Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel of John, chapter 18. John chapter 18. Again, as I said last week, I
know we're going through the book of John, and I know the Lord at times is pleased place
something on my heart. And I want us to go ahead and
go to this chapter ahead, John 18. I'd like to read one verse
of Scripture. I've asked Sammy between the
services to read this entire portion of Scripture. But I'd
like to read one verse out of it, verse 26. John 18, verse 26. The Scripture says, 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? Let's pray together. Our Father, as we come before
You this morning, it's so good to be able to call on You and
lift our voice, the voice of our heart, before You and to
look to You and to ask and knock and seek. Lord, You've promised
that if we knocked, if we sought, if we asked, that you would answer. Lord, I ask you this morning,
would you bless the services, bless it to our heart, bless
it to our comfort, bless it to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is in his name we pray.
Amen. Peter told the Lord In John 13, 37, this is what
he said. He said, I will lay down my life
for thy sake. I will. Count on me. And the Lord told him, he said,
Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me
thrice." After our Lord was betrayed by
Judas, the truth of our Lord's words began to come to pass. In John 18, Verse 15 to 18, the Scripture
says, And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. And I truly believe that the
other disciple was John, the one that was penning this book
under the inspiration of God's Spirit. Simon Peter followed
Jesus, and so did another disciple. And 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 in Peter. Then saith the damsel
that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this
man's disciples? And he saith, I am not. And the servants and officers
stood there who had made a fire of coals, and it was cold. And they warmed themselves. And
Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Look at verse 25. Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself and said therefore unto him, Are 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? And Peter then denied
again, and immediately the cock crewed. Peter stood on the outside, and
the one of the disciples says that knew the high priest had
come to the door that was the entrance way into the hall there
where the Lord was being tried. And the scripture says that he
came in standing around the cold, the fire, warming himself, listening
what's going on. Verse 19 of John 18 says the
high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and his doctrine. I just imagined, you know, here's
Peter listening to that high priest start talking about himself
and those that had followed the Lord. Next thing you know, they're
starting to ask him others. You're one of them, aren't you? Let me tell you, that Spirit
right there is in every one of us. That flesh is in every believer. Fear. Doubt. Oh, but the omniscience of our
Lord, how gloriously As it set forth in telling Peter, this
is what you're going to do. But also the sickening reality
of the presence of sin in seeing that we actually do it. When
that rooster crowed, I was over at the house the other day. It
was during the day. I mean, you know, I'm used to
hearing rooster, you know, you always think a rooster's going
to crow early, early, early in the morning. This one was crowing
in the middle of the day. And I just, I don't know, I just,
standing out there, I happened to hear it, you know. I thought
that was kind of an unusual sound for me, hearing that rooster
crow out there in the middle of the day. But I'll bet you, though not
many people might have heard that rooster crow that day, at
night, whenever Peter, after he had denied the Lord three
times, and that rooster began to crow. Boy, what significance
that crow and rooster must have had to Peter. He heard it. And you know the Lord heard it.
I mean just moments before. Matthew 26, 74, 75 says this,
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the
man. And immediately the cock crew
and Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said unto him,
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out,
and he wept bitterly." Can you imagine how he felt when all
of a sudden he realized, the Lord told me, I'm I'm going to
deny him three times. And I had just sat there and
told him, I will die for you. I'll go to my grave for you.
I will never deny you. How the words of our Lord must
have gripped Peter's heart when he remembered these words, He
that denieth me before men. shall be denied before the angels
of God." As long as the world stands,
Peter's denial is going to be an instructive example of whatever
believer will do if the Lord doesn't restrain him. But it's
also a wonderful example of those that God Almighty has purposed
to not allow to finally perish. Let me read that Scripture again,
Luke 12, verse 9. You see that ETH? He that denieth,
and denies, and denies, and denies, and denies, and goes to his grave
denying. He that denieth me, him will
I deny before the angels. Thanks be unto God, the God of
all grace, that all of us who are born in Adam have continually
denied the Lord until The Lord in His infinite mercy and grace
was pleased to call us out of darkness. And then, being kept
by the power of God, He keeps us right now. And that we cannot,
we cannot with an unchecked heart, an unchecked will, unchecked
rebellion, we cannot deny Him. Oh, we feel the presence of sin. And when we find ourselves wavering,
it grieves a believer. It grieves me. It grieves me
to disrespect Him. It grieves me to find myself
with times, when I realized at times, of unfaithfulness. It
grieves a believer. They cannot, they cannot continue
like that. They cannot continue. But from the words of the mouth
of one of the servants of the high priest, when he looked at
Peter and said, did I not see thee in the garden with him?
