About a year ago, we began on
Wednesday nights looking at the miracles that our Lord performed
in his earthly ministry. John tells us that there were
many other things that are not recorded in scripture that our
Lord did, but these have been recorded in order that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might
have life in his name. Tonight we've come to the end
of the miracles, the last miracle that our Lord will perform before
he goes to the cross. It happens at the Garden of Gethsemane
at our Lord's arrest when Peter takes out a sword and cuts the
ear off of the servant of the high priest. And then our Lord
mercifully reaches his hand and puts his ear back. There's such
a glorious picture in this miracle that I hope the Lord will be
pleased to speak to our hearts tonight about. Let's open our
Bibles to Luke chapter 22. There is one more miracle that
actually is recorded but it's after the resurrection when our
Lord meets the disciples who have gone back to fishing and
he causes them miraculously to catch a great net full of fish
and then tells them that they're going to be from here on out
fishers of men. But this is the last miracle
before the cross. And we'll begin reading in Luke
chapter 22. Luke and John record this miracle,
so we'll read both accounts. Luke chapter 22, beginning at
verse 47. And while he yet spake, behold,
a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the 12,
went before them and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus
said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?
When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said
unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them
smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right
ear. And Jesus answered and said, suffer ye thus far. Translated, stop this right now. And he touched his ear and healed
him. Then Jesus said unto the chief
priest and the captains of the temple and the elders, which
were come to him, be come out as against a thief with swords
and staves. When I was daily with you in
the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me, but this
is your hour and the power of darkness. And they took him and
led him away. Now turn with me to John chapter
18. John chapter 18, and we'll begin reading in verse three. Judas then having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priest and Pharisees,
cometh 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? And they answered him,
Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said unto them, I am."
Notice that the he is in italics. This is the name of God that
our Lord is speaking, I am. Jehovah. And Judas, also which
betrayed him, stood with them. As soon as he had said unto them,
I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked
he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, I have told
you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled, which
he spake of them, which thou gavest me, I have lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword
drew, Luke didn't tell us it was Simon Peter, John does. Having a sword, drew it and smote
the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear and the
servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put
up thy sword unto the sheath. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? Then the band and the captain
and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him
away to Annas. For he was the father-in-law
of Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year." Do you remember what the first,
the 36 miracles, do you remember what the first one was? was the
turning the water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana. And
in that miracle, we were reminded of how those six water pots represented
the Old Testament covenant and the law and the shadows and types
and pictures of Christ and how the Lord Jesus had the disciples
fill up those water pots to the brim and then went and got water. and turned it into wine, declaring
himself, declaring himself to be the wine of the new covenant. The joy that God's people would
have, not under the burden of the law, but being found in Christ
who himself was the fulfillment of all of God's law. It's called the beginning of
miracles in John chapter two. You remember that. And now we find ourselves at
the last miracle. The Lord is looking back to the
Old Testament in that first miracle and declaring this new covenant
that has come. And now in the last of the miracles,
are we not reminded of our need, our need for the Lord to give
us hearing ears? We know that if we're to hear,
we're born again, we just read that in 1 Peter chapter 2, not
of corruptible seed, not of the will of man, not of intellect,
we're born of the Spirit of God, of incorruptible seed by the
Word of God. And how faith comes by hearing
and hearing comes by the Word of God. Our physical ears are
the channels through which God enables us to hear the gospel. This is the word of God, which
by the gospel is preached unto you. And if the Lord doesn't
give us hearing ears, we can understand a lot of things about
the Bible. We can understand theology. We can understand doctrine.
We can understand history. We can understand people and
events and precepts. We can understand all those things,
but to hear the gospel, To hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ
calling us out of darkness into his marvelous light and giving
us life and grace. We are dependent on something
far beyond our ability. We've got to have the spirit
of God. Nicodemus, except you be born of the spirit, you cannot
see the kingdom of God. And here's what this last miracle
is reminding us of. Malchus, he's called the servant
of the high priest. He wasn't a lowly servant. He
was a bodyguard. He was the first one to step
forward and take hold of the Lord Jesus. And he was the first
in line for Peter to, Peter wasn't aiming for his ear. Peter was
going to take off his head. Malchus just happened to duck
in time to only lose an ear. And it was his right ear. In
the Bible, the right hand of God is always his hand of grace.
