We turn now to John 18 again, verses 1-14, the first half of this or so. portion Reverend Bile preached on last week. I'll be taking the second half or at least through verse 13 and then tonight he will pick up on verse 14 and go forward. So we're continuing today through John 18. Let's read God's Word. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Hedron, where was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither 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, and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, and led him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. May God bless the reading of His Word to us. Dear church family, John 18 is a watershed chapter. It introduces us to the greatest day in the history of the world. The final 24 hours of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, culminating in His crucifixion and death. These 24 hours are packed, packed with suffering, with tension, with horror, with pain, with shame, and with bravery. We, of course, rightly so, focus on the atoning power of these 24 hours. But we must not lose sight of what our 33-year-old Savior endured in real time in these last 24 hours. He didn't die a theoretical death. He didn't suffer like you and I suffer, far beyond, far beyond. He entered the holy place, the holy place as our high priest, dear believer, where he will go now to tread the winepress of God's wrath alone. Gethsemane is a dreadful, dreadful place, a sweet place. where he was prone to go with his disciples, but now a place where Mark says he will be sore amazed. Luke says he will be in agony. And Matthew says, he cried out, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. And yet this chapter says, Jesus, this is amazing, went forth knowing all things that should come upon him. He didn't shrink back. He didn't say, now, I don't think I can go through with this. No, he went forth, knowing how full and how bitter the cup would be that he must drink. He went forth, knowing your depravity and my depravity, dear believer. to suffer, to die for the kind of sinners that we are. He went forth not as a helpless victim. He went forth not as a martyr, but he went forth as the willing, suffering servant of Jehovah, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as the Lamb of God. And all of this comes together in a wonderful way in John 18. You heard about it last week, the opening verses of this section. I want to look with you now at how Jesus as King, as Lord, as Priest, and as Lamb all came together in the second portion of what we read, verses 8 through 13. And I'll read again now only verse 12 and 13a. Then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus, embound Him, and led Him away. So our theme then this morning is Gethsemane's King-Lord pre-slam. And we want to look at four thoughts. First, the King's repeated showdown. Second, the Lord's repeated self-identification. Third, the priest's repeated substitution. And fourth, the Lamb's repeated submission. Jesus Christ, the King, Lord, Priest, Lamb, in Gethsemane. Well, you heard last week about Judas, how he came, how he was a great contrast to Jesus with the band coming to arrest Jesus, and how Jesus stunningly came right out of the garden. They're expecting to perhaps try to surround him like a noose around a neck and find him cowering somewhere, fearing his arrest. But he stands up and he comes out in the midst of the moonlight and he says to them, with authoritative, kingly power, Whom seek ye? Now these hundreds of men with their swords and torches and lanterns are just astonished. He's kind of overwhelmed, no doubt as well, but he gains control of himself and he comes and plants kisses on Jesus. Kisses that burn and sting and betray our Lord who had this student in his seminary for three years and was now betraying him. What a horrible example Judas was, as you heard last week. But the question, whom seek ye, is a repeated one. After Jesus says, I am, and you heard last week also that that really refers to his deity, he's the great I am, and the little word he is just added to make sense in English, but it's really the name of deity. It is God in the flesh coming forth in control as king. And when they all fell backward to the ground at the indication of His power in His kingship, then Jesus allowed them to regather their torches and lanterns and weapons and to stand back up on their feet again. And they got out of their discombobulated condition and they're standing before Him. And then He asked them the same question. He repeats it. Whom seek ye? And stunningly, they give the same answer. Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth, that despised place. That place of which Nathanael said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And though that title can be used reverently, as we witness later in the book of Acts, in the hearts of this multitude, they use it as a term of reproach. Jesus of Nazareth, this man who thinks he's a prophet. We want him. We seek him, to arrest him, to destroy him. And that raises the question in this repeated showdown with Jesus and this multitude. Whom do you seek? What kind of Jesus do you seek? There's lots of people who seek Jesus, millions upon millions of people who claim Jesus, whose lives don't show it. So we need to ask this question personally, no matter who we are, what kind of Jesus, if I'm seeking Him at all, am I seeking? Have I truly received the real Christ of the Bible into my soul by a living, vital faith through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit? That's the question. Do I