John chapter 18 with me. The first point, the betrayal. The betrayal. Just three points. The betrayal, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. We'll find some sub-points in there. Some sub-plots. But here, we gaze upon the betrayal in chapter 18. Several times over, this chapter opens up with Judas being called the betrayer. The betrayer. The betrayer. For indeed, the son of perdition was to play the role of the betrayer. He who walked with Jesus for three and some years. He who saw the Lord Jesus in all His glory. He saw the Lord Jesus in His power. He heard the Lord Jesus' perfect wisdom. He saw the manifest love of Jesus upon countless sinners. And yet, at the end, he sold the Lord Jesus for a handful of silver. The betrayer, dear saints, may we all see Judas and take heed. May we all see Judas in John 18 and check our own hearts today. For Judas walked with Jesus himself. Judas served alongside the other apostles. Judas went out two by two to preach to the masses. Judas was trusted by all. Judas held the purse for the 12 disciples that was their common purse for their provisions for their daily needs. When the Lord Jesus said one of them would betray them in the previous chapters in that upper room, no one pointed at Judas and said, it's him. I've always suspected it's him. Dear saints, guard your hearts. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Do not take lightly the warnings of Scripture to hold fast lest you drift away, Hebrews 2. Hold fast, saints. Press into Christ. Press into Christ, not for what you can get in this world, for that was Judas' great mistake. That was Judas' great sin. He came to Christ to improve his life now. He came to Christ because around Christ there was glory. There was power. There was growing influence. There were benefits. And dear friends, many come to Christ for the same reasons today. They come to Christ. Because there are friendships there. There's camaraderie there. There's some sense of religious experience or power there. But they have not necessarily come to Christ for Christ Himself, because He's the Lord of glory and flesh, because He is God of very gods incarnate, because He's the King of kings, and because He's the only Savior who has conquered sin and Satan. and death. We must come to Christ for Christ, not for the benefits of Christ, but because He is worthy to come to. He is worthy to bend your knee to. He is worthy to confess as your Lord and your God and your King. And we only do that through the power of the Spirit of God. Let us check our own hearts. And beware of that betraying spirit that when push comes to shove and we don't feel we're getting our lot, we don't feel we're getting what we deserve, we don't feel like this following Jesus is working out. It seems like the whole world is going to come down on Jesus and His followers. Beware of the heart that would sell Him out for a handful of silver, the betrayer. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the brook Kidron where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered, and Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place." The Lord Jesus had an appointment to keep. Never think the Lord Jesus was caught in the garden. At last, they caught him. Oh, we see in the gospels in many places they sought to take his life. Do you know after his very first message, right, after he read? from Isaiah chapter 61 that I was tempted to preach. After he read from Isaiah chapter 61 and said, behold, the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing today, right here, right now. I am the sent one, the anointed one, the Christ who has come in the spirit of God. I've come to heal the brokenhearted. I've come to set the captives free. I've come to declare the prison door open. Today, the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Immediately thereafter, they sought to throw him off a cliff." How's that for your first sermon? And he walked through their midst. And again and again, they sought to trap him, they sought to kill him. And he walked through their midst, or they were struck blind, or one way or another, he outwitted them with perfect wit, with perfect wisdom. And they stood there knowing if they laid a hand on them, the crowds would kill them. And so do not think that the King of Kings was finally caught. Do not think that the Lord of Glory, God Omnipotent, who Jesus Christ was incarnate, do not think they finally caught Him and He simply could not get away. He had an appointment to keep His entire life. In fact, the entire history of the cosmos marched steadily toward this point in time. But certainly, the Lord Jesus' entire life, from His conception, the reason He took upon flesh, the reason He was incarnate, the reason He became man was that He might be pierced for our iniquities. He marched steadily toward the cross, unerringly toward the cross. He had an appointment to keep. He went to that garden to keep His appointment. And there Judas and the soldiers met him, and they come with torches and swords, as if swords could capture the Lord Jesus. They come to arrest Jesus, and Jesus confronts them, who are you looking for? He kept his appointment. He scared them as he stepped out of the night. Who are you looking for? And they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Who is answering whom? And they answered Jesus, and He said to them, I am He." Ego emi. When Moses in Exodus 3 was sent to the Lord to rescue the Lord's people from Egypt, Moses said, who should I say send me? And God said, you tell them, I am sent you. I am the great and glorious name of God, the eternal existent one, the self existent one, the one who needs nothing, the one with no beginning and no end, the everlasting to the everlasting, the I am. You tell them I am. And so the Lord Jesus, who is I am, the Lord Jesus, who is the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus, who is the Word, who was with God, who was God, the Lord Jesus, who is the full expression of the glory of God in flesh, we beheld His glory, the glories of that who the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, John 1.14, that Lord Jesus, the full Word, the full revelation of God, stood in the garden and claimed unity and identity with God the Father, for they are one, and yet three in personhood. And with that full expression of His name there, that glorious expression, that powerful expression of His name, they could not help themselves. Jesus said to them, I am He. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. The soldiers with their torches and their swords who got up their guts and their heart and came out to arrest Jesus were confronted in the darkness with a Jesus who questioned them and they answered Him and a Jesus who declared His name, just His simple, magnificent, omnipotent name. And they all fall down before Him. Do not think Philippians 2 is a stretch. as it claims and proclaims that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Oh indeed, every knee, every man, every woman, every child will bow down even as these soldiers who came to oppose him, who came to arrest him, who came to put him to death, bowed down despite themselves. They drew back and fell to the ground. May we do so as well. but not just an unholy terror, but a God-inspired fear, the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, is to fall down before God and say, I am undone. Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips amongst a people of unclean lips. I am undone. They fall down. And Jesus asked them again, I just love it, whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Imagine the voice that spoke that, right? Who are you seeking? We're seeking Jesus of Nazareth. I am. They fall down. Jesus asks again, whom are you seeking? Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way. Friends, you do not come to Jesus as your friend, as your pal, as your buddy, or as merely your Savior. You come to Jesus as your Lord. For even those who come to arrest Him, come to Him as Lord, and respond to Him as if He's the Lord, completely in charge of the situation. For indeed, He is the Lord, and He was completely in charge of the situation. He had an appointment to keep, and He kept it. and His glory was manifest, His lordship was manifest, even in the keeping of His appointment with death." Verse 9, all this happened, that the saying might be fulfilled, which He spoke, of those whom you have given Me or gave Me, I've lost none. So He tells them, arrest Me and let My disciples go. And they do it. Now who does that, right? You've got this uprising and you're going to go arrest the men at the helm and the man at the helm says, let all the rest of my partners go and they do. He's the Lord and He's in control. He is sovereign even over His arrest and trial and crucifixion. Verse 10, then Simon Peter, having his sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus, and this is Malchus' claim to fame forevermore. He's known as the one who lost his ear and got it back there quite gloriously. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword in its sheath, shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Now Peter was not an ear lopper, he meant to be a head lopper, right? And Peter meant there in that moment to protect the king of kings in order that the king might establish his kingdom in the earth here and now and rule and reign forevermore. Peter lost sight of that which the Lord had told them again and again and again. I must go. I must suffer. I must die. And don't miss that Peter, when he initially said that so very clearly on the road to Jerusalem that he might be arrested, that he might suffer, and that he might die, he declared to them what was going to happen. And Peter said, not so, Lord. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. To Peter. To Peter. And again, I charge you and I warn you, beware of the betrayer that's within all of us. When we think we have a better plan than Jesus, the Lord, our Lord, we betray Him. When we think we've got a better plan and we pull out a sword and start sticking or lopping with it, when the Lord has not sanctioned such, we have betrayed Him. We've got another plan and we are not wiser nor mightier than the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be busy about His plan, following His lead, going where He says to go and doing what He says to do. Wielding the sword of the Spirit, saints, right? The Word of God. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God, not wielding the sword of the flesh. His kingdom will not be advanced with a bloody sword. His kingdom will be advanced with the sword of the Spirit declaring, His shed blood for sinners. washes them and makes them white as snow." So Peter erred significantly, and the Lord Jesus is patient. Take hope in Peter as well, for you will err significantly and so will I. And the Lord continually corrected Peter, even with a sharp, I mean, the sharpest possible rebuke, get behind me, Satan. When you oppose Christ and His gospel, when you oppose Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection, then you are aligning yourself with Satan. The Lord Jesus didn't just, you know, say the first thing that popped into his head. That's what was going on. Get behind me, Satan. Cease this rebellion. And let me say to that end, saints, keep the main thing the main thing. Oh, there are great and glorious theological and doctrinal truths in God's Word, but the main thing is always the main thing, and the main thing is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The main thing is 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Whatever other doctrine you love, you adore, you celebrate, if it detracts from that chief doctrine, that chief and glorious goal of Christ Jesus coming into the world to save sinners, then you have allowed it to grow out of proportion. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Strive with the sword of the Spirit in the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ, lest Christ say to you, get behind me, Satan. Let us take correction with Peter and let us take hope with Peter that when we err, the Lord is pleased to correct us and restore us and make us useful yet for His glory and the souls of men. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword in the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? The cup, dear saints, this cup is spoken of again and again. It's spoken of in the Gospels. It's spoken of in the prophecies. It's spoken of in Revelation. This cup ultimately is the fullness of the wrath of God. The fullness of the wrath of God that it would take all of eternity for you and I to drink in a very real place called hell. The Lord Jesus drank that cup of fury. to its dregs. He drank it to the bottom. There's not an ounce of wrath left. That's the glory of Romans 8. The glory that there is now therefore no condemnation. No condemnation. He drank every drop. It's empty. And while God is faithful to chasten His children, it is not condemnation. It is correction. It is love. It is a gracious Father. pulling us out of the mire and cleansing us once again and putting us back on that narrow path for His own glory and our blessing. And so praise God for His mercy upon Peter and upon each one of us when we err. Let us not indulge that mercy flippantly. but take comfort and hope and joy