You wonder, as I said, why things
happen. If anything, they're to make
us pause and think about our Lord who does all things. Have
you ever just dropped something on the floor and thought, why
did that happen? Everything. The Lord does everything,
everything. If anything, it's to make us
stop and think about Him. We sure need patience. I know
that. Everything is a trial of our patience. Sometimes the smallest
things just make us fret, don't they? Oh, how we need patience. Everything is working together.
If we just knew, if we saw, know what God knows and how he's operating,
we see how everything is so intricately woven together and must happen. Someday we're going to know.
All right. John 18. Betrayal. This chapter deals
with betrayal and denial. Simon Peter denied the Lord. It was terrible. Judas betrayed
the Lord. It was worse. What's the difference? There's a difference. There's
a difference. This is a serious and sobering
yet comforting lesson to be learned through Simon Peter, and I hope
we'll hear this. This is recorded in all four
Gospels. Judas' betrayal and Simon's denial
is recorded in all four Gospels. That makes it life and death, doesn't it? As
I told you, was it last Sunday, that Judas' name is brought up
22 times. We must need to hear that. Must
need to hear it. Must be of great importance.
Judas' betrayal proved him to be lost. Proved him to be reprobate. Reprobate means God leaves you
alone. Leaves you to yourself. You don't
want to be left to your will. Man fancies he has a free will. You don't want for God to let
you have your will. You will do what Adam and Eve
did. You will not come to Christ. Christ said, you will not come
to me. To be left to yourself is to
be a reprobate. God gave them over. Romans 1
deals with it several times. Judas' betrayal. Judas's betrayal proved him to
be lost and reprobate. Simon's denial proved him to
be just a sinner. Simon's denial proved him to
be a man at best. He was an apostle. Are apostles above sinning? No. Every man at his best state is
altogether vanity. Our Lord told his apostle, without
me, You can do nothing. As we noted last week, that Simon
Peter, after it was all over and the Lord had him write an
epistle, one of the first things out of his mouth, from his pen
was, we're kept by the power of God. Simon Peter realized
that because he's the one that spoke up so quickly. They may
leave you, not me. Simon, Simon. That's trusting yourself, isn't
it? That's confidence in yourself, not looking to cry. But Simon's
denial humbled him. And boy, do we need humbling.
If we get lifted up with pride, we're going to fall. And if we
belong to the Lord, he's going to humble us. He's going to humble us. And
Simon's denial converted him. Our Lord said, when you're converted Turn from this bad state that
you've got, from this pride you've lifted up in. When you're converted,
you're going to realize you're less than the least of all the
saints. You've puffed up above your brethren. When you're converted,
you're not going to look down on them. You're not going to
boast of yourself. You're going to thank God to
high heaven that you're just one of them. And you're going to help them,
you're going to forgive them, you're going to love them, you're
going to esteem them higher than yourself when you're converted. You're going to strengthen the
brethren, not be critical of them, not be judgmental of them.
You're going to be so thankful that God didn't leave you alone
like Judas Iscariot. There's a difference between
betrayal and denial. Now, betrayal is to sell out. the Lord Jesus Christ. Betrayal
is to want the favor of men that Judas
rubbed shoulders with religion. It was the Jews that he began
to cavort with. It was the Jews. It was the Pharisees,
the scribes. Maybe he thought, these are nice
fellows. Why is the master so hard on
these fellows? They're good people. They're
devout. They're moral, they're upright.
They worship God. They worship the same God. He's
too narrow. He's too big. Judas. He said they're hypocrites. He rubbed shoulders with them.
Like the Pharisees themselves, I guess he wanted their favor
more than the favor of God. He preferred their approval over
the approval of Christ. He exchanged Jesus Christ for
the favor of men and for money. He's in hell right now because
of it. But this happens all the time. This happens all the time. Our
Lord said, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Just
about anything. Just about anything. And if we, now I'm speaking to
us, us, me included, if we don't truly believe God, love the Lord,
love His salvation, you and I or I will leave eventually. It's just a matter of time. We'll
trade Christ, we'll trade His truth, we'll trade His church,
for a job, for home, husband, wife, children, possessions,
pleasure, fun and games, something, anything. We'll trade. If Christ
is not in us, if the love of the Son of God is not in us,
we haven't been born of God, we will leave. It's just a matter
of time. If you can leave, you will leave. If you don't, he
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. And it's just a matter of time.
