In the 18th chapter of John's
Gospel, after our Lord Jesus confronted the soldiers and the
Pharisees who came to arrest him, we're told that Jesus was
taken and bound and led away. That's the title of my message,
Jesus Taken and Bound and Led Away. Then the band and the captain
and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and
led him away. Imagine that. Here is the creator of all things,
bound like a common criminal, the sovereign of the universe,
shackled like an ordinary malefactor, bound by men whom he alone sustained
in strength and gave the strength to bind him and led him away,
led him away to crucify him, to vent the enmity of their hearts
upon him with all the fury and hatred and anger that sinful
hearts could express to God Almighty. Let's begin reading at verse
12, John chapter 18. Then the band and the captain
and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him
away to Annas first. for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas,
which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he
which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one
man should die for the people. Verse 15, and Simon Peter followed
Jesus, and so did another disciple. 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? He saith, I am not. And the servants
and officers stood there who had made a fire of coals, for
it was cold and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and
warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I speak openly
to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort. And in secret
have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them
which heard me what I've said unto them. Behold, they know
what I said. And when he had thus spoken,
One of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand, saying, answerest thou the high priest so? And Jesus answered him, if I
have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why
smitest thou me? Now Annas had sent him bound
unto Caiaphas, the high priest. And Simon Peter stood and warned
himself. They said, therefore, unto him,
art 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? Peter then denied again,
and immediately The cock crew. Now, there are five things which
appear to me to be intended by the Holy Spirit to stand out
in this passage of scripture, five things, five pictures, five
displays of things from which the Spirit of God here teaches
us and instructs us for our own hearts needs in this hour. Let's look at them together.
First, we have before us here a striking display of God's adorable
providence. Our Heavenly Father, our God,
rules the universe absolutely. Everything He rules. everything,
every thought of every heart, every deed of every hand, every
word of every mouth, be it good or evil. God, our father, according
to his riches in glory, rules and disposes of all things in
time exactly as he will for the benefit of his people. for our
spiritual and everlasting good. Let us never fail to observe
God's providence as it is displayed. We're told that by his providence,
with wisdom and prudence, he makes known the mystery of his
will. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 8.
He makes known the mystery of his will. That is, as he fulfills
his purpose, we see what his purpose is. As he accomplishes
his will, he shows us what his will is. We often pray, Lord,
show me your will. Wait another breath. You'll see
it. Whatever comes to pass, that
is his will. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will, according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in himself before the world began. And we ought always
to watch with a careful eye of faith, submissive to him, to
see what God is doing. And understand that that which
transpires in our lives, that which we experience day after
day is but the experience of God's good, adorable, and wise
providence. There are several things here.
that show us a display of God's providence. First, John reminds
us that this high priest, Caiaphas, was he, look at verse 14, which
gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man
should die for the people. Turn back to chapter 11, John
chapter 11. was the highest muckety-muck
in the Jewish church in his day. I mean, he was the pope and the
Billy Graham of his day all wrapped up in one. He was the mighty,
influential religious leader of the day. He didn't know God
from a gourd. He understood nothing of the
Scriptures. I had no question. He understood
the word of Scripture, and he understood the letter of Scripture,
and he understood the historic documents of Scripture, but he
didn't have any understanding of Holy Scripture. And yet Caiaphas
spoke as plainly as any prophet of God in the Old Testament about
the substitutionary accomplishments of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus.
Caiaphas spoke the gospel and defined it as clearly as any
man could define it and didn't understand what he spoke. He
didn't understand what he spoke. This man Caiaphas was nothing
but a hireling, self-serving religious leader, but God overruled
this man and used him to speak plainly a word of prophecy concerning
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that shouldn't surprise
us. That shouldn't surprise us. I hear people all the time say,
with regard to some preacher, he says some good things. It's
hard to quote the Bible and not say some good things. That's
real. It's real hard to do. He doesn't. He's not always wrong.
If you read the scripture, you're right. You're right. But speaking
truth from a heart of truth for the glory of God's another thing.
I recall one time God spoke to a prophet by an ass. Didn't it? Now, that's remarkable. The more remarkable thing is
the prophet started arguing with the ass. But Caiaphas here speaks
just as God spoke by Balaam's ass. That which could not be
denied. Look at John chapter 11, verse
50. It is expedient. It's necessary. It's needful. This is the best
way things can be for us. That one man should die for the
people. That one man should die in the
place of the people. That one man should die for the
life of the people. That one man should die in the
stead of the people. And that the whole nation perish
not. And this he spake, now watch
it, not of himself, But being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation. Now read on. And not
for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. This was
that Caiaphas whom God providentially put in such a position of power
who spoke by the Spirit of God this declaration of substitutionary
redemption. Jesus Christ, that one man who
represented God's holy nation, the Israel of God, died in the
stead of his people. And having died in the stead
of his people, he prevents the possibility of those for whom
he died from ever perishing. justice being satisfied, God
being satisfied, our sins being put away, now, by the merit,
the power, the efficacy of His blood, the Spirit of God gathers
in all His redeemed, scattered among the nations. That's what's
going on every day. The Lord God is saving, such
as should be saved, according to His own purpose, by the merit
and power of Christ's blood. And then it seems to me also
that the Spirit of God inspired John to describe Peter's denial
of the Savior in such a way that we could not miss seeing that
the Lord Jesus himself put Peter in the place of temptation. John says really very little.
He says less about Peter's denial than the other apostles did.
