Just because I'm from Texas doesn't
mean I can't spell. First, let me echo what Don said. That was outstanding, Todd. And
to any of those who saw me over there crying, it was because
I had to follow that. If you would, go ahead and turn
with me and your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 18, and
just hold your place there. I want to give you about a 30-minute
introduction and then my first point. Has anybody used this
water, by the way? It doesn't really matter. I'm
from Texas. Our Lord Jesus Christ never thought
a sinful thought. He never spoke an evil word. He lived perfectly. And He lived totally righteous from the cradle to the grave. He had perfectly obeyed his earthly
parents. Imagine that. God in the flesh. And he had always perfectly submitted
to the will of his heavenly And yet the time had come when
the Lord Jesus Christ would suffer the death of the worst despised
and hated man that ever lived. Why? Why? He's perfect. Because of me. Because of you. dying in the place instead of
his elect people. Who can fathom? Who can fathom
that? The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
beloved Son, came into a place called Gethsemane. He came to
pray, and the agony that he would experience that night, cannot be explained by the mere
words of any man. We endeavor to, we try to, we
want to try to enter into the agony the Lord felt, but we can't,
and mere words won't allow us to explain it. We have a lot of things given in scripture that
show us of his physical torment. He was beaten, scourged, spit
upon, his beard plucked out, crown of thorns put upon his
head. But the soul agony. Can't fathom it. Beyond words. And having taken with him this
night Peter, James, and John, he began to be deeply distressed
and troubled. His soul was overwhelmed with
sorrow, even to the point of death, Scripture says. And he
told his disciples to stay there and watch. And Matthew's gospel
account tells us that upon entering the garden, our Lord went a little
further And he fell on his face. God fell on his face. As Todd
said, this is God we're talking about. And he prayed to his father,
and he said, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as thou wilt,
but as thou wilt. Notice that the Lord Jesus' concern
was always the Father's will. I must be about my Father's business. And oh, the heart-wrenching agony
is so endured by the Son of God to save good for nothing sinners
like you and I. That's the gospel. That's good
movement. And in order to save his people,
friends, it would not be possible for this cup to pass from him.
And he would soon drink it dry. Drink dry the cup of God's wrath. This was the will of God in the
salvation of His people. Christ must die in the place
of elect, chosen sinners whom God had given Him before the
world was ever made. And oh, what a dark, dark night
this was. His agony and sorrow were so
great that the scriptures tell us that as He prayed so earnestly,
His was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. What's so agony? And then he
goes back to check on his disciples. Oh, we've got a picture of you
out there, don't we? He goes back and he finds them
asleep. Now, there I am. That's me in the story. And he
said unto Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one
hour? I often think about this when
I endeavor to pray or to sit and hear the glorious gospel
preached. Sadly, I often find it so difficult
to you to give even one hour to prayer. and worship to the
One who gave His very life for me." Watch and pray, our Lord said,
that ye enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. The flesh is weak. And it's ethos.
Oh, this flesh is so weak. And then our Lord left them again
to pray in His words. Where again, O my Father, if
this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will
be done. I pray that God would enable
me to simply pray that way. Lord, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Your will be
done. We know that it always is. But
how I pray that the Lord teach me to bow to His divine will,
His sovereign purpose, and His good providence. I don't want you to think any
less of me than you may already, especially after Donnie's introduction. Just teasing about that, but
I'll be honest with you friends, I can't hardly drive to the grocery
store without shaking my fist at somebody. I must have hit home there. I'll
be watching you as we leave tonight. Isn't that how we are? Upon finding his disciples asleep
again, he went away the third time, the Scripture saying, praying
the same words. And when he came to his disciples
the last time, his words to them were simply, Sleep on now. Sleep on now, he said, and take
your rest. I'm glad he said that. Behold,
the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the
hands of sinners." That's where we take our rest. The hour was at hand for His
great work of redemption, praying salvations of the Lord. It's
His doing from beginning to end. Then Judas, one of the twelve
disciples, he comes with a band of soldiers with swords and staffs
along with the chief priests and the elders and the people.
