Turn with me back to John chapter
18 and I just wanted to speak a little bit about the simple phrase that the Lord said
which we could speak on for years and years. Put up thy sword into
the sheath. Peter, having a sword, drew it
and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his eyes. Right here
the high priest's name was Malchus. I just love the way the Lord
gives us gives us clear instructions in the Scriptures and then gives
us wonderful, wonderful pictures of them. And the lives of God's
people are pictures of the lessons He's teaching His people so that
we can actually trace something of our journey in the words of
the Scripture and we can trace something more important than
our journey. We can trace the Lord's hand
upon us in our journey through this world. I do love what Peter
says. He says in verse 3 of his first
epistle, and I'd encourage you while we're in this portion of
scripture that you might take the time just to read these two
short letters of Peter. They're just remarkable. They
are just remarkable. When you think of what this man
had been through, and what this man had been through so that
he was then made by these circumstances to be the one who preached the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to pen this epistle and to
be the one that was the leader of the apostles in a remarkable,
remarkable way. What an extraordinary man he
was. What an extraordinary, courageous
man he was. What an extraordinary, passionate
man he was. In verse 3 of his epistle he
speaks earlier about the elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, and foreknowledge is not that God happens to know
everything and He's really smart. It means that he loved. It means
love. These are people he's writing
to that he's loved from before the foundation of the world.
He wants us to know this. Collect according to the full knowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
like we can say grace and people can talk about grace all the
time, but Peter knew what grace was that next few days when the
Lord met him. And he knew what grace was in
remarkable ways when he went for that amazing walk on the
shore of Galilee, didn't he? Do you love me? What's the end
result of it all? Do you love me, Peter? And I
love Peter's final testimony after the third question. Lord,
you know all things. You know that I love you. It's
the Lord's knowledge of us and the Lord's knowledge of his love
that is implanted in us is much more significant than ours. And
that's what Peter was declaring. What a wonderful declaration.
What a journey he had to go through to be able to write these words.
Blessed, verse three, join with me. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy,
He knew what abundant mercy was, has forgotten us again. Caused
us to live again. He's given us spiritual life.
again into a lively hope, a living hope. Our hope is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our hope, he's alive. He's
alive right now and he's present, he says, wherever he gathers
his people together, wherever he brings the gospel to his people
and gathers them to that gospel. A living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible
and undefiled, And that fadeth not away. Don't you love this
next word? It's reserved in heaven. It's reserved in heaven. The
nations of this world, especially those that are big deal players,
are wondering whether we've got enough gold. When they go and
count all the gold that they're supposed to have, they're probably
going to find they don't have enough. Where's our gold kept? not in Fort Knox
or some other places, but our treasures in Heaven, who are
kept by the power of God. It's exercise. How do we overcome
the world? Faith, 1 John. We overcome the
world by faith. Unto salvation ready to be revealed. Don't you love that word? It's
ready to be revealed. Nothing needs to be added to it. It's
all ready, isn't it? It's reserved. The inheritance
is reserved. The salvation is ready to be
revealed in the last time wherein Ye greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. If you know anything of your
own heart, and you know anything of Satan coming close, and you
know anything of your flesh, you'll know about the manifold
temptations. Not just a few of them, they're manifold. There
are many of them. And listen to what he goes on
to say, that the trial, the testing of your faith, being much more
precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. Why did Peter go through these
trials? Why do you go through these trials? It's precious, isn't it? Precious
faith is tested faith. And the more it's buffeted, and
the more it's tested, the more it's stripped of anything in
itself, and it's just clinging to who you as faith. Just like
Peter, your faith, I've prayed that your faith fail not, Peter.
Everything about Peter's flesh failed that night and all you
have to do is be under the tiniest bit of pressure from the hand
of God and everything that you have will fail in a jolly heartbeat.
It has with me millions of times. And so the issue again is not
the trials that we go through because our trials are common
to many people. We have special trials as believers.
But it is the trial of your faith being much more precious than
gold. that gold perishes. Don't you think it's amazing
that gold perishes? We don't think it perishes. They stick
it on domes in these fancy buildings all over the place, don't they?
God says it perishes. The elements are going to melt
in the heat. The streets are paved with gold up there. We're
not worried about the gold down here. It perishes, though it
be tried with fire, might be found. Your faith is going to
be tried, might be found under praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Listen to how he describes his
saviour. Whom having not seen, you love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. I want to be a rejoicing person.
I want to rejoice in God, my Saviour. I want to rejoice in
who He is and what He's done. I want all of us to rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. Who's glory? If it's full of
His glory, then there will be joy unspeakable. Won't there?
