Christ's Power and Peter's Failure — John 17-18

0:00 We're going to have John chapter 18 this morning, first 27 verses, and there's two or three themes that are in that chapter. One one theme has to do with the Lord Jesus and his His deity and His demonstration of power. Then a second theme is the theme of Simon Peter and his failure, and hopefully we can learn some lessons concerning that. Carl had prayed for me, prayed that I would be able to minister with righteousness and correction maybe, something like that. I thought that's a that's a strange prayer.

0:47 I I... You know, but I thought, you know, that's appropriate because the ministry of... This ministry concerning Simon Peter has some real moral lessons for us that we might learn from him and warnings, I would say. And then finally, the witness to the priest of the, the Jewish priest of the day, just what did it amount to? Chapter 18 of John, 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.

1:27 And Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, where Jesus often met there with his disciples. Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. We're going to get Jesus. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking? They answered and said to him, Jesus of Nazareth.

1:57 Jesus said to them, I am he, or if you notice the he is in italics, or I am, perhaps an expression of his deity. Judas, who betrayed them, also stood with them. Now when he had said to them, I am, they drew back and fell to the ground. And he asked them again saying, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

2:23 And he said, I've told you that I am. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might 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 servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put up your sword and your sheath.

2:51 Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. We'll stop there and continue later. So this starts off with the upper room ministry being completed, the Lord Jesus having prayed this wonderful prayer, and John 17 now he goes out of Jerusalem, he goes out, he goes down the hill over the Brook Kidron, goes up on the Mount Of Olives into this garden called the Garden Of Gethsemane. Now as it explains here that it had been the Lord Jesus' habit to go to this same garden oftentimes, and and Judas had rightfully predicted that that's where Jesus would be.

3:50 And so Judas comes to the place and he takes with him, it says he took a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. They were going to get Jesus. I think this is even critical in understanding. They were going to get him. They came out with great power.

4:16 The soldiers were a source of power. The officers of the high priest were a source of authority. The Pharisees were religious hypocrites, and there was Judas, the betrayer, the traitor, and they come and they're going to get Jesus. Now interestingly, the Lord Jesus, you try to picture this. It's a night scene.

4:45 The disciples might have had a torch, but but certainly not what this group that was coming had. So they're hit here and and not very bright over here in the garden, and coming towards them is this multitude, it says in one place. They're coming to get him, and so Jesus steps out in front of the disciples, and he asked the question. By the way, it's explained to us that the purpose of the question was that he would deliver his disciples. He was going to lead through a point where he was going to say, then let these ones go.

5:19 So steps forward and says, whom are you seeking? They say Jesus of Nazareth. Now the Lord Jesus then he just says these two words, I am, and immediately it says that they drew back and they fell to the ground, you can just see them falling back onto the ground, you have a sense of some great power suddenly just overcame them, and they just pitched back on the ground, it's just amazing. Now we might... Say we that the Lord did this with just two words, I am, and we might we might look at that and ask the question, so what what is the significance of this I am?

7:32 Suppose I try in my mind to try to rebuild the picture, you know, here's Moses forty years before he had fled for his life from Egypt. Now God was telling him, I'm going to send you back to Egypt. Woah, wait a minute. So he tries to find some excuse not to go. So in the thirteenth verse Moses says to God, indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, what is his name?

8:11 What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am whom I am, just strange name, it's Jehovah though, it's strange name, Jehovah, I am that I am, And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Now I I think I have this right that I am who I am is Jehovah and just I am is Jah, the shortened form of it. So so this was the the name that was given, and then god continues. Moreover, god said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the lord god of your fathers, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob has sent me to you.

8:55 This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. The I am, the ever existing one. Some something just gathered in that name is something of the very essence of God. He's always been and always will be, the I am. Now having understood that that's the significance of I am, we go back to our story, and and we find that when Lord...

9:24 When the Lord Jesus pronounces this I am, that they simply fall to the ground. They can... There's there's so much power in the Lord Jesus saying these two words that they're just cast down on the ground. Now no doubt, matter of fact, I think we should turn back to the seventh chapter of John, and and, I'm looking for the verse, if you if you believe not that I am, you will die in your sins. Chapter eight twenty four Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you shall die in your sins.

10:13 So there was so much that was built into this. Matter of fact, the Lord Jesus used this expression often. He used it, I am the good shepherd. I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, the life.