It's just a matter of time. Judas never knew the Lord. Judas
knew doctrine. Judas believed maybe in his head,
but he never loved the truth in his heart. He never loved
Christ. He never knew Christ in that way. He never had this
relationship with Him. Nobody suspected him. He seemed
sincere enough. He seemed orthodox in his doctrine,
but he didn't know the Lord. He didn't love the Lord. He didn't
love his brethren because he dropped them off. See you later. I don't care what happens to
you. Happens all the time. Happens all the time. Doesn't
it? Can it happen to you? What's going to keep it from
happening to you? Not a what, it's a who. Hebrews 3, go over to Hebrews
3 with me. Hebrews chapter 3. Oh, I have
so much to... I wish all this hadn't happened
this morning, but it did. And I had so much to deal with,
so many scriptures. But Hebrews 3, we need to look
at this because it's spoken, it's written so many times. All of Hebrews. You know, all
of Hebrews warns us All of Hebrews is written to the Hebrews, warning
them about the Jews in the wilderness. They all heard the gospel. They all saw glory. They all
heard His voice. They all experienced mercy and
grace and goodness. But with most of them, God was...
They perished in the wilderness. That's what the whole book of
Hebrews is a warning to us. Oh, don't let these things slip.
Look at Hebrews 3 verse 12. It says, Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily
why it's called today. That's what I'm doing right now,
exhorting you why it's called today. Today, we have this day. Lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. Riches are
deceitful. The world is deceitful. People
are deceitful. God's not. God's truth is the
only thing that's not deceitful. He says in verse 14, we're made
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. While it is said today, if you'll
hear His voice this morning, His voice, we're reading His
voice, His word, hear it, harden not your heart as in the provocation. As the children of Israel did
provoke Him constantly. Look at Luke 22 with me. Luke
22. This is another account of Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial. But Luke 22, look over here with
me. Judas betrayed the Lord with
a kiss, didn't he? And you know when he appeared
up front loved the Lord Master and kissed him. Wow, how corrupt
can you be? I love you brother. Sell out. You know someone who professes
to love Christ and his people and leaves and goes back to the
world or goes to false religion is saying to the world. What
they're saying to the world is there's nothing to all that.
When they leave the gospel, the truth, they're telling the world
there really is nothing to this Bible and God and Jesus Christ. That's what they're saying. And they're saying to their families,
saying to their children, someone who leaves the gospel and takes
their children out for a month, they're saying to their children,
you don't need God, you don't need Jesus Christ. Luke 22, look at verse 47. While he in spake, behold, a
multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went
before them and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said
unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? With
a kiss? You know, Proverbs 27 says faithful
are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful. The Lord's Word, you know what
it first does? It kills before it makes alive.
It wounds before it heals. God's Word doesn't tell you,
smile, God loves you. No, no. That's what false prophets
do. It's deceitful. God's Word kills
before it makes alive, wounds before it heals. Christ said
some hard things. Why? Because Jude wrote about
the hard things that ungodly sinners say against God and do
against God and how God's going to come down hard on them. But
for those who are convicted of their sin and repent and bow
and ask for mercy, God becomes, God is merciful.
That is His mercy. You know, that is His mercy for
you to receive the truth. Hard thing. and not reject it. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. Kisses of an enemy are deceitful. A true friend will
tell you, talk to you, even rebuke you at the risk of you getting
mad at him. But he can't let anything or
anyone come between you and him. That's what a friend does. Talk
to you, even risk wounding and offending you. Our Lord offended
Pharisee, offended them all. They all were offended and they
all left except his disciples. He said, does this offend you?
And what I'm saying offend you? You see, the truth that Christ
preached offended everybody. It offended man. It offended
man's wisdom. It offended man's righteousness.
It offended man's word. It offended man's will. The truth
offends everything about man because man's offensive to God.
And man hates God by nature and truth is offensive to the natural
man. The natural man is enmity against God, Romans 8 and 7.
