Will grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's take this opportunity to find our seats. Be sure to silence your electronic, your phones, so you're not embarrassed in the middle of the service as it goes off. And let us take this time to prepare our hearts for worship. So, so so you you Well, we welcome all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to Dayspring Fellowship. We're delighted to have you with us this morning. If you're visiting us for the first time, we would love to have a record of your visit. There's a guest register out on the hall table that you can sign. And there's also a stack of these booklets, Ultimate Questions, that we want to give to you as a free gift for joining us for worship this morning. I want to direct you to your bulletin. Inside your bulletin, you'll see that we have a Sunday school hour here at 945. where we're going through 1 Samuel. We were in the great 17th chapter, David and Goliath, and learned quite a bit this morning. If you were providentially hindered from being with us, that should have been recorded and you can grab that online. through our website or just searching for Dayspring Fellowship on Sermon Audio. And then down the page, you'll see that we are going to be gathering back here after the service today. What we're going to do is just give you a chance to greet one another for visitors to either leave or if you're a visitor and you're having lunch with a Dayspringer, we just ask you to hang out in the fellowship hall. We're going to have a brief congregational meeting in here for Dayspringers. I had a brother ask me the other day, am I a Dayspringer? I was like, no, brother, you're not. You would know if you were. You've had a membership interview, right? You've been welcomed at the Red Door. So for members only, we're going to gather back in here after a brief time to let people greet one another. Alyssa's going to be playing the piano. That'll be our cue to come back in here. It'll be brief, just an informational meeting after the service today. And then you'll see that our sermon passage for next week is in the Gospel of John, chapter 18, verses 12 through 18. And I encourage you, as always, to be meditating on that passage during the week as you prepare to come and gather to worship next week around the Word. Across the page there you'll see that the monthly free online resource that I'm recommending to you for the month of September is this collection of sermons by the great preacher George Whitefield. He preached right sort of pre-Revolutionary War times during the First Great Awakening and was a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards. Wonderful, wonderful sermons and I encourage you to to read some of those using the link here in your bulletin. Dayspring Ladies are compiling a cookbook, and they would like for other ladies and men, if you have recipes as well, to let those be sent to Susie Phillips. They're gonna be compiled in a cookbook and made available to us, so I encourage you, if you have a favorite recipe, something that you make maybe for Potlucks that everyone enjoys, Don't be stingy with the recipe, share it with the rest of us. And then the final book club lunch is coming up. So this Friday, September the 27th, the Dayspring ladies are gonna enjoy discussing the final chapters of The Hiding Place over their lunch together. It's gonna be at 11 a.m. at La Madeline, which is just over here in the Mueller area, 1201 Barbara Jordan Boulevard. And you can RSVP to Alyssa so that she knows how many seats to have there at the restaurant. And then, Day Spring's 46th anniversary is upon us. So next Sunday, we're going to be celebrating 46 years of the Lord's faithfulness to this little congregation and the work that he has done. among us over these past 46 years. So we are gonna have a fellowship meal, a barbecue meal after the service next week. We hope that you can join us and bring your neighbors, bring your friends. We are going to enjoy a great barbecue and potluck together. So couples and families should bring two of these, a salad, a side, or a dessert, and singles should bring one of these, bread, or drinks, or ice, Day Springs providing the barbecue. It's going to be a glorious time together. And then the parenting seminar, Reaching Your Child's Heart, is coming up in October, on October the 19th. This is going to be held at Kenny Avenue Baptist Church. Pastor Juan Sanchez and his wife Janine are going to be hosting it along with Josh and Christina Hayward. This will be really helpful, especially to parents of young children. And I encourage you to go. The cost is $10 per attendee. Child care will be provided as a part of that. And you can register for that parenting seminar. using the link in your bulletin. And then finally, we have our annual day spring retreat coming up. You know, we as a church do something that many churches don't do. Churches have like a youth retreat, or a elders retreat, or a women's retreat, men's retreat. We have just a whole church-wide retreat where we close this building down on Sunday even. So that weekend of our retreat, which is the last weekend in October, We all go out to beautiful Hunt, Texas, to the River Inn Resort right there on the Guadalupe River. And we enjoy a weekend together outside of the hustle and bustle of the busy city and in a beautiful location. Enjoy fellowship together and rest together. And we do have a worship service at 10 a.m. out there on that Sunday morning. If you come here for worship on that Sunday, the doors are locked and no one is here. And so we encourage you to be there. Even if you didn't sign up and are unable to attend the retreat, we encourage you to get up early that Sunday morning, drive out, and worship with us, many people. have done that with us over the years. So there's a yellow flyer out on the hall table and if you're going to the retreat, you're gonna want to grab one of these. It has a map and it has a lot of information about what to pack and what to bring and you might be reminded of the things that you forgot to pack last time and regret it and be sure to bring those with you. We also have some service opportunities and those are online. I checked this morning, there's still several opportunities to serve out at the retreat that you can sign up for using the link in your bulletin. And the deadline to pay for your rooms is October the 13th, so be sure to plan to pay for your rooms before that deadline arrives. Well, as we begin our worship this morning, I want you to grab your red hymnal from the rack in front of you. Please turn with me in that red hymnal. to hymn number 53, praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Five three in the red, hold your place there and please stand together for our call to worship. Our call to worship this morning comes from the great 132nd Psalm. For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back. One of the sons of your body I will set upon your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne. For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place. There I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine. Let us sing together. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy help and salvation. All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near. Join me in glad adoration. Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth, shelters thee under his wing, chaste, so grandly sustaineth. Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been granted, and what he ordaineth? Praise to the Lord who doth prosper thy work and defend thee. Surely his goodness and mercy near daily attend thee. Ponder adieu, what the Almighty will do, if with his love he befriend thee. Grace to the Lord, who with marvellous wisdom hath made thee, decked thee with health and with loving hand, guideth and stayed thee. How often grief hath nought in mighty relief, spreading his wings to ashame thee. Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him. All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him. Sound from His people again, loudly for heaven we adore. Let us pray together. Our blessed Heavenly Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you, Lord, for your love for us, which you have shown to us in Christ Jesus, our Messiah, our King. And we thank you, Lord, that you have given him all authority and all power in heaven and on earth. It is in his name that we come to you today. We thank you for reconciling us to yourself by him through his blood. We pray, Father, that based upon his finished work that you would draw near to us today. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to praise your name. And we thank you for the great hymns and psalms and spiritual songs that honor you. We pray, Lord God, that you would meet with us today at the Lord's Supper, that you would let us understand and remember the great price of our salvation. We pray that your will would be done in all that we do here in this place, that it would be you who speaks to us through the reading and the proclamation of your word. We pray that your Holy Spirit would accomplish your sovereign work in every heart here today. We pray, Lord God, for those who are burdened, for those who are heavy laden, that they would find rest in you today. We pray that you would provide the encouragement and strengthening and conviction and challenging and hope that we need from you. We pray, Lord God, that your presence would be very real to us and that we would joyfully and reverently worship you. May all that we do here be done under the power of your sovereign hand by your Holy Spirit and for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Well, good morning, everyone. Please turn to hymn 441 in the red, Jesus Shall Reign. His hell shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journeys run His kingdom stretch from shore to shore Till moon shall wax and rain no more To Him shall endless prayer be made, And praises throng to crown His head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise With every morning's sacrifice. People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name. Blessings abound where'er he reigns, the prisoner leaps to lose his chains, The weary find eternal rest, And all their sons of want are blessed. Let every creature rise and bring Peculiar honors to our King. Angels descend with songs again, And earth repeat the loud amen. Now please turn a few pages over to hymn 467. 467 in the red. Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin! How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall his praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea, higher than the mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me. broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of Jesus, praise His name! Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching a mighty host, by it I've been not pardoned, save to the uttermost. Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea, higher than the mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all-sufficient grace for even me. broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of Jesus, praise His name! Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled, by its transforming power, making the God's dear child, Purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity. And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountain. All sufficient grace for even me. And that's where you get challenged. All right, now we have the reading of God's Word. Today's reading is from John 10 verses 14 through 18. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. Every Lord's Day, we celebrate the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep as we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. And this is something that we find as a pattern in the book of Acts, chapter 2, is that the early church would gather together early on the first day of the week before they went off to work. And they would dedicate themselves to four things, to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the prayers, and to the breaking of bread. And so we do this every Lord's Day here at Dayspring. And this is not just a sacred meal for our church family. This is open to all who belong to the Lord. And so it's not for everybody. You do have to be qualified to partake of this supper. It's a sacred supper, and so it's a dangerous meal in a lot of ways, as we will talk about in a moment. And so the first thing that I just want to make clear to you is that this supper, if you are a good, upright, upstanding, moral person, this supper is not for you. And if you are a sinner who has never repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus alone for salvation, this supper is not for you. This supper is for evil, wicked people who know that they desperately need a Savior, and as sinners have cast themselves completely on Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. So we ask three things of you, but the first and the most important one is that we ask that you are one who has trusted in Jesus for your salvation. You've been saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, for his glory alone. There's no boasting on our part. The second thing that we ask is that you be a baptized believer, but we do leave the details of your baptism up to your own individual conscience. So if you're able to answer in the affirmative as you look to Scripture, have I been obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism? And then finally, we ask that you not be under church discipline from the local church where your membership resides, so that we might observe God's commandments and respect his work that he does here in this world. As we prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper, we're going to sing another hymn in the Red Hymnal. If you would turn there with me, we're going to turn to hymn number 254. It's 254 in the red. To prepare ourselves for the supper, let us sing together, Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed. And did my Saviour bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And love beyond degree Where might the sun in darkness hide, And shut his glories in? When Christ the mighty Maker died, For man the creature sinned, Thus might I hide my blushing face while His dear cross appears. Dissolve my heart in thankfulness and melt mine eyes in tears. The drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do. Good morning. Well, this past week has been a difficult one full of testing and trials for many, if not all of us. Was there a point when you realized that you were under attack? Was it subtle or overt? In the end, it really doesn't matter what form the attack takes. You realize that you're under attack by the forces of Satan. For me, while the attacks are difficult, they also make me smile. Why is that? Because it reinforces whose side I'm on and who's fighting and praying for me. Satan doesn't attack those who are on his side. He encourages them. During these times, we reach out to our brothers and sisters and ask for prayer. It is good to have a brother in your foxhole when the fight is on. Prayerful love and support is gladly and rapidly offered and it cheers the soul. When we do this for one another, we imitate our Lord. From Luke 22, beginning in verse 31, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Satan wanted to have his way with Peter, to sift him like wheat. Now sifting is a violent process. by which the hard outer husk of the grain is removed by being shaken violently until it falls away and only the grain is left. Satan wanted to shake Peter so badly that his faith would fail. But Jesus tells Peter that he's prayed for him, so his faith will hold firm. If you belong to him, He prays for you too. This is glorious comfort, brothers and sisters, particularly when you are in the midst of the fight. Consider these familiar words from James chapter 1. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. and let steadfastness have its full effect in you, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. We'll be sifted, but the useless garbage is all that will fall away, because that is His purpose for us. He loved us enough to save us when we were unlovable He will always be there for us when we are tested. And so I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Brothers and sisters, let's take a moment to examine ourselves. Lord Jesus, we thank you for saving us. We thank you for praying for us in the midst of the trials and the tests that come our way. And Lord, we thank you for the refining fire that removes what is useless and purifies what is good, that we may be true and faithful servants for your kingdom. Lord, you know our testing and our trials even better than we, for you endured them all and you were faithful. Help us to be so also, Father. We ask that you would strengthen those who need the strength, comfort those who need comfort, that we may provide support and service to each other and pray for each other as you have prayed for us. And if there are those here who do not know you, Lord, they are cast adrift in a sea where they have no support. May they turn to you, may they hear the call, come, and I will give you rest. Lord, work your work in the hearts of many. Complete and build your church for your honor and glory alone. In your name we pray, amen. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. And we had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is the body of the Lord which is broken for you. His cup is the new covenant in Christ's blood, shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sin. Please turn to hymn number 455, and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who caused His pain, for me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Amazing love, how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Tis mystery all, their mortal dies, can explore his strange design. In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. Tis mercy all that earth adored, that angel-born, garden-born, Amazing love, how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace. Humbled Himself, so great His love, and bled for all His chosen grace. His mercy all limits and free, For O my God, it bowed out me. Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Walked by imprisoned spirit late, Fast bound in sin did nature's knight. Then I diffused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, Amazing love, how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? ♪ No condemnation now I dread ♪ Jesus and all in Him is mine ♪ Alive in Him, my living Head ♪ Enclothed in righteousness divine ♪ Bold I approach the eternal throne ♪ And there in the crown I smile Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Glorious. It's been too long since we've sung that one. Well, with your red hymnal still in hand, turn with me in the back of the red hymnal to page 791 in the red. We're going to read responsibly the great 23rd Psalm. Please stand together. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let us pray together. Our Father and our God, we come before your throne today by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, thanking you that you have sent your Son to die in our place so that we might be reconciled to you and so that our sins might be forever forgiven and so that we might dwell in your house forever. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that we have the invitation to come before you with our requests. We lift up to you those, Lord God, who are in need of prayer for our sister, Ben Linda, that you would bring health and healing to her body, for our sister, Sarah, that you would do the same, and that you'd be with Ben Fletcher as he declines physically in his old age, that you would protect him in his loneliness and that you would comfort him. We lift up to you the cruises as they travel and pray, Lord, that you would give them safety And I pray, Lord, for Allie and George as they are now heading off to their honeymoon, Lord, that you would provide them safe travels as they go. And especially, Lord, we pray that with faith in you and with love for one another, that their new life together would bear witness to the reality of your love and your grace and your great salvation. We lift up to you the nation in which we are sojourning. We pray for President Biden, Lord, and pray that you would bless him with wisdom and deliver him from the evil one and give him the conviction of the truth, that you would be with all of our earthly leaders and that you would help us to honor them according to your word. We pray, Lord God, that you would send forth your word and your gospel and power right here in Austin and to the ends of the earth. We ask that you would fill Pastor Ben Wright with the Holy Spirit this morning as he proclaims the gospel at Cedar Point Baptist Church. We pray that all Israel might be saved. We pray that you would bless our missionaries as they tear down strongholds, and that you would bring in the full number of your elect, that you would add to your church daily as many as are being saved through your gospel. And Father, we pray that you would bring it about for the praise of your glorious name. that the whole earth might be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In Jesus' name and for his sake we pray, amen. You may be seated, and our children may go out to Children's Church at this time. And as they go out, please turn with me in your copy of God's living and active word to John chapter 18, Gospel of John. Chapter 18. We're starting Chapter 18 today, having just finished up looking over a few weeks at Jesus's high priestly prayer from Chapter 17. And so here's where the story picks up, as Jesus and his 11 disciples, they now leave the city of Jerusalem on this last final night before Jesus is arrested and crucified. John 18, starting in verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? They answered him. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus said to them, I am he. Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I'm he, so if you seek me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken. Of those whom you gave me, I have lost not one. 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 its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" Well, all four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and now John, they all make their way inexorably and inevitably to this particular night. It was a Thursday night into the next Friday morning when Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified. Every single one of them makes their way to this point, and they do it with great, great purpose. And that's not surprising, because it has basically been clear from the very beginning that these few events that are about to unfold here in chapters 18, 19, and into 20 are the whole point of everything. I mean, think about it, everything that Jesus has claimed about himself, to be king, to be God, to be the son of God, to be the son of man, all of those things that he claimed to be, to be the temple where God and man meet, all of those things meant that this moment absolutely had to come. It was unavoidable, because if it was avoided, then Jesus was none of those things. More than that, everything Jesus promised his disciples was dependent upon this happening. If Jesus does not go to the cross, there is no Holy Spirit sent. If Jesus does not go to the cross, there is no enthronement of the King, no new kingdom. There is no royal community of love and faith and hope. There is no vine and branches. There is no resurrection. There is no place prepared. There is no second coming. Nothing happens. unless the cross happens. So the cross, the cross has been looming over this book for a long time. And now what's happening is that at this point, we're probably less than eight hours away from when the first nail would be driven through Jesus's wrists. But here's what John really wants for us to understand from all of this, all of this that is about to happen to Jesus did not just happen to Jesus. There was a purpose to it all. There was a purpose that He was completely sovereign over at every single moment of all of this. Not a single split second of any of this got outside of Jesus's control. He was never surprised. He was never taken aback. He was in absolute control over all of it. And it's that total sovereign control that the Apostle John really wants us to see here in our passage. And he wants us to also see the purpose behind all of it. So the main idea is this, if you're taking notes, you wanna write this down. The main idea here in our passage is this. Jesus' life was not taken from him. He laid it down and he did that for us. Jesus' life was not taken from him. He laid it down himself and he did that, he did that for us. So you've got verses one to six here which are driving home the point especially that Jesus is completely in control over all of this. That's the point, Jesus is totally in control. Not the Roman soldiers, not the temple priests, not the false friend Judas, it is Jesus who is in control. Then you've got verses 7 to 9, where Jesus makes sure that his disciples, these 11 men, are not arrested. And John makes a really big deal of that. I mean, a much bigger deal than you might expect at first. The apostle John sees in this the fulfillment of some words that Jesus had promised earlier on, and he makes a big deal of it. We're going to talk about that. And then you've got the last two verses. 