10:28 I am the resurrection and the life. Wonderful promises that are all built into that name, I am Jehovah. Matter of fact, there are many wonderful names for the God of the Old Testament. I don't remember all the Jehovah names, Jehovah Nishi, and there's a bunch there. I've seen list of of 10 or 12 different Jehovah names that that are given, and they all have that significance.

10:54 It's what I am, God says. And so so Jesus rides on this thought, and he speaks it with such power that they're thrown down. Then the Lord Jesus, then they they get up again. They're they're down the ground. They get up again, and the Lord Jesus says to them again, whom are you seeking?

11:12 And Jesus said, I've told you that who, they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, I have told you that I am. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way. So obviously, part of his his objective in both demonstrating his power and following this logic is to convince them to let his disciples go, and so he's protecting them. But that's hard to do sometimes.

12:02 Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Now we... First of all, we see that Peter, I would say, obviously, is not entering into the mind of God. So so the Lord Jesus is saying to Peter, my father has put in front of me something that I need to do. I have to do it.

12:29 It's called a cup. It was a bitter cup that he was going to have to bear. Of course, we know what he's talking about. He's talking about the crucifixion, what what the lord Jesus would go through in order to save us from our sins. Peter is not entering into it.

12:46 Peter had a presupposition of of of what he thought should happen, and I think that this is true that, matter of fact, when the two on the road to Emmaus, they were talking to Jesus and about himself, but but he didn't recognize him, and they said they said we had hoped that it was he that should have should have redeemed Israel, I believe is how it was. In other words, the idea was they their presupposition was that Jesus was going to come in great power and he was going to take over, he's going to get rid of the Romans and and he was going to do that, but but as as it turns out, the Lord Jesus was actually facing a greater power than the power of the Romans. He was pace... He was facing the power of Satan himself, the great enemy of mankind, and he was going to do a work that would destroy the work of Satan, and so the Lord Jesus must drink this cup. Now to understand a little bit more about the idea of the cup, I'm gonna turn us back to Luke 22...

13:57 I'm, excuse me, Matthew twenty six thirty nine. Matthew twenty six thirty nine. And this is the Lord Jesus' prayer. Now you will have noticed as that we... As we get the story in the Gospel of John that that John skips over this this incident of the Lord Jesus praying to the father and goes directly to the to the, to Judas', being a traitor, and and so let's go back.

14:34 We're looking at what this prayer was because it gives us some sense of what the cup was, and and so Matthew twenty six thirty nine, he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to his disciples and found them sleeping and said, what? Could you not watch with me for one hour? And then on down, the Lord Jesus says in the 40 verse, oh my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. So now clearly, the Lord Jesus, when he says this, my...

15:20 Oh, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. He is... He's like putting forth a proposition. Is it possible? Is it is it possible that there'd be some other solution to this this thing you want me to do, father?

15:36 Is it possible? Now, of course, we we know well that the Lord Jesus was the son of God, and he knew the answer to this, but so we could, I think, rest in the fact that when the Lord Jesus said that, asked that or said, made that statement, or made that prayer to his father that that that he was doing it at least in part for our sake in order to demonstrate a great truth actually, and and if you've if you've wondered before, was it possible, was there any other way that Jesus could have done this? It was was it... Or that the father could have accomplished salvation? And I believe the answer is no.

16:19 No other way because the Lord Jesus prayed, if it be possible, let this cup fast from me. Father, if there's any other way, may it be so. And and notice also the Lord Jesus' willingness to to submit to his father's will. But but the important thing here, as I would say it, is that the answer to his question was a grand silence. The answer to his prayer was a grand silence.

16:52 Is it possible that there's no other way? And the answer was no, and we find immediately after that in our portion in John that Lord Jesus says, shall I not drink the cup that the Father has placed before me? And so the Lord Jesus did something which nobody else could do. There was no other perfect sacrifice available. No one else was sinless.

17:17 No one else could be the sacrifice, and and so the Lord Jesus lived his life in perfect holiness, and then when the time came when the time came, he gave his life up and became the sacrifice for our sins, and so he had to drink a terrible bitter cup, but but he did it because he was willing to submit totally to the will of his holy father. So here's Peter. Now Peter is going to save Jesus just like the soldiers were going to get Jesus. Peter was going to save Jesus, and so he comes with his sword and he's going to save Jesus, and he comes down and he he makes a swipe with the sword, and he swipes the side of the guy's head. Now I don't know exactly what happened.