And Judas had given them a sign, a signal of one that the one
that he kissed was the one that they sought. And he walked up
to our Lord and he kissed him, betrayed with a kiss. I was thinking about that and
studying this, and I thought to myself, is that not what religion
does today? They portray Him with a kiss.
They say good things about the Lord Jesus. They declare Him
to be God's Son. They say that He's made salvation
a possibility. But they do no more than just
portray Him And when Judas came to the Lord,
he said, friend, do what you come for. Call him a friend. The one that betrayed him, friend. So with all that said, let us
continue on in John chapter 18. Let's begin reading in verse
2. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place where Jesus often times sorted thither with
his disciples, went to this garden to pray. And Judas then, having
received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. And
Jesus therefore, look at those next three words, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto
them, who seek ye? Now Christ is an all-knowing
God. We use that big word, omniscient,
it simply means all-knowing. And yet it says, knowing all
things, he says, whom seek ye? He knew who they were seeking.
The Lord Jesus Christ knows all things, even the thoughts and
intents of the heart. There's nothing that can be concealed
from God. He's perfectly acquainted with
every detail. Every detail of every soul in
heaven and earth and even hell. It just popped in my mind, I
remember Brother Henry, Paul's dad years ago, talking about
God's sovereignty. And he said a farmer's out in
the field and he's plowing. It's a dusty day. It hadn't rained
for a while. And if you've ever seen that,
that dust just kicked up. You can't even hardly see. The
whole field looks like it's on fire with dust. And Henry said,
every single particle of dust falls exactly where God ordains
it to fall. That's our That's the God with
whom we have to do. That's the God of the Bible.
That's God. He's all-knowing. He is. He's
all-knowing. Nothing escapes His notice. Nothing
can be hidden from Him. Nothing's forgotten by Him. I
walk in a room anymore and forget what I went in there for. My
God, he doesn't forget anything. And so may we say with the psalmist,
such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high, I can't attain
unto it. His knowledge is perfect. He
never errs, he never changes, and he never overlooks anything.
In Hebrews 14 it says, And neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. David said in
Psalm 139, Thou knowest my down-sitting, my up-rising. Thou understandest
my thoughts afar off. encompass my path and my lying
down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not
a word in my tongue but, Lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether."
I find great comfort in that. This is the same God that says
He loves me. The book of Ezekiel says, For
I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them. What comfort the child of God
finds in this great truth. In times of trouble, in times
of tribulation, in times of trial, we say with Joe, but he knoweth
the way that I take. Why? He ordains it. He directs
my steps. if I'm one of His. He directs
all steps, whether I am or not. And when our hearts and actions
betray our devotion to Him, friends, the searching question from our
Lord comes and says, Lovest thou me? And we say with Peter, Lord,
thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
You know all things. Oh, we don't have to have any
fear about being heard when we pray, do we? It shall come to
pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet
speaking, I will hear. Oh my, the infinite knowledge
of God should fill us with amazement. How far exalted above the wisest
man is the Lord of glory. He most definitely knew all that
should come upon him. He had told his disciples many
times. He said he'd be delivered unto
the chief priest, and here they are. He said unto the scribes,
and there they were, and he said they would condemn him to death.
They'd mock him, they'd scourge him, they'd stood upon him and
kill him, and only for him to rise the third day. It all came
to pass, every bit of it. Oh, beloved of the Lord, God's
Word is clear that Christ our Lord was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God for the salvation of His
people, was determined before the world began. This was no
accident. I remember Pastor Montgomery,
my pastor for nearly 20 years, was on his way to Ashland one
time, had a car. I don't even want to say accident,
because it wouldn't. Had a car crash with the fella,
and said the guy was a big guy. Maurice was no small man, but
got out of the car and walked around the car, and he just kept
saying, well, what do we have here? Walked around to the front
of the car, well, what do we have here? And Pastor Maurice said, an unfortunate
occurrence? That's what it was. It wasn't
an accident. Our Lord knows all things. And
look at verse 4. He says, we're told that our
blessed Savior went forth. Those two words just stuck out
to me when I read this text. Pay close attention to those
two little words. The first thing that came to
my mind is our Lord in John 10 saying, Therefore doth my Father
love me, because I lay down my life. I lay it down that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I've got power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Dear child of God, rejoice in
this glorious truth. Christ went forth." He went forth. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He went forth. He went forth. He went forth of his own accord.
