Good job. Let's go back to John chapter 18. Beginning back in the 13th chapter in verse 31, our Savior revealed himself as the great prophet. Those, that passage of scripture deals with Christ speaking to his disciples in order to prepare them for the task that they would face after our Lord departed from this world.

The responsibility and the duty of preaching the gospel would fall on their shoulders. And there were some final words of instruction that they needed to hear. concerning his own ministry and the gospel of the grace of God that they should and would declare to all who would hear him. He speaks to them as their teacher, as their companion. He speaks to them as their dearest of friends. He speaks to them as their elder brother. And He gives them final instructions because He is leaving. And of course, that troubled these men.

We get into chapter 14 and our Lord noting the dismay of His disciples. Judas, of course, having gone out to continue with betraying Him, our Lord then encouraged them by saying, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And their hearts were troubled because, number one, he had told them that Judas would betray him. Judas was a trusted friend by all of the disciples. He was the one who was the treasurer of the group. Nobody suspected him of being a hypocrite. He went out and preached with the other disciples. And yet our Lord exposed him at the Lord's Supper, the final Passover meal that he shared with these men. And Judas his conscience being pricked, he got up and left. And the disciples, that troubled them greatly.

Whenever a trusted friend, one that you've known for many years, one that you've walked with, preached beside of, as it were, visited the sick and so forth, whenever someone turns against the master, that is very troubling. And a good many of us know something about that kind of betrayal. Betrayal against the Lord Jesus. And so their hearts were heavy. And so our Lord was comforting them. And then the second reason their hearts were heavy and that they needed comforting was because he also exposed Simon Peter as being the one who would deny him three times. Simon Peter. one of the inner circle. Peter, James, and John were so often found together, and they would spend precious time with the Master. Well, they had just gone into the garden with Him. They had just prayed with Him, and then they fell asleep. They were the ones who went up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Him. And our Savior says of Simon Peter, you're going to deny Me three times. And this just shook the other disciples right down to their core. How troubling is that? Somebody who's preached the gospel, somebody who's exalted Christ, somebody who believed God, who followed the Savior, would then deny that he ever knew Him? And the disciples of the other ten men were greatly troubled.

But the main thing that troubled them was that our Lord said that He had to go away. He had to go away. Where is He going? Well, first of all, He's going to the cross of Calvary. He's got to go and lay down His life for sinners. If He doesn't die, we won't live. If He doesn't shed His blood to His death, there's no forgiveness. If he doesn't go to war with the forces of evil on the cross of Calvary, then we'll be defeated by the devil. They yet were to understand how necessary it was for him to lay down his life, for him to die, for him to go away. And then he was also talking about, he would go away to the father. where He would represent not only these men, but all of His people throughout all the ages. He would go back to the Father having finished the work of salvation, the work of redemption. And there He would make intercession for us. So their hearts are troubled. And so our Lord speaks to them as only He can do comforting words.

I'll tell you, in times of grief, in times of trouble, no one can comfort your heart quite like the Savior. As He reassures you, you who are the children of God, He says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. And so he comforts his disciples. And this goes through the end of chapter 13 and all through chapter 14 and all through chapter 15 and 16. And he's instructing them. He's comforting first and then instructing them in the things of God. Those who would go forth to preach the gospel must be taught. must be taught of God, must be instructed in the things concerning Christ. And then having finished with that time of instruction, late that Thursday evening, then he begins to pray.

His work as the teaching prophet of God That's in the end of chapter 13, then 14, 15, and 16. There's the prophet. In the Old Testament, the prophet of God spoke to the people for God. Christ our Savior speaks to his disciples for God. He is our instructor. He was their instructor. And then he gets to chapter 17, and now his role is not so much as a prophet, but as the high priest. And in John chapter 17, we're introduced to his intercessory work, which, by the way, his intercessory work as set forth in John 17 is a picture of and typical of his ministry right now. If I asked you to pray for me, I'm sure that you will, and I appreciate that. Thank you for praying for me. Thanks to those of you who, as you came to worship this morning, you said, Lord, bless our pastor as he preaches. Give him a word from heaven. Give him a word that'll touch my heart. Lord, bless us all with an understanding of the message of the gospel of the grace of God. I appreciate your prayers for me, and I pray for you. I pray for all of you.