18:11 My guess is that the guy dodged, saw it coming and dodged, got over enough that it just got his ear, but the fact was that Peter wasn't just trying to cut somebody's ear off, Peter was going to kill that guy, he was to win a battle for Jesus, he was going to save Jesus, and Jesus says, no Peter, you can't do this. I'm going somewhere. I'm doing something, and I've got something something great that I'm going to do. It's the father's will, his cup that I'm going to drink, and so so he stops Peter. Now it doesn't tell us here in Gospel of John, but if you if you were to go over into the other Gospels, you'd see that the Lord Jesus reached out and and he touched the ear of Malchus and and healed his ear.

18:56 I always always thought that was the neatest thing to draw. So so imagine. So he just gets his ear shut off. So so he comes down with that sword. I assume the ear was laying on the ground.

19:07 Maybe it was maybe it was still hanging by a thread or something, but but but but he... We got this gory scene in front of us, and and Jesus just reaches out, and he touches it, and it's healed, it's completely healed. Back in probably better condition than it was before. So I thought, how'd that happen? Mean, if his ear was laying on the ground, is his ear still laying on the ground, but it was fixed up here?

19:39 I mean, that's just my imagination going going too far, but I still think it's kind of fun because what I want to do is I want to make this thing real to myself. I want to understand that this thing really happened, this miracle, and because of this miracle, only were they convinced, not only was there a witness to them through the Lord Jesus' saying I am and them falling into the ground, but the Lord Jesus also healed the man whose ear was cut off and stopped Peter from his aggression, and and the father had a will to do, and the interesting thing see about Peter is that Peter completely missed God's will. He he completely missed it. He he had to give him an a plus for desiring to help the Lord Jesus, but he was out of the will of God, and and so Jesus had to rebuke him. So I think at this point, it's good to maybe take up the subject of Peter.

21:21 And Simon Peter followed Jesus and did so, and so did another disciple. That's generally thought to be John John, the apostle. So did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside.

21:44 Then the other disciple, John, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door and brought Peter in. And the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, are you not also one of this man's disciples, are you? You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I'm not. Now I would like to point out just while we're reading this, the difficulty here.

22:12 You see, here's John, and John is known. Notice that it says here, you're not also one of this man's disciples. John was known to be a disciple. He was known to the high priest, and and some way some way John was able to avoid the denial of the Lord Jesus, but Peter somehow has gotten himself into a spiritual fix where where he's not able to deal with the temptation, and so he he had every reason to say I am. I mean he was asked definitely there.

22:51 Now I suppose part of the temptation might have been this. Just remember, it had only been maybe a half an hour before he just cut off the server, the high free steer. Might have been a temptation to say, oh no, you got the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy. But but the fact was that that something was wrong spiritually here with Peter.

23:10 Now we're going to try to understand that a little bit better, but before we do, just jump down to the twenty fourth verse, twenty fifth verse. Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, you are also one of his disciples. You are not also one of his disciples, are you? He denied it and said, I am not.

23:34 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of his ear Peter cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden with him? Peter denied again, and immediately the rooster quote, It's interesting in one of the other gospels in that last case, it said he denied him with oaths and curses. Interesting. So here here is Peter, and somehow Peter has fallen spiritually from that brave man who not too long before said said, I would die for you Lord, I would do that, but Peter denies the Lord three times, and and I guess, I I looked at this, and I said, what happened here? What happened here?

24:21 What happened to Peter? How come how come Peter fell like this? And and so I went searching through the gospels, and I'd like to point out four things. We could make it five because we've already seen that Peter hadn't entered into the mind of God and what God was doing, but four other things that the scriptures give us about Peter that would give us a sense of of what actually happened to Peter. So first turn with me back to Luke chapter 22.

24:55 We're gonna read the twenty fourth verse. Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Now let's understand the context here. The nineteenth and twentieth verses were when Jesus passed the the emblems to them for the Lord's Supper in the nineteenth and twentieth verses. Then in the twenty first and twenty second, he tells them that one of them is going to to to dis...

25:30 Is going to betray him, and then they have a kind of a session together, they begin to question among themselves which of them would do this thing. Couldn't be me, I know. Then immediately following that, there was a dispute among them. You would think that somehow they would be so sobered by this suggestion of one of them being a betrayer, but immediately following that, they start to argue about which one of them is going to be the greatest, which, by the way, brought about, a little exhortation on the part of the Lord Jesus over what servanthood should really be like. Twenty seventh verse, who okay.