10 and 11, where Peter cuts off this guy's ear, and Jesus again says, basically, you know, for about the third time, Peter, wake up. Stop fighting this. This is not something that's just happening to me, and I don't need you to protect me from it. This has got to happen. For your own sake, Peter, this has got to happen, and I'm the one doing it. what's going on in 10 and 11. So just three points to the sermon this morning, just kind of corresponding to those divisions. Number one, Jesus's absolute control over this situation. Number two, Jesus's sovereign protection of his disciples. And then number three, Jesus's unbreakable determination to die for us. So those are the three points of our sermon. Jesus's absolute control of the situation, his sovereign protection of his disciples, and his unbreakable determination to die for us. So point number one, let's just dive on in. Jesus's absolute control over this situation. What we see here just right off the bat is that Jesus is King, and as King, he is completely in control. He is 100% sovereign, in charge, completely running everything. He is in control. I love the way that the First London Baptist Confession of Faith puts it. If you want to reflect on this later, go to our website. We have the First London Confession of Faith there for you to read in full. And it says this, God had decreed in himself, before the world was, concerning all things, whether necessary, accidental, or voluntary, with all the circumstances of them, to work, dispose, and bring about all things according to the counsel of His own will to His glory, yet without being the chargeable author of sin, or having fellowship with any therein, in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, His unchangeableness, power, and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree. So he has decreed, and he is working out, and he is sovereign over everything. Yet not like he's running robots or playing puppets, right? In the scriptures, two things are compatible and true. God is sovereign over all things, and men freely do what is in their hearts to do. They can freely give themselves fully to lawlessness. They can chase the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, down and crucify him like they are out of control, but they always, always play into God's sovereign hands. Man plans his ways. directs his steps. And that's what we see here. Our king is in full control, even in the hour of darkness, even when lawless men have their evil way. From the very beginning, verse one, it's really clear that Jesus, he's the one leading this whole thing. He's not being swept along by events, right? He's not being led by somebody else. He's not being sort of hoodwinked into going out to this garden to get arrested. He is leading the whole thing. So if you look, the verbs that John uses about him, they are all active verbs. So in verse one, he went out in front of his disciples. And verse four, he stepped forward to the soldiers who had come to arrest him. It's always Jesus putting the first foot forward here, always Jesus taking the first step, taking the initiative. And in all of that, what the apostle John is demonstrating for us with all of that active language is that Jesus was not just being swept away by events. He wasn't just caught up in a tragic confluence of Jewish and Roman politics that wound up with him on the cross. He didn't make a miscalculation and get himself killed when he intended rather to establish a kingdom. That is not what is going on here. He was directing all of these events. He was driving them. He was making them happen, and he was doing so very, very deliberately. So look with me at some of the details. In verse 1, there John says that he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden. When you went across the Kidron, the Kidron Brook, that meant that you were outside the camp. You were now outside Jerusalem. And as the king then goes outside the camp, he walks into a garden. What King Adam did in that first garden, in plunging the entire world into rebellion against God, is now about to be reversed by what King Jesus does in this garden. That's the setup. Now look at verse two. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So what are all those details about? Well, a couple of things in there. Judas knew where this place was. He'd been there many times. Jesus had a habit of hanging out with his friends, with his disciples, right there in this garden. He would often go there to pray, to teach, to spend time with his disciples. And as his friend, as one of his disciples, Judas knew that. So Jesus deliberately goes to a place where he can be found. not to a place where he can be hidden away. Judas came, it says, with a band of soldiers. That word band there, it's a technical word for basically a tenth of a Roman legion. A Roman legion was a 6,000 soldiers, so you're talking 600 Roman soldiers in a band. And they're here now in the garden. Believe it or not, this many soldiers, 600 soldiers, to make an arrest was not unusual at all. The Romans were notorious for using absolutely overwhelming force. They did not respond proportionately to anything. I mean, you look in the book of Acts, and the apostle Paul, at one point, just one man, he's being guarded by 470 Roman soldiers, including horsemen and spearmen. The Romans overreacted all the time, which they could afford to do with their just massive army and military presence all over the known world. And so here they send hundreds of soldiers to come and arrest Jesus. And they did so, notice, holding a bunch of torches and lanterns and clanging weapons. And so here's the point of all of that. The point is, nobody snuck up on Jesus to arrest him. He went to a familiar place that Judas knew about. He didn't go to some other place to hide for the night, to try to get away from these soldiers. And for 600 of them coming out of the city, You gotta go down the hill first, and then you gotta go across the valley where there are no trees, and it's just desert down there, so you're completely visible, and then you gotta come up the side of the mountain to the garden. I mean, you could watch them for an hour walking towards you with all of their torches and spears and all of the rest of it. Jesus, he was not surprised. He would have seen them coming. He would have heard them coming, and he could have run. But he didn't. He's not caught on some crushing wheel of history. He is moving the wheel of history. And then just look at these remarkable next few verses. Jesus' introduction to them is just amazing. Because you'd expect these 600 soldiers to come in with their torches and their weapons, and you'd expect that they would be the ones taking the initiative here. But look at verse four. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, so he's not thinking what's gonna happen next, right? Knowing all that would happen to him, he came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. Now those words in John's gospel are loaded. I am, you go through John's gospel, I am, the good shepherd. I am the true vine. I am the way. I am the door. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the truth. One time he said to a whole group of people before Abraham was, I am. All of those statements in John's gospel where Jesus says, I am, they indicate that he is God. that he is the great I am who revealed himself to Moses from the burning bush, whose name was proclaimed to be I am who I am. There's actually no he in verse five. They answer, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus says, egoimi, I am. I don't know if this army knew that he was God at this point. But I know that they knew something of his divine power when he said it. Because look at verse six. That's just remarkable. They're here to arrest him. For any other person, this would have been an overwhelming, terrifying, brutally violent force. When Jesus said to them, I am, they drew back and fell to the ground. Swords on the ground. Clubs got dropped. Shields are clanging. Lanterns need to be tended to. And this army's dusting itself off, picking itself back up. All they got was, I am, and it sent all of them onto their backs. So these soldiers, they must have recognized. I mean, in that moment when their heads hit the dirt, they must have recognized that if Jesus could drop them to the ground with a word like that, then they were not really in control at all. Even with 600 of them there to help with weapons, they were not arresting Jesus. Jesus was giving himself up to arrest. He was giving himself up into their custody for his own purposes. There's a couple of things I want you to think about here. For one thing, just think about it. If this is the kind of power that Jesus' words had on this particular night when his deity and his glory were all covered up and veiled. So Jesus, he's not in his glory yet, but if his words, even on this night when all is veiled, have this kind of power, imagine what power his word is going to have. when earth and sky flee away as he returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to judge the whole world in righteousness. It is no wonder that the book of Revelation symbolically portrays his word as a sword coming out of his mouth. And with that word, with that sword, he slays the kings of all the nations. There's no wonder that that's the case. This episode in John 18 that we're reading, it really happened. Jesus said, egoe me, and they fell to the ground. All 600 of them, and the Pharisees, and the high priests, and their servants, and Judas fell to the ground. What I want you to understand is that when we Christians talk about Jesus being the omnipotent Son of God and the King of kings who is coming to judge the world, both the living and the dead, we mean it. It's not a metaphor. It's not a symbol. It's not some religious mumbo jumbo. We really believe that the risen Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of kings is going to come back bodily and judge the entire world. We believe that is true. And the soldiers that night found that out. Also, I want you to just take some comfort in the absolute, ridiculously effortless power of Jesus's words here. I mean, this is the last time that anything like this happens in the book, where Jesus speaks and something happens. It's the last time. It's happened before. It's the same voice that says, agoe me, boom, and knocked the soldiers to the ground. That same voice is the one that called out from the boat, peace, be still, and the deadly storm stopped. It's the same voice that shouted, Lazarus, come forth! And the dead man walked out of the tomb. It's the same insanely powerful voice that rules over your life and all of its circumstances right now, today. All those circumstances, all those trials, all those cancer cells, all those hurts, All those uncertainties, all of it is ruled by His sovereign voice. There's not a single storm that can come into your life, not a single wave that can crash over your life, over which He does not rule completely. I love that hymn, Be Still My Soul, that we often sing. Listen to the words of it. Be still, my soul, the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave it to your God to order and provide, because in every change, he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul. waves and winds still know his voice who ruled them when he dwelt below." Jesus' absolute, total control. That's our first point. Secondly, Jesus' sovereign protection of his disciples. That's point number two, his sovereign protection of his disciples. In verses seven to nine, if you look there, he asked them again, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, I told you I'm he, so if you seek me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, of those whom you gave me, I've lost not one. So at first glance here, it seems just kind of on the surface, it seems just sort of a simple kind of negotiation between Jesus and this band of soldiers, right? Take me, not them. Please let my friends go. But that is not the situation here at all. Again, you just got to read it carefully to see. that Jesus is in complete control, complete dominance over this whole situation. So for example, look at verse seven. He asked them again. John's very careful to tell us that he asked them a second time. Why does Jesus do that? Because he is forcing them to acknowledge why they're here, and he does it twice. Why are you here? We are here for one man, Jesus of Nazareth, not his friends, not his followers. And then in verse 8, he calls them on it. You said that you were seeking me, singular, so let these men go. Now, that's not a request. There's no plea in there. It's in the imperative. It is a royal command, and they obey the king. They let him go. Despite the fact, I mean, in all likelihood, they really did intend to arrest Jesus's whole group, right? And that's how the Romans always operated. They did not leave any loose ends. And so they arrested everybody all the time. That's what they intended to do. But here, they obey King Jesus. Let these men go. And then look at what John says in verse 9. He says that the reason that this happened, the reason that they did not get arrested was to fulfill what Jesus had spoken when he said, of those you gave me, I've not lost a single one. OK, so where did he say that? Well, remember, it was just back in the previous chapter during his high priestly prayer that Jesus prayed in chapter 17 and verse 12. He says there in his prayer. I've guarded them, that those that you, Father, have given me before the foundation of the world, I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled." So yeah, Judas is obviously lost, but he was never given to Jesus in the first place. He was sovereignly chosen for a different purpose. But he says, of those that you did give me, Father, I have not lost one of them. And also back in 6, chapter 6, verse 39, this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose none of all that God has given me, but raise him up on the last day. And then chapter 10, verse 28, same idea. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hands. So he has promised it, he has said it, and the Apostle John is saying now that he did it, that he did not lose them, he did not allow them to get arrested. But that doesn't quite work, does it? I mean, if you think about it, all of those places that Jesus said that kind of stuff, not gonna lose them, cannot snatch them out of my hand, raise them up on the last day, all of those places. I mean, isn't he talking about their eternal spiritual salvation there? Yes, he's not just talking about saving them from the Romans. He's talking about spiritual salvation. I am not going to lose them in spiritual terms. So why does the Apostle John apply those promises here to just this bare fact that Jesus protected them from being arrested? I wrestled with this this week, and I think that it's probably a couple of things. Two things. First, what happens here is actually a pretty powerful analogy. of what does happen in salvation, isn't it? Jesus steps in between his people and the destroyer and prevents them from being put to death. He provides them with life. That's what's going on, right? Jesus steps in between these people and the destroyer and prevents them from having to die. I mean, think about how that forms an almost perfect analogy to what our Savior Jesus has done for you and for me as Christians. Well, what Jesus said to these soldiers about his disciples is exactly what he says about us to the law and to death. When our sin was put upon his shoulders and the eye of the law and of justice looked to Jesus, he said, listen to me, law. Listen to me, death. If it's me that you seek now, okay, let it be so, but let my people go. See, it's a perfect picture of the gospel. It's a perfect picture of what you need to have happen for you. You need for Jesus to step in between you and the wrath of God and to say concerning you, let him go. Let her go. Take me instead. There's that symbolism. But I want you to think more about this too. Why might the Apostle John have seen Jesus' protection of his disciples here from getting arrested, why would he have seen that as a fulfillment of his promise to protect them spiritually? So that's slightly different from asking, how is it analogous? We've already talked about that. It is, in fact, analogous, but how does John see his physical protection of them from arrest as being a fulfillment of a promise to protect them spiritually, an actual fulfillment of that promise? How did their not being arrested protect them spiritually? Because just imagine what they would have done if they had been arrested. and condemned, and watched the nails headed for their wrists. They would have folded like a house of cards. And there's not a doubt in our minds that they would have done that, because we know what happens to Peter in just like the next few verses. He folds just a few verses later, denies that he even knows Jesus three times. These disciples, they are not strong here yet. That they are not the world-shaking witnesses that they're going to become after Jesus' victorious resurrection and glorious ascension. Right now, they're weak, and Jesus knows it, and he protects them. He protects them from being put into a situation where he knows their faith will fail. I mean, it's really wonderful, isn't it, to think about that, that Jesus is thinking about them, I know you're weak, I cannot let you be put into that position, I am going to protect you from any sort of circumstance happening to you that's gonna cause your faith in me to fail. Sometimes, as Christians, we can think of God's protection of us spiritually, as though it just means that yeah, bad stuff is gonna happen, griefs, difficulties, trials, and when they do, God will protect us in the midst of them. He will lead us through them. And he does that, praise God. But sometimes, sometimes God protecting us means that he doesn't let that stuff happen in the first place, because he knows that our faith would fail. You ever think about that? You ever think about the fact that if you're a Christian, if you're sitting here right now and your faith is in Jesus and your faith is relatively solid, right? But that's just because you have not been put into a situation yet where your faith will fail. You haven't been put in a situation yet where your faith will fail. Why do you think that is? Do you think it's just luck? Do you think you're strong enough that there really is no situation in which your faith in Jesus would ever fail? No, that's wrong. It is not because your faith is so strong. Brothers and sisters, there are a thousand situations that would make your faith crack like a twig, and God, in his sovereignty, has kept you from those. Worship Him for that. Adore Him for that. And pray with all of your heart, just like Jesus taught you, to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from the evil one. The Lord protects His own. He is the Good Shepherd. Finally, third point, Jesus' unbreakable determination to die for us. His unbreakable determination to lay down his life for his sheep, to die for us. So in verses 10 and 11, here at the very end of our passage, you get a little unexpected action. So one of the disciples draws a little sword, like a dagger, takes a swing at one of the high priest's servants who's come out. He cuts off his ear. But I mean, you've got to understand that he was not aiming for the guy's ear. He was aiming for the head. He was trying to kill this man, and he missed, and he hit the ear instead. All four of the Gospels record this for us, but John's the only one who tells us who it was, which surprises absolutely nobody. It was Peter, of course. And John also, by the way, interestingly, he tells us the name of the servant, too. It's Malchus. Why does he include that? Why do we know this guy's name? He's nothing important. He's just a servant. More accurately, actually, a slave. He's a slave among a number of slaves here belonging to the high priest. That's what he is. His name is a foreign name, Malchus, so he's not a Jew. He's not a Roman. He's a foreigner, as many of the slaves were in that day. He's an outsider. He's a foreign slave, somebody that is spit upon and walked all over. That's who he is, and yet we know his name. Why? probably because he became a Christian, and one of the eyewitnesses that