When the sheep and the goats are separated on the day of judgment,
the sheep are on the right and the goats are on the left. And what a picture. Here's the
sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And here's what
the word of God does. The word of God has to wound
before it can heal. The Word of God has to kill before
it makes alive. The Word of God has to make us
to see what we are outside of Christ, a hell-deserving sinner,
before life can be given by the hand of the touch of God Almighty. Here's a picture of our need
and of our restoration. Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse
39. I, even I, am he and there is
no God beside me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Here's what this picture is,
this miracle. If we're to understand, if we're
to believe, if we're to have hope, and forgiveness of sin,
the word of God has to be wielded our way. We have to be wounded
by God's word. He has to make us lost before
we can be found. The Bible is called, the word
of God is called a double-edged sword. And here's what we're
seeing a picture of. the double-edged sword, it cuts
and then it heals and we have the wrath of God's justice and
the law of the sword being wielded by Peter and we have the hand
of God's mercy and God's grace touching us. Malchus, his name
means king and We come into this world setting
ourselves up on the throne of God. We come into this world
with our fists raised to heaven saying, I will not have that
man reign over me. I'm gonna have it my way. And the Lord has to take us off
of that high horse, doesn't he? Just like he did Saul of Tarsus,
knocked him off his high horse when he spoke to him from heaven.
And what a blessing. What a blessing this miracle
represents for us. It's the hand of the Lord giving
ears to hear. You know, the most often quoted
verse in the scripture is found, most often Old Testament passage
quoted in the New Testament is found in Isaiah chapter six,
where the Lord says to Isaiah, I want you to go and preach the
gospel to them. But here's the thing, they're going to have
ears but they will not hear. Eyes they will have but they
will not see. And Isaiah, Lord how long do
I do that? How long do I preach to people
who can't hear? And the Lord said, till the cities
be wasted without inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate,
you just keep preaching the gospel, Isaiah. I'll take care of who
it is that's gonna be able to hear. And then in Isaiah chapter
28, the Lord says, I have revealed the gospel line by line, precept
by precept, here a little, there a little. But what did the religious
people say? The Lord turns around and he
says, all you saw it for was a little bit here and a little
bit there, line by line, precept upon. In other words, you took
the word of God, which is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you made rules and regulations out of it. You made laws, you
made precepts that you thought you could keep in order to win
God's favor and earn your salvation. And you've made a covenant, Isaiah
28, you've made a covenant with death based on what you did. The Lord says, I'm going to disannoy
your covenant. Here's what we're in need of.
