Now please turn in your Bibles to John chapter 18, John 18. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and we will be remembering the wars of the nations and the great men who have fallen in defense of this free nation. But today we're going to remember the war that ended all wars. Today we're going to be remembering the one combatant in the greatest cosmic battle ever waged and won. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's stand and hear about it this morning from John 18. 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, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, therefore knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, Whom are you seeking? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. 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. Then he asked them again, whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. Therefore, if you seek me, let them go their way, that the saying may be fulfilled, which he spoke of those whom you gave me. I have lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup? which my Father has given me." And everybody said, Amen. Please be seated. This is a war. This is a battle. It doesn't look that way. Now, it did to Peter for just a moment, but it didn't look that way for anybody else. But I think you're going to see that what is happening here is a great conflict. It's a great battle. It's the great war that is waged against sin and death and judgment or hellfire for us. And so this morning we're going to look at this in that light. Here we are in the garden. There isn't much here concerning the passion of Jesus in the garden, the prayers in the garden. and the sweating of those great drops of blood. We don't see that in the reference to the garden here in John 18, you find it in the other gospels. But here we find something else, and each of the apostles, or each of the gospels, consider certain things to be more important than others, and that's all right, that's why there are four gospels. So this morning we're not going to look so much at the wrestling of Jesus in the garden, as we're going to just follow through on what is given to us here in the first 11 verses of John 18. Now I'd like to contrast Peter and Jesus because both play a part in this scene in the garden, so let's look at Peter versus Jesus as they enter into this battle. First of all, Peter. Peter is an interesting character, isn't he? He shows up throughout the Gospels probably more so than anybody else, and it may be because Peter is a great representative of the rest of us. We are the kind of people who charge out onto the water, and we're so sure that somehow we are going to live our lives in faith, that we're gonna be these amazing men and women of faith, And six or seven feet off the boat, we start to sink. So this is something we all can relate to. I believe that's one reason why Peter is referred to as much as he is in the Gospels. But I want you to think about Peter for a moment. You remember way back in the upper room, Peter did not want to subject himself to the humiliation of Jesus in that Jesus, his Lord, had grabbed the water in the basin, wrapped himself in the towel, and was kneeling down at the feet of Peter to wash his feet. And Peter rejected that just for a moment until Jesus said, if you don't receive this, you have no part with me. And then Peter gladly submitted himself to it. So Peter did not understand many of the things that were going on. Peter was lacking in spiritual knowledge and spiritual understanding. And how many times have you come to the Word and it just didn't make a lot of sense to you? I think that happens a lot to many of us as we study the Gospels or any other part of God's Word. It seems that we don't always have that spiritual understanding. And Peter, of course, by the Holy Spirit's outpouring upon him, received a tremendous understanding and a tremendous courage and faith and power in his message later on. We read that in the book of Acts. But way back here in the upper room, Peter was not doing well. Chapter 26 of Matthew, Peter turns to Jesus and says, though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. He's pretty confident in himself, isn't he? He's heading out into this battle with a great deal of confidence in himself. He says, I'm not going to fall away, although everybody else will. Mr. Peter will be standing with you the whole way. Peter is reminded by our Lord, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter says to him again, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. and all the disciples said the same thing. And then in Mark chapter 14, they come into the garden of Gethsemane. We don't have this piece in John, but in Mark chapter 14, Jesus came as he is struggling, as he is watching and he's prayerful himself and crying out to the Father, if this be possible, may this cup pass from me. He comes back to his disciples, he finds them sleeping, and he says to Peter, So he pulls out Peter there in the garden. Simon, why are you asleep? Could you not watch for one hour? So again, here's Peter, the man who says, I'm standing with you, Lord. I'm going the distance with you, asleep in the garden. Can't even stay awake for one hour in the garden. Then about five minutes later, he proceeds to hop up and chop off the ear of the high priest's servant, Malchus. So asleep, chopping off the ear of this high priest servant, and then Peter denies our Lord three times. Now here it is, the example of a man who thinks maybe too highly of himself, isn't really full of faith, doesn't understand his measure of faith. And we have to be careful. Sometimes we charge out into the conflict. I'll take this. I'll stand up. I'm the one called to be the one to stand in this situation or present this message or take upon myself this office. We've seen this too many times in the church where