Full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith,
the goal of your faith. What are the Old Testament Scriptures
all about? All of them. the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. Do you see him as glorious? I
want to see him as glorious. I want to see him as glorious
in doing all that he's done, in applying all that he's done
into the hearts of his people in such a way that we honour
him with our lives and live, live through all of those manifold
trials. just with a simple childlike
faith, and God working as he has promised in the hearts of
his people, to will and to do according to his good pleasure.
How is he going to build his church? How fragile was the church
of God that particular night? How fragile did they appear?
How much a defeated cause did it appear? And yet, that was
the very night of triumph. Is it not the same with us? When
everything looks the darkest, and we have no light, and we
have no hope within ourselves, and we are caused by God to look
up. To look up. Look up as far as
you can look. Look out as far as you can look.
Look back as far as you can look. Reorient yourself again and again
and again to the magnificence and the majesty of God Almighty,
that He is building His church and the gates of Hades will not
prevail against it. I love what Zechariah says. The
hands of Zerubbabel, the Lord Jesus Christ, Zechariah 4 verse
9, have laid the foundation of this house And his hands shall
also finish it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. For who hath despised a
day of small things? For they shall rejoice when they
see the plummet, that plumble that marks the perfect righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the hands of Zerubbabel. He'll build his church. This is the word, verse 6, of
the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, not
by your might, not by the power of men, but by my Spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. That's how he builds. That's
how he works. That's how he operates faith
in the hearts of his people. That faith that Peter saw as
precious, that manifold mercy. And the opposite to that is what
we read earlier and I just want to repeat it. A couple of you
said how special it was to think about, isn't it, the inverse.
This is what man-made religion is. There's always in the scriptures
a contrast between law and grace, between works and grace. And listen to how God describes
his children. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Isaiah 50 verse 10. What a remarkable
description of the children of God. He's saying that they're
a remnant. He's saying to a crowd of people
who are the remnant ones amongst this great crowd of people. And then he says, let him trust
in the name of the Lord. Let him trust in Jehovah Sakinu,
the Lord our righteous. Let him trust in the absolute
sovereignty of God. Let him trust in the electing
God. Let him trust in the God that we have read about it again
and again and love to declare. We'd love to declare his majesty.
Anything that declares His Majesty is so comforting to the children
of God. I love to know how big He is.
I'm ashamed of how little I make Him. I love to know how absolutely
sovereign He is over everything. And I'm ashamed of how often
I think that man's actually ruling something in this world. What
a silly notion to think that man is somehow on a throne of
any sort whatsoever. Our God rules. What does He rule? Everything. He has power over
all flesh. All flesh. Let him trust in the
name of the Lord and stay upon his God. You lean upon your God. Lean upon him. rest in Him and
who He is. And then of this you, out of
the you were selected a few that God says, who is you among you,
and out of the you is behold all you that kindle a fire that
surround yourselves. The picture is a remarkable picture,
isn't it? You've lit the fire, you've started the fire, you've
kindled the fire, and then in an extraordinary way you are
surrounded by the sparks. It's a picture of man-made religion. It's a picture of men taking
their hand to the work of God. No wonder the Lord says to Peter,
you put up your sword. My kingdom doesn't need your
sword, Peter. My victory doesn't need your
sword. They kindle a fire and they surround
themselves with the sparks and you can imagine you're throwing
more wood on the fire and the sparks are rising up to heaven
and your eyes are going up there and everyone's saying, praise
the Lord, praise the Lord, and they're waving their hands and
they're dancing around like Aaron's mob did at the bottom of the
Mount Sinai, thinking that this is wonderful. This is an amazing
description of man-made religion, isn't it? You throw more wood
on and more sparks go up and everyone says, isn't this wonderful?
Look at the light, look at the sparks, look at how they're flying
up. Have you been at bonfires? It's wonderful, isn't it? You
throw another lump of wood on the fire and up goes the sparks
and everyone thinks, there's the darkness illuminated by my
activities. There's the darkness conquered
by my activities. You surround yourselves with
sparks and then he says to them, you walk. That's God doing as
Romans 1 says, giving them over, giving them a strong delusion
because they refused not the love of the truth. They preferred
the lies of man-made works religion to the truth of God's glory and
sovereignty. You walk in that light, that's
His judgment upon these people. You've lit your fire, you've
let the sparks go up and you're keeping putting more wood on
and more sparks are flying up and you're all gathering and
more people are rejoicing. That's your judgment. To be,
as it were, surrounded by the sparks of man's activities and
man's works-based religion. You walk. That's his judgment.