We're in need of the Lord to wound us. We're in need of the
Lord to remind us by the sword of the spirit, the word of God,
of how dependent we are on him to be able to hear the gospel
and how anything that we try to contrive as a means of our
salvation apart from Christ is sure to fail. The Lord told his
people in Isaiah 28, I'm going to disannoy your covenant. And
when the over-clumbing scourge talking about the judgment of
God comes, you'll be carried away. Now, I believe that's the
primary meaning of this miracle. And I hope that the Lord will
remind us every time we think about Peter and what he did in
the garden and Malchus, the high priest's bodyguard having his
ear cut off and the Lord Jesus restoring that ear that we'll
be able to see ourselves in that miracle. And we'll be able to
always ask the Lord, Lord, give me ears to hear. Lord, cause
me to hear what you're saying. not just be satisfied with precepts
upon precepts and line upon line. Lord, I need a word from God. I need you to speak to my heart. I need a word of comfort, a word
of hope. I need truth and peace and grace. What the Lord said, and they
shall all be taught of God. Lord, I can't teach myself and
I can't depend upon another man to teach me. I'm thankful for
those that you've called to preach what you have declared, but Lord,
I need you to make those audible words that I might hear in these
ears, I need you to make them effectual to the ear of my heart. That being, I believe, the miracle
in a nutshell, I want to spend the rest of our time thinking
about what chaos and confusion in all the mortal men that are
at this scene is happening. This is the beginning of a cascade
of events that's going to be marked by total chaos and total
confusion. In the next 16 hours, these events
will conclude with utter darkness upon the face of the earth, an
earthquake that will open the graves, that will open the graves,
and men will, dead saints will be walking around the streets
of Jerusalem. It's incredible what's gonna
happen. In between, there will be a mock
trial of Roman governors and Jewish leaders that won't be
able to agree on anything. There will be a mob incited by
the Pharisees to cry out to Pilate to have an innocent man crucified. The fiends of hell will dance
wildly on the fiery streets of the underworld believing that
they have succeeded in conquering God. Everything will be confused. Yet, through all of this chaos
and confusion, there is one that will never
show a hint of being confused. Why should he? While men are
acting uncontrolled of themselves, he is in complete control of
everything that's taking place. He's patiently walking step by
step the path that his heavenly father's laid out for him. He's
confident that this path and that what he's doing is the means
by which his church will be saved. He is directing every event. He's not impatient. He's not
disquieted in any way. He's in absolute, complete control,
fulfilling his own divine purpose. I want us, when the events that
God has ordained for us cause so much conflict and confusion
and fear and doubt, to be reminded by this miracle and by all that
the Lord ever did of how He is always in complete control of
everything. You've heard it said, we don't
know what tomorrow holds and we don't, but we know who holds
tomorrow and we're confident. In Revelation chapter one, let's
turn there for just a moment, Revelation chapter one. look with me at verse 9 in Revelation
chapter 1. I, John, who also am your brother
and companion in tribulation, all the saints of God, in this
world you shall have tribulation, you shall have tribulation, but
be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. These tribulations
didn't It didn't divert me, it didn't frustrate me, and they
certainly did not keep me from fulfilling my purpose. In this world, you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I am your companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ. That's the title of this message,
the patience of Jesus Christ. The characters at this scene,
Peter, just an hour or two before this,
as they were departing the upper room, Judas had already gone
to the religious leaders to lead them to Christ and Peter, The Lord talks to
the disciples about what is about to happen. And Peter said, Lord,
I'll die for you. I'll die for you. And the Lord
knew his heart. He knew his heart. Where Peter
got the sword or why a disciple of the Lord and a fisherman was
carrying a sword, Peter knew that they were fixing to go to
battle and he was committed. He knew that when Malchus, the
high priest, The bodyguard stepped forward and he pulled that sword. He knew it was suicide. There
was a band of men there. And he was prepared to die. And
yet, the Lord looks at him and tells him, Peter, put your sword
away. Stop this right now. And then he takes his hand, restores
the ear of Malchus. just a few hours, Peter will
find himself not standing in the presence of a band of intimidating,
threatening soldiers, but he will find himself in the presence
of a servant girl who accuses him of being a disciple of Jesus
and in cursing, he will deny the Lord three times. What contrast, what erratic behavior
What confusion! We find ourselves this way, don't
we? We can be on a mountaintop and in a valley just as quick.