in that mercy, for we too wander. Shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me?" Oh, he must drink that cup. He must drink that cup. The reason there is a cosmos was so that he could come into it and drink that cup. You understand that, right? The reason God created everything was for His own glory and carrying out the drama of redemption. This earth is the stage upon which that drama was played for His glory. Nothing was happenstance. Nothing was accident. God didn't try that whole thing with the garden, and then that went south, right? And then He tried that whole thing with the Jews, and that didn't work out either. They just kept blowing it. And so then he said, you know, I'll send my son. This will surely work. Now that's nonsense. No, God is sovereign in it all. He's working all things according to the counsel of His will. It's a progressive revelation of God's glory. His full glory manifest at last at the cross, the magnificence of His holiness as He pours out His wrath and His justice, as He pours out His wrath and the incredible, unfathomable glory of His grace, His mercy, His kindness, and His love to sinners, and that He poured out His wrath upon His Son who is one with Him. And yet for one place, one point in time and all of eternity is separated from the Father. Father, why have you forsaken me? The Lord Jesus forsaken upon the cross as He bore our sin. The Lord Jesus abandoned and separated from the Father on the cross as He bore our sin, cries out, why have you forsaken me? Christ was forsaken once, six hours. 2000 years ago on a Friday so that you and I would never be forsaken ever, ever, ever. We would always be hidden from the wrath of God in Christ Jesus. We would always abide under the love of God as children of God through Christ Jesus. This is the glory. Of Christ. His cross. His resurrection. Continuing on this topic of betrayal. Verse 12, then the detachment of troops and the captain of officers, the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound him and they took him to Annas for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. Mind you, Caiaphas had no idea what he was saying in that. He just was saying, it's good that we kill this guy and end this uprising. It'll be better for the people. But ultimately, he was a prophet despite himself. Yes, it will be better for the people, eternally better for the people that one man die for them. Verse 15, Simon Peter followed Jesus, so did another disciple. Whenever you have an unnamed disciple in the gospel of John, who is it? It's John. He'll not name himself. He placed himself in a position of anonymity. It's John and Peter they're following after. And we find over in Matthew's gospel, chapter 26, verse 56, it says, then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. So it's all save John and Peter, all except John and Peter forsook Him and fled. They all fled away. And I wouldn't put that in the category of betrayal, but I'm not comfortable with it. I don't want to flee away from Christ in the hour of His arrest. I don't want to flee away from Christ when the world comes to hate Him and spit upon Him and beat Him. They all fled away. When the name of your Lord is the object of derision and hatred, don't flee. By the grace of God, don't flee. Stand firm. Stand firm in Christ Jesus. Brief example, as the LGBT community makes much of the wonders of their wicked lifestyle, declaring that God has created them as such, and thus the Bible becomes evil. The Word of God becomes evil because it exposes the LGBT sinful lifestyle for what it is, a perversion of God's good design. A perversion that is called sin and will bring the eternal wrath of God upon them, right? God didn't create us as thieves, that's not my genetic code. God didn't create us as liars, that's not in my genetic code. And God didn't create us as those who commit sexual perversion and say that's our genetic code, but that's what's going on today. And so there's a movement out and they have actually verbalized, if you haven't heard it yet, you need to know. It's an active movement where they are verbalizing their goal is to teach your children and grandchildren that you are hateful and evil people for saying that homosexuality is a sinful, destructive, soul-damning lifestyle. That's their goal. And so more and more, you're a bigot if you believe the Bible. You're a bigot if you believe Jesus. And they're even trying to separate Jesus out and say, Jesus never condemned it. Well, Jesus is God. Genesis to Revelation, first verse to last, it's the Word of Jesus. So yes, He did. But that's just one example, dear saints. And we need to be faithful to not flee away, to stand firm out of love of Christ and love of those in that particular sin. not to flee away or to step back from Christ. Press in and say, no, it's not hatred. No, we love thieves. We love fornicators. We love adulterers. We love drunkards. And yes, we love homosexuals. And they all must what? Repent and believe the gospel or they'll perish in their sin. The betrayal. They all fled away except for Peter. and John, they follow after, I don't have time to go through each verse in detail, they follow after the Lord Jesus as His mockery of a court is set up and His trial begins. And we find there in verse 24, no, we can't skip that far. We find in verse 17, the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, you are not also one of this man's disciples, are you? And he said, I am not. Now the servants of the officers who made a fire of coal stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. And the high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine, and Jesus said, I spoke openly to the world. He spoke openly to the world and the world rushed to him. Remember? They had to lower people through the roof. They had to set out on boats because the crowd's crushing them. That's what happens when you heal everybody, right? That's what happens when you feed thousands. through miraculous bread and fish, and then they take up 12 baskets full of leftovers. Leftovers in a third world country are unheard of, just so you know. You get that, right? These are hungry people. They don't have excesses of food. It's glorious. So I spoke openly to the world. I always talked in the synagogues and the temple where the Jews always meet, and in secret I've said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them, and indeed they know what I said. And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand." Verse 23, Jesus answered and said, "'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me?' Then Anna sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself there, and they said to him, You