Morning, everybody. Paul, I hope I can talk loud
enough for you today. I'm a little hoarse. You all turn to John chapter
18, please. And I'll get there in just a
minute. All four of the Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, record this account where a multitude
of men came armed to the hilt, consisting of the chief priests
and the elders of the people when they came to arrest Christ. And all four accounts of that
arrest, so to speak, has different information in each occasion
where it's recorded. Matthew records it, Mark records
it, Luke, and John. I want to read to you, Matthew,
you stay where you are, 26 and verse 51, one verse. And behold, one of them, those
that were with Christ, which were with Jesus stretched out
his hand and drew his sword and struck a servant of the high
priest and smote off his ear. Now you all already know who
that was. and the consequences of it. But
in that place, it just says, describes him as one which was
with Jesus, drew his sword and smote off a man's ear. I want
you to notice, there's no mention of exactly who it was that drew
his sword and cut off the ear of the highest priest. And then
in Mark, in chapter 14, This is the way it's recorded there.
And they laid their hands on him, Christ, this mob, and took
him. And one of them that stood by
drew a sword and smote off a servant of the high priest and cut off
his ear. Still doesn't say who did it or what the man's name
was. And then, having no mention of
Peter being the one that cut off the ear of the man, we come
here to John 18 and verse 10. Let's read that together. Then
Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's
servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. And in reading this account in
the book of John, we know a couple of things in addition to what
we didn't know from the other two verses. It was the apostle
Peter who cut this man's ear off and drew his sword. And the
man's name was Malchus. And last of all, I want you to
turn to Luke, Luke chapter 22. And look at verse 49. When they which were about him
saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall
we smite with the sword? Now those are the ones, this
is speaking of the ones who were with Christ at that point. Lord,
shall we fight these folks? And one of them didn't wait for
an answer. And we all know who that was.
It was Peter. He smoked the servant of the
high priest and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said,
suffer ye thus far. Now I want to point out right
there, that when Peter struck this man and cut off his ear,
there was about to be bedlam between the competition between
these two crabs because they had started the fight and these
other guys are going to finish it up if they could. But that
phrase right there, suffer ye thus far, was our Lord saying,
wait a minute. And they all stopped dead in
their tracks. They all stopped right there. There's no more
conflict. And he reached out and he touched
this man's ear and he healed it. That was the reason he commanded
people to be still. And now we know from this account,
it was the Apostle Peter, which we already knew, who cut his
ears off, or cut the man's ear off, right ear off. The man's
name was Malchus. And here we learned that the
Lord touched his ear and healed him. This mob who came armed to the
teeth with staves and swords was angered and motivated to
kill Christ because that he claimed to be the son of God. That was
the charges that they brought against him. And that was the
problem that they had with our Lord. you make yourself equal
with God. On several occasions before,
in the book of John, in the gospel of John, they had sought to kill
him. I think it was about five occasions.
Because he made himself to be equal with God. And they were
gonna put an end to it. They were gonna get rid of this
man. In John 10 and verse 30, you don't have to turn there,
he said, Christ said, I and my father are one. And then the Jews took up stones
to stone him again. And Jesus answered them, many
good works have I done, have I showed you from my father.
For which of these works do you stone me? What good work have
I done that you would stone me for? And the Jews answered him,
and they said, we're not stoning you for a good work, but for
blasphemy. And because that you, being a
man, make yourself to be God. This man, Malchus, the man whom Peter struck, was
obviously one of the point men in this gang. This angry, religious
bunch of gangsters. Because he was a servant to Caiaphas,
who was the high priest that year. And when Peter swung that
sword, I think it's safe to say, and
all the commentaries make a great point of it that I've read, he
did so with the intention of cutting that man's head off.