But there's somebody else whose prayers I'm more interested in. And that's our great High Priest. He prays for us. Don't be discouraged. Don't be dismayed. Don't be downhearted. Don't be sad. Perk up. Your Savior on high who governs all things for your good, He prays for you before the Father. In fact, his very wounds, his wounds ever plead for you. Forgiveness and righteousness and acceptance of you, your person and your works is because of who he is and what he's done for you. So don't be discouraged.

And in John chapter 17, Christ prays for them. Now, the role of the high priest in the Old Testament was twofold. He made intercession for the people. The prophet, he spoke to the people for God. The high priest, he dealt with God on behalf of the people. And here is our great high priest in chapter 17 speaking to God for the people. He said, I pray not for the world. I pray for those that thou hast given me. You who believe the gospel. You believe the truth of the gospel because you were given to Christ in old eternity in electing grace. He prays for you.

But the role of a high priest, not only was that of interceding with God for the people, it was also offering the sacrifice for the people that would cover their sins in the Old Testament. Sins weren't put away. Sin still existed. But the high priest would offer sacrifices, especially on the Day of Atonement. Read Leviticus chapter 16. And that role is the high priest as the intercessor and the sacrificer to God. That's the role of our Savior. And the Father always hears him and always answers his prayer, and he is the one who offered the sacrifice that put away our sins.

And then we get to chapter 18. And now we begin to see him as the one who is going to offer the sacrifice to God. So he's gonna continue with his ministry as the high priest, but also he's gonna show that he's the king. Because all things that will happen to him happen because he ordained them and he's bringing it all to pass.

You'll notice here in chapter 18, look at verse one. When Jesus had spoken these words, so that's his prayer in John 17. When he had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. And that led up to the Mount of Olives. into which he entered this garden and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, he knew the place because our Lord often resorted here.

It's called the Mount of Olives because it was a grove of olive trees. And this is where the olives were pressed to make olive oil. And our Savior often went into Gethsemane And in order to get there, he had to cross the Brook Sedron. Sedron wasn't, usually no water flowed through Brook Sedron, except when it rained. But the real purpose of the Brook Sedron was, it's down in the valley. And up on top of the hill was the temple. And in the temple, they offered sacrifices, the priests did. Especially this time of year, thousands of Passover lambs, they died. The blood was shed and the blood ran down channels at the back of the temple, ran down these channels into the brook Cedron, which means dark and gloomy. because that's where the blood flowed to.

And our Lord Jesus, like David before him, and this is recorded back in 2 Samuel. David, you'll remember, he was cheated of the throne by his son Absalom. He was a real hellion. He was a real rebel. And finally, he run his dad off the throne and out of town.

And it says there, and in the Old Testament, it's a chedron. In the New Testament, in the Greek, it's cedron. David went through this same brook, barefooted, head covered, weeping. He had been betrayed by a hythyphal, who was kind of a type of Judas, the way Judas was betraying our savior.

And David went forth, and here our Lord, he's crossing the same Brook Sedrum. And lots of blood flowed out of the temple. I can see it in my mind's eye, can't you? There's the temple up there, glorious. And all of these hundreds and hundreds of sacrifices were being offered, and the blood's got to go somewhere. And so they made it so that the blood ran down in channels to the brook Sedrum. and then flowed on for several miles.

And our Lord, like David did, our Lord crossed over the brook Cedron. He crossed over those dark, murky, muddy waters. He crossed over blood that could never put sin away. Because the scripture says the blood of bulls and goats can't erase sin. It can't get rid of sin.