Our circumstances change and we find ourselves afraid. We
find ourselves confused. We find ourselves doubting. All because of what we see around
us. Peter did it again when he stepped
out of the boat, walked on the water and then he saw the wind
and the waves and took his eyes off of Christ and began to sink. He went from the exaltation of walking with the
Lord on the surface of the water to crying, Lord save me. And the Lord very calmly said
to him, Peter, why'd you doubt? Oh, he had a little faith and
he saved him. The Lord was never confused about anything. We so
much like Peter find ourselves going from one extreme to the
other and Peter won't find any peace or clarity until the Lord
Jesus comes to him after the resurrection. And before that, the Lord told
Mary, you go tell the disciples and Peter, and Peter that I've
risen. Oh, what mercy. The Lord was
in complete control of all of these circumstances. And though
we'd be so much like Peter, the Lord never gets He never
gets anxious about anything. He always is the patience of
Jesus Christ. We have patience when we can
anticipate what's going to happen. We have patience when we are
in control of the means and the conclusion of an event. We have
patience. But if we're not and things are
outside of our control we become, very quickly and very easily,
we become impatient, don't we? Our Lord, that never happens
to our Lord, never. Why? Because he's in control
of the process and he's in control of the outcome. He never has
reason to be impatient. This world is full of contradictions
and conflicts and things to become worried about and fearful of,
not for him. Not for him, never. If anyone in this story was confused
and conflicted, it would have been Judas. At the Last Supper, just a few
hours, maybe a couple hours before this event, the Lord told Judas,
what you must do, go and do it quickly. John's the only one
that knew that it was Judas that was going to betray the Lord. The other disciples didn't know.
They thought that he was going out to pay someone or buy something
because he was the man who held the purse. Judas would be so conflicted
over what's happening that he would go out and commit suicide.
What a picture of despair and yet the Lord said he was the
fulfillment of prophecy. In Psalm 41 and in Psalm 55 and
Zechariah chapter 11, Judas was prophesied a thousand years and
hundreds of years before this took place, that he was the son
of perdition. The Lord was in control, Judas
wasn't in control, but the Lord was. And whatever enemies we
might think, that we face in this world and in this life,
our God reigns over them. Might we, in all of our times
of doubt and fear and confusion, find ourselves looking to the
one who is called the patience of Jesus Christ? The one who's
never, never confused. Malchus. As I said, I'm sure
that he was the first one to step forward when the Lord Jesus
identified himself. Whatever happened to Malchus,
we don't know. We know that not a few of the priests believed
after the resurrection. When the Lord died and rose from
the grave, the scripture says that not a few of the priests
believed, a lot of them believed. Perhaps Malchus was one of them.
I'm sure he never forgot this experience. He would have been
an instant bloody mess as soon as that year was taken off and
the Lord, without any hesitancy, without any anxiety, without
any rush, he just put it back. Put away your sword. Suffer ye thus far, that's how
Luke writes it, that's how the King James interprets it. Stop,
no more of this. He tells that, can you imagine
today a band of police officers approaching a criminal to arrest
him? completely outnumbering him,
overwhelming him, and the criminal making demands of the police
officers and they submitting to his demands. And that's exactly what the Lord
did. And the first thing he did was he told them, he said, I'm
here, you let these go. They let him go, they let him
go. He was in complete control of
everything happening here and will be now for the next 16 hours
as he always has been and as he always will be. We think often of this band,
that's the only word that's used, band. It is a group of either Roman soldiers or temple
guards We're not sure. We think of it often as Roman
soldiers. There's no mention in scripture that the Romans
were actually there but there was a band of men with staves
and swords. They were armed men prepared
to take the Lord and do whatever had to be done in order to arrest
him. And our Lord speaks his name
and they fall to the ground. They fall to the ground. Oh,
that's all He has to do. All He has to do for us is speak
His name to our hearts. How do we know we've heard from
God? We fall to the ground. We just bow. We kneel before
Him. We say with Saul of Tarsus, Lord,
what would you have me to do? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. Lord, what would you have me
to do? We bow. That's how we know we've heard
his voice. His name is Jesus. Not just any
Jesus. There's a lot of Jesus in this
world, aren't there? A whole lot of them. Spelt with a small J. But the
one who is, you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall
save his people from their sins. Jehovah saves, that's what his
name means. And he actually accomplished
the salvation of his people when he died at Calvary's Cross. He
actually satisfied all that God required for justice and for
righteousness at his death. He was a successful, sovereign,
sin-bearing Savior. And he was received back up into
glory. And he ever lives, he ever lives
right now, making intercession for his people, providing for
them all that they need. And Stephen, when he was being
stoned in Acts chapter seven, he looked up and he saw the Lord
Jesus standing, standing. Now when the Lord was received
back into glory, the father said to him, sit down here at my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And the Lord Jesus
as our high priest sat down because he finished the work of redemption.