men have received the office of elder in the church. We've seen this in maybe four or five different churches that I've been involved with through the years and 80 to 90% of the men who sign up for the office wind up resigning in some way. And so again, men are like this. Men step in there. They're not aware sometimes of the measure of faith that God has given them. Not enough humility to sense how much of an outpouring of the Spirit of God is upon us and where is our faith in this situation or that situation. And Peter charges out. And he fails, he fails. This male machismo is not gonna cut it in this business. Peter's first problem is that he underestimates the power of the spiritual enemy of our souls. He sees the problem as a political problem. And oftentimes we enter into discussions relating to the nation, or relating to the church, or relating to what is going on in our family, our family dynamic, or something like that. And we're discussing whether or not pizza is nutritious, and ultimately that's not the discussion. The issue is not the issue. The issue is that there is a spiritual attack going on right now. in the church or in the family, and we're not aware of this going on. So the problem was not a political problem. The problem was not a military problem. The problem was a spiritual problem. And Peter was not immediately aware that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. This is something, brothers and sisters, we must be always aware of, the spiritual element. And let's not reduce everything to the physical element. And you know the enemy for Peter was not the high priest. It was not the Pharisees and Sadducees and the rulers of the Jews. That was not the enemy at all. The enemy primarily, or fundamentally, was the principalities and powers, the satanic forces that are against us. And that's why in this church we're not fixated on church security. We're thankful for church security. But we're 100 times more focused upon the spiritual tax on this church. We're much more interested in that. What is happening in our families and our churches? Are you carrying your 38 special? Or are you carrying your 66 special? All 66, the full caliber. Armed with faith and hope in the spirit of the living God. Is that where we are as a church? Is the conversations bend towards our physical preparations versus our spiritual conditions, then we're focused on the wrong thing. Again, we're Peter in the garden, and that's not gonna do the church any good. Peter was not watchful and prayerful. Now, thankfully, he learned this lesson. Check out 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Peter turns to the churches, and tells them, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So obviously, at this point, he realized the lion was on him. The lion was on the door. The lion was about to leap. The lion had his paw on his shoulder. And Peter went on to deny our Lord three times before the cock crew. Brothers and sisters, How easy it is to not be watchful. We are in a war and there's no furloughs in this war. You can't take a little time off in Hawaii while the others fight the wars in the swamps of Vietnam. You can't do that in this war. You can't relieve the pressure by changing your circumstances. I know the impulse. I recognize it myself that there's a point at which you're tired. of coming to prayer meeting, or you're tired of spending the two to three hours necessary to work through the issues on your knees, and yet you can't move to China or Scotland or Mexico to relieve the spiritual battles that we face here in the church in Elizabeth, Colorado. To attempt to escape the war is usually another way to lose the war. You can shift fronts, but if you don't like one front, you're not gonna like another front either. So to not be watchful in warfare is not a good thing. It allows the enemy into the camp, and he does do damage. Now all of this under the rubric of the sovereignty of God, we know that. That God is sovereign over everything that happens. God is sovereign over the lack of watchfulness on our part. God is sovereign over the effects, yes. But don't minimize what happens when we allow the enemy into the camp. It sets the church back for three years. Or it sets the family back for generations. Is it possible that the enemy could get a foothold in our church or in your family such that it will affect your spiritual life or the spiritual life in your family for generations to come? In other words, if somebody isn't watching and the enemy makes it into the camp, people die. People are hurt. Hand grenades begin to roll. And there's real damage that comes about by the lack of watchfulness on the part of fathers and elders. Brothers, we need to be on our game when it comes to the spiritual warfare that we encounter. So are we aware of the spiritual battles that go on? Discerning the spirits is such an important part of the Christian life. We want to challenge ourselves as elders and deacons in this church. What is the spiritual issue here? We're talking about these physical issues, but what are the spiritual issues that underlie us? Are we sensitive to this? Do we see the spiritual issues that are affecting the room? Is there a spirit of anger in the room? Is there a spirit of discouragement, division, pride? Are these things creeping in on us? After a session meeting, I go home and I assess, and I confess, and I wrestle for another maybe two or three to four hours, because there's spiritual issues that came up inside of me. I'm not even talking about my brothers. They're dealing with their issues too, but there are spiritual battles inside of myself that I have to be dealing with as a soldier of Christ. See, our lives are very different from unbelievers. Unbelievers, you know, they've got their schedules and priorities, but ours are very, very different. I found over my lifetime that I just