And here's the savior of sinners and he goes across the brook Cedron with this blood flowing and he wades through knowing that he's going to the cross to do what the blood of those animals could never do. He's going to put sin away. He's going to wash it away with his own blood.

And then he makes his way up the Mount of Olives. And then some soldiers, being directed by Judas, approached him. They've got their staffs, spears, holding lanterns and torches, and they approached the Savior.

And we read here in the fourth verse, something that we must not overlook. Look at verse four. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, he knew what was gonna happen. You know how he knew? He ordained it. He's the King who had all of this purposed.

You see, before the world ever began, Christ the Savior, in the covenant of grace, volunteered to the Father and to the Spirit that He would, in time, go into the world, He would clothe His deity, His majesty, with human flesh. And He would have a human body and a human soul. And in that body, he would obey God's law. And then he would go to the cross of Calvary and he would lay down his life to save the people of his love, the people of his choice.

Because the Bible says the soul that sinneth shall die. And the only reason we're not gonna die eternally The only reason we're not gonna face the wrath of God and the judgment of God is because our substitute faced the wrath of God and the judgment of God in our stead. And our Lord is on the way. He's on the way to the cross.

You'll notice in, and I took my title from the first verse. And the fourth verse, he went forth. Jesus went forth. There's no reluctance. They didn't have to, you know, hold the lanterns up and says, well, where is Jesus? Do y'all know where Jesus of Nazareth is? There is no hesitation on his part. In verse four, again, it says he went forth. He is the one who takes the initiative. That's what I want you to see. He had volunteered to be our substitute and our savior before the world began. He's the lamb slain before the world began. And now here he is and he goes forth.

Jesus went forth. He goes forth like a brave warrior. He goes forth into the battle because make no mistake about it, Calvary is going to be a battle. And the only one who can win the battle against the forces of evil is one who is God himself and bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He goes forth to meet the enemy. And he knew all things that should come upon him. He knew what people were gonna do to him. He knew what these men were gonna do to him. He knew of the beatings that awaited him.

You see, up until this point, nobody had ever laid a hand on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they wanted to. Oftentimes they picked up stones to stone him. He wouldn't let them throw a stone. One time in Nazareth, they wanted to kill him. He just passed right through their midst. And the reason was because, and the Savior said this, the reason was because he said, mine hour is not yet come. But in John chapter 12, he said, mine hour is come. By that, he didn't mean my 60 minutes. He meant this is my time. This is the time appointed to me from old eternity. This is the time of redemption. This is the time for me to die.

He knew what awaited him. He knew about the crown of thorns. He grew the bushes. from which the thorns were taken. He gave the people who wove the thorns into some sort of a crown, he gave them the intelligence to do that. And when they nailed the nails in his hands, those Roman nails, spikes about yea long, He made the mine ore in the mines. He gave the men who mined it, the understanding and gifts that they had to work with mine ore. Every facet of his agony and grief, he knew it all. He knew exactly what awaited him.

And there's something else he knew. He knew that the wrath he was going to have to bear would be awful. You have no idea, I have no idea of the vengeance of God that would be poured out into the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath of God, the fury of God just pounded on him, pounded on his soul, punished him. In three hours of time, all of the sins of all of the people of all of the ages, the sins were laid on him and the father just, oh, took out his vengeance on him. Can you possibly imagine the vengeance of almighty God? Well, you can't, and I can't either. But it fell into the soul of the Savior. And because it fell into the soul of the Savior, it'll never fall on us. He was forsaken and will never be forsaken.

He knew full well what awaited him. And he goes forth to the fight. He goes forth to the battle. He goes forth to the war. Here's a war for our soul right here. And behold our valiant captain of our salvation, always triumphant. And we watch him as he defeats the enemy. In fulfillment of Genesis 3 15, he crushed the head of the serpent. And I'll tell you something else he did away with, our sins. He, as it were, wrapped our sins up and cast them into the depths of the deepest sea, never to be seen again. This is our triumphant captain who wages war for us. He knew full well what was gonna happen. Because everything that would happen to him, he purposed what happened to him. It's the only way he could save us.

