detail, He sets the bounds. And He will not take us one nano step further than we can possibly bear. And that requires us, of course, to trust them. When you think of soldiers, they're soldiers. Think of the training that the Navy SEALs go through. They're pushed beyond what they thought was ever possible. And they discover, the ones that stick, that they were more possible, they were able to endure more than they thought was possible. The Lord does this for and with His people. He knows exactly what is right for us. He allows our faith to be stretched, and stretched to the degree that will bring maximum benefit, spiritual fruitfulness, to us. And so our faith is stretched without ever being broken, or it's stretched without ever being destroyed. Here we see Christ's persevering powerful, protective care for his disciples. And so Jesus is, this is the Savior that has come to redeem his people. This is our Savior. And the fact is that the Lord continues to place himself between his people and their enemies. Christ will arise and cause His enemies to be scattered. He does so again and again as we sing about in the Psalms. And He places Himself between us and our enemies. We can lean upon Him with confidence. We can trust in Him. We can follow Him. and know that we are indeed safe, that we are kept by a divine and omnipotent arm. So we see Christ's loving protection. Fourthly, we see Christ's determined submission. Fourthly, Christ's determined submission. In verse 10, 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?" And so here we have Peter's actions, and they create the context, of course, for this expression of Christ's tenacious submission. And so here is Peter, verse 10, Peter is armed like other of Christ's disciples. Jesus himself had given them this counsel, make sure you go out and buy a sword. And so they're armed with what was the standard issued military weapon. of their own day. And Peter responds rather sporadically, it would seem. He's obviously out to kill. He's using his sword. It's a head shot. He doesn't actually kill the servant, but strikes his ear. And Peter is, like usual, being impetuous and impulsive. and entirely ignorant in his reading of this situation. He has zeal, but it is zeal without knowledge. And the reason is because this is not a case of self-defense, which would have been otherwise lawful for him. And we know that this is the case because of Jesus' response. Jesus says, So Jesus is saying, Peter, put your sword in your sheath. holster, if you will, your weapon, because this is not God's will. I have come, not in this circumstance to defend myself, I've come to deliver myself into the hands of my enemies. It was God's will. This is indeed the climax of all of history. where the Lord Jesus Christ, who is in complete control of all that is taking place, is giving himself as a sacrificial atonement for his people. In other words, Peter's actions are contrary to the redemptive work of God. They're an undermining, in this instance, of the accomplishment of the gospel. And so he's told to cease and desist from this. In the Gospel of Luke, we're told that Jesus healed the ear of the servant of Malchus. He touched his ear and healed it, which is the last recorded miracle of bodily healing in the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry. So right in the midst of being arrested, he is still doing good, and even in this case, bringing healing to his enemies, showing kindness to his enemies. And yet the enemies, as is evident, give no heed to this. They don't acknowledge the fact that he's just healed the ear of one of their compatriots because they're dead set on his destruction. And as we've seen throughout the gospel of John, really all four gospels, you have to realize miracles will not convert anyone. I mean, there could be magnificent miracle after magnificent miracle. The unbelieving heart is dead, and it is blind, and it is ignorant, and it is incapable of any spiritual responsiveness. And so the idea of, well, if God would show us his power in some really great way, then I'll believe, is nonsense. I mean, if this building was made to be raised up into the sky 50 feet and just levitate there for a little while and then be set back down, it's not as if the atheists would say, wow, now we know that God exists and that, you know, we need to believe the gospel and so on. They would say, you know, that's really wild. There's weird things that happen in this world and give us some time and we'll find a natural explanation for it. Miracles themselves do not convert people. Notice though, in the end of verse 11, and these are very, very precious words to me, I trust to you, Jesus says, the cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? We're not going to unpack this. Fully indeed, I preached a whole sermon just on these words at the end of verse 11 on a communion Sabbath a few years ago, so if you want the full treatment of it, you can go back and listen to that sermon. When Jesus says, the cup which my Father hath given me, what's the cup? I mean, this is very familiar Old Testament language. And we get it, we sing about it in the Psalms, we read about it in Isaiah, we read about it in Jeremiah, we read about it in Zechariah, and other places. This is