Won't receive it. It's foolishness to him. We need
offended. So it's a mercy and grace of
God if you hear the truth and are not offended, but you realize,
I'm an offense. I'm an offense to a holy God.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Then comes the gospel. that tells us that He sent His Son to suffer
the judgment, the wrath of God for you. God, you know, is not
well pleased with you, He's well pleased with His Son. And because
His Son did that, there's therefore now no condemnation. I'm no longer
offended with you because Christ bore the offense. Peter's denial. Now, look at
Luke 22. Stay right there, Luke. Satan
is the master manipulator of human nature. He's a master at
it. He knows it. People, if he can woo and manipulate
Eve, Best woman ever, ever. Where
does that leave you? At the mercy of God. We need
to pray without ceasing. Adam was not deceived, Scripture
said. Didn't it? He willfully. There's
free will for you. Adam willfully said, yeah, I want to be God. I like my free will. We look
at Satan, he's the manipulator of it all. He's, he owned, now
here's something we need to know. He owned Judas. He owned him. Judas was the son
of perdition from the beginning. Our Lord never knew Judas. Judas was not his elect. He never knew him. Never loved
him. Never did. He just left Judas
to himself to do what human nature will do. But he owned Simon Peter. He knew Simon Peter. He foreknew
him. Chose him. Predestinated. Called him by
his name. Loved him. Simon loved him. And
yet he let Satan have Simon Peter, briefly. Not for good. But he let him shift him. Look
at verse 24. There was a strife among them.
Luke 22, 24. There was a strife among them.
Which of them should be accounted the greatest? You know, if we
had no pride, there'd be no strife among us. None. We would never be offended. We
would never be offended at one another if we didn't have any
pride. If we really sought God's glory, and really love our brethren. There would be no strife. But
what it is, is you've offended me, or you've offended mine. And if we realize that, who am
I? Who am I? Everything everyone
did offended our Lord. Everything everyone said and
thought offended our Lord's holy nature. What did he do? He was
so merciful. He was so kind. He was so gracious. Look at verse 26. Our Lord said, he that is greatest
among you, let him be as a young, he that is chief as him that
serveth. If we really serve God's cause,
God's glory, not served ourselves, we will be no strife among us.
Verse 31, Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan had desired you. He may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. What is faith? What is faith? Are we kept by
faith? No, we're kept by the power of
God. Faith is a person. Faith is a knowledge of, and
belief in, and trust in, and confidence in a person. We're
going to deal with this a little bit more in the next hour. But
what faith is, is saying that I'm kept by Christ. I'm kept
by God. I'm kept by the Spirit of God.
If He doesn't keep me, I won't be kept. Is that your faith? That Christ
did not fail. If He failed to put away my sin,
if the Spirit of God fails to keep me, I will fail. This is
my faith. My faith is a person. My faith
has found a resting place. It's not in devotion or creed.
I trust the ever-living One. His wounds for me shall flee.
I need no other argument. This is faith. It's not something
you do. It's not faith in your faith.
It's faith in a person. I pray for thee that thy faith
fail not. But when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And Simon said unto him, Lord,
I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And the other gospels say, he
said, I won't leave you. I won't leave you. What should Simon Peter have
said? He might not have denied the
Lord had he said, Now the Lord just said, Satan
hath desired to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. Simon Peter,
I'll go to the death with you. I, I, I, I, you will. What will
you do, Simon? He should have said like James
told us in the book of James, don't say I'll do this, I'll
do that. Say God willing. say if the Lord
will. Simon Peter should have said,
Lord, oh, don't let Satan have me. Oh, Lord, I'm no match for Satan. Lord, if he desires to sift me
like wheat, Lord, don't let him have me. Please, I can't resist
him. Oh, Lord, yes, pray for me. Oh,
Lord, I'll be kept by your grace. Lord, by your grace, I won't
leave you. By your grace, I won't deny you.
By your grace, Lord, by your power, Lord, save me or I perish."
That's what he should have said. And yet he said, no, I'll do
this, I'll do that. Go back to our text. Now, why
did he use Simon? Because Simon was the chief spokesman,
wasn't he? Simon was at this time, the chief
apostle, the leader. And Satan knows that if he can
destroy the leader, he can destroy the whole outfit. He first went after our Lord,
didn't he? He's the captain, he's the
leader, he's the chief apostle, isn't he? Our Lord Jesus Christ.
And our Lord faced him first thing, didn't he? And Satan found
nothing in him. couldn't tempt him, couldn't
defeat him. Satan went away defeated then. So he thought, I'll get him somehow. I'll get his chief apostle. He got Judas and thought, unaware that our Lord is manipulating
this whole thing. Totally unaware. Satan's not
omniscient. Totally unaware he wouldn't have
done it. Totally unaware. I've got him now, Judas. I'll
use Judas, one of his apostles, to sell him out. Boy, that'll
destroy a lot of these disciples. And then Simon Peter. Simon Peter. If I can get him, I'll bring
this whole thing down. You can't bring this thing down.
Nobody can. This is the house the Lord built.