know Him as my treasure, my Lord, my Savior, my all and in all, the supremely valuable one? You see, many people want Jesus with one hand, and maybe you're one of them, and you want the world in the other. And you don't receive Jesus as a supremely valuable one. You might think you've received Him as the sin forgiver because you love being guilt-free, and as a rescuer from hell because you love being pain-free, And as a healer, because you love being disease-free. And as a protector, because you love being safe. And maybe even as a prosperity giver, because you love being wealthy, or at least having sufficient means. Or perhaps as a creator, because you want a personal universe. Or as the Lord of history, because you want order and purpose without receiving the real Jesus. the real Jesus, as He really is, more glorious, more beautiful, more wonderful, more satisfying than anything else in the universe, the Lord of glory, the King, the prophet, the priest of His people, the altogether beautiful, lovely One. How about you? Do you prize Him? Do you cherish Him? Do you delight in Him? Is He your Lord? Do you bow under Him? Is He your Savior? Do you find forgiveness in Him? You see, many people think they receive Him without any change required in their human nature. You don't have to be born again to love being guilt-free and pain-free and disease-free and safe and all the rest I mentioned. Natural people like those things. You see, but to embrace Jesus, to receive Jesus as your supreme Savior, Lord, treasure, requires a new nature. You don't do this naturally. You must be born again. You must be a new creation in Christ to be able to say, whom do I seek? I seek Jesus as my Lord, my Savior, my treasure, my prophet, priest, king. I want to live wholly and solely for him. I surrender my life to him. See, then he wins the showdown. He gains the victory in you. He moves you to surrender, to surrender your life to Him. But the beautiful thing is here, that Jesus gives them a second chance. It's a repeated showdown. In fact, in one way, He gives them a third chance, because Peter lunges forward, you remember, as we read, cuts off Malchus' ear, and Jesus replaces that ear. which is a third invitation. Like, I'm not out here to destroy you. I'm a Savior willing to receive even enemies, like Malchus, who came out to destroy me. You see, God is a God of second chances, third chances, fourth chances. You're in God's house again, my unconverted friend, this morning. He's given you another opportunity this morning to bow the knee before this King, Lord, Priest, Lamb. And he's saying, come unto me just as you are and receive me as Lord and King and Priest and Lamb. And Jesus repeats also. Did you notice that? Not only the showdown, but in the showdown, He repeats His self-identification as Lord. He said, I am He. The second time He says, I have told you I am He. He repeats Himself. They don't get it. They think He's Jesus of Nazareth. They know the words I am is a claim of deity, of course. They get that. They understand He's claiming deity. In fact, that's the charge they brought against Him. That's why they crucified Him. He blasphemes, they said. He says He's the Son of God. He's God. He claims to be God. Therefore, we must do away. We must crucify Him. What a beautiful testimony Jesus gives of Himself. I am. I am. This is amazing, sovereign self-identification. And He shows them that all their torches and lamps and swords and staves and officers and soldiers and captains against Jesus are absolutely helpless in the face of the great I AM. He is King. He is Lord. He is the Almighty. And what that means, of course, is if he can be that in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of his humiliation, when he's weakened, when he's needy, if his deity can so undergird him in the midst of this Gethsemane suffering that he can declare with authority, I am, as Moses said, to God, who shall I tell the people of Israel has sent me to deliver them? And God says, tell them I Am has sent you. Well, if this I Am can be so strong in Gethsemane that all these hundreds of men, when they were the leading green berets of the day, the marines of the day, you might say, all of them are hopeless. They're all laying on their back. All their weapons are useless. If He can do that to them in His humiliation, what's He going to do to all of us on our exaltation, His exaltation, when He comes again on the clouds to judge everyone? Well, everyone will stand before Him, and the great I AM will ascend on the throne, and the great I AM will make a separation, a final separation. And just like in Gethsemane, what a picture this is of the day of judgment. All the enemies fall backward. So on the Day of Judgment, they will all fall backward into hell. They'll lose all their weapons, all their self-justification, and they'll lose all the favor of God forever and ever. But the believer, the eleven who are surrounding Jesus, as they witness all these strong, able men fall to the ground useless before a humiliated Christ, They must have thought, don't you think, there but for the grace of God go I. Yes, I too fall before Christ. I think Peter, John must have been thinking, but we, by the grace of God, we fall toward Him. We bow toward Him, not away from Him. And on that great day, you see, the enemies of Christ, who rejected Him all their lifetime, whether religious or irreligious, they will fall away from Him forever, forever, to be without Jesus. The greatest trial of all. But the believer will bow before Him and enter into glory forever. So there's a repeated showdown