I know, I know, I know the context of when that was spoken. I know
what happened. I can read what happened. I know
that Peter denied the Lord three times. The Lord told him he was
going to. And he did! Didn't I see you with him in
the garden? I know the context of that message. But I want us
to look at that question that was asked, Peter. And I want
us to look at those words as being spoken by the God of all
grace, and the way that He has everlastingly
seen His people in Christ. Not from the words of the servant. I want to look at those words
as being the words of Jehovah, speaking to the objects of His
mercy. Did I not see thee in the garden
with Him? I pray that this message might
be a blessing, might be a comfort, hope, peace for God's people. We need some comfort, don't we?
I need the Lord to comfort my heart. I need the Lord to settle
my heart. I need that. Let me ask you this. In light of our Lord, Father,
Son, Spirit, Jehovah, asking this question. Did I not see
you with Him in the Garden of Eden? In Genesis 2, verses 16
and 17, the Scripture says, In the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree thou mayest freely eat. For the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil Thou shalt not eat of it, for in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." In the day you eat, thou shalt
surely die. Adam and Eve, according to the
scriptures, did eat of the fruit, being tempted by Satan. And the
Lord? who saw their fall before they
actually ate in the day that you eat, in the day that you
eat, thou shalt surely die. And the Scripture says in Genesis
3, verse 7, And the eyes of them when they ate were both opened,
and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves
together. and made them aprons. As soon
as they ate of that fruit that God forbid, they knew. They knew. I've rebelled against
God and I have no covering. I am open before Him. I have no place to hide. What
am I going to do? Where am I going to go? So they
decided what they'd do is they'd take some fig leaves and sew
them together and make them a covering. This will suffice. And the Scripture
says that the Lord came in the cool of the day, walking, and
called to Adam. He said, Adam, where are you?
As it's been said, and rightfully so, the Lord knew where he was.
Adam knew where he was. And Adam knew the Lord knew where
he was. And he said, I heard you. And I was afraid. He said,
afraid? Did you eat the fruit? Well,
he said, the woman that you gave me, she gave it to me. And I did eat. And the Scripture
says that Adam and Eve was driven from the garden but in mercy. Genesis 3.21, it says, unto Adam
also and to his wife did the Lord make coats of skins and
clothed them. Those fig leaves of their making
was not going to suffice. Almighty God had set forth. They were going to die. And they
were guilty in themselves. But in clothing them with the
coats of skins, the Lord God of heaven, who had seen the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, the God of all grace
and mercy and compassion, it was in Christ, the surety of
the sheep, that God's people were elected, placed in Him,
And Adam, in the garden, in the fall, a picture, a type of all
God's elect, was never removed from his place of security and
hope. He was never removed. His fall
in rebellion against God did not negate his position in the
Savior, in the surety. That blood that would put away
his guilt must be shed. An animal had to die for God
to get the skins to put on Adam and Eve. An animal had to die. Blood had to be shed. Righteousness
had to clothe them. Whenever Jacob came to Isaac,
Jacob wanted the blessing. He had the birthright. Esau gave
it to him. Esau was hungry. Jacob said,
I've got something to eat. Give me your birthright. He said,
I'll give it to you. I'm about to die. It doesn't matter to
me. He had the birthright. He was going to get the blessing.
But do you know how he got that blessing? His mama, Rebecca,
put one of Esau's coats, one of his garments on Jacob. It
was that coat of Esau before Isaac, Jacob, stood. And Isaac
asked him, he said, are you my son Esau? Jacob said, I am. Isaac said, you sound like Jacob. He said, come here close, let
me smell you. He came to his dad and his dad
reached over and... He said, yeah, yeah. He said,
you're Esau. You smell like Esau. You smell
like the one that I love. In that beautiful picture, there
was Jacob, the trickster, the huckster. Jacob lied. You and I have two. And I'm telling
you, the reason that Jacob was accepted, he was accepted in
Isaac's face, in Isaac's eyes, in Isaac's heart. He was accepted
for Esau's sake. What a picture. What a picture. There's a beautiful picture of
the objects of God's mercy. Accepted in the Beloved. He who has made sin. He who has
made what we are. Accepted. It was Adam and Eve. And in the rebellion, in their
fall, God justly, justly separated them from Himself. But when He
separated them, He separated them in mercy. He clothed them. I'm telling you, our falling
Adam never, never put away our union with Christ. We were chosen
in Him, as brothers Scott said, where God chose us and put us.