26:21 For who who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table, but I am among you as one that serves? So the Lord Jesus was was... There seemed to be great pride on their part. The Lord Jesus is is teaching them humility.

26:36 So I'm gonna say the first problem, with Peter is there was a problem with pride. It wasn't just Peter's problem. It was the other disciple's problem too, but guess what, that's our problem too, and that's pretty prevalent with us too, pride that oftentimes comes upon us where we're we just think we're the greatest. Yeah. I understand this.

27:03 I can enter into this. Then immediately after this little talk on on servanthood on the thirty first verse, The Lord Jesus says, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. And he said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

27:37 Then he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know me. So from this one I would see that Peter was apparently unaware of the fact that he was the subject of a satanic attack. Okay, so Simon Simon, Satan has asked for you that it may sift you as wheat. It it it reminds me of the story of Job, In the story of Job, we have this this this little discussion going on between God and Satan, and and God is God is saying, have you seen my servant Job? There's no man like him.

28:26 Of course, there's nobody. Of course, he's good and righteous. He's so protected, nobody can get to him. Of course, he's that way. Why?

28:35 If you'd let me get my hands on him, Satan essentially says, if you let me get my hands on him, you'd find that he would curse you to your face. Woah. So we know that there was some actual discussion, like outside of the realm of of human going on in the spiritual world, and Job was affected by it. Now something similar to this apparently happens here. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.

29:10 Don't ever misunder... Misunderestimate the the power and the subtlety of Satan, and and for those of us that have studied the the armor of God recently, we there's plenty of verses there that show that our that our warfare, our our spiritual warfare is a warfare against Satan and his wiles, and and it's very real. And and so the second the second point here is the point that that there was satanic temptation that was being given to Peter, and Peter might have escaped from it. He might have made it through, but he had so much pride that, and immediately he says, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and death. He had such pride.

30:07 Now turn with me to the parallel portion in Matthew 26. We're gonna get, we're gonna see another couple of points that Jesus made to Peter in Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Now my understanding is that the what we read in Luke 22 there was, I think, still in the upper room. When we come to to 26, the thirtieth verse, when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount Of Olives.

30:46 So we're a little further along in this story, and we've got them out out in in Gethsemane, and Jesus imparts a little piece of information to them, thirty first verse of Matthew 26. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And here's Peter.

31:14 Peter answered and said, even if all men are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, that this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Interesting, isn't it? Self confidence. So we had pride.

31:33 We had the attack of Satan. We have self confidence. Now the fourth one is is go to the fortieth verse. And he came to his disciples. This is while he's praying to the father.

31:47 Then he came to his disciples and found them sleeping, and he said, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So so the next problem then with Peter was this, that he was a sleepy Christian.

32:12 He was a sleepy disciple. He didn't recognize his own weakness. He didn't recognize the danger of the spiritual conflict that he was about to get into, and he failed greatly. In this forty fifth verse, are you sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, the time of the temptation was upon him.

32:38 And so Peter failed greatly in it. Now I don't think it particularly helps us to talk about somebody else's failures except that we might understand some way or somehow how we might escape from the same failures. So so God helping us that we can address the pride and judge it in our own hearts, God God helping us that we would understand Satan's power and his attack. I'm speaking of the armor of God passage in Ephesians six, where where we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual host of darkness and and high places, and so so there's this very real, okay, and then the next one is is that we might recognize the self confidence when it wells up into us, in in our hearts, and it does to all of us, and and then finally that we might not be sleepy Christians. I forget where the verse is that says wake that awake thou that sleepest and and call upon thy God.

35:19 So the one who was actually high priest that year was Caiaphas, but it's interesting that when you jump down to the nineteenth verse, it says the high priest then asked him of Jesus, but then I'm going to take you for a moment down to the twenty fourth verse, and Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. So the nineteenth verse is talking about Annas and called him a high priest because, in fact, he was. He was off and on year on and year off, he was a high priest. And and yet Annas sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest. Okay.

35:55 So so just getting that little detail. Now now we're going to the nineteenth verse. The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.

36:17 Why do you ask me? Ask those that heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said. And when he had said these things, the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest like that? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me?