here that is, in essence, an invitation to come to Him. There's a repeated self-identification that tells us He's almighty to save the greatest of sinners, so there's no need to stay away from Him. And then there's a repeated substitution declaration as priest, which reinforces that He is the Savior and is willing to save His elect all the way to the end. All those whom the Father has given me. Let me show you that repeated substitution in our third thought here from 8b and 11. Look at 8b. What a staggering statement that is. And then verse 11. Both of these verses are talking about his priestly substitution. Let these go their way. What a staggering expression that is. And he's speaking it as a priest who's already, as we've seen, the King and the Lord at the same time. And because he's Almighty Lord, but speaking as a priest, let these go their way because I will take their place, I will take their shame. I will bear their burdens. I will be scourged, not they. I will be crucified, and not they. I will be wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities. The chastisement of their peace will be upon me, and with my stripes they will be healed. Therefore, let these go their way. I will take it all for them. I will take all the hell they deserve for them. This is amazing. This is the amazing gospel. The amazing gospel of substitution. Let these go their way. Let them be set free, the guilty. And let me, the innocent, be bound and arrested and taken away for their sake. For their sake. And the beautiful thing here is not only Jesus declaring His priestly intent to be their substitute, but not a single one of those men drew the sword against Him, or against any of the eleven. Even when Peter stands up, swings his sword wildly, and Malchus, boys and girls, must have ducked, and he picks off his ear, and his ear is laying on the ground, not a one of those hundreds of men These Green Berets, these Marines, attacked Peter. Because Jesus had said, let these go their way. Where there's a word of a king, there's authority. They are helpless. Even though they're standing on their feet now, even though their swords are in their hands, they do not attack. It's amazing. It's not the way Marines operate. I actually was sitting next to a Marine not too long ago, well, maybe a few years ago now, on a plane. And I was talking to him about what it was like to be a Marine. He had been in Afghanistan a couple times. He'd been in Iraq once or twice. He'd been in the thick of fighting. So I just tried to effectively listen to him, get him to talk. I wanted to hear these experiences. It was humbling. I thanked him for serving our country sincerely. But then he told me something. I mean, I knew this, but to hear it from the lips of a Marine was unbelievable. He said, one of my main tasks was when there was a wounded Marine, I would run out in the midst of fire and I would get my comrade. If I died, I died. Didn't matter. Because we Marines are trained. We Marines are trained, he told me, that when your comrade is wounded, it's as if you're wounded. We're bonded together. We will risk our lives to pull a comrade that's wounded back to safety. You think these men were any different, this Roman cohort, band that was the premier military men of the day? Of course not. But because Jesus said, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the priest of priests, let these go their way, not a single one of those men can touch Peter, or the other ten for that matter. Or Jesus, for that matter, until he lets them. This is priestly substitution. I will take their place. I will take their place. And so, when Peter cuts off Malchus's ear, everyone's quiet. Jesus just picks it up. We can read that in another gospel. Puts it back in place. It's miraculously healed. And those foolish soldiers call them the Marines, still do not see that this man is not just merely Jesus of Nazareth. He gives them yet another witness of his deity in putting that ear on place. Boys and girls, you can't pick up an ear and put it back on someone and have it stay. This is a miracle. This shows his deity, but it also shows his willingness to die for sinners. He says, Peter, I don't need your sword. Put it back in the sheath, the cup my father has given me. Shall I not drink it? I will drink it to this bottom bitter dregs for my dear children. Peter, don't take it up on your own account. Don't think you're going to win the battle against all these men. Don't try to be your own Savior. I am your Savior. I will take care of you. I will take care of all of you. And so he says, let these, my disciples, let them go. Let them go away. I'll voluntarily submit to you who've come out to arrest me because I'm taking their place. See, that is what we need to learn experientially if we're ever to understand the gospel. There are so many people. And some of you are among them, I know, because we've pastored you with the other ministers. And you keep saying things like this, well, if only I could be this way, if only I could do enough of that, or if only I could believe, or if only I could, if only I could, if only I could. You keep trying to take the sword in your own hand and accomplish your own salvation somehow. Salvation is just receiving a Jesus who says, I'm going to give you what you did not deserve. The day that you could become worthy of deserving salvation because there was something in you, some ability in you for Jesus to notice you and save you is the day you would become a full-fledged Pharisee. It's not the day you'd be saved. The day you're saved is when you come empty-handed