you could go to and you could talk about this night. That's the best explanation, that he became a Christian. One of the other Gospels tells us that Jesus reached out, touched his ear, and healed him. Many of the people that Jesus made well, he also saved. And so it's likely that the first hearers of John's gospel would have known Malchus, would have even included Malchus. That's what Jesus Christ does. He takes a nobody and takes off the veil of anonymity and makes them known, makes them loved, gives them a new identity, puts them in his own family, makes them somebody. It's beautiful. It's what he's done to you and to me if you're a believer today. Anyway, Peter's move here, his brash slashing with the dagger, it was absolutely asinine in every way possible, right? And Jesus immediately puts an end to it. One gospel says that he immediately yells, no more of this. Here he just tells Peter to put his little sword away back into its sheath. Poor Peter, he still doesn't get it. He doesn't understand that this has to happen. for Peter's own good, for his own salvation, the cross has to happen. And fighting against that with weapons is absolutely and completely wrongheaded in every possible way. But look at the very last thing that Jesus says there in verse 11. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" If you know the Gospel story well enough, you'll have already noticed that the Apostle John, he skips over something here that the other three Gospels actually end up giving a lot of time to. There's a gap in between verse 1 and verse two, before the soldiers and Judas show up, there's a gap there during which Jesus would have been praying in this garden, the garden of Gethsemane, praying that that agonized prayer in the garden, Father, let this cup pass from me. That's when that was happening, between verse one and verse two here. But John doesn't include it. He's focused on other things. But you remember how those agonized prayers ended. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. If we can save our people in any other way, then let's not do this. But Father, not my will, but your will be done. And the answer comes back implicitly, there is no other way. The cup cannot pass. The only way for the cup of God's wrath to pass is for all of them to die. Jesus, you either drink the cup or they drink it. Someone is drinking the cup and Jesus says, I'll drink it. And look at him now. He is determined. He is absolutely determined to drink it. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? In the Old Testament, the cup is often used as a picture of judgment and horror and shame and death and hell. The best place to kind of get a picture of it is in Psalm 75. Psalm 75, it says, it is God who executes judgment. For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup. In the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it. And all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs." I mean, that's the cup. That's the cup that Jesus was about to drink. This boiling, poisonous, black as night mixture of judgment and sin and hell and death. But here's the glorious thing. Here's the glorious thing, that black as night cup, that frothing mixture of wrath and torment and death and hell, it was not his cup, not by right. It was my cup, and it was yours. The cup was held by God over us, and we were to drink it down to the dregs. Hell for all eternity. the wrath of God, his torment, personal torment upon us for all eternity. And yet here's Jesus walking into your place and saying, pour it all out on me. I will drink it for you. I'll drink it down to the dregs for you. I'll die so that you don't have to die. I will endure hell for a moment so that you don't have to endure it for eternity. I'll drain this cup. And you, you're gonna drink a different cup. Every human being in history, on the face of the planet, is gonna drink a cup. And it's either gonna be the one from Psalm 75, or it's gonna be the one from Psalm 23 that we read about earlier. My cup overflows with blessing and salvation. It's one or the other. The pastor's wife and poet, Anne Cousen's rich poem titled, Oh Christ, What Burden Bowed Thy Head. It includes this powerful line. She writes, the curse of death was in our cup. The cup was full for thee, but thou hast drained the last dark drop and emptied it for me. That bitter cup, love drank it up. There is no curse for me. It's a beautiful image, isn't it? The curse of death was in my cup. It's mine. I deserve it. It's for me, given to me by the hand of God to drink it to its dregs. But that bitter cup Jesus took and drained the last dark drop for me, for you. If you're relying upon him, for eternal salvation, the cup of wrath empty for you, and the cup of blessing and salvation overflowing forever and ever, world without end. Let us pray. Lord Christ, how we thank you and we praise you that you are the one who drank that dark cup, that you are the one who drained it, and now blessings are ours in you forevermore. Lord Jesus, we pray that as we stare into these moments when you were arrested, when Judas and the Roman soldiers came and took you away to be cruelly crucified, that you were doing that because of your determination to die for us the death that we deserve to die, because you have loved us. Our Lord, we thank you for these things, and we pray that you would help us, by your Holy Spirit, to revel in them and to adore you because of them. We pray all of this in your blessed name, the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, please stand together. As I said in the announcement time, we are going to, as a church family, have a brief family time. So after we take a moment to greet visitors, only those who are Dayspringers, you know who you are. Your name is in the directory. You've gone through a membership interview with one of the pastors here, and you've been welcomed into membership. So this is not like when I fenced the Lord's table, this is not for all of the Lord's people, just our local church family. We're going to gather back in this room at the sound of the piano. Before we do that, though, we're going to take some time to greet visitors and greet one another, and I see a lot of visitors here today. So if you're a visitor and you've got lunch plans with a member of this church or you want to hang out and visit, Just hang out in the fellowship hall or outside wherever you'd like to, but this is an intimate family meeting we're about to have. It won't last long, less than five minutes probably. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.