But now when Stephen is taking his last breath as the first
martyr and about to be caught up into glory, he looks up and
he sees the Lord Jesus standing. And every time the Lord of glory
receives one of his children like an attorney in a court of
law, like an advocate before a judge, he stands and he receives
them based on his merit and based on his work. And he pleads their
case before his father on what he has accomplished. Here's our
hope. chief priests, the elders, they all are subject to whatever
the Lord says to do. You know, you hear religious people talk about
making Jesus Lord of your life. That's too late. He already is. God made him. God made him Lord. He's Lord over the living and
the dead. You don't make him Lord, he is
Lord. Remember the time when the people
wanted to see more miracles and they came and tried to make him
king, tried to make him king and he just walked away. Where'd he go? You're not gonna
make him anything. He is who he is. He is who his
father has declared him to be and his work proves it. His work proves it. The patience
of Jesus Christ. When the disciples on the Sea
of Galilee thought that they were going to drown in a storm,
the Lord Jesus is walking on the water of that storm. And
he calmly says, Can you just hear the disciples, Lord, care
us not that we perish? That wasn't just a soft, kind
word. They were crying. Don't you know we're about to
die? And what did the Lord say? Be still. And all of a sudden,
just like that, that turbulent ocean that was threatening their
lives, was a placid lake. And the disciples looked at one
another and said, even the wind and the waves obey his voice.
What manner of man is this? He's the God man. That's who
he is. And when the storms of this world
that God has sent, God sent them. He sent them for a reason. When
Joseph and Mary looked frantically for three days to find their
lost 12-year-old boy, the Lord Jesus looked at them
and said, did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
He was sitting calmly in the temple, instructing the religious
leaders at 12 years old. He's never been anxious. He's
never been worried. He's never been impatient. He's
never been caught off guard. He's never had to change his
mind or come up with a plan B. He's God. And here's where we
find our comfort in all the troubles that we face in this world. Every
time the Pharisees tried to publicly shame him with questions that
they thought he could not answer, he answered them in such a way
as to shut their mouths and they're the ones that walked away shameful. Whenever someone came to him
in desperation for help, he responded with calm confidence. and gently reached forth his
hand and spoke a word of truth and hope. When Jairus came to
the Lord frantically because his little girl was on her deathbed,
Lord come to my house, my daughter's dying. And the Lord on the way
to Jairus' house has that encounter with the woman with the issue
of blood and Jairus is becoming more and more anxious more and
more out of control, more and more fearful, until a servant
comes and says to Jairus, bother the master no more, in his delay,
and in your delay, your daughters died. And the Lord said, let's
go to your house. And they went, and the scripture
says there was a band of people there, a large group of people,
weeping and wailing, and the Lord Jesus on the outside of
the house, before he went in, said, why are you weeping? The
damsel's not dead, she's sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn.
He didn't understand the gravity of what was happening. No, they
didn't understand the power of who was there. And he walked into her room and
touched her. And she raised from that deathbed.
And he restored him to her parents, restored her to her parents. When those lepers cried, oh Lord,
if you will, you can make us clean. And the Lord cleaned them,
cleansed them. But he told him, he said, you
go and show yourself to the priest. And on the way to the priest,
their leprosy, they realized their leprosy was gone. We just spent several weeks in
John chapter 11 looking at the miracle of the resuscitation
of Lazarus, raising Lazarus from the dead and what confusion,
what sorrow, what sadness, what conflict Mary and Martha and
all the people that were there and the Lord never showed a hint
of it, removed the stone. He delayed in coming because
he wanted Lazarus to be in the grave for four days. He ordained all that trouble.
