And Judas also which betrayed him knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither
with his disciples.
Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees
came thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto them,
Whom seek ye?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus saith unto them, I am he.
And Judas also which betrayed him stood with them.
As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground,
then asked he them again, Whom seek ye?
And they said Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he, if therefore
ye seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake,
of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
Then Simon Peter having the sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant and cut
off his right ear, the servant's name was Malchus.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword to the sheath, cut which my father hath given
me, shall I not drink it.
Then abandoned the captains and officers of the Jews, took Jesus and bound him, and led
him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that
same year.
Now Caiaphas was he who should give counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one
man should die for the people.
And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.
That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of
the high priest.
But Peter stood at the door without, then went out that other disciple, which was known
unto the high priest, and spake unto her, that kept the door, and brought him Peter.
And sayeth the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's
disciples?
Ye sayeth I am not.
The servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold,
and they warmed themselves.
And Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.
Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world, I ever taught in the synagogue, and
in the temple, for the Jews always resort, and the secret have I said nothing.
Why askest thou me?
Ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them.
Behold, they know what I said.
When he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand, saying, Answers thou the high priest so?
Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.
But if the world, why smitest thou me?
Now Annas had sent him bound on the Caiaphas, the high priest, and Simon Peter stood and
warmed himself.
They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples?
He denied it and said, I am not.
One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith,
Did not I see thee in the garden with him?
Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock grew.
Then let they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early.
And they themselves went not into the judgment hall, as they should be defiled, for that
they might eat the Passover.
Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?
They answered, and said unto him, If ye were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered
him unto thee.
Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.
The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, that
the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake signifying what death he should die.
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him,
Art thou the king of the Jews?
Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of
me?
Then Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?
Thy own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.
What hast thou done?
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.
My kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews.
But now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?
Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, for this cause came unto the world, that I should bear witness
unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
When he hath said this, who not again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him
no fault at all.
But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover.
Were ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews?
Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas.
Barabbas was a robber.
Pray.
Father God, we thank you dear Lord for your precious word.
We thank you for our Savior Jesus Christ, dear Lord, your Son, whom you have sent for
us.
We love you for it, and we thank you for our church, dear God, and we thank you for our
pastor.
Please bless him tonight as he preaches you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay, we're in John 18.
This evening, we're going to look at Jesus' arrest, Peter's denial, and of course the
beginning of Jesus' trial here.
We're nearing the end, and of course Jesus has just finished praying for his disciples
in John chapter 17, and now we're going to get into his arrest.
Look at verse one.
It says, "When Jesus had spoken these words," referring to the prayers that we see in John
chapter 17, "he went forth with his disciples over the brook Sidron, where was a garden
into which he entered in his disciples.
And Judas also which betrayed him knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither
with his disciples."
Now keep in mind that by this time, Judas had already forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sop, he had already taken the sop, Satan had already entered into him, so he already
went out to betray Jesus Christ, he's already become essentially apostate, he's fully reprobate.
And it says in verse number two that Judas knew where he was going to go.
Because Jesus Christ oft times, the Bible says, resorted thither with his disciples,
meaning that Jesus Christ was very consistent in going to the Garden of Gethsemane.
We know that Jesus Christ would often resort there to pray unto the Father, to commune
with God.
And I just want to mention the fact that, you know, this kind of shows us that Jesus
Christ was very consistent in his own personal walk with God, right?
To the point where even his enemies knew where he would resort to commune with his Father.
And this should be an example to us as Christians that we shouldn't walk with God just flippantly.
In other words, well, maybe I'll read my Bible in the morning.
Maybe some other days I could read it at night.
Maybe some days I could read it on Tuesday, skip Wednesday, read it Thursday, read it
Friday, skip Saturday, and for sure read it on Sunday because I'm going to be here in
church or something.
Now, you know what?
The life, the Christian life, success of the Christian life, should I say, is based upon
our consistency in Christ, right?
Being consistent in our spiritual disciplines and more specifically, consistency in our
walk with God.
And what does it mean to walk with God?
It simply means to be in accord with him.
And we would use that phrase to describe reading the Bible and praying.
There should be a place that you have where you oftentimes resort, just like Jesus Christ,
to commune with God the Father, even to the point where if you had a Judas in your life,
they know exactly where you're going to be at, right?
Maybe your family knows exactly where you go read your Bible.
Maybe your spouse knows exactly where you go read your Bible and pray.
Consistency is very much a key to being successful in the Christian life.
And we see here that Judas, he betrays him, he knows exactly where Jesus is going to be,
therefore he's able to bring the band of officers to the chief priest, or to Jesus Christ.
It says in verse three, Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the
chief priests and Pharisees, coming together with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Now this seems kind of odd, because if they're just going to arrest one man, why bring a
band of men and officers with lanterns, torches and weapons, right?
They're obviously making it seem as though Jesus Christ is extremely physically dangerous
and we don't necessarily know why this is.
Maybe they're just trying to be safe or something like that.
They understand that Jesus Christ has supernatural capabilities.
He's able to bring people back from the dead.
He's able to perform these supernatural feats or they're just trying to exaggerate and
portray as though Jesus Christ is dangerous, which is why we have to do this.
We don't know exactly why.
This is overkill, so to speak, of why they're doing this.
Let me read to you from Mark chapter 14, because in the other accounts of the gospels,
we have different information, different details that are divulged that are not necessarily
found in the book of John.
And one in particular is that when Judas comes to Jesus Christ and the disciples, we see
that he offers him a kiss.
He gives him a kiss that says in verse 44, you don't have to turn there.
And he that betrayed him had given them token, meaning a sign saying whomsoever I shall kiss
the same as he take him and lead him away safely.
And as soon as he was come, he go with straight with to him and say it's master, master and
kissed him.
Now there's a couple of things I want to point out regarding the actions of Judas in order
to identify Jesus Christ.
First and foremost, the fact that he has to kiss Jesus Christ in order to identify him
is proof that Jesus looked like every other Jew of that day.
Because if Jesus was this six foot tall, Caucasian, blonde hair, blue eye, Aryan looking dude with
the dress on that looked completely different from everyone else, it's easy.
You don't have to kiss him.
It's like, that's the dude right there.
All you've got to look for is the guy who's going like this with the protruding heart
or whatever.
And it's like, oh yeah, that's Jesus.
But the reason Judas had to do that is because Jesus Christ looked like every other Israelite
of the day.
Same height or average height, same skin color, same beard, just same features.
And it's crazy to think that people actually believe that Jesus Christ looked like Obi-Wan
Kenobi or something, you know, because of the fact that, you know, the Bible just clearly
tells us that first and foremost, he is of Israel.
He obviously, you know, has semblance of being a Middle Eastern person.