can't afford to be distracted by movies and music. I watch a two-hour movie and I find sometimes it gets in the way of my spiritual sensitivity. Somehow I'm not quite as alert to the spiritual issues anymore. I've been clouded. My mind's been clouded. I've been distracted. I've been diverted from what's going on in the real life, the real battles of life. I just simply can't be absorbed in mindless discussions or mindless conversations. I don't have time for this. The enemy is all around. I have to be alert. I have to be aware of what's going on. I need the time for spiritual battle. I can't put off my devotions until eleven o'clock at night when I'm all tired out. I can't do this." And the world, of course, doesn't need to pray. The world doesn't need to sing. The world doesn't need to read the Word of God. They don't need to meditate on the Word of God day and night. So my lifestyle is radically different from the world's lifestyle because, see, they live in the lap of Satan. The Word says that in 1 John 5, that the world is in the lap of Satan. They're nice and comfy in the lap of Satan. But we are constantly under the attack of Satan. We're in spiritual warfare. Wake up and smell the napalm. We're in battle. They're not. They're comfortable in the lap of Satan. Their lifestyle in terms of their music, in terms of their escapism and their diversions and everything they do is just what they do because they live in the lap of Satan. But we live in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are the church militants. and we engage this battle constantly. Peter was not prepared to lose his life. He said he was, but he wasn't counting on it. There's a difference between saying, I'm ready for this, I'm gonna risk my life, I'm willing to lay down my life for you, Jesus, and counting on it. planning on it. Peter was willing to fight in the garden because he had a fighting chance. When he saw the entire Roman and Jewish powers poised against him as our Lord was led to trial, he denied him three times. And there's no question these are hard tests. I don't know, what would you have done in the courtyard What would you have done? Would you have denied Jesus three times? Don't underestimate the spiritual forces upon a man's mind. But we must be prepared to give up our lives. We must count on giving up our lives for Jesus. This is what our Lord said in Matthew 16, 21. And remember, Peter resisted Him here too. Matthew 16, 21, from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. So here Jesus is laying it out, that this is the modus operandi, this is the plan for what he's about to do, he's going to lay down his life, he's gonna be tortured and killed. And Peter took him aside in verse 22 of Matthew 16, and he began to rebuke Jesus, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. And then verse 23, Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men." Why is this? Because Peter doesn't see the kingdom is achieved through humiliation. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. He doesn't see that it's through suffering that we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. And then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. So there's a difference between saying, I am gonna be with you to the end, Jesus, and on the other hand saying, I am counting on dying. This is the way I will live my life. It will be by death. I will deny myself. I will give up this or that for Jesus. I will give up my life. I will lose my life. I'm living my life to lose my life. That's what I'm doing. So when that's your life, and you're counting on losing your life, someone comes up to you, threatens your life, then what do you say? Well, that's what I've been planning on doing all my life. You see, Peter wasn't counting on losing his life. It was just male machismo. Okay, so Peter is coming at this with this perspective that he is gonna wage a war for a kingdom with a sword, chopping off this man's ear, and he missed the point. The real battle, it was a spiritual battle, but it was also another battle that Jesus was about to engage. It wasn't just the spiritual battle. Sure, Jesus told us in what was it, John 14, that the ruler of this world, the prince of this world is coming and he has nothing on me. So Jesus is well aware of the spiritual element and Satan's converging upon the garden, converging upon the scene. Jesus is definitely aware of that. Peter is not aware of that. But that's not the war that we're talking about this morning. Peter's riding in the battle. Jesus is riding in the battle. And Peter didn't see what was happening, and neither did the Romans and the Jews. Our Lord is determined to ride into this war. And I'm going to present him in this chapter, in these verses, as the Lion and the Lamb. Because I think we see both of these characteristics. Jesus is characterized as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world. So Jesus is characterized both ways in the Gospels. He is the Lion. He is the Lamb. And so first, I think what we see here is Jesus as the lion approaching these people in the garden. And he is determined. You can see that he is focused. He is intentional. He is stepping out. His face is set towards Jerusalem, we read, elsewhere, like a flint. Nobody can in any way discourage him or deflect him from what he wants to accomplish. Jesus is about to engage in a gigantic battle, and he is riding into battle. He is coming in with a determined force and with a focus. He doesn't avoid the posse, he walks straight up to the posse, and he asks the question, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, who are they looking for? What are they expecting? This, I think, is helpful to understand the reaction that comes later in the story. The posse is looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth, a no-account place up in Galilee. Jesus, from