That's where He kept us. Let me ask you this. From the
words of our Lord, did I not see thee in the garden of rebellion? Did I not see you in the fall
in that garden with Him? Did I not see you in union with
Him? Did I not? Secondly, did He not see us with
Him in the garden of Gethsemane? Turn to John 17. I'm going to start at verse 25,
then I'm going to read through the first nine verses of chapter
18. John 17, verse 25, O righteous
Father, here's the Lord praying. The world hath not known Thee,
but I have known Thee. And these have known that thou
hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, and I in them." When Jesus had spoken these words, he went
forth with his disciples over the brook of Kidron where was
a garden into which he entered in his disciples. And Judas also,
which betrayed him, knew the place, for oftentimes Jesus resorted
thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a
band of men of officers from the chief priests 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 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 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, I have lost none." Though having fallen in Adam,
how wonderful it is to behold the surety of being kept by the
Savior. It was the Lord alone who would
suffer. It was the Lord alone being made
sin for His people. It was the Lord alone who could
put away the guilt by the shedding of His own blood. It was a garden,
the Scripture says. The Lord went there often with
His disciples. Judas knew where it was. And
it was in that garden that those The priest, well, those that
were going to take him, Judas was with them. He came to the Lord and he asked
Him, he said, Who are you looking for? Who do you want? They said,
Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I'm He. He said,
I'm the one you want. I'm the one you want. You let
these go. I'm the one you desire. I'm the
one that will pay. I'm the one that's going to suffer.
You let these go. You have no quarrel with them.
I'm the one. The scripture sets forth, we
looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Micah 7.18, who is it God
likened to be? that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. These that I have ever stood
for, these for whom I am the substitute, these who were mine
from before the foundation of the world. These that I lay down
my life for. These that I pay the absolute
totality of their guilt before my blessed Lord. These for whom
I bear the curse, the penalty, the wrath against sin. I'm the one that pays. I hold
their total debt. Everything that is due before
God Almighty, I answer for. And if I answer, and I do, if
I answer for every one that the Father has given me, you let these go. You let them
go. You don't have anything against
them. These are innocent. These in me have no guilt. There's no condemnation to them
that be in me. From the mouth of our Father,
did I not see thee in the garden? of Gethsemane with him? Did I not see him answer for
you? Did I not see him bear your responsibility? No charge. No charge. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity. Thirdly, did He not see us with
Him in the garden of His crucifixion and His burial and His resurrection? Look at John 19. John 19. I want
to start in verse 38. John 19. 38. And I want to read through
the first 16 verses. of John 19, starting in verse
38, after the crucifixion. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
And Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the
body of Jesus, and there came also Nicodemus, which at first
came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus,
and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner
of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher
wherein was never yet laid. And there laid they Jesus therefore
because of the Jews preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh
at hand. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early. When it was yet dark under the
sepulchre, and seeing the stone rolled away from the sepulchre,
then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, to the other disciple
whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the
Lord out of the sepulchre. And we know not where they have
laid him. Peter therefore went forth from the other disciple
and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together, and
the other disciple did outrun Peter. He came first to the sepulchre,
and he stooping down, looking in, saw the linen clothes lying,
yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following
him, and went into the sepulchre. And seeth the linen clothes lying,
the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen
clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went
also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre,
and he saw and believed. As yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples
went away again into their own home. But Mary stood without
at the sepulchre, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet where the
body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back
and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence,
tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary, she turned herself, and saith unto
him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." When our Lord went to the cross,
in that place where the scripture says, verse 41 of chapter 19,
in that place where he was crucified, there was a garden. In that place
where he was crucified, there was a garden. In that place where He was crucified,
knowing that I being chosen in Him, eternally with Him, being
in Him, the Apostle Paul says, I was crucified with Him. All
of His spiritual body in Him, with Him. When He went to the
cross, And He, as their representative, as their substitute, absolute
substitute, made sin, crucified under the judgment of Almighty
God, died under God's wrath, justly buried, buried with Him,
Once placed in Him, we are not out of Him. Thanks be unto God
for that. Buried with Him. And three days
later, raised with Him. Raised because of our justification. Almighty God who justified us
freely by His grace, from before the foundation of the world,
because God saw the Lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. And having seen Him, having seen Him pay the price,
the Father who first trusted in Christ, it was the Father
that trusted in Christ first, He saw our guilt. Paid for. He saw us die in Him. He saw the guilt of what we are. Paid in full by His precious
blood. Buried with Him. Raised with
Him. Did I not see you there in the
garden of satisfaction? The satisfaction of justice,
judgment? Did I not see you in the garden
of that glorious victory? And do we not now behold Him,
as Mary did, to be the resurrected Savior? Almighty God raised Him
from the dead and us in Him. And now we behold Him who is
our Master and our Lord. Death, hell, and the grave has
no power over those who are in Christ Jesus. Our Lord asked
Mary when she came to Him. She didn't know who He was. She
thought He was a gardener. He says, Why weepest thou? Whom
seekest thou? We have no reason to grieve.