And you know, not that, you know, these pictures of Jesus is a picture of a handsome individual,
but according to worldly standards, it would be considered a person who's handsome.
Well, the Bible says that he was not comely.
He wasn't someone that was physically desirable.
That's what the Bible, that's what the book of Isaiah talks about when given his description.
And so this is further proof that Jesus Christ, you couldn't really pick them out of a crowd.
Okay.
He looked like every other Jew of the day.
There wasn't anything impressive about him physically speaking.
He was just an average person and that adds more to the fact that he, the word of God
being made flesh, made himself of a humble appearance.
You know, he didn't necessarily have the appearances of old Testament kings such as David.
He just came as a lowly humble servant.
And of course, you know, Jesus Christ is the creator.
He could have given himself, you know, really good features, right?
But he chose not to because he was coming lowly humbly.
And of course, he knew that he was supposed to fulfill Bible prophecy.
And part of the Bible prophecy is that he was going to be despised, he was not to be
desired.
Okay.
And so we see here that Judas has to give a token of the fact that, you know, the sign
that he's going to kiss the Christ, kiss Jesus Christ.
And that would be an indication to the band of men and the officers that that was him.
But we see here kind of a dual purpose, right?
Because although he's using this to identify Jesus, this ends up filling other Bible prophecy
that indicates that Judas Iscariot is a very wicked person.
Okay.
Why?
Because the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, the Bible says.
Okay.
And often in the Bible, the Bible seems to indicate that kissing of, you know, the book
of Proverbs kind of portrays this as a form of flattery, right?
And flattery today is something that people misconstrue.
They see it almost like a compliment.
But in the Bible, compliments is actually vastly different than that, which is flattery.
Flattery is excessive compliments, insincere compliments given in order to take advantage
of a person, right?
To deter attention from someone's true intentions.
And so we see here that he kisses Jesus Christ and yet he's about to backstab him, which
is kind of crazy, right?
He's expressing flattery towards the Lord Jesus Christ with the intent to turn him in
to earn the 30 pieces of silver to allow him to be crucified.
He obviously doesn't love Jesus Christ, okay?
And you know what?
We have a lot of people today that, you know, kiss icons and idols of Jesus Christ, but
don't really, they don't really love Jesus Christ now, do they?
Right?
They, you know, what their, what their hearts, what their mouths, they, they, they honor
the Lord, but their heart is far from him.
The Bible says, and so, you know, they're willing to get on their knees and kiss the
feet of a statute and claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ and kiss icons.
And even though the Bible says that's outright idolatry, it's super wicked and evil.
And yet they say, well, no, this is our devotion towards him.
This is our devotion.
This is veneration is what it is.
But according to biblical standards is just idolatry.
And according to this, it's essentially flattery is what it is.
Why?
Because even though they're kissing a statue of what they believe to be Jesus Christ, they
actually betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ by upholding Mary as being far more important
than Jesus Christ, right?
And right now there's a schism within the Catholic Church in that regard too, where
the Pope came out and basically said, you know, we're not going to use the term co-redemptrix
anymore because people are too confused about this, you know, oh, it took you 2000 years
to figure that out.
Oh, wow.
You know, great job there, right?
2000 years to figure out the people view you worshipping Mary and calling her the co-redemptrix,
co-mediator as idolatry.
You just figured that out 2000 years ago.
And it's funny how Catholics are just like, oh, you know, you Protestants, you're just
all kinds of schisms in Protestantism.
You don't even get along with your own Pope.
Have you looked in the mirror?
You're talking about schisms within Protestantism, but first of all, there's no schism here.
We're all in unity about what we believe, but yet within the universal Catholic Church,
there's literally a schism, a disagreement between Catholics and the leader, the vicar
of Christ, so to speak, of the Roman Catholic Church, but let's go ahead and sweep that
under the rug, right?
Nothing to see here type of a thing.
Point that I'm making here is that Judas Iscariot is a major flatterer.
He does not love the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's honoring him with his lips, but his heart is far from him.
In fact, so far, that it's essentially beyond the hope of salvation, right?
He's been made reprobate at this point.
And so, you know, and of course, Jesus Christ in Matthew 26 recognizes the how excessive
this is regarding the officers and the band of many says in Matthew 26 verse five, in
that same hour, Jesus said Jesus to the multitudes, are you come out as it out as against a thief
with swords and staves for to take me?
I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you laid no hold on me.
So it's like this is kind of excessive for someone.
You act like I'm a thief.
You act like I'm a robber.
I'm a criminal of sorts because you're coming with swords and staves.
I'm I've been here.
I was at the temple teaching and you never took me then.
There's obviously a nefarious agenda behind this arrest.
Okay.
And so Judas is scary.
It comes.
He gives them a kiss.
And of course we know what that exactly what that means.
And one thing that you can take away from that is, you know, beware of flattery, beware
of people that flatter you.
And you know, beware of the person that flatters you in person, but beware of the preacher
that flatters you too.
You know, churches are filled with flattering preachers that just give these excessive
Ted Talks and everything's fine and hunky-dory and God loves you, Satan loves you, everyone
loves you, everything's going to be okay.
But obviously, you know, they with feigned words are trying to make merchandise off
of you.
Okay.
And so, you know, the Bible tells us open rebuke is better than secret love.
Okay.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
And you know, here at our church, we welcome rebuke, amen.
We welcome reproof, rebuke.
We obviously want to be exhorted, but the Bible elevates the importance of being rebuked
and it states that it's far more valuable than secret love or the so-called kisses
that come from an enemy, because that enemy doesn't really love you.
Because they don't love you, they're going to tell you they like you to your face, but
when they, you know, when they're behind your back, they're going to stab it.
And so great lesson to learn there from Judas himself, look at verse four of John 18.
Now here, from here on in this little particular story, in these next couple of verses here,
probably one of the most interesting things that happened with Jesus Christ stating that
he is the I am.
I remember reading this as a new Christian, I'm like, what's going, I don't know what's
going on here.
This is so crazy.
It says in verse four, "Jesus, therefore, knowing all these things that should come
upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said unto them, I am he, and Judas also which betrayed him stood with them.
And as soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the
ground."
I don't know about you, but I remember reading as a brand new Christian, I'm like, what
happened here?
He just says, I am he, and they're just like, aah, and they fall back on their rear ends,
right?
Now, obviously, when he says, I am he, that is still a callback to the fact that he's
referring to the Tetragrammaton of the Old Testament, which is he's essentially saying
the I am that I am, right?
He's Jehovah God is what he's saying.
And so this isn't just saying like, hey, I'm the guy, he's not saying I'm the man, he's
saying I am.
And this I am, because he's essentially referring to the fact that he's Jehovah, has such supernatural
power that it causes people to fall back with the officers to fall backward.
And he states this, it says they went backward and fell to the ground.