their perspective, a problematic disturber of the peace. A poverty-stricken rabble-rouser. Zero assets to his name. A movement of 12 disciples and two swords. hard to be concerned about what is happening with this Jesus of Nazareth. They're coming to arrest a man, a no-account man from a no-account town in Galilee, and they come in asking for Jesus of Nazareth. He responds, I am. The lion speaks. I am. And they're struck down to the ground. Now why is this? Why are they struck down to the ground? Well, for one thing, it has to be the presence of God. There's something about the presence of God that strikes people to the ground. That's why in 1 Corinthians 14, when all prophesy, the unbeliever is convicted by all. And he falls to the ground. in the prophesying and the preaching. Unbelievers fall on the ground when they hear the preaching of the Word. So smitten by the Word. So receiving the Word. But it also says that they do so because they confess that God is present of a truth. There's something about the prophesying and the spirit involvement in the preaching, the exhortation of the Word of God that when the unbeliever hears it, they are struck. They sense the presence of God. There's something unusual, something unearthly about what is going on in the preaching of God's Word. And they are struck. They fall to the ground convicted by all As the Word of God just thrusts into the dividing asunder of the bone and the marrow of the heart, they're convicted by this Word. And they fall to the ground. They say, I sense God is here. God is here of a truth. It's impossible for Jesus to hide His lion nature. It's impossible for Him to conceal His Godhood, His person, His authority. Yes, He's about to be judged by men, but He's also soon to be the judge of the world. He's the creator of the galaxy. He's the creator of all these men that come around Him. He recognizes these men. Of course He recognizes these men. He's created them. And He is the holiest before the most holy, most unholy. And this also must be a convicting force. When people come into the presence of God, inevitably they realize God is holy. They're not. And they realize this contrast and it smites them to the ground for just a moment. That's what we find here. But as I studied this and prayed through it, I also consider Joshua chapter five as something of the background for the reaction that we find here. in John 18. Go back to Joshua chapter 5 and look at the last couple of verses there. There Joshua confronts the Son of God outside of Jericho. This is just before the taking of the promised land. This is just before the first battle against Jericho. This is a parallel scene to what we find here in the garden. Because Jesus is about ready to take the promised land. And it's the very same situation just prior to the armies of Israel moving into Canaan. Joshua has not yet fought the battle of Jericho. But here in Joshua chapter 5, the evening before the battle of Jericho, Joshua encounters the very Son of God Himself. Now again, a mysterious exchange. What, just three verses? It's just placed right in the middle of it all for spiritual eyes to pay attention to this morning. I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would enable each and every one of you to understand this. Let's stop for a moment, let's pray. Father in heaven, as we approach the holy ground, Father, we pray that you would open up hearts and minds to understand these things. Spirit of God, help us now, we pray, you'd make these texts completely clear to us. May the evil one be stopped, Lord, if he's trying to stop up the ears or close up the eyes of those who are listening. Right now we pray each person will be riveted to the words of Christ as if the Holy Spirit was whispering into every person's ears in this building right now. Father, we pray that there would be no sense of anybody else speaking but God. Many millions of words fall on deaf ears and hard hearts, that we're not for the Holy Spirit of God. We rely upon you entirely, Spirit. We need you to open this up. May the glories of Christ be even brighter. We pray that each person here would see the beauty and the glory and the power and the grace of Christ today, in Jesus' name, amen. Let's return to the scene in Joshua chapter five. Joshua's outside of the town of Jericho, about ready to take the promised land, and he confronts this man with a sword drawn in hand. And the question that Joshua asks is a simple question. Remember, he's about ready to take down Jericho and he asks this man, are you for us or for our adversaries? And what is the answer? What is the answer? What is the answer? What is the answer? No. The answer is no. Why did He say that? Why did He say no? This is Jesus, the commander of the hosts of the armies of God. Are you on our side or are you on their side? He says no! Why did He say no? Because he's not fighting that battle, he's here to fight another battle. He's here to take the promised land for us by himself. And Joshua falls on his face and worships Him, the Son of God, the Lord Himself. Amen. Jesus is the lion approaching these men in the garden. He's the commander, he's the king, he's the lion. And God has not removed his lion ship from him. God hasn't removed his lordship, his kingship from him. He is still the rightful king. Are you the king of the Jews? Thou sayest it. The king of the Jews, crown on his head. Yes, on the cross, crown made out of thorns, yes. But nevertheless, still the king. Still the king. His title confirmed in three languages above his head, just so all nations would know for sure that there would be no question at all, this is the King of Glory. This is Him, behold, your King, riding in the battle, commanding the forces, and gaining the victory. Do you see your King? He's the lion, humbled, his fur is plucked out, half starved, bound in a circus wagon somewhere, but