He's going to leave you to walk there. In the sparks that you
have kindled, you know what it's like to be in religion. I was
one of the ones throwing the wood on the fire. I was one of
the ones watching the sparks go up. I was one of the ones
that thought, this is wonderful. We can do more and more. This
is exciting. Look what we have done. Look
what we have done for God. And the judgment of God upon
these people is extraordinary, isn't it? This shall you have
of mine hand, you shall lie down in sorrow. The Lord Jesus Christ goes alone. He must tread the winepress alone. He must do all. And my notes
have gone missing. He must do all. He must do all of the saving. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. We must remember as we're reading
through these verses as we come to the crucifixion and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we don't take our eyes off the
glory of that prayer that He prayed. He's praying, isn't he? As he finished he says, A righteous
father of the world doesn't know you. It's got all its sparks.
These men in that courtyard that night had their sparks and they
were warming themselves and Peter joined with them until the Lord
came and revealed to Peter what he was really involved in. The
world doesn't know Thee, but I have known Thee, and these
have known that Thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto
them Thy Name. The Lord Jesus Christ is declaring
in all of His activities, and particularly on the cross of
Calvary, He's declaring the Name of God. The children, the few,
the remnant in Isaiah Chapter 50 are those that call on the
Name of God. Let him, let that one who sees
no brightness and no shining light, let him trust in the name
of the Lord. We have to declare the name of
the Lord. How do you save? You save by calling on the name
of the Lord. You save by crying out to the
name of the Lord. I have declared, says the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that's exactly what's going on in chapter 18 and 19, and the
rest of the scriptures is a declaration of His name. I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, and this is the end
result, this is the that, this is the purpose, isn't it? That
the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them. I don't know if there's a more
amazing statement in all of human history ever being declared,
isn't it? in them. That love in them. Contemplate that. Think about
the name of God in him doing that. That the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. I in them. He's lost none of them. He's
manifested the name of God Almighty. He's manifested the name of God
Almighty as a glorious God and a Saviour, a just God and a Saviour. Peter takes to himself the arm
of flesh, thinking that by the arm of flesh he's going to somehow
promote the cause of God in this world. It was an act of extraordinary
courage, wasn't it? But the Lord Jesus Christ had
told him again and again, he says, my kingdom, John 18 verse
30, my kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom were of
this world, my servants would fight that I should be not delivered
to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from hence. Paul says in
2 Corinthians, the weapons of our warfare are not calm. We have a spiritual warfare going
on. We take all of the armor of God,
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God, to the pulling down of strongholds, the casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. His obedience. Don't you love
his obedience? I love to think about how obedient
he was. He was obedient unto death. He
loved being obedient. It wasn't a burden to him. People get told what to do and
Romans 7 immediately kicks in and we become bigger sinners.
None of us like being told what to do. But when he works in the
hearts of his people, they say that all of their obedience before
god is him and him alone And listen to what, I love what
Paul, how Paul describes himself. You think Paul being this man
who's had a great and impressive persona and an amazing charisma
and everything. Listen to what they said about
him if you're in 2 Corinthians 10. For his letters, they say,
are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and
his speech contemptible. What was the power? The power
is the power of God. Put up your sword, Peter. This
fight is my fight. I will fight and I will fight
alone. He goes on to say in 2 Corinthians
10-12, For we dare not make ourselves of number, or compare ourselves
with some that commend themselves. But they measuring themselves
by themselves. What a ridiculous way to measure
yourself. But that's what men do, don't they? That's what God
says they do. They measure themselves by themselves and comparing themselves
among themselves. They're not wise. They're in
the midst of all those sparks and they're throwing more flames,
more wood on the fire and the sparks are rising up. He goes
on to say down at the end of it, verse 17, but he that glorieth,
he that boasts, he that has confidence, let him glory in the Lord. You
put up your sword. God will put down the swords
of his people, and they will see that the Lord Jesus Christ
wins this battle. The Lord commends his people. The Lord Jesus Christ went forth
as a conqueror to conquer. We love reading Revelation chapter
19 about the Lord riding triumphantly out, and he just is the word
of God, and he is the power of God, and he triumphs wonderfully
and clearly. Peter thought that he needed
to add the arm of his flesh to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we all do it all the time. We all do it all the time. And the Lord shows that in the
deliverance of people from Egypt, when Moses at the Red Sea, when
you have nowhere in front to go, when you have an army behind
you, what's the command of God to those people? Stand still. You stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. You might remember Gideon and
the Moabites. He didn't need a vast army. The Lord fought the battle. Put
up the arm of your sword and you rest and trust in what God
has done. If you ever have a chance to
go home and you want to rejoice in an amazing passage of scripture,
go back and read 2 Corinthians 20 and read about Jehoshaphat.