And it's on a sure foundation. And every stone in it, including
Simon Peter, is set in stone and you will not... You may think,
but this is all the Lord's doings. Our Lord had to be denied. The disciples had to forsake
Him because scripture said so. Smite the shepherd, the sheep
will be scattered. It had to happen this way. To fulfill all
scripture, Christ must suffer all things. You with wicked hands
have taken and men did what the lot was cast in the lap here.
What will you do with Jesus? Kill him. But they did what God
determined before to be done. It must happen this way. All
the assembly concerning the Passover shall kill that lamb. They all
kill him. Jew, Gentile, Herod, Pontius Pilate, everybody and
everyone kill him. But they did what God determined
before to be done. Man meant it for evil. Oh, but
God in his great mercy and wisdom and power meant all this evil
for good. The greatest good ever known
to man. But good news. Peter's denial. Peter's denial. Look at verse 10 in John 18.
We haven't even read a verse. I'm sorry. We've read a bunch
of other verses. Look at verses 10 and 11. Look
at this. Simon and his sword. This is good. Simon Peter had
a sword and drew it. Smote the high priest's servant.
Right before this, our Lord said, if you seek me, let these go
their way, that the saying might be fulfilled of them which thou
gavest me, I've lost nothing. That's election. That's perseverance. Preservation. Preservation of
the saints. You have it all here. The gospel
has it all. Man's utter depravity. God's
unconditional election. His particular redemption. He
went, he said, I'm dying. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Irresistible grace and so on. But Simon Peter drew a sword
and smote the high priest's servant, a prominent person, leaving no
doubt that this happened. Cut off his right ear, and there's
much symbolism here, but the servant's name was Malchus. Then
our Lord said, Jesus said unto Peter, put up thy sword into
thy sheath, the sheath. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? Now this is recorded in all four Gospels,
this sword, Simon and his sword. Why is that? show us several
things. Listen, listen. First of all,
to show Christ's person and His power. The first thing our Lord
did was slay every one of these people with a sword out of His
mouth. Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth. Bam! And buddy, they went backward
and fell to the ground. Why didn't they fall forward? Because if any man go back, his
soul has no pleasure. If they go back, back, those
whom he slays with the sword of salvation, they fall forward. They fall on their face at his
feet. Lord save me. Not one of them
did. They fell backward. To show his person his power,
he slew them all with a sword. Then what did he do? After he
slew them, he healed. This man with the ear cut off,
he healed him. Oh, his tender mercies over all
his work. Anybody healed, the Lord does
it, but they don't acknowledge it. They say things like, he
beat cancer. They say things like, oh, the
doctors, aren't they wonderful? Isn't man's technology wonderful? He did this, the Lord allowed
this to happen, secondly, to show us it's not by might, it's
not by power, but it's by my spirit, saith the Lord. Put up
your sword. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but spiritual, the pulling down. This battle that
was raging right here in the garden and before this and after
this was not a carnal conquest. This was a battle, spiritual
battle, that the Lord Jesus Christ was fighting himself. Didn't he tell the children of
Israel through, was it 1 Chronicles, I forget the chapter, Jehoshaphat
and the children of Israel, chapter 26, I believe. He said, the battle's
not yours, it's the Lord's. Put up your sword. The Lord shall
fight this battle this day. Christ is gonna fight this battle.
He didn't need Simon Peter's help. Put up your sword. and to show
us again that Christ came to suffer and die. The cup that
my father hath given me, his wrath, his judgment, shall I
not drink it? Yes, the whole Bible is written
how that Christ must suffer. That's why He came. He came to
suffer and die as the Lamb of God, as the substitute of God.
That's why He came. He didn't come as a martyr. He
didn't come as a mere example. He didn't come for that. He came
to be a substitute, to bear the wrath and the judgment of God
against His people, to put away their sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. That's why He came. He didn't
come to change the world. He came to change His people.