He could have healed him from where he was. He could have just
sent word back, like he did with the centurion's servant. You
just speak a word and my servant will be healed. I don't need
to come to my house. But he didn't. He allowed all
that confusion, all that trouble, in order for him to say, Lazarus,
come forth. And out of that grave came a
man who's now alive. And many believed on him. Many
believed on him. Our Lord never, never gets in
a hurry. When he was carrying that cross,
beaten to a form that the Bible says that he did not even have
the visage of a man. He was a bloody mess, carrying
a cross, stumbling and falling. And there were some women there
with weeping, weeping. And he stopped and he looked
at them and he said, weep not for me. I know exactly what I'm
doing. This is exactly what I purposed.
This is why I came, don't weep for me. He said, weep for yourselves
and for your children. Don't feel sorry for me. You're
the ones that need pity and mercy, not me. I'm in control of this. And when he got to Mount Calvary
and the soldiers were prepared to do what they always had to
do, force the victim. down to the ground and one or
two soldiers hold them there while the other drove the nails
in, the Lord Jesus lays himself down. He's in control. And the soldiers are looking,
he's not resisting. No, he's not. He laid his life
down for the sheep. No man took it from him. And while he's on the cross,
He had the wherewithal to pray for his church, for his children.
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. We don't
know what we do. We don't know how bad our sin
is, but we have an advocate with the Father who is interceding
for us and saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. He had the wherewithal to provide for his mother when
he told John, your mother, told Mary, your son, he had the mercy
to say to a criminal, a thief, a robber, and a murderer who
was dying at his side. And I'm just certain, I can't
tell you for sure, I'll have to look it up, but I don't think
the scripture says which was on the right or the left, Looking
at the whole of the Bible, that one that the Lord saved must
have been on his right side. The Lord changed his heart, he
spoke to him. The Lord remembered me when thou
comest to thy kingdom, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.
And he was in complete control of when he would die and how
he would die in drawing his last breath He had already purposed
what he would say, it is finished. He's making a declaration to
his father and to his people that everything God requires
for their salvation he accomplished. Father into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He was confident that in his
death that he would be received into glory. and that his work
would accomplish the purpose that it was intended to do. Why? Because he's reigning over
all things, over all things. We could go back to the Old Testament
and recite story after story after story and see the hand
of God in control of events where men thought This is out of control,
what are we gonna do? And when we read through the
rest of the story, we find that it was the hand of God that was
providing all the way, all the way. Let's just pick one. The gospel
was not God's reaction to the fall. The gospel was not God's
reaction to the fall. God never reacts to anything.
Now Newton may have got it right with the law of physics when
he said every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But our God never reacts to anything. No, the fall was God's ordained
purpose for the gospel. The gospel was long before the
fall. The gospel was an eternal decree that God had purposed
from before time ever was and the fall was to fulfill the gospel,
not vice versa. God's not reacting to man's disobedience
any more than he was reacting to the wickedness in the world
when he set the flood. That flood and that Noah's Ark
was all a picture of the gospel. And as it was in the days of
Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. He's in control
of everything, everything. Oh, how we need to be reminded
of that. We get so, so many trials, so
many troubles. Count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trine of your
faith worketh patience. And when patience is complete,
it will make you perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Does that mean that our circumstances
are going to change? No. That means that we're going
to find ourselves in our tribulation and in our trials and in our
troubles. And that word temptation doesn't just mean an evil temptation
of wickedness. It means a trying, a proving
of our faith. It's what God has purposed in
every one of his children's lives for their good. I was talking
to a dear brother, pastor, and we were lamenting over some trials
and he made the statement, he said, well, I guess I needed
it. That's why God sent it, I needed it. Yep, that's always why God
sends it. I needed it. The Lord knows what he's doing.
He's in control. Everything's right on schedule. And these things are for our
good, that we might find our perfection in Him, in Him. Even when we don't know what's happening,
but we know who's doing it. And that's all that matters. We know he's doing it out of
love. Out of love he's doing it. I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, thoughts of good, not of evil. I'm bringing
you to your expected end. That's what I'm doing, amen?
All right, let's stand together. Tom, number 12 in the Sparrow
Hymnal. We sing this hymn a cappella. Upon my grave.