When this vast army is stood opposed to him, and they're all
trembling and wondering what to do, and the Lord said, this
battle's mine, this battle's mine. And Jehoshaphat sent out
his army the next day, and the first thing he did is he sent
out the army. What was leading the army? The singers. You go out triumphant, you people
of God. You go out into this world. Peter's
act with the Arm of the Flesh wasn't an act of faith. Did he
believe God? Did he believe his purpose? Christ
went forth for the salvation of the people. He went forth
to this place. He led them forth out to these
people who were the enemies who were going to crucify him that
day. He was perfectly in charge of absolutely everything. He was in charge. He ruled all. He took his disciples
there so that he would be exalted and they would be humbled and
they would see that salvation is all of him. I pray the Lord would come to
us and just manifest himself in all of his glory, that we'd
put down our weapons of warfare and say, the battle's yours. And the battle that I have with
so much of what is in my flesh, all of what is in my flesh, is
too big for me. And I've taken the arm of the
flesh again and again and again, and I've failed. And I'm so thankful And I'm so thankful that he strips
his people. And he's caused his children
to see that he is triumphant. And he's caused his people to
lean on the name of the Lord. The power of his word, the power
of his promises, compared to the total inability of man to
do anything unless the Lord wills it and the Lord's Spirit brings
it to pass in someone's life. And the Lord has to overrule
the best of man's efforts to add to or enhance the salvation
of the Lord. The Lord had to put this back
together again. The Lord had to take away all of the evidence
of Peter's activity. He did it alone. He must suffer
alone. He must tread the winepress alone.
He is the only willing substitute. He is the only sacrifice for
sins. He is the only Lamb of God. The Lamb of God must be perfect
and the Lamb of God must die. The Lamb of God must be without
spot or blemish in everything that he does. If Christ alone
suffers for sins, it's not possible for another, for any of those
for whom he represented to suffer for those sins. Payment justice
cannot twice demand. Once at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. The name of God declares that
God must be just and he must be righteous. If he suffers,
he says to the law and the justice of God, let these go their way. Let them be free. The other thing
is that they cannot suffer with him. They cannot drink this drink
of the cup of his suffering, except as they are in spiritual
union with Him. He must do it all. Otherwise
we'd be looking to the arm of flesh. If Peter had died that
night and Peter's suffering or John or James' suffering had
somehow been linked to the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, what
would men do? Exactly what they've done with
Mary and all sorts of other things. They'd add another way of redemption,
wouldn't they? that adds something of man into
the redemption that is all of God. And if that had happened, men
would be worshipping that disciple who had died alongside the Lord
Jesus Christ. He must have all of the focus
of all of our attention. He must pay the debt alone. He
must fulfill all of the promises he made in John chapter 17 and
throughout the rest of the scriptures. He says to the law and justice,
you take me and let these go. The wages of sin is death. The power of sin is the law. How do you activate sin? He put
people back under a law. He says to the law and he says
to death, you take me and let these go. You set the captives
free and let him go. You set the blind free and let
him go his way. There will be a time when time
will be no more and the judgment of God falls upon this sinful
world. And all the rebellious people
of this world will hear the words, these go their way. Justice. All of the name of God demands
that their substitute Christ took their place and they must
go through. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. He must go alone. He must tread
the winepress alone. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. I've lost none of them. All that
the Father gave me, all that are united to me eternally, vitally,
are united to me in my life and in my death and in my resurrection. They can't be plucked out of
my hands. How precious are your thoughts
toward us, O God. Firm as His throne, His gospel
stands, my Lord, my hope, my trust. If I am found in Jesus'
hand, my soul can never be lost. His honour is engaged to say
even the weakest of his sheep. All that the Heavenly Father
gave, he the surety will keep. Not death nor hell could ever
remove a loved one from his breast. In the bosom of his love we shall
forever rest. Where are our lives hidden? The
lives of all God's people are hidden in Christ, in God. That's a great inheritance. That's
a salvation ready to be revealed. The trials of our faith will
just draw us closer. Humble us. Strip away all that
we do to take up the sword of our flesh. Let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you and praise you for sending your son into
this world. We praise you for him manifesting
your name to your people in this world, Heavenly Father. We praise
you for the wonder that everything that you require of your people,
you now look to your dear and precious Son for and say, I'm
satisfied. Oh, our Father, we pray that
we would walk in this world looking to Him, honouring Him with our
lives and our lips, and you would protect us, Heavenly Father.
from being in the camp of those who kindle their own fire. Cause us and lead us, Heavenly
Father, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Cause us to see your dear and
precious Son. as all of our life and His blood
being shed, as all of our peace with you in this world. We praise
you, Heavenly Father, for such a great and glorious salvation
in such a glorious and great Saviour. May you cause us, Heavenly
Father, to have the simple childlike faith and rest and reliance upon
Him that allows us to remember His broken body and shed blood
in worthiness. Pray your blessing on us as we
go out into this world, Heavenly Father, and the trials that lie
before us. May we find your grace over ruling
and your mercy triumphing over us and the trials and the enemies
in us and around us. We pray these things for the
glory of your dear and precious Son and our peace and our comfort
in believing him.