Now what is the significance of this?
Why is it that this happened?
Why do they fall back like that when he said that?
Well hold your place there, go to Romans chapter 9 if you would, Romans chapter 9.
You know I do believe this literally happened, but I also believe it's a symbolic representation
of something.
And just keep in mind folks, sometimes you'll read about supernatural feats in the Bible,
and it doesn't mean that it didn't literally happen, right?
It literally takes place, but it symbolically represents something else.
Now there's times when you see some supernatural occurrence where it's just like, for sure
this didn't happen, okay?
You think of, for example, Revelation chapter 12, where you have the symbolism of the woman
and the sun and the moon, it's just like, okay, that's not a literal thing, that's very
much symbolic.
But there's other instances where supernatural cosmic occurrences happen, and they're literally
happen but they also represent something else.
And in this particular case, when he says, I am he, and they go backward and fall to
the ground, that literally happened.
And I'm going to explain to you what is the spiritual significance of that.
Look at verse 30 of Romans nine.
It says here, what shall we say then that the Gentiles, verse 30, that the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness,
which is a faith.
Now, what does this mean in verse 30?
It's referring to the fact that Gentiles, anybody who's not of Jewish, of a Jewish ethnic
background, Gentiles just referring to anybody of other nations, they didn't follow after
righteousness and the implication there is that they didn't follow after the righteousness
of the law because they didn't necessarily have the written law.
Now, did they?
Right?
Obviously we know that they have the law of God written in their hearts and we see that
in Romans chapter two, but the context here is telling us that they didn't follow after
the righteousness referring to that which is of the law as the Jews claim to have followed
the righteousness of the law.
But it says here, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness, which is a faith.
So even though they didn't attain to the righteousness of the law, it's okay because they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby they obtain righteousness, okay?
Which is a major, you know, uh, gotcha moment for the Jews because they're over here bragging
about, oh, we have the law, we're teacher of babes.
But then you have the Gentiles come along and they're like, well, we didn't even have
the law and we have the righteousness that you, that you want.
We are more righteous than now and not because they held to the law, but because they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what it's referring to when it says the righteousness, which is a faith.
So you could either obtain righteousness by keeping the law, which will never happen because
there's none righteous, no, not one.
So you have Jews during this time, they're like trying to obtain righteousness by keeping
the law, or you could just get the fast pass and just completely skip that and just believe
on Jesus Christ and now you're righteous.
So here's the two options, be delusional and think you obtain righteousness, or you actually
just accept the righteousness, which is by faith in Jesus Christ.
He says in verse 31, "But Israel, which followed not after the law of righteousness, hath not
attained to the law of righteousness."
So it's just like even these guys who claim to be keeping the law, they still didn't obtain
the righteousness because you can't obtain righteousness through the law.
Why?
Because he that keepeth the whole law you defend at one point, he's guilty of all.
Righteousness by the law requires a perfection of keeping that law.
And so they're delusional thinking that they can do it, but it says here that even though
they followed after the law of righteousness, they didn't attain to the law of righteousness.
Verse 32, "Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works
of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling stone."
So this is saying the reason many of these Jews did not obtain the righteousness which
is of the law is because the law was their school master to bring them unto Christ.
And when they came to Christ, they rejected Christ.
So they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
So you know, them keeping the law, keeping the Mead's dreams, diverse Washington's cardinal
ordinances was intended to be like, oh, this is actually referring to Jesus.
But then many of them were like, no, it's not Jesus.
And they rejected him.
They crucified him.
So therefore didn't obtain it.
And it says in verse 32 towards the latter end, for they referring to Israel, the Jews
stumbled at the stumbling stone as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and
a rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
So Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation, right?
But he's also referred to as the stumbling stone, which is really funny if you think
about it.
Because he is the stone, he's our rock of salvation, but he's actually, he causes people
to stumble though if they don't believe on him.
So if you do believe on him, right, you know, he, we're not ashamed.
We're not let down.
We obtain salvation.
We actually become lively stones, as it says in first Peter chapter two.
But if you reject Jesus Christ, it's because you're stumbling at the stone.
You understand what I'm saying?
So what happened with the Jews?
What this is referring to is that Israel did not obtain righteousness because when the
stone was presented to them, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is becoming
the head of the corner.
They rejected the stone because they were offended at Jesus Christ and it caused them
to stumble.
The stone was placed.
They walked over and they fell over.
And in fact, the Bible says that that stone crushed them to powder.
Because it's not just a matter of them rejecting the stone, stumbling on the stone.
Now the offending stone is going to crush them and grind them to powder as a punishment
for rejecting the stone.
Go to Romans 11, if you would, Romans 11, Romans chapter 11.
And by the way, this is not just something for the Jews, it's for anybody, right?
When we go out and preach the gospel, if people claim to love the truth and they're claimed
to be looking for the truth, they want to know about salvation.
And then we tell them about salvation through Jesus Christ, that it's by faith alone.
And they reject that.
What are they doing?
They're offended at the stumbling stone.
They're stumbling at it, right?
They can't wrap their minds around the fact that salvation is not by repenting of your
sin.
It's not by works.
It's not by the keeping of the commandments.
Because all that falls under the same category of these Jews trying to obtain righteousness
by the law.
So what happens if they reject that?
Well, the spiritual, the spiritual illustration to get here is that they're stumbling over
the stone, which is Jesus Christ.
Okay.
Look at Romans 11 verse 10.
David is the sweet psalmist of Israel.
Wrote a lot of great psalms, a lot of beautiful psalms, a lot of great, you know, comforting
psalms, but he also wrote a lot of impregnatory psalms.
And here's one of them, okay, for those, for those who are like, oh, impregnatory psalms,
that's more carnal, that's when David was being really carnal, and, you know, we shouldn't
talk about that in the New Testament.
Well, here's a psalm, a predatory psalm in the New Testament, okay?
And by the way, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter five to speak to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs.
And I don't know, in the Greek, does it say anything about except for the imprecatory
psalms?
Or just all psalms?
Just all psalms.
But let's just say, let's just use your interpretation and say, oh, yeah, but it's kind of implied
that we shouldn't be using the imprecatory psalm.
Well, we have an imprecatory psalm here in the New Testament.
So Romans 11 verse 10, David writing this imprecatory psalm against Israel says, let
their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back all the way.
Now this is a quote from, I believe it's Psalm 69, I could be off on that a little bit.
And in Psalm 69, instead of saying bow down their back all the way, it says make their
loins continually to shake after it says let their eyes be darkened that they may not see.
So if you're to compare both of these, because both of these are scripture, when he's saying
bow down their back all the way, if you were to bow down your back like this, and then
Psalm 69 says make their loins continually to shake, they're just like, they're just
kind of grabbing their loins, they're just in pain, right?