He didn't hide himself in the garden like the first Adam did. He didn't stay until those that
sought his life came up to him. He went forth. And he said unto
them, Whom seek ye? I can see that in my mind. They
say, Whom seek ye? He walked right up. He went forth. Whom seek ye? No, he didn't hide. He was on a mission. A mission
of mercy. He knew full well who they were
seeking after. And they could not have taken
him had he not voluntarily surrendered and made known to them who he
was. He offered himself to them. And
he was willingly taken by them, and he voluntarily suffered what
you and I deserve. And to answer their question
on whom they sought, look at verse 5. They answered him, saying,
Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus saith unto him, I am
he. Notice that he's a palestinian.
He said, I am. Who do you seek? Well, we're
seeking Jesus of Nazareth. You know that fellow that there's
no good thing that's ever come out of that town? He said, I
am. I am that I am. And Judas also,
which betrayed him, stood with them. That was another phrase
that just really stuck out to me. But always remember that
it was our Lord who took the initiative here in His own apprehending
and in His own arrest. When asked the question of whom
they sought, they didn't answer Christ, did they? They didn't
say, we're here seeking Christ, the Messiah. They said, we're
looking for Jesus of Nazareth. They didn't know Him as Christ.
They rejected and denied Him as the Messiah. And I ask you,
do you know Him As Todd so ably preached to us, do you know Him
as Christ, the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us? Or is He just Jesus
of Nazareth to you? One day when our Lord asked Peter,
first He asked, who do men say that I am? Boy, they started
naming them off real quick. And He looked at them and He
said, who do you say that I am? This is a personal thing. And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said,
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. I'm going to tell you something,
flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. And those of you here tonight
that trust Him as the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, let me
tell you, flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you. But my Father
which is in heaven." It's a divine revelation, and it's a divine
intervention, as God revealed to you who Jesus of Nazareth
is. Christ is his title. He's the
anointed one. And then our Lord said, as we
said, I am He. And He said, I am. And this He
claimed Himself to be Jehovah. The great I Am. But even though
He owns, at the same time, He owns the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Why? Once again. His willingness to be taken by
them, His willingness to suffer all He did, and to die on the
cross in our place, in His people's place. He went to the cross with
the joy set before Him for the redemption of His people. He suffered that we might not,
and He died that we might live, and this was His purpose from
the very beginning. And as I mentioned a moment ago,
and I'll hurry along, in verse 5 it says, And Judas also, which
betrayed him, stood with them. To those of you who are yet without
Christ, may God grant you this day to
choose whom you will serve. Will you stand with Judas? Will
you stand with them? Our Lord's enemies who were against
him? Judas used to stand with those
that followed Christ. Now he stood with those that
came against him. Some of you have been with him
for a while. Same as Judas had. But will you trust him until
the end? The man or woman who trusts in Him, endures to the
end, shall be saved." And verse 6, "...as soon then as He had
said unto them, I am He, they went backward and fell to the
ground." Man, you tell me there ain't power in that name, I am. What power is in that name? They
fell backwards. Fell to the ground. Oh, the power
of God, even in His name. And as soon as our Lord answered,
I am, they went backwards. Thunder struck, fell to the ground
in the name of God. It encourages and it revives
those that trust Him, but it struck His enemies down. And
one day all men and women, now you listen to me, if you don't
hear anything else I say, one day all men and women are going
to stand before the great I Am. No man can stand in the presence
of His holiness but those that God puts in the cliff of the
rock and covers with His sovereign hand. That verse in Exodus 33-21,
the Lord told Moses who desired to see His glory. Moses said,
let me see Your glory. And I can just imagine the Lord
shaking His head going, you don't have a clue what you're asking
for. But He said, there is a place by me. that thou shalt stand
upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth
by, that I'll put thee in the clift of the rock, and I'll cover
thee with my hand while I pass by." When He struck these men down,
let me tell you, He could have struck them dead. When He spoke
them to the ground, He could have spoken them right into hell.