He did. He was going to kill him. He
had no intention to wound any. His intention was to kill Malchus. Now, when Pastor David brought
lesson on this, not this particular verse, but this particular section
of John 18. My reaction to this passage was
much the same as it's always been. In picturing this incident
in my mind's eye and perhaps yours, and that's the reason
I'm doing this this morning, it gave me a good chuckle. It kind of made me want to pump
my fist and say, yes, get him. You know? Shut that man up. Stop him. And I think all of
us tend to laugh and perhaps even mock this character while
rooting and wishing that Peter had been successful in cutting
his head clean off. I don't remember exactly, but
something which David said caused me to realize this one fact. I hope that it gets your attention
like it did mine. Again, Peter intended to cut
off this servant's head, but our Lord intended and predestinated
and purposed and determined before this world was ever made that
Peter was to cut that man's ear off. Wasn't no accident. None. Not even close to being
an accident. It wasn't a situation which surprised
Christ. It was a situation that he had
determined before the foundations of the world to be performed
at that moment and at that time. It was striking to me to realize
that this was not an occasion which had somehow slipped up
on Christ, that things had gotten out of hand, and that somehow
he was surprised by Peter's action and had no control over it. Peter did only what had been
determined before to be done. I said that. Peter's intention
was clearly not that which our Lord had purposed. It was contrary. His intention
was to cut his head off. The Lord's intention was for
him to cut his ear off. Never in the purpose of God was
this man ever to lose his head. It was his purpose that he would
lose his ear. And I say, before going any further, it would redound to the glory
of God. And when one considers that fact, I think the obvious question
becomes why, and that's where my curiosity kicked in, and I
hope I haven't made much of nothing in this, but I want to share
some things that crossed my mind when I read this. Our Lord commands
us in Matthew chapter five and verse 44 to love our enemies,
to bless them, bless them that curse you, and do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you. Have I ever done that? I humbly confess, I don't think
I have. Not with the heart of love which
our Lord possesses, no sir. We may bless them verbally, outwardly,
and we may pray for them, and we may even do good to them,
but it's never with a pure heart. Never. But our Lord's not like us. His
answer to this circumstance, which had been purposed before
the world was ever made, was to love his enemy. I've come to think that our Lord's
purpose just may have been an act of
mercy and giving this man a new ear. I don't know that it is important,
but I imagine this man's ear had probably been already, had
already been stepped on and ground into the dirt. laying there on
the ground. Scripture says he cut his ear
off, off. But our Lord, the God man, our
God in the flesh, had no need of that ear anyway. And he touched
his ear and he healed him. Now what it says, really, I don't
want to make much of nothing, but I will say this. I find that
phrase from Luke 22 and verse 51 pretty interesting. It says
he touched his ear and healed him. It doesn't say that he touched
his ear and healed it. It says he touched his ear and
healed him. Maybe that is making too much,
but I don't think so. It's also interesting to note
that this was the last miracle, the last miracle that our Lord
performed in his last minute of freedom
was to heal this man who was determined to take him away and
to kill him. That was the last thing he did.
miraculously, the last miracle, bodily miracle that he performed
before he went to that cross. Now I want to emphasize why this
crowd of religious gangsters had come to capture and finally
be rid of our Lord. As I said a little, mentioned
briefly before, I think there's no less than five occasions in
the book of John that the Jews sought to stone
and kill Christ because he claimed to be God. And on every occasion
up to this point in time, Christ had miraculously escaped and
evaded their efforts. John 10 emphatically states,
the Jews answered him saying for a good work we stoned thee
not, but for blasphemy and because you being a man make yourself
to be God. With that thought in this man's
mind, he justified himself in being party to the action of
capturing Christ. He thought he was doing God a
favor by taking this man who claimed to be God As I've said, I think he was
probably the point man in the operation because he was the
closest one to Christ. That's one Peter hit, I'm sure.
I'm just dead sure that's true. He believed the charges were
true and he was zealously participating in their efforts, the efforts
of this gang, just as the Apostle Paul was when he persecuted the
church and went about executing Christians and the followers
of Christ. But if he could have gotten his
hands on Christ, he would have done the same to him. He would
have done the same thing. The Lord knocked him off his
high horse, blinded his eyes and sent him a preacher and saved
his soul and made him an apostle unlike any of the others, in
my opinion. Now, I want to ask you this.
Can you imagine what this man, Malchus, must have thought when
he was delivered from the excruciating pain of having his ear chopped
off to be made whole, to be made whole and healed instantly and
relieved of that pain after having his ear cut off and probably
seeing it laying in the dirt himself. And scripture says that
it was cut off. Could it be that this man was
brought to the realization that the one who claimed to be God
was truly God? I think I would have thought
about it a little bit. We're all familiar with the story
of the one that we call Doubting Thomas. the one who refused to
believe that the Lord had risen from the grave, and the other
disciples had excitedly said to him, Thomas, we've seen the
Lord. But he said, I don't believe
you. I don't believe you. except I see in his hands the
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the
nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, after that,
the disciples were together in a room, and all of a sudden,
there was Christ. And the door was shut. And the
door was shut. And the Lord said to him, Thomas,
reach hither your finger and behold my hands and reach hither
thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but
believing. That was the purpose of God revealing himself and
showing those things. He was confirming the doubt of
Thomas and casting it away. And Thomas answered him and said,
he never reached out his finger. He never put his hand on the
Lord's side. He just simply said, answered
him and said, my Lord and my God. Thomas, because you've seen me,
thou hast believed, but blessed are they that have not seen and