And he says in verse 11, "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?
God forbid, but rather, through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to
provoke them to jealousy."
Now how do we compare this to what we saw in John chapter 18?
Well when Jesus said, "I am," what happened?
They went backward and fell to the ground.
This is a symbolic representation of Israel stumbling at the stumbling stone.
Happening in real time, in a literal way, where they're literally bowing down their
back and falling so that Jesus Christ could be arrested, crucified, and then salvation
can come unto the Gentiles.
Salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy.
We obviously know that when Jesus says, "I am he," the mere power in that statement sends
some sort of pulsating power that made them fall.
But it symbolically represents the fact that the "I am," that stumbling stone, is going
to cause people to fall.
And you know what?
This happens all the time.
How do we get saved?
By grace through faith.
What do people do?
They go backwards and they fall.
What do you have to do to be saved?
Well, the Bible says you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I thought it was through baptism.
Nope.
Just by believing on Jesus Christ.
You know what people do?
They go backwards and they fall.
Right?
Oh, you know, I thought you have to keep the commandments.
No.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
I don't believe that.
You know what they're doing?
They're going backwards and falling to the ground.
Oh, I just think that salvation is you have to persevere, you know, in your works to be
saved.
And if you don't do works until the end, then you're not saved.
No, the Bible says to him that work is not, but believe it on him to justify the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
I don't believe that.
The person is doing, they're going backwards and they're falling.
They're stumbling at the stumbling stone.
You say, what if they come to believe in Jesus?
Well, at that point, it becomes another Jesus.
You understand that?
You understand when someone rejects the biblical message of salvation through the biblical
Christ all the while claiming to believe in Christ, what they're asserting is that they
believe in a different Christ, a different Jesus, another gospel, even though they claim
to believe in the gospel of the Bible or the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because they're stumbling at the stumbling stone.
When the truth is given to them and they don't accept it, just picture them falling backwards
and falling on their rear ends because they can't accept the truth when it's standing
right there in front of them.
And that's how salvation is, isn't it?
When we're preaching the gospel to someone, I mean, salvation is right there.
Salvation is right there.
Salvation is like right there.
I mean, how many times have you talked to someone at the door and you're like, it says
it right there.
And they're just like, they just don't see it.
Or they look at it and they're just like, well, that's your interpretation.
It's just like, you don't even have to interpret this verse.
It's just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
You know what they're doing?
The scripture's saying, I am he.
Jesus is saying like, yeah, for by grace, are you saved through faith?
And then what are they doing?
They're falling backward.
They're stumbling.
They can't accept the truth.
And it's sad when people do this.
But you know, that's what happens when you're not willing to accept the stone which the
builders disallowed, the cornerstone of salvation.
First Peter 2, 7, enough to turn there says this, unto you therefore which believe he
is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same as made at the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, a rock of offenses.
Now that's a true statement right there.
All the statements are true.
But this is an awesome statement because, you know, I can't tell you how many times
I preach "one saved, always saved," and people get offended at that, like, "Oh, what are
you trying to say?
You're trying to say that we could just rape, murder, and commit all kinds of--" Who said
what?
Like, where did I say that?
You're saying that I could just say I believe and just commit the most heinous crimes.
First of all, how did you even come up with that illustration?
Is that like the first thing that came to your mind?
You know, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And you seem to have a lot of evil treasure in your heart because that's what's coming
out.
But you know what it is?
It's just they're offended at the rock, not Dwayne Johnson.
They're offended at the rock of our salvation.
It's become offensive to them.
You know how many people out there mock One Saved, Always Saved?
I mean, they mock it.
They ridicule it.
They say all manner of evil against it.
All types of memes and reels just downplaying One Saved, Always Saved, saying it's a doctrine
of devils when it can clearly be proven from the scripture.
You know why that is?
Because it's an offensive doctrine to them because Jesus Christ is offensive to them.
They can't get over that rock.
But it's okay.
You know, Jesus is not like, he's not really sad about it.
He's going to grind them to powder.
That's what the Bible says.
Because you know what?
It's Jesus' way or the highway to hell.
That's how it works.
He says, "A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the..."
Listen to this.
"Who stumble at the word."
People stumble at?
The word of God.
"Oh, Ephesians 2, 8, don't believe it."
You know what they're doing?
They're stumbling at the word.
Look, folks, don't be a Christian that is just an obstinate individual that when it's
shown to you clearly from the Bible, you just are not willing to accept it.
Let's never become a church where the Bible becomes offensive to us.
It's like we show you from the scriptures, it's just like, "Well, I just feel like...
I just think in my opinion..."
I'm talking about things that are clearly stated in the Bible.
We obviously have various opinions regarding secondary, tertiary doctrines or whatever.
But when it comes to the doctrines of Christ, the foundational teachings of the Bible, don't
become this person where you just are offended at the Word.
Because the equivalent to stumbling at the rock is that you are stumbling at the Word.
He says, "Being disobedient!"
So it's not just a matter of unbelief, it's a matter of disobedience.
You're disobeying the gospel.
When someone refuses to believe what the Bible says, it's not just a matter of unbelief according
to the Bible.
It's a matter of disobedience.
Because, I mean, the only command we have to keep to be saved is, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ."
That's a command, right?
"And thou shalt be saved."
No!
Oh, you're disobedient.
That's funny.
It's funny you say that we have to keep the commandments to be saved, and then the one
commandment that's given to you, you just don't want to keep that one now, do you?
Ironic.
So ironic.
"Oh, we have to keep the commandments.
This is what we have to do.
And here's the command, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
And it's only by believing on Jesus Christ, I don't believe, oh, okay, so you don't really
believe in keeping the commandments then.
"Whereunto also they were appointed."
So the reason we see this very interesting story here of Jesus Christ saying that I am
he when they ask, where's Jesus of Nazareth?
It's just like, how can I be saved by Jesus Christ through faith?
It's just like, nope, they stumble at the stumbling stone.
They go backwards and they fall to the ground.
Go back to John chapter 18, if you would.
Very interesting story there.
Kind of wonder what that would look like, you know?
Everyone just falls to the ground, like, what's wrong with you?
And this is like, remember, this is the band of men.
A lot of individuals just falling to the ground.
And let me explain to you, Judas probably didn't fall to the ground.
You know why?
Because he's already reprobate.
This doesn't pertain to him at all, because he's beyond the hope of salvation at this
point.
Look at verse seven.
"Then asked he them again, whom seek ye?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he.
If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the same might be fulfilled which
ye spake of them, which ye spake of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high-priest servant, cut off
his right ear.
The sermon's name was Malchus."
Now, Peter's pretty down, okay?
And he catches a lot of flak, and rightly so, you know, because the guy's just too impetuous,
he's just impulsive, you know, he puts his foot in his mouth all the time.