You see sometimes maybe a crucifix or you see somebody supposed to be Jesus hanging on a cross and you see a little bit of blood here and a little bit of blood here. He was a gory mess. Why did He bear that? Because He loved us, that's why. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be propitiation for our sins.

So they come after Him. And He takes the initiative. He says to them, who are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And that ought to take your mind back to the book of Exodus. When Moses said, Lord, you want me to go and deliver your people? Whom shall I say has sent me? Just tell the people, I am that I am hath sent you. Here's what Christ is saying, I'm Jehovah's Savior. Who you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth. I'm Jehovah Jesus. I'm Jehovah the Savior. And just the power of His words. Here's the words of the King. Just knocks them all flat on their behinds. And they got up. And He said, Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I have told you that I am. And they despised him saying that. That just infuriated, that just poured gas on the fire. Because they knew what he was saying. He was identifying himself as that one who spoke to Moses back in the book of Exodus. And this is what they had against him all along. You being a man, make yourself out to be God. He is God. And the power of his word knocked them down. And now he says, I've told you that I am.

And then, here are these disciples behind him. I bet you they're scared to death. Here come all these soldiers as mob. They got blood in their eyes. Here come the soldiers. They're ready to beat up on somebody. And he said this. He said, I've told you that I am. If you seek me, I order you to let these go. You can't have me and have my people. You can't punish me and punish my people. You can't put me to death and put my people to death. It cannot be. See, he was the true substitute. And here he is keeping his people safe. And I say to all of you who are the children of God, He took your place. And not only did the soldiers take him, and the religious leaders take him, but the justice of God got a hold of him. And as it were, he also said to the justice of God, you gonna take me? These gotta go free. He can't have all of us. Take me! And the disciples, they weren't punished. And the justice of God was satisfied by the death of Christ. And the justice of God knows we took Christ. He's the only one we want. And having punished him, the justice of God lets us go free. free.

And he said that, verse 9, that the saying might be fulfilled, which he spoke back in John 17 in the 12th verse, by the way, of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. All that the Father giveth me, Christ said in John 6, shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I'll let no wise cast out. And of all that you gave me, Father, I'm not going to lose any of them. We're safe because of who our Savior is and because of what He accomplished for us. He was our Redeemer, and He was successful. He fought the war for us. And he won. He won. Because you see, yes, he did die. You say, well, but he died. But that wasn't a defeat. There's no defeat at Calvary. Christ was not a victim. Please know that. He wasn't a victim. He was the conqueror. He bashed in the brains of the devil. He put our sins away. You say, but he died. Yes, he did die and his soul went to glory. Then three days and three nights later, he came back. His soul came back and joined himself to that body and that body was glorified. Glorified. And in that body, he appeared to a lot of people. In fact, we read in 1 Corinthians 15, above 500 people all at one time. And he went back to heaven. And there's a man in glory. He's our Savior. He accomplished redemption. What's his name? I Am, that's his name. He's Jehovah Jesus, our successful Savior.

Oh, may God bring you to trust Him, to believe Him, to rest in Him. Nobody else can help you. Nobody else. All I can do is tell you the truth, but I can't do anything for you inwardly. I can't do anything for your soul. That's the work of God. That's His specialty, is revealing Himself to sinners. who deserve the worst that God can give, but by grace, we get the best God can give. He gives us Christ and all good things in Him.

Let's sing a closing song, shall we? Look at 450 years ago, Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Hymn number 450. And I'm going to ask you to stand and we'll just sing one stanza. That's the first stanza. Isn't the love of Jesus our Savior something wonderful?

Let's stand together.

There will never be a sweeter story
Story of the Savior's love divine
Love that brought Him from the realms of glory
Just to save a sinful soul like mine.

Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful. Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me.

Good day, be here tonight. you you