are not also one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not. That's the second denial. One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him, whose ear Peter cut off," right? It's hard. These guys take notice. When you start cutting off people's ears, just so you know, people are going to remember you. Especially if somebody puts the ear back, that is a very memorable experience. Peter says, verse 27, Peter then denied again, and immediately the rooster crowed. And we all know that the Lord Jesus told Peter, you will deny me three times before that rooster crows. And we find in Matthew 26, 74, the synoptic gospel there. that Peter didn't just deny him the third time, it says, he cursed and he swore, saying, I do not know the man. He denied him with cursing. And in our flesh, in our sin, if we really want to really, you know, prove that we're telling the truth, how do we do it? We want to prove the veracity of our statement. If we want to prove that we're of upright character, I'm a truth teller, how do we do it? We curse. To prove how honest we are, we show how wicked we are. And again, before you condemn Peter, we are all like him in so many ways. He cursed and he swore saying, I do not know the man. And then Luke 22 verse 61 also adds this at that exact point, at the third denial, when he's cursing and saying, I do not know him. And you can just almost, it doesn't say he pointed, but it would make sense. He's right there. In Luke 22, 61, it says, the Lord Jesus turned and looked at him. And again, the grace of God is so wonderfully manifest there. denied Him with cursing. You can see Him dropping dead there, justly. Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead, right? For lying, not cursing and denying. And yet God is infinitely gracious to Peter. The Lord Jesus, incredibly gracious to Peter. And again, Peter is not chosen by accident. None of these events take place by accident. Take hope, saints. God is not done with any one of us yet. He is sanctifying us, growing us yet. Don't take hope, again, for allowance, to make allowance for sin. But the Lord is dealing with clay and broken and putrid clay at that. Born again from above, amen, new creatures in Christ, and yet all of us being sanctified. The Lord mercifully sanctifying us, washing us with the water of the Word day by day. So Peter denied him, and immediately the rooster crowed. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning, but they themselves did not go into the Praetorium lest they should be defiled. Again, the hypocrisy is astounding. They won't go into the Roman Praetorium because as good Jews, right, good holy Jews, that would defile them according to the law, or at least the Talmud, and so they're not gonna go in there. As they're plotting murder to kill their king, unjustly as they hire essentially liars to come and bear false testimony against Him. They're real concerned that they not defile themselves by going into this Gentile court. Dead religion, hypocrisy. Verse 30, they answered and said to him, if he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. They answer Pilate saying, you know, he's an evildoer, just take our word for it. And here you should take great joy in God's common grace to us. We live in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty. In so many societies today and historically, you were guilty until proven innocent. If someone comes with an accusation, it's assumed you're guilty. Now prove yourself innocent. Here we're going to lock you up and take away your ability to provide for yourself. You'll be dependent upon others and eventually somehow you can prove yourself innocent, we might let you out. Or if you can pay the fine that you're not able to go out and earn any money. to pay, eventually we might let you out." That is still the jurisprudence, the justice system of so many cultures today, and that's the one they were under in that day. If he were not an evildoer, he wouldn't have delivered him up to you. Case closed. Verse 31, Pilate said to them, you take him and judge him according to your law. Why are you bringing him to me? You judge him. And here's where they show their hand. Therefore the Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. They have already decided, they are judge and jury and prosecutor, but there's one thing withheld from them since Israel is subject to Rome, they are not allowed to carry out the death penalty and so they won't. Interesting, is it not? For if they had judged him according to their law to be an idolater and a blasphemer, how would he have died? He would have been stoned. And yet in Isaiah 53, 700 years before Christ was even born, roughly 200 years before crucifixion was invented, Isaiah declared that Christ must be pierced for our iniquities, that He would be, and indeed He must be. And so Israel must be subjugated to Rome because it's Rome who crucifies. That is their death penalty. And so they must come, bowed before Rome, pleading that Pilate put him to death in order that he would be pierced for our iniquities, and Scripture would be fulfilled. God is sovereign over all the events of history. He works all things according to the counsel of His will, Ephesians 1, 11. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium, again called Jesus, and said to Him, Are You the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you to Me. What have you done? Pilate asks Him, Are you indeed a king? What does Jesus do? Jesus doesn't. answer in order to defend himself. He doesn't answer just a common answer, a technical answer, a theological answer. He answers evangelistically. He's aiming for the soul of Pilate. And I wonder to this day, I've gone back and forth over the years wondering, did the Lord yet save Pilate's soul? It's not in the scriptures, certainly not, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. It doesn't say that Pilate was a son of perdition. Pilate's role is a terrible role to play, but he is a conflicted man, is he not? And the Lord Jesus seems to deal with him in a very interesting way. Again, are you speaking this for yourself? Wonderful question. Don't deal in the realm of pie-in-the-sky theology. Deal with people's souls. They ask you a question about theology, about God, about Christ, about right and wrong. Always take it to their heart. Take it to their eternal soul, out of love for them. The Lord Jesus is about to suffer and die, and yet what's going on there can be described only as love. He's loving the man who is about to unjustly crucify Him, and that's a glorious example. Verse 36, Jesus answered, "'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of the world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.'" A reasonable answer. And that does give some technical facts. My kingdom's not of this world. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here right now. We would have indeed have fought. And yet, yes, I am a king. rightly said. Verse 37, Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. The Lord Jesus is perfectly wise in his speech. Are you a king? You say rightly that I am a king. He made Pilate take ownership of pronouncing him king. Yes, indeed, I am king, as you have said. For this cause I was born. And for this cause, I have come into the world." You know, all through the gospels, it's called the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom. As we go and preach, we should preach about a Savior by all means. We should preach about Jesus the Lord by all means, but He is the King. He is the King of kings, and He's coming again with Lord of lords and King of kings written upon His thigh, and He will crush all those who have not bent their knee to Him, and their blood will flow up to the horse's bridles. He will put down this insurrection called mankind and our sin. As we preach the gospel, as we speak to people about their eternal souls and about Jesus, He's not Jesus, the shy, dreamy-eyed guy with long hair, pictured on that goofy picture that's often hung up in people's homes in the back of some churches where it ought not be. He's the King of kings. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah. Every knee must bow to Him. Or as Psalm 2 says, kiss the Son lest you perish when His wrath is kindled but a little. Don't preach a weak Jesus. Don't speak of a weak Jesus. Don't offer a weak, empathetic Jesus begging people for their friendship. Oh, He condescends to call us friend. Yes, He does. But it's the Lord making friends with a subject. It's the King making friends with a subject. It's God of all glory making friends with one of His creatures. We're not just buddies and pals. And so we come to the King. We must call others to come to the King. Are you the king? You say rightly that I am king, for this cause I was born. For this cause I was born. 2 Samuel 7, verse 11 and following, this cause I was born. One of your line, David, one of your blood, David, one of your tribe, David, will come. Or as in Jeremiah 23, 5. It says that a king will come and he will reign and prosper, and he will execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. And in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord our righteousness. This is our King. The one of the line of David. Literally, born of the seed of David from his lineage. The Christ, the anointed rightful King and heir to the throne. This is our King. This is His name. Yahweh our righteousness. Declare your King. Your King is Yahweh. Your King is the Great I Am. Your King is the Everlasting to the Everlasting. Your King is God of very gods in flesh, who is by faith our righteousness. Our only claim to righteousness is to our King. Our only claim to righteousness is to our Lord. and Savior, Jesus Christ, placing His righteousness upon us. We serve a King, saints, and we advance His kingdom in the earth when we proclaim the gospel of the King and call every man everywhere to bow to the King and confess Him as their Lord. You say rightly that I'm a king, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I've come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." I came to bear witness to the truth and everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. If the Lord's given you ears to hear, you hear the good shepherd's call. You see the truth of Christ. You see the truth of your Creator. You see the truth of sin. You see the truth of judgment. You see the truth of hell. You see the truth of heaven. You see the truth of that narrow path, and you see the truth of that broad path to destruction. You see the truth, and Jesus is the pinnacle thereof. He is the Word who became flesh. He is the chief revelation of God, the foremost revelation of God. God in flesh. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth? And saints, that is the disposition of every man and woman outside of Christ. What is truth? They have no truth. Oh, they hold on to one thing or another as truth, but when pressed, they have no truth. By the grace of God, those who are in Christ Jesus have come to He who is the truth. It's often been said that truth is that which comports with reality, but that definition doesn't work because then you're left asking, what's the definition of reality? Who defines reality? And so truth is that which conforms to God and the mind of God who declares what is real. Without God, Without a relationship with God through He who is the truth, the Son of God, the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ultimately you have no truth. What is right and wrong without the truth of Jesus Christ, without the truth of God? There is no right. There is no wrong. What is logic without God? These laws of logic, without a God who declares truth, without a God who declares, supporting text, Numbers 23 19, God is not man that he should lie, or son of man that he should change his mind. He has said, and He will not do it? Or has He spoken and He will not fulfill it? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is truth. He defines truth. Truth is unchanging. Because of that, we have a law of non-contradiction born out of the very nature and character of God. What is the law of non-contradiction? That black cannot be white and white cannot be black. Black cannot be green or orange or purple or yellow. There is no logic without the law of non-contradiction. You have no justification for the law of non-contradiction outside of the character of God. There's no logic, there's no morality without the truth of Jesus Christ. It would take a lot of time to unpack that fully, but trust God, who is truth, and let every man be a liar. I remember being outside of Christ, maybe some of you do too, gravitating from one truth to another, All of them contradicting each other. All of them being new and exciting for a season, then you let it go and you go on to the next. Equally unsatisfying to one's soul, one's heart, one's mind. Jesus alone is the truth. Just a bit further, 1 John 5, 6 says, the Spirit is truth. John 16, 13 says, the Spirit is truth and he will guide you into all truth. John 17, 17, Jesus prayed, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. The psalmist in Psalm 119, 142 said, your law is truth. Psalm 119, 160, your word is truth. Saints, the foundation of all reason, all logic, all morality, all absolutes are found in God. There are no absolutes. Not in thinking, not in