He came to save His people. That's why He came. He did this. He allowed this to happen. The
sword, Simon and the sword, to show us His kingdom is not of
this world. If it were, His servants would
fight. People everywhere are waiting on a battle to happen
where the believers are against the infidels and we're going
to fight. For what? For what? this world? Our Lord said that. My kingdom
is not of this world. If it were, we would put up a
fight. This is spiritual warfare and
God's people overcome one way, by the blood of the Lamb. Look it up. Go through the revelation. You'll see that they all overcame
not by swords, but by the blood of the Lamb. It's a spiritual
battle, spiritual warfare. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood, but principalities and power. And people, it's not
up to you and me to wrestle. It's up to my Lord completely. Resist, yes, but in the faith,
Peter said, in the faith, that is, look into Christ, not in
your own strength," Martin Luther wrote. If you do confide in your
own strength, your fighting will be losing. And to show us that
our Lord allowed this to happen, this sword that cut the man's
ear off, to show us that He has to undo everything we do. If
He doesn't undo what we, we'll be done in if He doesn't undo
what we do. Surely, They're going to take
Simon Peter now. Look, he just cut the priest's
servant's ear off. He's a goner, but no, sir. Well,
it's in plain sight. Everybody knows Simon. That's
the man. Somehow or another, the Lord
blinded them all to what Simon Peter did. Get him. He's one lucky. You can't have
him. Oh man, I'm loving this. The law, the Lord says to the
law, you can't have him. But look, you can't have him. Says to Satan, he's a sinner. Satan's the accuser of the brethren. Look what he did. He just did
that and the Lord said, I didn't see it. And to show us, our Lord allowed
this to happen. He slew them all to the ground
and He cut that fellow's ears off. And to show us that signs
and miracles and wonders don't save people. Miracles and signs and wonders
and healings don't save people. We're saved by the gospel. We're
saved by the truth. We're saved by the, that's the
power of God. We're saved by God convincing
of sin. righteousness, and judgment.
These people saw a miraculous thing, but they weren't saved
by it. It didn't even faze them. Then they took him. Verse 12,
the band and the captain and the officers, Jews, took Jesus
and bound. Did they take him? Could they
take him? Could they take him if he had
not allowed it to happen? No, they couldn't have. Nor you. Nor me. Isn't that good news?
They couldn't take Peter either. They took him. But God's the
one that delivered him up. Like Isaac, that story of Abraham
and Isaac says Abraham laid on Isaac the wood. Isaac was about
20 years old. Strong, robust, a whole lot stronger
than his 110 year old, 120 year old dad. but he was willing. He was so
willing in honor, respect, and love to his father as a type
of Christ, willing for the great joy set before him. God laid
on him the iniquity of the soul. Man, he was willing, willing
to be brutalized, and murdered, and killed for our sake. Led
him away, banned the captain officers of Jews, took him, bound
him, led him away to these religious leaders. You see who they hated
Jesus Christ. They hated him. They still do
today. I know what to say. They said it then, but they did. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and
I'm out of time. But he denied him three times,
just like our Lord said. And there's so much more to be
seen there. We're going to deal with it. You'll deal with it
another time. But I'll tell you this much in
case something happens between now and then, for your comfort. The Lord left Judas alone. He
left him alone. And Judas' conscience, everybody
has a conscience. Some of them are seared with
a hot iron. But Judas, after he did what he did, then he had,
oh, I betrayed innocent blood. You remember that? And he went
out and hung himself. He hung himself. But God didn't
show mercy on him. He didn't repent. He didn't,
the Lord didn't show mercy. Simon Peter, after he did what
he did, he was there in the court and the Lord was over here in
front of these fellas. Simon Peter warming himself by
the fire. And there's so much to be seen
there, because you can't join with those that hate Christ.
You can't warm yourself. What was Simon Peter doing there? He had no business with them.
The other disciples were not there. They were gone. But anyway,
trying to warm himself by the fire, he ended up denying the
Lord three times. You know him. You're one of them.
No, I'm not one of them. I'm not one of them. I'm with
you all. The Lord looked at him. Here's the difference. Here's the difference between
Judas and Sinai Peter. The Lord, it says, looked at
Sinai. It killed him. And he went out. He didn't hang himself, but he
wept bitterly. And right then and there, the
Lord showed him what he was. Right then and there, he showed
him, you're kept by my power. Right then and there, the Lord
looked on him, not with judgment and condemnation, yes, reproof
and rebuke and conviction of sin that caused him to weep bitterly
and to hate himself and loathe himself and see himself for what
he really was. That's mercy. That's grace. That's
love. wounds of a friend. That look
of our Lord both wounded Peter and healed him. That look of
our Lord both killed him and made him alive. That look said,
look at you. And that look said, but I forgive
you. Look to me. Look. It's life in a look. And that's what the Lord does
through the gospel. If the Lord leaves you alone,
you're gone. I'm gone. We're gone. We'll be gone. If
he doesn't look to us with mercy and grace, if he doesn't through
the gospel look upon us and show us for what we are and lead us
back to himself, we're gone. We'll betray him. We'll sell
him out. Oh, may the Lord convert us all. Convert us all. Okay. Okay.