And you know, previous to this, I believe it's in Luke, what is it, 21, where Jesus told
him, you know, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."
And when thou art converted, what did he say, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren."
Right?
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."
And Jesus basically tells him like, "Hey, you're going to be attacked."
And this is going to like, Satan's out to get you, he's going to try to sift you, but
you're going to pull through.
And what is the first thing that Peter says is like, "No, I'm not, I'm going to go to
death with you, I'll die with you, I'll go to prison with you."
So obviously he's a little too overly ambitious, but I will say this, Bro did pull out a sword,
okay?
And it's of my humble opinion, I don't believe that Peter was going for the ear.
Who goes for the ear?
I'm just like, I personally think based upon the description here, he swung at the dude,
he's trying to take the guy's head off.
The guy probably ducked and took off the ear, okay?
And so, you know, from a carnal perspective, Peter's commendable, the guy's down, that's
the kind of church member I like.
Those are the kind of church members that I do, you know, Peter's that kind of guy.
He is that guy, amen?
He was that guy.
But the problem with Peter is that, you know, he doesn't really realize that this is not
a physical battle.
Not a physical battle.
You know, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds, the Bible says.
And as zealous as Peter is to defend Jesus Christ, you know, he needs to take into account
he should have just had the same disposition of John and just recognize like prophecies
being fulfilled, you know, you don't have to do all this, but don't run away either.
This is a spiritual battle.
You know what?
I think Peter has the same disposition that a lot of Christians have.
When it comes to the warfares of this world with Christians, they want to get involved
physically.
They want to get involved in an earthly sense.
They want some sort of earthly victory, some sort of carnal victory.
But you know, as we're going to see in just a bit, you know, our, our, our kingdom is
not in this world, right?
This is not a physical battle.
It's a spiritual one.
And so he cuts off his right ear.
And I always joke around that later on, Malchus probably heard Peter saying, you know, preaching
"He that hath an ear, let him hear," or something, and Malchus was like, "Excuse me?"
Verse 11 says, "Then said Jesus unto Peter, 'Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup
which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?'"
Now, I will say that this is not a verse that condemns having weapons, okay?
Because earlier, Jesus Christ literally said that they can buy two.
But that was in context of later when they would be persecuted, not for what's taking
place with Jesus Christ, because Bible prophecy is being fulfilled here.
Like Jesus Christ has to be arrested, he has to die.
I mean, he's been talking about this for the last three and a half years about his death.
This is what has to take place.
And so, you know, Jesus doesn't want him to take matters into his own hands.
He wants him to just allow it to happen.
And he says in verse 11, "Put up thy sword into the sheath.
The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"
And of course this is referring to the cup of suffering, the cup of persecution, the
cup of being falsely accused, and specifically we know the cup of just dying for the sins
of the whole world.
And, you know, we can apply this to ourselves, can we not?
We all have a cup that we have to drink out of every once in a while.
There's some sort of cup of suffering that we have to experience.
And you know what?
If you live the Christian life for any length of time and you're actually doing something
for God, you know what's going to happen?
Your cup's going to get filled up and you're going to have to drink some of it.
There's going to come a time where the bitter cup of persecution, the bitter cup of betrayal,
the bitter cup of tribulation, of trials, of sorrow and grief is going to be handed to
you.
And you know what?
You don't want to drink it, but you're going to have to drink it.
It's not filled with anything pleasant.
It's bitter.
And you know, we can go on and on about this, but you know, the Father gives us that cup
too throughout our lives.
And quite frankly, you know, some cups are deeper than others for some people.
Some cups are just profound.
They're deep and they're spending years drinking out of this cup.
And you know, you may think to yourself like, "Oh man, like how can I just drink out of
this cup?
I'm just tasting bitterness all the days of my life."
Well, if God gives you a profound cup with a lot of bitterness and grief, it's obviously
an indication that He knows that you can handle it because there's no temptation taking you
but such as is common to man, God is faithful who would not suffer you to be tempted above
that you're able but will with that temptation make a way to escape.
Just remember that whatever trial you're experiencing, as bitter as that cup is, as
horrific as it tastes, obviously God knows you can handle it, meaning this, meaning He
knows you can drink the cup and still serve God.
Let me repeat that.
He understands that you have the capacity to drink the cup and keep serving God.
Because folks, what good is it drinking the cup if you quit on church?
If you quit the Bible, you quit winning souls to Christ.
You might as well not drink the cup.
You know, there's people out there that are drinking the cup and they're drinking it out
of church.
They're drinking the cup of trials and tribulations, but they're not even in church.
They're not serving God, they're not winning people to Christ, they're not reading the
Bible, they're just completely forsaking the ways of the Lord, but they're still forced
to drink the cup.
I mean, that's just nonsensical.
If you're going to drink the cup, you might as well drink it in the house of God.
I'm talking about a figurative cup, obviously.
If you're going to drink the cup of suffering, you might as well do it serving God.
Why?
Because, you know, when you're suffering and you're serving God, at least you know God's
hand is on me still.
At least I know I'm pleasing the Lord.
I might have everyone against me, everything is just going down the toilet, and this cup
sucks!
But, you know what?
I know that God is pleased with my life.
I know that I'm winning souls to Christ, I'm making a difference, and you know what?
Really that which is in the cup is going to run out, because you know what?
You know what Jesus says?
The temptations concerning me have an end.
This is a very long night, by the way, for Jesus.
It's going to be a very long night.
And just aside from the night, how about the three days and three nights in hell?
But you know what?
It only lasted for three days and three nights and that was it.
And none of us will ever have to suffer that amount of grief and sorrow that Jesus Christ
did.
The point that I'm making here is that sometimes we focus on the cup, but we don't really take
into account that it's the cup which my father has given me.
Right?
I'm going to take into account.
It's like, "Oh, this cup is so bitter."
But who gave it to you?
It's the father who gave it to you.
Father loves you.
Father has not forsaken you.
Father adores you.
He loves you.
He wants you to pull through.
He wants you to become, when you're converted, to strengthen your brethren.
And you know what?
He wants what's best for you.
Drink the cup.
And so Jesus Christ has this determination.
And we obviously know in his humanity he just doesn't want to do this, right?
The other gospels present that.
But he says, you know, "Not my will, but thine be done."
Verse 12, "Then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound
him and led him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the
high priest that same year.
Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man
should die for the people.
And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.
That disciple was known into the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of
the high priest.
But Peter stood at the door without, then went out that other disciple, which was known
into the high priest and spake unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter.
So here we see that after Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, he begins to kind of go downward,
right?
Like he had this one great accomplishment of slicing off the ear, but it seems as though
his relationship to the Lord was kind of superficial to a certain degree, because when the rubber
met the road, he started following afar off.