still the lion. Nothing has changed about his position, nothing's changed about his nature. He is still the king, yet in the state of his humiliation. Still the king, over all worlds, riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. with the Roman chariots sweeping on the right, sweeping in on the left. The king, hallelujah, our king riding into Jerusalem, the king of kings, the king over all nations on a donkey, on the cross, crown on his head, pressing in and causing that blood to come down his face. He's the king. in a state of humiliation. The authorities are not there to arrest Him in order to take Him to the cross so that He would sacrifice for sins. See, two agendas working here. The Romans and the Jews are saying, we are going to execute the rabble-rouser. But there's something else going on here. Their business is not His business. He says, get on with the business. But it's not their business. It's His business that will be accomplished on that cross. Hebrews 2.14 gives us the picture of it. It summarizes the entire back story of what Jesus is doing in the garden at the trial and on the cross. Let's read it, Hebrews 2.14. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. That is, Jesus was incarnated into human flesh, just like us, taking upon himself the same flesh and blood that we have, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. So that's the explanation. This is what is going on. Jesus is riding into battle to destroy the Satan who has the power of death, And He is releasing us by His death. He redeems us. He buys us. He purchases us. And He brings us into His kingdom and gives us this freedom, whereas we were at one time subject to the bondage of the devil and bondage of fear and bondage of sin and death and all the rest. Jesus sets us free from this. He's won it at the cross. And He has delivered us into the kingdom of Himself. Now, our response to this, you know, how did the unbelievers respond? These scoundrels that came to arrest our Savior, they fell on their knees when He had only said two words. At His crucifixion, the Romans crucified Him. The centurion and those who were with Him, they were keeping watch over Jesus They saw the earthquake and they saw everything that took place and remember what they said, this is the centurion, the guy in charge of all the Roman armies that crucified our Savior on the cross. The centurion was filled with awe and he said, truly this was the Son of God. So here, these beautiful pictures of how the lion of the tribe of Judah, this very son of God himself, you know, the unbelievers are falling on their face before him. The centurion who crucifies him admits that he just crucified the son of God. And one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. that Jesus is Lord. I want you to think for a moment what it would be like, not just in the garden in His humiliation or on the cross in His humiliation, but what will it be like at the end when Jesus in all of His exaltation sits on the throne and every single person, every unbeliever, every believer will bow the knee before Jesus and acknowledge Him to be the Lord of all at the end. Well, the good news, brothers and sisters, is that you have an opportunity now to bow the knee to the Savior. If the ungodly Romans that crucified have acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, can you acknowledge Him to be the Son of God yourself? Would you acknowledge Him the Son of God? Would you bow the knee to Him today and admit Him to be your Lord and your King in your own life? That He is the Son of God. He is your Creator. He is your hero. He's your Savior. He rode into battle and conquered your enemies, the greatest enemies of your soul, the devil, death, and sin. Will you bow the knee to Him today? Would you render Him all the honor and praise and worship and glory and adoration that is due Him? Is there anybody else in the world that is worthy of all the honor and praise and glory? If there was anybody, it would be Jesus. And so I want to challenge you, where you're sitting now, to render Him this honor. He is a great Savior. He is the most honorable, majestic King and Conqueror and Commander and Lord. Would you render Him praise this morning? Let's do that now. Our Jesus, we bow before you, our mighty God, our mighty Savior, our Commander, the Lord of hosts, our great God and Savior, Jesus, you are worthy of our honor and praise and glory this morning. We bow before you, our knees are bowed, our heads are bowed, and we acknowledge you, oh Savior. to be the great and wonderful Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world. Jesus, you are the great Lion of Judah that has conquered your enemies, and you have established your kingdom, and there is no kingdom that can thwart your great authority and power over all things. So Father, as your children this day, we bow before you and we say you are our Lord and our Savior. You are the very Son of God that hung on the cross for us. And we bow before you now and we love you and we receive you and we believe in you and we trust in you and we honor you and worship you this morning in the assembly of these saints. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, let me continue on with verses eight and nine in the text. Jesus responds to them this way when he says, I have told you that I am he, therefore if you seek me, let these go their way that the saying may be fulfilled, which he spoke of those whom you gave me, I have lost nothing. Why did he do this? He does this because Jesus is in the sacrificial mode. Jesus is in the process of sacrificing for his disciples. And so you say, well, I thought that he was gonna save us spiritually from our sins and not lose us. And so preserve us to heaven. That's the doctrine, yes. We receive that. That's the salvation of our souls. What he has begun in us, he will complete in the day of the Lord Jesus. We know that. But why is He concerned for their physical lives? Because it is representative of their spiritual life as well. So don't be confused by these two things. Jesus is defending His disciples all the way to the end because He is sacrificing. He's getting in the way of His disciples being killed there and then. And he's also going to move ahead and be sure that he achieves that total redemption for his disciples at the cross as well. And then finally, in verses 10 and 11, we see the picture of the Lamb emerging. We've seen the lion speak. We saw the effect it had on the unbelievers as they were thrown back upon their backs. But now we see the Lamb emerging in verses 10 and 11 after Simon Peter that struck off the high priest servant's ear. Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given to me? Now here we have the Lamb of God, the perfect Lamb of God, who's come to take away the sins of the world, the sacrificial Lamb. that God has ordained all the way from eternity past. God has purposed that His Lamb, His Son, would be the perfect Lamb to take away the sins of the world. And Jesus said, I'm going for it. I am going to drink this cup which my Father has given to me. This, again, is not primarily man's operation here. It's not man. accomplishing these things in order to bring about a man-ordained effect out of the events that are about to happen. That's not what is happening here in the story. What is happening is that God has an agenda that is working. This is God's operation that's coming about. This is not about Rome silencing a rabble-rouser and the Jews shutting up an irritant. This is not it. This is the Father's plan and purpose for the Son that is about to be accomplished. And He is the Lamb of God, bearing the sins of the world, and He's to drink this cup. He says, it's ordained. The Father wants me. The Father has me to drink this cup. It has been given to me to drink. What is this cup that is presented here to our Savior? Revelation chapter 14 refers to the cup that our Savior is to drink. And this gives us some indication as to the pain and the agony involved. in this sacrifice, in this propitiation, this atoning work that our Lord is about to go through. Revelation 14, speaking of those who have rejected Christ at the end, we read these words, listen, I also, or he also, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Now here is the holy wrath of God poured out upon sinners at the end who have rejected the Savior, Jesus. This is a serious, serious wrath. This is a serious justice of Almighty God poured out upon sinners. And now we receive this. To minimize this cop, to minimize the wrath of God, to minimize hellfire will result in marginalization of the atonement of Jesus. And this is what has characterized Christianity for the last 130, 140 years. There isn't a seriousness about receiving this message. And I was taken back by the criticism that Israel Folau received when he mentioned hell. He mentioned hell and he called sinners to repentance. He called idolaters and liars and homosexuals and adulterers to repentance and lost his 16, $24 million contract in Australia, rugby as you know. But what shocked me more than anything else is his brother was so terribly persecuted was the response on the part of Hillsong. Hillsong responded by criticizing Israel Folau and pointing out that his reference to hellfire was inappropriate. that it just doesn't work. It's a turnoff to people who we want to be brought into the gospel. No, it's a turnoff to modern evangelicalism. It's a turnoff to the wrong religion, friends. We need to just realize that the The spite that people have towards this idea of the wrath of God and hellfire and these warnings that come in Scripture is ultimately a spite towards Jesus. It's a rejection of Jesus. It's a rejection of His cross. It's a rejection of His atoning work on the cross in drinking the cup of the wrath of God down to the dregs. And we as believers, we need to come into this and lean into this and say, yes, this is my Jesus. Jesus didn't just receive a quarter of the cup of the wrath of God. I'm not going to minimize God's wrath in that way. He didn't just drink a half of the cup of the wrath of God. He didn't just take it down to 97% of the wrath of God. He drank it to the dregs. He drank all of the wrath of God. He received it upon himself in order that we ourselves would not have to face the wrath of God upon ourselves in hellfire forever. Praise God for the message of hell. Praise God for the message of the wrath of God, but praise God for the message of Jesus in his willingness to submit as the atoning Lamb of God and to receive the full brunt of the wrath of God upon himself for us. That's the message here. He drank it all. He took our sins upon himself on the cross that he might take the brunt of God's wrath upon himself. So the application to all of us Christians, get serious. Get serious. And we want to be serious, don't we? Does anybody want to take this lightly? Does anybody want to minimize the grace of Christ? The pain of His sacrifice? the efficiency of a sacrifice to accomplish the whole thing, the entire redemptive price for us to release us from our sin and from the judgment due our sin forever. Do you want to minimize any of that? Christians know, of course, we don't. We want to hear more serious sermons. The only regret I have, my brothers and sisters, is I am not sober enough. I'm not serious enough. I haven't come myself to grapple with a full import of these doctrines, these words. We're standing on holy ground. It's hard for me to understand what our Savior received on the cross in Himself. I want to be more serious than ever before about the message of sin and judgment and hellfire, but mostly the atoning work of my Savior Jesus on the cross. We have a serious Savior. Amen. It's a serious