to Jesus and you say, Lord, I need a Savior who does everything for me, a Savior who says, let these go their way. I set them free by my substitutionary blood, by what I'm about to do in Gethsemane and Gabbatha and Golgotha. You are set free. You can add nothing to what I do. You can't put one stitch in my robe of righteousness. Salvation is 100%. because of Jesus and what he has accomplished. So put your sword up into its sheath, and bow before the King, Priest, Lord, Lamb, and confess, Lord, I'm nothing but a sinner, and I surrender all that I am to this beautiful Savior, this Gethsemane King, Lord, Priest, Lamb, Savior, And I put all my trust in him. Repent and believe in him alone. That's the gospel. And he repeats this substitution so you'll get it. So you stop, stop, stop trying to do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. He has to do it all. So there you have it. The king's repeated showdown. He's patient. He repeats it. The king's repeated self-identification. He's patient. He says it twice. The king's repeated substitution. He's patient. He says it again. But then, fourthly, we see the lamb's repeated submission. Actually, we see that three times. So after Jesus reveals himself as the almighty King, the sovereign Lord, the substitutionary high priest. He now surrenders himself to them who refuse to surrender to him. Then the band and the captain, verse 12, and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away. The King Lord Priest becomes a lamb, willing to be led away to the slaughter. Because those, the 10, the 11, went their way. He will go the way of suffering. as a lamb for them. They took Jesus. That's the first act of submission. You see in the part of Jesus as lamb here. They took Him. The word took actually in Greek here is the official term for a formal arrest. They arrested Him for the purpose of charging Him. And Jesus willingly submits. He lays down his life for his sheep. Charles Spurgeon said this, You see, Jesus wasn't intimidated by them. Jesus believed the promises of the Word of God. He knew that God would go with Him through these sufferings. He believed the prophecies of the Scriptures, that they would be fulfilled. He knew that this was His Father's appointed hour for substitutionary suffering of the Lamb of God. God had been at work during all the previous centuries. from the creation of the world and the fall of man, down to this very night, down to this very hour, where Jesus, knowing all things that should come upon him, knew that all of history was moving to this hour where he would be arrested and crucified. The incarnate Son of God, yes, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is publicly arrested and taken. and he knew it was his father's plan, a plan that no man could tamper with, a plan that Judas and Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate all had a hand in, but sovereignly, in accord with God's amazing eternal decree of substitution and substitutionary obedience of his son. No one can tamper with that plan. God decrees the rise and fall of nations and empires for this end, that His Son must suffer and die as the Lamb of God. God decreed that the high priest and the cohorts should conspire to kill Jesus. That Judas should betray him. We read that in the book of Acts. That wicked King Herod, who beheaded John the Baptist, and weak-willed Pontius Pilate, should fall in with their plans. So Jesus knew the hour had come. In one way, it was Satan's hour. But ultimately, it would be Jesus' hour. Satan thought he would destroy Jesus, but in dying, Jesus would destroy Satan, who had the power of death, even the devil. In his triumph over death, he would make the destruction of death itself an absolute certainty. And so as the world looks on and says, this is Satan's hour, we look on and say, this is Jesus' hour. His Father, the God of providence, with His hand of almighty and everywhere present power, is in absolute control. Judas and Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the Jerusalem multitude, are all so in His hand that they could not so much as move without His will. And what a comfort that is for every true believer today. Because the same thing is true today. for everyone who knows this Lord and Savior. He's in charge. He's in control of your life, dear believer. Every detail. Nothing happens by chance. All things work together for good to those who love God. When your worst fears are realized in life, it isn't because the Son of God has stepped away from the throne of the universe, abdicating responsibility for what is happening and abandoning you to the evil that is in the world. No, no, no. He is operating in the affairs of your life. Every detail is His sovereign design to make you fall in love with and surrender to and worship. Gethsemane's King, Lord, Priest, Lamb. Do you believe with the psalmist? Not unto us, O Lord of heaven, but unto thee be glory given. In love and truth thou dost fulfill the counsels of thy sovereign will. Though nations fail thy power to own, yet thou dost reign, and thou alone. How we need to hear that again and again. Am I speaking to a child of God right now who's under great affliction? Maybe you had great shock this week, great disappointment. What I do now thou knowest not, but thou shalt know hereafter. Jesus is in control. This is his hour. Nothing happened to you. It was outside of the divine decree. Blind unbelief is sure to err, said William Cooper, and scorn his work in vain. But God is his own interpreter. He will make it plain. Yes, Jesus was arrested, and it seemed like Satan got the victory. But the Lamb of God still the Lord, the King, the priest, and he's in control. He voluntarily gives himself away. But secondly, this submission is repeated in the next words of the text where it says, they took him and bound him. Imagine that. They bound the Lord of glory and You know, the news has been filled this last week with how they're going to arrest former President Trump, right? Almost every article, every day, dozens of them, all over social media. Will they handcuff him? Will they bind him? Will they humiliate him like that this week? Jesus Christ was willing to be humiliated, to be bound, so that you could be set free. You could be set free. And He's not just a former president. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And He gives His hands to them, those blessed hands that have never done anything wrong. the blessed hands of one who has never sinned, who has healed the eyes of the blind with those hands, and the lame and his blessed little children with those hands. And they bind the hands of one who has washed his disciples' feet and broken bread in the upper room. They bind the hands that have dripped with bloody sweat in prayer to the Father. Oh, with what meekness, with what submission this Lamb gives his hands over to his enemies. And there was no need to bind him, of course. He was going with them voluntarily. The goal, of course, was to pre-prejudice the judge against the accused. It was said in those days, if you bound someone's hands around their wrists very tight so that the blood would come out the end of their fingers, it meant they were worthy of death. That's what they probably did with Jesus. They wanted to show the Roman judge this is a serious criminal, so they bound him, and bound him no doubt tightly. But actually, this binding is symbolic of so much more. Let me just mention four quick things to you. First, Jesus is bound to set you free, dear child of God, from the bands of sin. sets you free from the bands of sin. Proverbs 5.22 says, we are by nature holding with the cords of our sin. But by grace, you see, Jesus became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So fettered with our sins, He let Himself be arrested and be held captive to free us from the captivity of sin and Satan and from the bondage of being prisoners of hell. Secondly, He's bound symbolically to show that He's bound to God by obedience and love to serve God all His days so that He might make His people bound to Him by obedience and love to serve Him all their days. You see, when we see Him voluntarily bound for our sake, We want to voluntarily be bound for his sake. We want to say with a poet, O Lord, I am bound yet free, thy handmade son whose shackles thou hast broken. You see, then we may rejoice even in suffering, like Paul and Silas singing in the inner prison, or like the ancient church father Ignatius who called his chains for Christ His spiritual pearls. Do you ever know what it means to actually count it joy that you may suffer for righteousness' sake, be persecuted for Jesus' sake? But thirdly, Jesus is bound to restore as the second Adam in the Garden of Gethsemane what was lost by the first Adam in the Garden of Eden. First Adam sinned in the Garden. Second Adam bore sin. in a garden. The first Adam was surrounded with glory and beauty and harmony and Eden and refused to obey. The second Adam was surrounded with bitterness and sorrow and Gethsemane and was obedient to death. The first Adam was tempted. and fell. 2nd Adam was tempted by all the forces of hell and did not fall. 1st Adam's hands reached out to grasp sin. 2nd Adam's hands were bound to pay for sin. 1st Adam was guilty and arrested by God during the cool of the day. 2nd Adam was innocent and arrested by men in the middle of the night. 1st Adam hid himself after fleeing. 2nd Adam revealed himself after walking into the moonlight. 1st Adam took fruit from Eve's hand. The second Adam took the cup from his father's hand. The first Adam was conquered by the devil. The second Adam conquered the devil. First Adam forfeited and lost grace in Eden. The second Adam merited and applied grace in Gethsemane. First Adam was driven out of Eden. The second Adam was willingly led out of Gethsemane so that room might be made in the heavenly garden of paradise for sinners who trust in him. Praise be to God. Christ regained all that was lost in Adam and more. In Eden, the sword was drawn and the conflict of the ages began. In Gethsemane, the sword was sheathed and the eternal gospel was unfurled. Bound to undo all that the first Adam had undone. And then finally, Jesus is bound fourthly and perhaps above all. by the will of the Father. He spared not his own son so that his people might be spared. God is bound to God to commit and to commend and to fulfill all the requirements of the gospel. And that was that Jesus had to become the humiliated lamb, the lowly servant of the Father. to come to earth, not to do His own will, but to do the will of Him who had sent Him. He had to be bound, you see, for all these reasons, and no doubt more. And so He repeats this submission. He's submissive when they arrest Him. He's submissive when they bind His hands. And then thirdly, He's submissive when they lead Him away. They lead him away, like he's a common criminal. Or a serious criminal, I should say. The leader and shepherd of God's people is led away as a lamb to the slaughter. Isaiah 53, verse seven is fulfilled. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He doesn't bring one word of objection now. He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And this was so literally fulfilled, this prophecy. It's amazing. You know, there was a certain gate in Jerusalem that the sheep were brought through. They grazed in the fields outside of that gate, outside of Jerusalem. And then when they were going to be sacrificed, they were led through that gate to the altar, the brazen altar. The gate was on the east side of Jerusalem. Jesus, it is said, was led through that very same gate, that very same gate. It's called the Sheep Gate, the Sheep Gate. And because he's coming on the clouds, as the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, There are certain, even Christians, that believe He will come through that sheep gate again. Well, the enemies have gotten a hold of that. If you go to Israel today, they've cemented in their foolishness, they've cemented that sheep gate entirely shut with block and mortar to make sure Jesus isn't going to come through that same gate. So senseless. they are. But Jesus went through that very gate where all the sheep were sacrificed, all the lambs, the sheep pointing to Him. And now He is the Lamb, the Lamb of Lambs, now being led once for all to shed His blood so that no more blood needs to be shed. And he's led away through that sheep gate and then from place to place to Annas first, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate, then to the cross. Seven miles. Without any food for about 24 hours. Full of suffering. Agonizing in his body. Pain for the sins of his people. What a Savior. What a Lamb. taken for criminals, bound for captives, led away for wanderers, the substitutionary Lamb of God. Can you imagine a fuller redemption? Can you imagine a deeper love than that provided by Gethsemane's Lamb? He's arrested so that he can arrest us as our prophet and bring us from darkness into his marvelous light. He's bound so that we can be freed from the burden of sin and guilt that threatens to destroy us. When as priests, He offers an acceptable sacrifice to God on our behalf. He's led away so He can govern us as our King by His Word and Spirit and lead us back to God and preserve us and guide us and defend us and lead us to glory in the salvation He has purchased for us. Jonathan Edwards speaking about this text said, in the person of Christ in John 18, we meet together infinite majesty and transcendent meekness. Infinite majesty and transcendent meekness. If that combination doesn't win your heart to forever adore him and what he's done for the salvation of his people, I can't imagine what will. What a wonder, what a wonder. The great deliverer delivers himself up. The divinely appointed judge is arrested as a common criminal. The great liberator is bound. The great leader is led away. Let us praise Gethsemane's Christ, the King of kings, the Lamb of God. Let us resolve to trust Him more fully, follow Him more obediently, look upon Him more expectantly, and long more eagerly for His return on the clouds. So what can we learn from our Savior being led away? I want to close with four simple applications, but profound. The first is we need to learn submission to Christ as He submitted to the will of His Father. He's our example here. He submitted to the goal of the multitude, to the hypocrisy of the betrayer, to the group of captors, to the impetuosity of His own disciples, to the heavy-handedness of His enemies, to the fulfillment of Scripture, embracing all the sufferings His Father designed for Him. So we need to submit to our trials He imposes on us sovereignly and with wisdom, without complaint. In fact, with cheerfulness, with thanksgiving. How difficult that is! But we are called to drink the cup He places in our hands rather than to plead for another's cup. We are called to be submissive to his ways with us. A second practical lesson, like Paul, we are to cherish the privilege of being admitted into the fellowship of the sufferings. Admitted to the fellowship of the sufferings. We cringe, but it should be our joy. As Peter says, here unto you were called because Christ suffered for us, being an example that we should follow in His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not, who His own self bare our sins in His body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness. So we have to return unto him in our sufferings as a shepherd, Peter says, and the bishop of our souls. And then thirdly, we have to realize that every day God is leading us away, if we're true believers, leading us onward to glory. Leading us in the way of suffering to glory. Ought the Son of Man to have suffered and you not suffer following Him? We are partakers of His sufferings, the Bible says. And so we are called to walk behind our suffering meritorious King as gratuitous sufferers willing to bear the cross behind Him. Let us honor his giving up of himself for us, dear believers, with a more complete surrender of ourselves to him so that we would request to be his willing servant now and forever. Amen. Gracious God, we thank Thee so much for the gospel. We thank Thee for the King, Priest, Lord, Lamb of Gethsemane, who is so rich in all that He does for poor sinners like us. Fill us with Him and make us submissive like Him, that we may follow Thy ways and know Thy presence and trust Lord Jesus in Thee as our King, Lamb. Please go with us and bless us and help us to find rest sheltered in the priestly substitutionary obedience of this great high priest. Bless this sermon to our souls and let the unsaved flee to Christ now. Let the unsaved, let the saved rather, resting Christ now. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.