But he did not do so for his divine purpose was to be delivered
up and to be sacrificed in the place of his people as their
saving substitute. The hour of his suffering had
now come, and he wouldn't let it pass. He had already prayed,
Lord, if it be Thy will, let this stuff pass from me. It wasn't
the Lord's will. He had to lay down his life. Then verse 7, "...asked he them
again, Whom seek ye?" Why did he ask again? Well, their answer tells us a
lot. They said Jesus of Nazareth.
The power of God had knocked them backwards, and they get
up, and they say, we're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. After
asking them again whom they saw, their heart, their mind, and
their answer did not change. It seems that when the power
of His name, just the mention of it had thrown them to the
ground, their thoughts of who He was might have changed. But
again they answered, we're looking for Jesus. I've learned a little bit in
five years. Let me put it that way. But one thing that I've
learned is that revelation of Christ only comes by God. We plant. I try to plant. You plant all. You water. But we know only God
can get the increase. And I'll tell you something else
we know. We know that He that plants and He that waters It's
just nothing. God's everything. This takes
a divine revelation from God Almighty. Verse 8, Jesus answered
and He said, I told you that I am. Oh, the long-suffering
of our Lord. He that finds no pleasure in
the death of the wicked says, I told you, and I tell you again. He that graciously and patiently
says, come, let us reason together. Come, let us reason together.
He says, I told you that I am the one of whom all the law and
the prophets and the Psalms testify. I told you that I am. Here's
the gospel. Here's my one point. And only
point. He said, therefore, if you seek
me, let these go their way. That's substitution, isn't it?
Isn't that substitution? You got me. You let them go. You let them go. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. Let these
go their way. Christ was about to suffer for
them, and therefore it was not just that they should suffer
too. Oh, can you see the beauty of
the gospel here? The innocent was condemned and
the guilty would go free. Let these go their way. These words must be considered
as the gospel and the redemption of God's elect. Salvation is
in the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm willing
to die, but these got to go. You've got to let Him go. He
was forsaken of His loving Father. Again, as our brother mentioned,
in their stead. And He alone undertook for His
elect the judgment and the condemnation that you and I deserved. And we know from 2 Corinthians
5.21 that God hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be what? Made. Made. The righteousness of God. All
in one place. That's what He told us. In Him. That's the gospel. Let these
go. Let them go. He gave Himself to keep and preserve
His people in this world and then to make them perfect, holy,
and righteous in the world to come. Salvation is in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Has God shown me that?
Christ is salvation. Oh, what precious words these
are to a sinner like me. Let this sinner go. That's good
news. How beautiful is the truth that
Christ is the one mediator between God and man. Him God is both
just and justifier. And all who believe on Him shall
be saved." Well, friends, I want to just
tell you real quick, several years ago, Brother Todd I called
him on the phone. We were just talking. He asked
me a question that has stuck with me for a long time. His
question was, how come when God now looks upon you, He doesn't
see any sin? You know, I thought about it,
and I gave him all the theological answers that I had, all that
I could come up with. And then he said, so you want
to know why? And the first thing I thought was, well, I must have
been wrong on all my answers. And he said, if Christ is your
all and all, he said, the reason God don't see any sin on you,
you don't have any. Know what you're talking about? You don't have any. We often miss the most simple
answer, don't we? Oh, God doesn't see my sin because
in Christ I don't have it. That's not erroneous thinking,
friends. It's the gospel. I'm perfect. Perfectly righteous, perfectly
holy, perfect in Christ. Is this not the good news? Is
this not the gospel? Let these go their way. And our
Lord confirms this. I've still got my Bible, but
I've got it written here. Look at verse nine. That the same might be fulfilled
which he spake of them which thou gavest me, have I lost none. May the Lord add his blessings
to this word, to his gospel. Thank you, Brother Donnie, for
the opportunity. Well, what a good night. What
a good night.