the cup of God's wrath, the cup of God's fury, the cup of God's judgment. a cup that's referred to often in the Old Testament. And Jesus is saying, I'm taking the cup, the one who said, thy will be done. Not my will, but thy will be done. Jesus has taken, as it were, that cup into His hands, and He's saying to Peter, shall I not drink this? I mean, Peter, do you have any clue what the implications are if I were to refuse to drink to its dregs this cup? of wrath that the Father has placed in my hands." It means, Peter, you would be lost. It means all of the Lord's people would be lost, and lost finally, forever, eternally. Jesus is saying, I will drink hell dry on behalf of my people. I will satisfy in myself the full fury of all of God's just indignation against the sins of my people." The Lord Jesus is saying, Peter, sheathe your sword. It is utterly necessary that I drink this cup, that I be made the curse on behalf of my people. Why? Because his drinking of that cup would result in the exchange of cups, and a cup of blessing, a cup of salvation, which the Old Testament also talks about, being put into our hands. The Lord Jesus says, this is my cup in order that the cup of blessing, the cup of salvation should be given to my people. And so the Lord Jesus shows cheerful acquiescence, a tenacious and determined submission, subjecting himself to the will of his Father in pursuing to the end the salvation of his people. Those whom He loved, He loved even to the end. Now, as we reflect upon this great work that Christ is accomplishing, we recognize, of course, that we have no share in that work. There's no parallel in our life when it comes to Christ's atoning work. But we do have to submit, as Jesus submitted to His Father's will. It is absolutely necessary for us to submit. And the Lord doesn't pour his righteous fury upon us, but he does mete out afflictions for us. And in that sense, we're given a little cup. a cup of affliction that we are called upon to drink. But as you look at it, it's not a sea. It's not hell. It is merely a thimble, a little cup that the Lord calls us to drink. And we can say, at least at this point, similarly, Jesus says, My Father hath given me, and every one of us can say, whatever affliction, whatever trial the Lord has given, whatever small thimble of suffering He's placed in our hands, it is given by our Father. And that means it is a gift. It is a gift of affection and not of harm that the Lord brings to us, unlike what Jesus endured. The Lord's people recognize we have to come under what God is doing with us. And there's something here, because it is very easy for a Christian to say, I will grit my teeth and bear it. I will survive it. I will, you know, press through it. But those are all very different from the biblical exercise of faith, where faith receives from the Lord and then submits to the Lord, acquiesces, comes under the Lord, not kicking and screaming and biting and yelling. but recognizing the wisdom and the goodness and the grace and the love of God in his dealings with us. Well, every person, coming back to Jesus' words at the end of verse 11, every single solitary person drinks from one of two cups. Every soul since Adam is going to drink from one of two cups. Either we drink from the cup of blessing, from the cup of salvation, which is given to us in God's free grace, the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life and all that is attached to it. Either we drink that sweet mixture that the Lord provides in the gospel or we ourselves drink the cup of God's fury. So we're speaking about Jesus drinking it. But the option is either Jesus drinks it for you on your behalf or you drink it for yourself and perish the thought of having to drink to its dregs the eternal fury of an unending declaration of condemnation for all of eternity upon the souls of those who turn their faces against the Lord. There is a cup of salvation and there is a cup of judgment. And all of our hopes and all of our longings and desires are to be hung upon Christ's drinking of his cup and the satisfying of divine wrath on our behalf. For the Lord's people, that means that we can take up the words of Psalm 23, and sing them with gusto. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. The cup of blessing is one filled to the brim and overflowing eternally for the Lord's people. Let's stand together for prayer. Lord, our God in heaven, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we praise as our Savior, our Redeemer, our great High Priest. We thank you that even in these apparent moments of vulnerability at his arrest, that you were pleased, O God, to open up and to show us more of his glory. to show us that He is willingly and voluntarily giving Himself, to show us His power in the midst of even His being taken by these soldiers, to see the wonder of His protective care and His willingness to submit to all that is necessary for the salvation of your people. What love is this? There is none like unto it. We rejoice over it, O Lord, and we thank you for giving us such a redeemer. We pray that our hearts would be drawn out in faith, confidence, and in leaning heavily upon him and looking to him, resting in him for all of our hope and salvation. For we ask it in Jesus' name.