And in fact, the only one that really stuck around was probably John, because when the
book of John talks about the other disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved, most would
agree, and I believe this to be so, that it's referring to the apostle John.
He's being modest when he's describing himself, right?
And one of the reasons we know that is because of the fact that typically within the gospels,
the pair that we see often coupled with the most is, what, Peter and John, right?
Well, Peter is following Jesus, in the other accounts it says that he's following afar
off, meaning that he's not necessarily there with Jesus Christ, he's just kind of observing
from afar.
And this is kind of showing us that because of Peter's failure, now what is he doing?
He's putting distance between him and the Lord, right?
And let me just say this, you know, if you failed this year in 2025 in any area of life
of the Christian life, it doesn't mean you've got to put distance between you and the Lord,
between you and church, between you and the Bible, between you and the brothers.
You know, sometimes people are like, oh man, I just, I messed up, I screwed up, you know,
I sinned or maybe, you know, I fell short.
Well, just don't follow the pattern of Peter of following the Lord afar off, okay?
And we see here that for whatever reason, the high priest knows, and I'm going to say
that it's John, he knows who John is.
He has some sort of connection to the high priest, right?
To the point that when Peter's by the door, he can't necessarily go in, but then John
comes and he basically talks to the people and they're able to bring them in, okay?
And I think what this is kind of signifying here is that John is close to the high priest
and the high priest symbolically represents who?
Jesus Christ.
And so we see like John is close to the Lord.
He's the one who's laying on his bosom.
He's the one who's close to the Lord.
So even in times of persecution, he seems to have somewhat of a mature love and relationship
with the Lord.
It's not impetuous.
It's not this overly, it's not a zeal without knowledge, so to speak, profound in the sense
that even through persecution, he's there with the Lord.
He's by his side type of a thing.
Whereas Peter, he's very visibly loyal, hacking off the ears, but when the rubber meets the
road, he follows afar off.
And obviously we want both.
We want zeal, but not a zeal that's not according to knowledge.
So verse 16 says, "Peter stood at the door with thou, then went out that other disciple,
which was known into the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door and brought
in Peter.
Then said the damsel that kept the door into Peter, Are not thou also one of this man's
disciples?
He saith, I am not.
Now this is probably one of the saddest stories and sequences that we see in the gospels,
right?
Because Peter, man, the guy is like, he's an awesome guy, he's a leader, he does great
things, the man is the only man in history other than the Lord Jesus Christ who walked
on water, albeit the dude fell through, but you can't do it, you can't step one foot
in water.
He at least took a couple steps and then he went in, right?
You know, he is the one, I mean, he had a lot of incredible stories, but yet we see
here he's kind of like at the bottom of the barrel to the point where he's denying the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And obviously we know this is not like an apostasy type of denial or he's like denying
that he's saved, he's just out of fear of persecution is denying that he knows Jesus
Christ.
It's a very cowardly move and it's very contrasting to his bold move to hack off the ear of Malchus.
Now he's like hacking off the ear and then he's just like, I don't even know the guy.
He's like, probably you're willing to kill for him.
Says I am not.
The denial of Peter begins.
Verse 18 says, "And the servants and the officers stood there who had made a fire of coals for
it was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself."
So we see that Peter falls afar off, he denies the Lord and now he's warming himself with
other people, those who are not necessarily the disciples.
And here we see like the regression of Peter.
And quite frankly, it's the regression that I see as a pastor with Christians who begin
to follow the Lord afar off.
They might not go to the extent of denying the Lord, but maybe they don't even talk about
their faith anymore, right?
Maybe they're in public settings with their friends and family and people no longer know
that they're a Christian.
They don't talk about church the way they used to, they don't talk about the Bible the
way they used to.
You know, in times past, when people were to ask them, "Hey, what do you do with your
free time?"
You'd be like, "I go to church.
You should come with me."
Are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven?
Now it's just like, they don't say anything.
So it may not be an outright denial of the Lord, but it is a person essentially putting
their life under a bushel, not being a good testimony, right?
Let me just remind all of you that you're a Christian 100% of the time.
You're an ambassador for Christ 100% of the time.
You can't choose whether you're a representative or not.
What you can choose is whether you're a bad representative or a good one.
And so he denies him and then he's warming himself with those who are by the fire since
he's showing that he's starting to keep company with other people.
And you know what?
This is what I see with Christians too sometimes when they follow a far off is that aside from
the fact that they no longer really talk about their faith, they begin to associate with
people who aren't Christians or those who are lukewarm.
They begin to make friends with people who are not believers, not going to, or maybe
they are believers, but they're just as backslidden and lukewarm as they are.
Just make sure you make friends.
The only friends you have don't have to be here at our church, but make sure whatever
friends you have are fiery fundamental Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who love the
Bible and are provoking you into good works, which probably is just in church actually
now that I think about it.
Because quite frankly, if you're on the program of being on fire for God, you're going to
be that friend that I'm describing to someone else.
You're going to be the person provoking someone else into love and to good works.
You know, it's just, I get leery sometimes when Christians feel they've got to make friends
outside of church with people who are just not believers, which is weird.
Why?
Well, here's my philosophy.
You know, if you really love those friends, first of all, you should try to get them saved.
And if, and if you don't get them saved, can you really say you're a good friend?
I mean, the greatest thing a friend can do to someone else, to another friend is to get
them, bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What kind of friend are you?
Keeping company with people and you're not even willing to give them the gospel?
But then thereafter, I mean, don't you benefit from the blessings of being a Christian, of
reading the Bible, of soul winning?
Well, wouldn't you want that for your quote unquote friend?
But quite frankly, a lot of the times Christians accumulate friends who are not Christians,
or if they are, they're very lukewarm and they want these kinds of friends to justify
their sins, justify their lukewarmness.
They kind of just want to be worldly and it's a, it's a regression is what it is.
It's a person who's backsliding is what it is.
You know, you say, who are your friends?
My church is my, my family, you know, my church, my wife, my kids, you know, I can't
really have a whole lot of friends actually outside of that because even other Christians,
they just don't like the stuff that I believe, you know what I mean?
Even though the so-called fiery Christians or whatever, they can't handle this.
So I have to have like, you know, I'm kind of weird, you know what I mean?
I'm not a little retarded, but I'm a little weird, whereas like I have to be around other
people who believe like me, because quite frankly, a lot of Christians out there are
super weak and soft, and they can't handle it.
They can't handle this type of Christianity.
So you know, my friends have always been in church, those who are on fire for the Lord,
those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are, you know, fools for Christ's sake,
so to speak.
I'm not trying to warm my hands by the fire with other people who are not in the house
of God.
Folks, do yourself a favor and have a high standard for yourself as far as the company
that you keep.
Raise that standard a little bit, young people.