36:43 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Well, first of all, just a little bit more background, that if you were to compare the the gospels to each other, there appears to have been essentially six different trials. There was there was a there was this first standing before Annas, the, and and and being questioned by him, and then from there, goes to Caiaphas, and some of the other gospels tell about being with Caiaphas. And and and, apparently, it's while he was at Caiaphas that that Simon Peter was actually in the room and he was looking at Jesus and then he denies the Lord and the Lord looked at him. I don't know.

37:33 I'll guess a room this size. I don't have any idea, actually, but but here's Peter over on this one side and over on the other side, probably quite a ways over there. The Lord Jesus is standing, and Peter just denied him, and the Lord Jesus looked at Peter. Now now it was not a look of condemnation, I don't think. I think it was a look of pain.

37:55 That's my own take on it anyway, but but Peter was but Peter was just destroyed. It says Peter went out and he wept bitterly, and that was the beginning of his restoration, no doubt, but the twentieth verse of our chapter, I spoke openly in the world, I always taught in the synagogues and the temple, I believe what the Lord Jesus is actually saying here is is now now look, there's there's a witness for me that's out there. It's a perfect witness. I've I've haven't hidden anything. There's a there's a witness out there that's a perfect witness.

38:39 You need to listen to the witness, and and so he's, casting it back into the lap of of the high priest. Of course, of course, the high priest didn't realize that he was that he was standing in the presence of the king of kings and the lord of lords, and and so, nor the officer, and and they they did not treat him like that, so the officer hits him, but but what was the witness that the high priest had? Just exactly what was this witness? And there was... There's something that has often struck me in the Gospels, and that is the the the fact that every time that Jesus healed the leper, it appears that the Lord Jesus sent the leper to the priest.

39:30 Now this was based upon the the, portion in Leviticus 14 that says that says if if a man... If if his leprosy leaves, then he can go to the priest, but the priest has to pronounce him clean. It was something that was built into the Mosaic Law. It's built in out there, something that God was gonna use in his time. And so so all those years, how many people got healed from leprosy?

40:35 Now who can say how many lepers were cleansed? But maybe not every day, but maybe, but let's say every week or something. So over two hundred years, maybe one hundred and fifty, over three years, maybe one hundred and fifty, maybe one hundred and fifty lepers. Okay, that's just trying to put some figures to it. Reality, we don't know many, but I think it's obvious that there were a number.

41:10 The only two cases that were given detail of, one one is in in Luke five, he heals a leper and he says go to the priest and be pronounced clean. And then the other was in Luke 17 when he healed the 10 lepers and he said, go show yourselves to the priest. As they were going, they they were healed. Now that's kind of a funny one because because they weren't healed yet, and yet they were supposed to show themselves to the priest, but they had to have the the the faith to obey the Lord Jesus and what he said, and while they were going, they were healed. Very, very interesting story, but just think that through those three years, there was a constant witness to the priest.

41:53 What is this? You didn't really have leprosy, yes I did, yes I did. I don't believe it, I call my parents, or whatever, so this witness was constant, and this very high priest behold Jesus, whom Jesus stands, had been the witness to this witness. I think it is remarkable in the scriptures in Acts chapter six concerning the church. It says, and a great multitude of the priests believe.

42:30 Remarkable, remarkable statement. It shows that that witness did work. There are many of them really did believe, and it's just neat, I think, to think that that here this man that was presuming to pass judgment on the Lord Jesus, upon the king of kings and the Lord of lords, had been given such a witness that he had no right not to to believe in Jesus, And and so so what what do we have in this chapter? We have, first of all, the wonderful exhibition of the Lord Jesus and his deity, I am, and the whole crowd falls down. And then after that, we have this this story of Simon Peter and how he fell, and and we can get many moral lessons out of that and and and perhaps save ourselves from falling in the same traps that that Peter fell into.

43:27 And then finally, we have the wonderful witness to the priest where the Lord Jesus said, uh-huh. They know. They know what I've said. And so the witness was out there, and there was no excuse for the priest above all not to believe, and so what about us? Well, I just want to say, dear ones here today, that if there's anyone here that hasn't yet trusted in this precious savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, just understand that the witness to who he is and what he has done is so wonderful, and as the scriptures show, it was impossible for us to be saved in any other way, but Jesus came and he bore my penalty on the cross.

44:40 We thank you for how graphic it is and how and how there is so much detail that would remind us of the glory of the Lord Jesus, and we pray that each one here would trust in Him as their savior. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.