salvation. Amen? Anybody want a half-hearted salvation? Does anybody want a salvation that just might cleanse us from our sins and might satisfy the just claims of a wrathful and a holy God? Does anybody want it to go halfway? Of course we don't. No, we want to hear it more so. We want to hear more of a serious message, of a serious salvation, a serious atoning work, a serious satisfaction of justice, a serious sacrifice for sins on the cross. Hey, we've been saved from hell. I want that to sink in for just a moment. You've been saved. from the judgment of God, from the wrath of God, from hellfire forever. We've been saved from a combination of all of the horrors that we read in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the horrors of the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Korah, And whatever happened in the earthquake, swallowing them all up, the Canaan genocide, the destruction of Edom, Moab, Philistia, Assyria, and all the others, put it all together in one big package. People say the horrors of all of this. It's just, it was a horrible, horrible thing to consider these great judgments. But put them all together in one big package, including the hellfire where the worm does not die. the fire is not quenched, where the skin continues to burn and burn on the outside and the worms continue to eat and eat and eat on the inside forever and ever. You've been saved from all of this put together by the intervention of our Savior, our Mediator, Jesus. Praise be to Jesus! The sacrifice was bigger than you thought it was. It was more wonderful and has taken us to more wonderful heights than we would ever have imagined. And do you want anything less than that? Of course, we wouldn't want to water down this message. Jesus, our suffering Lamb and our conquering Lion and King. These are the best pictures to describe this man, our Savior, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. upon His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the very best analogies that the Scriptures can come up with that we might understand what our Savior is doing in the Garden and what He did on the cross. Let us remember this Memorial Day, the war that was waged and won by our Savior. Let us remember it was the battle of one, only one combatant to remember today, and that is our conquering King, Jesus. Amen. Oh, Father in heaven, we glory in these truths. We glory in our Savior. We glory in the Lamb, the Lamb of Calvary, meekly submitting to the tortures, the wrath of God, and the punishment that was due our sins on the cross. And we glory in this magnificent Lion of Judah. who, though He was in a state of humiliation, still exalted over His enemies and ours at that cross some 2,000 years ago. Praise be to our Lion. Praise be to our Lamb. Jesus, we praise You with all that is in us now. In Jesus' name, Amen. We know something of the work that Jesus has done here, When we come to heaven, we'll know so much more of what Jesus accomplished for us. We have no idea what the judgment of God would be like. We have no idea what heaven would be like. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard. So His grace has cleansed us from our sin, has released us from eternal judgment, and then His grace pours upon us the beauties and the glories of heaven forever and ever. Think about all of this, and think about how much louder we're gonna be singing these lyrics, worthy the Lamb, into the eons of eternity. Amen and hallelujah, amen. Let me introduce the Lord's Supper to us this morning by just pointing out that the back of the bulletin has a slightly different arrangement of some of the instructions relating to us taking the Lord's Supper here at the church. I would encourage all of you to read over what we have written here. because I think it's very helpful for the preparation for the table and of course the visitors we ask you to take a peek at that as well but let me draw from 1st Corinthians 5 and verse 6 so you better understand why we are careful with how we handle the Lord's Supper at this church in this body 1st Corinthians 5 and verse 6 This is the context of the man who was taken in a form of fornication or sexual sin. He was a man who lived in sexual sin at the church in Corinth. And so Paul is instructing them to take this man away from the table, to excommunicate them, so such that they are not in fellowship with this man for a period of time at least. And then 1 Corinthians 5, 6, Paul says, your glorying is not good, Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I believe this has to do with the Lord's Supper. We keep the feast, not with the old leaven that was leavening the body of Christ, but with a new lump, that is, a new body that doesn't have the old leaven, and we enjoy this time by consuming the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. These are the things that matter as we take the Lord's Supper. So we have these new instructions for participating in the Lord's Supper, and we do take the table seriously for a couple of reasons. Number one, because people were dying at the church in Corinth. by taking the Lord's Supper wrongly. You'll read that in 1 Corinthians 11. And friends, we don't want people to die in our congregation because we're taking the Lord's Supper wrongly. Would you think that if there was something the church was doing that might bring about death in the congregation, the elders should be concerned about that issue? Of course, absolutely, that's critical that we be aware of the sorts of things that could happen that could hurt the body. Now, this isn't the age of serious Christianity, but we have to be serious about taking the Lord's Supper because the faith is real. Our faith is real. Jesus is real. that what we're doing here is real. We're really in communion with Jesus, and we have to take the word seriously. We must take Jesus seriously