yet have believed. Could it be, could it be that
our Lord gave this man, Baucus, a hearing ear? 1 Corinthians 2, 9 verse says,
it's written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him, but God hath revealed them to us by Spirit. Now this servant of the high
priest was there to capture Christ because he
claimed to be equal with God. And he was convinced that he
was nothing less than a blasphemous man, a blasphemous person. But after he was miraculously
made whole, I would ask you, And I asked myself, what other
conclusion to which this man could arrive at? I think it was the same realization
that that centurion had when he stood at the foot of the cross,
watching the son of God give himself and die for his people,
and darkness that fell on that scene. And that centurion said,
truly, this is the son of God. You think he might've had that
thought? Christ said in Matthew 27, chapter
27, if I do not the works of my father, don't believe me. If I don't do those works, don't
believe me. But if I do, though you don't believe me, believe
the works that I do. That the father, is in me, and
I am in Him. If I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not." Don't believe me. But if I do, though you believe
not me, believe the works that you may know and believe that
the Father is in me and I in Him. In John chapter 20, it says, John says, these and many other
signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. All those things were done and
written and recorded that we might believe. It's evidence
given that you might have life through
His name. Isaiah said in chapter 35, Christ, he, Christ shall come
and save you. How does he save us? Isaiah says
the eyes of the blind shall be open and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Is it possible that our Lord
gave this man a hearing ear when he healed him? Personally, I
prefer to believe that Christ gave this man a new ear, a spiritual
ear, a hearing ear, an understanding ear. That is what he did for
us. He's got to give ear. He must
give ear to hear. Blessed are your eyes For they
see in your ears, for they hear. The blind receive their sight
and the lame walk and the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. Now, last of all, you can turn back to John 18
and verse 10. if you'd like to see it here,
I want you to note that only in the gospel of John is the
name of this man given. And that got my attention, and
I wondered why, and this is what I've arrived at. Names given
in scripture are of great importance. I think we all realize that when
we study the scriptures and John is the only apostle who records
this man's name in his account of the gospels. The gospel of John, this thought
came to my mind, the gospel of John presents Christ as God. and glorifies him in his divinity. Matthew presents Christ as King
of Kings. Mark presents Christ as a servant. Luke presents Christ as a man,
the God-man. And John starts his gospel account
with these words in the very first phrase. You'll all be familiar
with it. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. When I was reminded of that statement,
I realized that that very first few phrases of the Gospel of
John contains the exact details of what this angry religious
mob was there to arrest him for. That was the charges against
him. John states the word was God and is God, and they were
there to arrest him for the fact that he claimed to be God. God knows, God knows and calls every one
of his elect by name. And again, I remind you, he's
presented by John as being God. That's the context of all that's
written in the book of John. And God knows, God knows and
calls every one of his elect by name. And in the time of his
love, they are called by name and brought to know God, who
he is and what he's done for them. It's true of every one. This
is life eternal, John says, that they might know thee, the only
true God. You see that every Sunday on
our bulletin. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. What was
this man's name? Malchus. Now, just listen for a minute. His name was Malchus. You may
know, but I'll ask anyway, do you know what that name means?
It means this, put it in quotations, my king, my king. What does that mean? Malchus,
my king. Who named him? I'll ask you that.
God named him. God did. That name is revealed
to us for a reason, not just for information. God named Malchus, listen to this, God named Malchus
just as your name was determined before you ever were a thought
in the minds of your parents, before this world was ever formed. Every individual who's ever been
born, who's ever existed, had their names assigned by God.
I don't care who you are. I don't care who you are. God named Malchus. His name from
eternity was my king. And if you're a believer, that's
your name, my king. I hope this will bring a smile
to your face. Is that not what our Lord does
for every one of His people? Every one of them. Listen to this. He hath made
us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Christ has made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And God named
this man my king, my king. Now, I want to close by saying
this. I know that what I've said can be subject to argument. In
fact, I can punch a few holes in it myself. But this is what I believe. Our
Lord gave this man his name before the foundation of the world,
before a man ever existed. And in time, in time, he named
him before the foundation of the world, but in time he gave
him a hearing ear, like he did us. And I find it very interesting
in doing all the reading and studying that I've tried to do. He gave this man a hearing ear
and Revelation says, he that hath an ear, let him
hear. Not ears, he that hath an ear. I found very little written by
others on these passages except that which expressed my own reaction
of amusement and chuckle and go get him, you know. But God's not like us. I'll say
that again. God's merciful and long-suffering. And you might say, Larry, you
stretched this a little too far for me. My reply is this, in
closing. You can't stretch God's mercy
and grace of our God and Savior too far. You can't stretch it
too far. He will save to the uttermost. And Christ our Lord is not like
us. He's more ready to save than anyone has ever desired to be
saved. There's none that seeks after
him. This man wasn't and you weren't. But then they're given ears to
hear as we were and are. Then when they're given this
hearing ear, the deaf are healed. Deaf ears are opened when the
crippled, the lame are healed. When they cast their crowns at
his feet, when they're given life from the dead, hearing ears,
that's when they will cast their crowns at his feet. And the realization
that they have been named from eternity past and will spend an eternity future with the one who loved them and
gave himself for them. Only Christ can give us a new
ear and a name. And what a miracle that is. I
hope you can see that.