Your homies, okay, your YNs or whatever, should be those who are in the house of God.
People that you hang out with, the people that you see at school, you know, you should
be the one influencing them for Christ.
You should be the prime mover in that school, leading people to Christ, being on fire for
God, showing them the scriptures.
Oh, but they might think I'm weird.
Good.
They're weird, though.
It's weird to like go to hell.
Weird, bro.
Why are you hanging out with people who just like are content with just going to hell?
It's weird to reject the gospel.
It's weird to stumble at the stumbling stone.
That's weird.
That's a weirdo.
You know, walk with wise men to be wise.
Have the company of other Christians and believers, or you know what?
If you have your friends outside of church, bring them up to your level.
Bring them up to your standard.
What if they don't want to come?
Then forget them.
I have good friends.
Folks, when I first got saved, I had a ton of friends, I had a lot of friends, and I
told them, "If you want to hang out with me, here's the address.
This is the church I'm going to."
A lot of them came, a lot of them got saved, but most of them didn't pan out.
And you know what?
When they didn't pan out, I didn't go out there looking for them.
I didn't go out there, "Well, let's go do something on Friday night.
Well, let's go hang out, let's get a bite to eat."
If I'm going to go get a bite to eat with them, it's with intentionality.
I'm going to go there and talk about the Bible, and you know what?
I don't have to separate myself from them.
They're going to separate themselves from me, because they're sick and tired of hearing
the Bible.
And so Peter is obviously super backslidden, and he's not doing right.
Verse 19 says, "The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine,
then answered to him, 'I speak openly to the world.
I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple whether the Jews always resort, and
in secret have I said nothing.
Why askest thou me?
Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them; behold, they know what I said.'
When he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand, saying, 'Answerest thou the high priest so?'"
Bro, what do you mean, "Answerest thou the high priest so?"
But you know, I love what Jesus Christ said here.
What is he saying?
I'm open about my doctrine.
I've never covered my doctrine.
I've never, like, taught in secret.
You know, if Jesus Christ began his ministry in 2025, he'd be on social media, he'd be
live streaming his services.
He wouldn't be, you know, putting his comment section on – what do they call that?
Oh, the comment section.
Disabling the comment section, disabling the like button or whatever, not wanting to show
how many likes they get or anything.
He's open about it.
He'd probably get a lot of hate because of the fact that he's not of this world.
He's not afraid, but he's like, "If you really want to know what I believe, I've
been – I taught right where the Jews hung out."
He says, "Where the Jews always resort."
And that's why they – that's why they smote him, because he was so bold, you know.
"Oh, what do you believe?"
"What do you mean what I believe?
I've been preaching for three and a half years," is what he's saying, "in the synagogues,
not in secret, in the temple, where the Jews always resort."
He's had a very open and public ministry, is what he's saying.
And I do believe that, you know, ministry should be public, right?
They should.
Even if I didn't have Instagram, if I didn't have Facebook or whatever, Rumble, that trashy
platform, you know, YouTube or whatever, you know, I would try to live stream somewhere
just to get the word of God out there.
You know, you have pastors now, they're just like, "Oh, they put their stuff on private,
they disable their comment section because they can't handle someone cussing them out
or something like that."
It's like, no one's even watching your videos.
You're not even saying anything that crazy, you know, like, well, what are you afraid
of?
Like, who do you, was that one homo that's going to say something in your comment section?
Well, what are you scared of?
You know, it's often these people who are just super soft, weak preachers who just can't
handle any level of criticism or threats.
They can't handle any negativity whatsoever.
It's just like, why would you disable your comment section?
How about you just don't look at it?
You know why I don't disable my comment section?
Because it helps the algorithm.
If I have a bunch of people on there just threatening me, saying, oh man, or evil, I'm
just like, it's going to help boost the algorithm.
You're like, well, how do you deal with that?
I don't.
I just don't look at it.
I will say, last year when I was going after the Catholics for a while, I was in that
comment section a lot just because they were provoking me quite a bit, as were some of
you in my comment section.
We're just slicing ears off left and right or whatever.
But it got to a point where I was just like, I can't look at this stuff no more.
But now it's just like, I'll spend a couple of minutes on there, maybe 30 minutes, maybe
an hour or something, just to kind of help boost the algorithm.
But after that, I'm kind of done.
I just kind of walk away.
And if there's stuff on there, people just advocating for polygamy, I just walk away.
I'm just like, this guy's retarded.
But I'm not going to disable.
Why?
Because it's a public ministry.
I remember when we got bombed, when we were getting protested, and my comments section,
you can even go on my Instagram now and go down to those posts.
And they're just threading me, green lighting me, saying all manner of evil.
And people would message me and say, bro, disable your comment section.
I'm like, why?
Let people view how vile and wicked these people are.
It's very public.
And you know what?
Jesus is saying the Word of God should be publicized, made public.
You know, put your best stuff out there too, okay?
Don't put, I don't know, I'll get into that.
He says in verse number 23, "Jesus answered him, 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness
of the evil, but if well, why spinest thou me?'
Annas had said to him, 'Send him down into Caiaphas, the high priest, and Simon Peter
stood and warmed himself, then said therefore unto him, 'Are thou not also one of his disciples?'
He denied it and said, 'I am not.'
One of the servants of the high priest being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith,
'Did not I see thee in the garden with him?'
Peter then denied again and immediately the cock crew.
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the hall of judgment, and it was early, and they
themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they
might eat the Passover.
So we see here that Peter denies the Lord, the cock crows, the prophecy is fulfilled,
and he recognizes what he has done.
And you know folks, there's going to come times in our life where we are afraid to stand
for truth.
You may not know what that's like, I know what that's like though, because I've been
in positions like that where dangers are imminent to me or my family, and that might come upon
you one day too.
And you just have to kind of be like Daniel and purpose it in your heart not to defile
yourself, not to deny the Lord.
You have to make sure you're resolved in what you believe.
You know I believe that Peter was sincere but maybe he wasn't really settled.
He allowed pride to kind of creep in and think that he was like the head honcho, nothing
bad would happen, and you know he wouldn't deny the Lord.
He was going to go to prison with them, he would be willing to go to death, and he was
a little overly ambitious, a little overly anxious about that, and they ended up being
the exact opposite.
You need to determine in your heart, Lord whatever happens in the future, I just want
to make sure that I stay right here.
And look, here's a good way to start.
Here's a good way to start that prayer.
I know I have it in me to quit.
I know I have it in me to just forsake the ways of the Lord.
Because I'm not going to stand here and say, not me Lord, because quite frankly we all
have it in us.
You know what?
That shows humility.
Be humble and say, I don't have it in me.
So God forbid that I should do that.
Guard me, protect me, help me to be bold in the evil day and not to forsake the ways
of the Lord.