here. Number two, second reason why we are serious about the Lord's Supper is because taking the Lord's Supper in sin can put leaven throughout the body, especially if it is sin-related to sexual issues like pornography, adultery, fornication, and secondly, divisiveness. It was divisiveness that brought about the deaths at the Church of Corinth. And so the two issues of sexual sin and divisiveness, that is, we get into this area where we're fighting with our brothers and sisters. We're not forgiving our brothers and sisters. We have bad relationships developing between our brothers and sisters. That becomes an issue. And if we begin to allow the sin to corrupt us and to grow in ourselves, It will have a leavenous effect upon others. It will have a cancerous effect in the body. It will spread through the body like a cancer. There are these sins, not all sins are equally this way, but there are sins like divisiveness and sexual sin that tend to have a cancerous effect in the body and it's not healthy for the body. Now, the Lord's Supper is not a me and Jesus experience. In American individual Christianity, it's seen that way. But American Christianity has gone a long ways away from the word of God. And so what we want is to see that this is a body experience. We are experiencing this as a body. We are taking the bread and the wine as a body, and it has a body effect. It is one body taking in one bread, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It is a body experience. And as you know, for the last 20 years, we have hoped that God, by His grace, would restore body life to our church experience in an individualized age in which there's very little body life. There's very little of a sense that we are a corporate body of Jesus. We have a blobby, reality about us, this is not a mere American to think this way because Americans are individualists, but hopefully by God's grace, we will begin to see body life, and we are seeing something of body life in this church, and a love for the body, and a love within the body that is unlike anything you've ever experienced in your life. This is our prayer, this has been our prayer for 20 years, and it's still our prayer. We believe this is possible by the grace of God. And then thirdly, we take this table seriously because this is really communion with the body and the blood of Jesus. Now it happens in a mysterious way, and people have gotten in trouble trying to define how it happens. So we're pretty careful to handle this mystery carefully, but according to 1 Corinthians 10, it is true koinonia. It is true communion, or koinonia, with the body and the blood of Jesus, that is the physical human nature of Christ. Somehow, we don't know how this happens because Jesus, that is the body of Jesus, is local and it's not omnipresent. So we don't know this. This is how we get into trouble. All we're saying is we're in communion right now with the true body and blood of Jesus, the true human nature of Jesus. It's a koinonia with Jesus. And so that's why we want to take this seriously. And people who take this table must be at accountability with a church such that we know who the members are. In 1 Corinthians 5, it says you can't have this table with a brother who used to be called a brother. So there are those who are called brothers The Bible distinguishes those who are part of the number, those who are called the brother. It's all the way through the book of Acts. We don't have communion with people who we don't know if they're called a brother or not. See, that doesn't make any sense. People just kind of come in from Walmart and just take communion whenever they want to. No, no, no, no. No, it has to be those who are called a brother and are part of the number who take the communion. That's critical in the book of Acts. And then you must be in accountability such that if there's some sin issues in your life, you need to be open. You need walking in the light such that you're open to this accountability from the brothers and the sisters in the church, but also the elders. And then finally, we take the table seriously because Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. And that's serious. As we just mentioned, that's serious. We want to be more serious. You know, it's not a serious age. It's an age of doubt and escape and flakiness, but let's not be flaky or insincere about this. Let us be sincere. Let us be serious. Let us be sober. Let us realize the realities of what Jesus did on the cross for us. This isn't just a fairy tale. This is a real deal. This is a real historical event that happened. Jesus went to the cross, took the nails in his hands and the feet, suffered, bled, and died on the cross for our sins. He was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He was our Passover lamb, sacrificed for us, and now we eat of the sacred meal, somewhat like the Old Testament saints sacrificed their lambs and then ate of the sacred meal. That's what we're doing here today. And that's why we want to take these things seriously. Amen. Oh, Father in heaven, we come before you today with thanksgiving on our hearts, Lord, that you so loved us that you gave your son up, that you went up to the top of Moriah and you didn't come back down until your son had been sacrificed. And he paid the price. And He took our sins upon Himself. And His real blood and His real body took our sins. And it's by His body and His blood that we receive His life. Father, we thank You for this great gift. We praise You, Father, for the atoning work of Your Savior, Son, Jesus. We praise you, Lord, for this. We pray, O Spirit of God, that you would just increase our love for Jesus. This was my first prayer at the beginning, and it's my prayer now, that you would increase our appreciation, our affection, our love, our joy in Jesus, our Savior, our Commander, our Lion, our Lamb. Amen, amen.