We have no reason to weep. Who do we seek? I'll tell you
who we seek. We seek Him. We seek Him. We're like the bride in the Song
of Solomon. Seest thou Him whom my soul loveth?" God's people, they seek Him. They seek Him. They long after
Him. Lord, tell me of Yourself again.
Tell me by Your Holy Spirit. Tell me one more time how You
put away my guilt. Tell me one more time. I'm a
dying creature. I know that. Tell me one more
time how my sin was paid by that precious blood. Tell me one more
time how I was buried with Him, raised with Him, ascended with
Him, and I'm seated right now in the heavenlies with Him. Right
now. I can't grasp hold of that, but
one day I'm going to see Him as He is and I'm going to know
Him. I'm going to know Him as I'm known. and will be like Him. And I know as He is right now
in this world, so are we. I know that. Did I not see Thee
in the garden of suffering and resurrected glory? Did I not
see Thee with Him? And then lastly, did He not see
us with Him? The church. in this world, in the garden
right now, in this garden right now. Have I not always seen you
in the garden with Him? Look at Song of Solomon. Song
of Solomon 4. Song of Solomon 4, verse 16. Psalm 416, awake, O north wind,
and come thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof
may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. I am coming to my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends,
drink. Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved."
As the objects of his mercy, the scripture bears out that
we are in this world right now. We are in this world, but we
are not of this world. We don't think like the world.
We don't worship like the world. And our Lord has set forth that
we in this world right now, that we're a garden. A garden. A garden of the Lord's making.
A garden of the Lord's pleasure. A garden of the Lord's grace
and compassion. And while we're here, here we
are this morning. Objects of God's mercy. Everyone
that knows Him. You're His garden. And our Lord prays, "'Awake,
O north wind, and come thyself. Blow upon my garden, that the
spices might flow out.'" The fruits of God's Spirit. Not
that which was created by us. We've not done anything. Without
Him, we'd do nothing. But that north wind of His chastening
love, That's always for our good. The afflictions that sends us,
drives us to cast ourselves upon Him who alone is our peace and
comfort and hope. But then blow south, south wind,
the warm wind of His comfort. and the reminding us of His eternal
mercy and compassion. I've told you before, I got one of my kids here this
morning that I guarantee you she'll bear it out too. You know,
I know a lot of parents have children that never do wrong.
I did. And when I had to discipline
them, And I had to, as the Scripture says, blow a north wind in that
chastening hand of God's love. I'd always tell them, I said,
now for a mistake, I'm not going to discipline you. Not for a
mistake. And I think I know the difference. But for rebellion. For rebellion. If I had to take them and discipline
them, and I did. But not a time would go by that
I can remember, Hannah you may but I don't think so, not a time
went by that I wouldn't take them and set them in my lap and
tell them I love you. Tell them I didn't do this because
I hate you, I did this because I love you. And that north wind
of chastisement would be followed by the south wind of love and
affection. And I'd let them know, I do this
because you're mine. I want you to remember who you
are and whose you are. I want you to know that I do
love you. Our Lord says to us, I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. Blow upon my garden that the
spices thereof may flow out." Believer, this life is but a
vapor. And our Lord shall perfect, shall
mature us according to His good pleasure. You that know Him and
love Him, from the heart of our Father, did I not see you in
the garden of rebellion when you fell? and rebelled against
me. But when you fell, I, in absolute
mercy, eternal mercy and grace, did I not see you in Him, with
Him in the garden? Did I not see you in the garden
of Gethsemane, when He has eternally answered for you? He said, I'm
the one you want. I'm the one that answers. I'm
the one you seek. You let these go free. Did I
not see you in the garden of His substitutionary death and
His burial and resurrected glory? Did I not see you in Him, risen
in Him, victorious in Him, more than conquerors in Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us? Have I not always seen you in
the garden of His mercy and grace and His love? You who are the
objects of my mercy and compassion. Did I not see you with him in
the garden? Lord bless these words to our heart for Christ's
sake. Amen.