And of course we know that Peter ended up bouncing back and it was great after that.
But you know, we have this story now as a byword and a proverb of Peter denying the
Lord and we should take it into account less it should ever happen to us.
Look at verse 29, Pilate then went out unto them and said, what accusation bring ye against
this man?
They answered and said unto him, if you were a male factor, we would not have delivered
him unto thee.
Then said Pilate unto them, take he him and judge him according to your law.
The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death.
Well, that's funny.
How come you wanted to put the adulterous to death?
Right?
Only one.
How convenient says in verse 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which
he speaks signifying with death, he should die.
So keep in mind that years prior to this, Jesus had been saying multiple times, take
up your what cross and follow me.
Why did he keep saying that?
Because he knew he was going to die by the cross.
And maybe there are individuals during that time that didn't really understand that statement.
But quite frankly, if they understood the Old Testament passages regarding, you know,
"cursed is he that hangeth on the tree" and related to what was taking place in the first
century with the Roman Empire, they could have put two and two together when Jesus said,
"Take up your cross and follow me," right?
That was the death that he was going to die.
And that's why he knew that the Jews couldn't necessarily physically put him to death.
They would promote his death, but they themselves couldn't physically do it because at the end
of the day, "cursed is he that hangeth on the tree," he was going to fulfill that by
the death of the cross.
And I don't know if you know this, but a cross is made of a tree, okay?
Not a stake to cross.
Verse 33 says, "Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said
unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews?
Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it of me?"
And I think what Jesus is saying there is, do you sincerely want to know, or are you
just asking this for others?
Is this the sincerity of your, is this something you personally want to know?
Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?
Thy own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.
What hast thou done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence."
And this is one of the most powerful portions of scripture to prove that Christians should
not be involved in politics, because Jesus himself said, "This is not my kingdom.
If it was my kingdom, my soldiers would be coming out, delivering me."
Oh no, but I just still think that we should try to vote in the right president and to
favor us.
Well, you know, Jesus could have easily just usurped the authority here and just taken
over easily if he wanted to, but he understood, "This is not my kingdom.
If it was, his angels would have came and just mopped the floor with everyone there."
But obviously, he understands this is a spiritual battle.
The spiritual kingdom that he's setting up.
It's a spiritual battle that's taking place here.
It's spiritually recovering those who are taking captive.
The physical stuff happens afterwards, right?
Pilate therefore said to him, "Are thou a king then?"
Jesus answered, "Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth."
And I want you to notice a statement here.
"Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice."
Pilate says to him, "What is truth, bro?"
[LAUGHTER]
He's like, "Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice."
And what does Pilate do?
He basically condemns himself by asking, what is truth?
Oh, so you're not of truth then.
He's not looking for the truth.
Now, that's a scary statement right there.
And you know, Pilate is trying to be all philosophical about
it and all, you know--
yeah, this is the original Jordan Peterson here, yeah.
I want his truth, you know?
And real cute, but I'm sure Pilate's in hell right now,
because he had truth right there.
And what is this telling us?
When it says, "Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice,"
it's referring to the fact that if you're
seeking for the truth, when the truth is read to you
or preached to you, it resonates with you like you catch it.
You're like, ding, like the light bulb goes on.
And your spirit is just like, this is true.
And even if it's offensive, even if it rubs you the wrong way,
because the truth is not always like roses and daisies.
I know a lot of people only want the truth
to be roses and daisies.
Sometimes it's just rough.
Sometimes it just slaps you across the face.
Sometimes it's just really harsh.
But it should be, because the Bible says that his word
is like a hammer, like a fire.
It's like a hammer that break at the rock in pieces.
And so sometimes it burns a little bit.
But let me tell you, do you feel it though?
Because if you're of the truth, you will hear the truth.
And you know what?
I can attest to this in a supernatural way
that when I hear the preaching of God's word
and I'm listening to the man of God preach,
you know what it does?
It resonates with my spirit.
My spirit hears it, meaning that it bears witness to it
that it is the word of God.
It delights in the law of God after the inward man.
And you know if the word of God doesn't resonate with you,
either number one, you're not saved,
or number two, you are saved,
but you're so hardened to the Bible,
what the heck are you even doing here anymore?
Crazy when Christians come to church
with a hardened heart,
and they're just not giving heed to the word of God.
Because everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
When you wake up in the morning to read the Bible,
you know what you're doing, you're hearing the voice of God.
And your spirit is craving,
it has the appetite for the Bible.
Hey, when I'm getting up here preaching the Bible to you,
does it resonate with you? It better.
Well, you know, I prefer another,
it doesn't matter what preachers up here preaching.
If they're expounding the word of God,
it should resonate with your spirit
because it's the word of God that's being put forth.
And if you are a lover of truth, you're going to hear it.
And I'm not talking about like physically hear it.
I'm talking about like you hear it in your spirit.
And what is truth?
I said, you know, what Pilate is, is a man,
you know, he's ever learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth.
When he had said this, he went out again into the Jews
and say to them, I find in him no fault at all,
but ye have a custom that I should release unto you,
one at the Passover.
Will ye therefore that I release unto you
the king of the Jews?
Then they cried all again, saying,
not this man, but Barabbas.
Now Barabbas was a robber.
So we'll finish there, of course, the chapter ends,
but just remember that the Jews chose
a murdering insurrectionist over Jesus Christ, okay?
And so, you know, we'll get into the symbology
of that later on, but if you take anything away
from the sermon, just remember this.
You know, allow the word of God to resonate with you,
and allow it to be an indicator whether you have
a tender heart towards the Bible.
You know, unsafe people can harden their hearts
towards the word of God, but so can safe people too, though.
Through the deceitfulness of sin,
they can become hardened to the Bible,
hardened to the truths of God's word.
You say, well, how do I soften my heart to the word of God?
You gotta keep reading it, gotta keep listening to it,
and ask God to just break up the fallow ground in the heart
to receive the word of God again.
Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for John 18.
And Lord, help us to not fall into the same trap as Peter.
We follow the example of John,
that despite the persecution, he was still there.
Lord, I pray that we would never be so overly ambitious
and prideful that we would think that
we could not stumble and fall when persecution comes, Lord.
I pray that you would guard us
and keep us from the evil day,
and may we serve you all the days of our lives,
even when the evil day does come,
and you've given us all of the necessary artillery
to fight back in the day that evil comes upon us, Lord,
and the temptations come.
I pray that you bless us as we go on our way, Lord.
Thank you so much for all that you do for us, Lord.
Thank you for salvation.
Thank you for our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for church.
Thank you for brothers and sisters in Christ.
We love the Lord.
And Lord, we can spend all night being grateful
for all the bountiful blessings
that you've given us each and every day.
Lord, help us to take the next couple of days
to honor and glorify you with our words and in our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.