reason, not in logic. Those who want to get logical absolutes out of your brain, how do you do that? How do you do that, right? If we have a disagreement over what is right, what is wrong in logic, how do we determine who is right and who is wrong? How do we determine if our thinking is right? It's according to the laws of logic. that are outside of ourselves, that are invariant and unchanging and universal. How do we decide right from wrong? Is this a good thing to take life here? Or is it a bad thing to take life here? How do we determine that? Is it just or unjust? Is it murder or is it a just killing? How do we define that? And by the way, If all we are is like, you know, space dust that became man, if all we are is goo that became you or fish that became philosophers, if all we are is a cosmic accident, then how could there ever be a foundation for right and wrong? There can't be. There must be truth. And God alone is truth. And Jesus is the full manifestation of that truth. And without Jesus, you have no truth, no good, no evil. No right, no wrong. And you know what? I appreciate some atheists are actually honest. At least Pilate asked the question, right? What is truth? And he wasn't an atheist, I'm quite sure. He was like so many out there, holding on to one God or another or a bunch of gods, trying to do the best he can. And yet knowing that there's no foundation here, there's nothing solid here. I've got nothing. What is truth? How dare you claim to have truth or to even be truth? What an audacious claim. You know, there's only one who can make it. You must, in order to have truth, have all truth. Otherwise, your truth can be contradicted by something you don't know. Only the God who is omniscient, who knows all things, can have truth. It is part of his nature. Thus Pilate came up against the very nature of God there. What is truth? Richard Dawkins, notorious atheist, is at least an honest atheist in one regard. But you know what? He doesn't have to be, does he? There's nothing in his life that would justify being honest. But here's his honesty, his raw honesty. Richard Dawkins says, The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. That is the honest position of the atheist worldview. Dear saints, God has rescued your soul. He's rescued your flesh, right? You will rise with Him and be given resurrected bodies for a new heavens and new earth to dwell in forevermore. And He's resurrected your mind. He's given you anchor in truth because He is the God of truth. And you've come to Jesus who is the way and the truth and the life. Jesus who says, I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Hold fast to the truth of Christ. Pilate said to him, what is truth? When he said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault of it at all. Pilate did not want to kill him. Perhaps you recall from Matthew 27, 19 that Pilate's wife had warned him to have nothing to do with Jesus because she had suffered all day with this dream. And that's what again gives me hope. Perhaps it wasn't just a dream in the flesh. Perhaps God was somehow revealing himself to Pilate and his wife. I don't know. But I know she was deeply troubled and didn't want Pilate to do what he was meant to do. She didn't want him to condemn him. And it seems at least to some level, Pilate did not want to condemn him. I find no fault in him. You take him. You condemn him. But they forced his hand. They forced his hand. Chapter 19, the crucifixion. So Pilate took Jesus, scourged Him, and the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head. And they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck Him with their hands. They mocked Him. They put a crown that would be a source of pain and suffering upon him. And no doubt the blood ran down his holy brow as they shoved it upon his head. They put purple, the color of royalty, upon him. They gave him a mock scepter and they beat him with their hands and at times with that reed. Verse 4, Pilate then went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. What I see is it seems Pilate is wanting to satisfy their bloodlust. To give him a thorough mocking and beating and then to let him go. Verse 5, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Lamb, the spotless, pure, holy Lamb of God. Verse 6, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out saying, "'Crucify him! Crucify him! You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.'" Verse 7, the Jews answered him, "'We have a law. According to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.'" He didn't make himself the Son of God. He was eternally God, took upon flesh. And the angel in Luke 1.35 declared, he shall be called the Son of God. Why? Because the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Father shall overshadow you. And he was to be born to be called the Son of God, the angel told Mary. Verse 8, therefore when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid. He's afraid. Pilate's getting the sense there's something about this man. There's something different here. Something's going on here. Bigger than me, the governor of Judea. This is bad news for me. I want no part of this. He was more afraid. And he went out again into the praetorium and said to Jesus, where are you from? Where are you from? Who are you, man? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to him, are you not speaking to me? Do you understand if Jesus would have spoke with his perfect wisdom, perfect power, perfect love, Pilate would have released him, I guarantee it. Pilate would not have seen him crucified. He would have walked away once again, but he came to die. Verse 11, Jesus answered, "'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has greater sin.' From then on Pilate sought to release Him." actively seeking to release him. But the Jews cry out, saying, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. So they bring political pressure to bear upon Pilate. Therefore, he must, in his mind, go through with the crucifixion. At the end of verse 14, he presents Jesus again to the Jews and he says, behold, your king. And there it seems he's putting it in their face. He's He's rebelling against the crowd, the masses, and to some level declaring him their king. And they cried out, "'Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!' And Pilate said to them, "'Shall I crucify your king?' And the chief priest answered, "'We have no king but Caesar.'" These are the chief priests. "'We have no king but Caesar.'" They're committing treason. against God and God's Messiah as Psalm 2 declared prophetically. Verse 16, And he buried the cross, went out to a place called the place of the skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. If you spend a little time in prophecy, spend a little time studying that which the Jews should have been so profoundly aware of and looking for, those two titles would irk them to no end. And irk is the lightest possible term to describe what they would feel with that sign being hung over Jesus' head, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. That's the very last thing they would want hung up there. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. He was very thorough. Therefore the chief priest and the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews. But he said, I am the King of the Jews. And Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Then The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. And they said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They divided my garments among them, and my For my clothing they cast lots." And again, I would drive home the point that Scripture must be fulfilled. Scripture must be fulfilled. If you read Luke 24, Luke's account of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, that is the overwhelming sense that Scripture must be fulfilled. And that's Jesus' own explanation after His resurrection that all these things happen that Scripture might be fulfilled. Why is Scripture fulfilled? Because God looks down a quarter of time and sees what's going to happen? No, because God has planned what happens in history. Therefore, He fulfills His plan. Therefore the soldiers did these things." Verse 25, now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the other disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. When we passed by the actual crucifixion, we passed by it kind of kind of quickly because the Scripture just mentions it ever so briefly, the actual physical crucifixion. What's going on there is so much more than the impaling of His hands and His feet and ultimately the impaling of His side. It's no less, certainly, the physical suffering was immense, but crucifixion was a common form. of death sentence. What's uncommon is the character and nature of he who has received this death sentence unjustly. He is holy, holy, holy. What's uncommon is that he not only was suffering physically, but he's taking the full eternal wrath of God the Father upon himself. What's uncommon is as he's hanging upon the cross, suffering, he's caring for his mother Mary and saying to her, Woman, behold your son." Essentially giving his mother a son in his place, John, the beloved disciple, to comfort her heart. And he says to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. As he's hanging between God, holy, holy, holy, mankind sinful, drinking the cup of wrath to its dregs, he is yet loving his earthly mother and his beloved disciple with action and truth." Wow, there's an example for us. Verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled the sponge with sour wine and put it on Hyssop and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Tetelestai, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. The Lord Jesus pronounced, His work, the work of redemption, finished. Forevermore, salvation is secured. Propitiation is complete. Atonement accomplished. The work of Christ is done. It is finished. Once Tetelestai was proclaimed, the priesthood was over. The sacrifices were over. will ultimately ascend and He will sit down at the right hand of the Father. Why? Because He has obtained eternal redemption. He has completed His work. And there He mediates on behalf of all those who come to Him in faith. Dear saints, once He pronounced tetelestai, every man who would call himself a priest is a liar, for priests make sacrifice. Once He pronounced tetelestai, every man who would try to re-crucify Christ in an unbloody manner, offering up a wafer to be eaten as justification or for justification in place of the true Christ, an anti-Christ wafer that they claim is the transubstantiated Christ. Friends, that's a blasphemy of Tetelestai. It's a repudiation of Christ Jesus. And today, more than any other day of the year, there are millions upon millions of Roman Catholics flocking in to eat Christ. in the form of a wafer, offered from the hand of a priest, re-crucified in a non-bloody manner. And all of that is a repudiation of Tetelestai. It is finished. Again, Jesus is the truth. Let God be true and every man that would conflict with Him, every man that would contradict Him, be a liar. No matter what collar he wears or fancy staff he marches down the roads of Rome with, to Telestai, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. He gave up his spirit. In verse 34, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water poured out. The pericardium was rent. The Lord Jesus indeed was most certainly dead. Verse 35, he was seen and testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe for these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. Not one of his bones shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. Verse 38, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him with permission and he took him He took the body of Jesus, and Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds, and they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with spices, as the custom of the Jews, what is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a tomb, which no one had yet been laid. And so there they laid Jesus because the Jews' preparation day for the tomb was nearby." Chapter 20, we've seen the betrayal, we've seen the crucifixion, the resurrection. Resurrection, saints. Without the resurrection, He is not the truth. Without the resurrection, He is a liar. Without the resurrection, there is no hope of heaven. Without the resurrection, our faith is futile. The resurrection is the anchor of our faith and our great truth, the truth we proclaim unceasingly. We serve a risen Savior. Chapter 20, verse 1, now the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. The Lord Jesus labored again and again and again to say, I must go, I must suffer, I must die, and I will resurrect on the third day. And who was at the tomb? All the disciples, of course. Not one, this dear woman was at the tomb. And what was she at the tomb for? To further embalm the body of Jesus, to complete the embalming. They'd taken away the Lord's body. Verse 3, Peter therefore went out and another disciple were going to the tomb. So they both ran together. And so John and Peter are running to the tomb. And John is faster. The other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb. Nifty little details. Maybe John's not so humble. Verse 5, and he's stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying there, yet did not go in. The clothes are lying there. And it gives you the idea that the body just came through them. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and saw the linen clothes lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lined with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also. He said it again. Came to the tomb first. There's an issue there. Went in also and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not know the scripture. that He must rise again from the third day. The Lord had told them, the Lord had told them, but as yet they did not know the Scripture. We don't have the time, but on your own time, please, I tell you, on your own time, go to Luke 24 today, read it, and you'll see that even post-resurrection, as He revealed Himself to them bodily, He had to illumine the Scriptures to their minds that they might comprehend the glory, they might comprehend the resurrection. they might at last believe. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God, even for the disciples who saw it all, saints. That should give you a great confidence in the ministry of God's Word. Bring it to bear upon your children. Bring it to bear upon your own souls. Study his Bereans. Bring it to bear upon your mother and your father, your sister, your brother, your neighbor, your boss, your coworker, because faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. As yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, weeping because she's thinking he's still dead and his body is gone. She wept. She stooped down. She looked in the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Do you know that a great many Catholics will go today to service, a great many Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, very religious and pious people will go, and they go so somber, they go weeping, they go as if the Lord Jesus is still dead. He's risen! He's alive! He's conquered death! We are a people who have come rejoicing because Christ has conquered sin. He's conquered Satan. He's conquered death. Our hope of heaven is secure. Oh, let us weep over our sins, but we don't celebrate the resurrection with weeping. We celebrate it with great joy and gladness. Why do you weep, dear woman? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him. No one carried the Jesus that I know and love away. No one carried the Jesus of Scripture away. The Lord Jesus rolled the stone away and walked forth from the tomb." The Lord Jesus is not held by death. He's not held by stones. He's not held by tombs. He's not held by anything. He's the one who spoke the cosmos into existence. There is nothing that holds the Lord Jesus, and no one need carry Him away. Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say teacher, and Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and to your father and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord. They had spoken these things to her. And then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace to you, peace to you. And the Father has sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now Thomas called the twin. One of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now, before you come down on Thomas too much, remember that this gospel doesn't record it, but when the women came and told the disciples, they supposed that they were women who were overcome with emotion. He didn't really resurrect. They wouldn't even believe those who saw Him. They must see with their own eyes. And so, saints, you who have not seen and yet you believe, the grace of God is manifest upon you. Don't miss the miracle of God's Spirit turning your heart from lies to truth, from unbelief to belief. It's called regeneration. It's a miracle of God. Verse 26, after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and he stood in the midst of them, peace to you. And then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, "'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, "'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen Me and yet have believed.'" Verse 30, "'And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." All of John, all of the entire Bible, is written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. If you have believed that today, Oh, God's grace has been manifest upon you. If you believe that today, you are secure by the grace of God unto heaven. All whom He has called come, and of all who have come, He'll not lose one. And you have life, saints, now and forevermore. Life and life abundant as Christ has conquered death on your behalf. This is the anchor. This is the heart of the matter. This is the truth of truths, and the resurrection is the proof of it all. the betrayal, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the truth that changes everything. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the glory and magnificence of your Son. We thank you, Lord, even as we see the betrayal that we can see ourselves. Yet we see Your mercy upon Your servant Peter and his frailty. We thank You for Your mercy upon us. You are the author and the finisher of our faith. Hold us fast to the end, Lord, we pray. Increase our faith, increase our hope, increase our love. Lord, when we should fail, when we should fall, when we should deny. Lord, grant us ready repentance and forgiveness. And Lord, grant that we'd be more faithful tomorrow than we were today. We thank you, Father, that the Lord Jesus marched steadily toward that cross, that he kept his appointment in the garden, that he, Father, subjugated himself to unjust judgment under Caiaphas, under Pilate. under mankind united together in these two governments of Jews and Gentiles alike. We thank You, O Lord, that He subjected Himself to the cross and to eternal wrath, that He was forsaken, that we shall never be forsaken, that He tasted the cup of wrath and drank it to its dregs, that we will never taste a drop. Lord, give us faith to endure the trials of life, the challenges that You ordained to increase our faith, and may we know that they are not wrath, but chastening from a loving Father. And Father, above all the truths of Scripture, may we hold fast to the truth of the gospel. May we hold fast to the truth of Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man, crucified for sinners and resurrected on the third day, conquering sin and death on behalf of all those who will repent and confess Him as their Lord. May this, Lord, be our boast. May we be champions of this message, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Death defeated. Satan crushed. Heaven opened. We commit this all to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.