He says very little about it, but what he says about it seems
to suggest, understand now, understand now, this was no accident. No,
no man is tempted to evil by God. No man. God tempts no one,
but none are tempted without God's decree and God's purpose. And God Almighty suffers you
never to be tempted, you who he is, in any way but you are
able to bear it and will with the temptation make a way of
escape that you may be able to bear it. And that way of escape,
that way of deliverance is Jesus Christ himself, our deliverer. Peter comes with John to the
palace of the high priest, Caiaphas. But Peter and John are mere fishermen. They're Galileans. They don't
know who this high priest is. I mean, they know who he is.
They don't know him. They don't have any access to
the high priest. But there is another disciple,
one of those who's named back in John chapter 12, those secret
disciples who confess not the Lord Jesus because of their fear
of the Jews. But there is another disciple
there, unnamed, who went with Peter to the palace of the high
priest. And you'll notice that Peter
stood at the door because he couldn't get in without an invitation. And this other disciple, this
unknown disciple, went in, got permission for Peter to come
in, and goes back to the door and speaks to the girl who was
keeping the door and said, he's got permission to come in with
me. And he brings Peter in to the palace of the high priest. Why did the Lord Jesus put Peter
there? Why did God almighty, the God
of all grace put Peter there? Well, Peter had appeared to be
so strong. He didn't appear to be, he was
strong. But he was just weakness. Peter had been so faithful up
to now. He didn't appear to be. Peter was faithful. Grace had
made him faithful. Well, why did the Lord God put
Peter here? That he might use Satan to sift
him as weeds. You see, there Peter would deny
the Lord Jesus, showing plainly that no evil
exists that is not in us. There is no sin you will not
commit in a heartbeat if God just leaves you to yourself for
a second. That's true of Larry Brown, of
Shelby Fortner, and of the one talking to you. None. Oh, not me! Oh, God help you to learn that
without having to experience what Peter did. None. Peter displays the fact that
none of us has the ability to resist temptation. None of us has the ability to
resist the lust of our hearts. None of us has the ability to
resist the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye or the pride
of life. None of us has the ability to
resist the devil that he may flee from us. None of us. But
Brother Don, we're commanded to do so. We're commanded to
be holy too. But you can't do it. The only
way Merle Hart can resist the evil that's in him is if God
Almighty graciously compels you to resist. That's all. That's all. That's
all. Brother Frank Hall called me
a couple of weeks ago. He was looking at passages of
scripture. The man denied me before men, him will I deny before
my father. He said, but Peter denied the
Lord. And the Lord hadn't denied Peter. How do you explain those
two texts? Peter had no more righteousness
about him than Judas had about him, except the righteousness
given him. And the same is true of you.
He had no strength, no more strength than any other man, except the
strength given him by God's grace. The difference between Peter
and Judas and the only difference between them, was the difference
that grace had made by the gift of God's grace, Peter was distinguished
and preserved and kept. And that's all the difference.
It was in this place that the Lord Jesus would reveal himself to Peter
in a way that he could not otherwise reveal himself. Peter had seen the master in
many circumstances, in many events, in many places, but never did
Peter see him as he saw him when after he denied him once, and
twice, and the cock crew, and a third time, and the cock crew,
and the Lord Jesus. Looked on Peter. Oh, what a look that must have
been. What a look that must have been.
Tender, compassionate, as if to say, remember, Peter, I told
you this was about to happen. Remember, Peter, I told you Satan
was going to sift you as wheat. Remember Peter I told you you
would deny me three times before the rooster crowed twice in the
morning. Remember Peter I told you I prayed for you. I prayed for you that your faith
fail not. And there the Lord Jesus used
and made a soldier and the devil He used a maid, a soldier, and
the devil to prepare a way for him to come to Peter in marvelous
restoring mercy and grace and turn Peter again to himself. I have seen over the years a
good many preachers who once preached the free grace of God
taken in a snare and fall for one thing or another. Depart,
abandon the gospel, and never return. I've seen one return. And you know what the result
of his horrid fall was? He's a better preacher today
than he's ever been. And the Lord God takes his disciples,
his servants, his preachers, and does whatever is needful
for his own to better us. And Peter was made better. Look at him in Acts chapter 4.
You remember, he stands before the
Sanhedrin now. And they ask him, by what right,
by what power is this man stands whole? How did you heal this
man? And Peter could have said to
that Sanhedrin crowd, the ones who had issued the orders for
our master's crucifixion, he could have said, I healed this
man by the power of Jehovah, the God of Israel. And he'd have
been telling the truth. He'd been telling the truth.
But he would have compromised the glory of God and the truth
of God. Rather, he said, fellas, I've been in this spot before. And I want you to understand
something. By the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, this man stands before you whole. Now do your best. Oh, now Peter has a backbone
of steel. Now Peter is willing to face
head on whatever comes his way. Now Peter, restored by grace,
is a man bettered for the sifting. A third thing here displays the
adorable providence of our God. He used the Jews. the Jews who
despised the Savior to fulfill one of the clear pictures and
types in the Old Testament that set forth the Lord Jesus. You
remember in Leviticus chapter 17, before the sacrifice was
brought to the altar of God, the sacrifice was required under
the law to be brought to the high priest. that the high priest
might examine the sacrifice and be certain there is no spot,
no blemish, no weakness, no flaw of any kind in the sacrifice.
And so these Jews bring Christ our Passover, the true sacrifice
before God's appointed high priest in Israel. And while the high
priest says nothing to validate the purity of the sacrifice,
He sends him rather to a Roman governor named Pilate. And Pilate
declares there's no fault in this man. Thus verifying that
Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, is the sacrifice God ordained. The first thing then that stands
out here is our Lord's adorable providence. When carnal reason
would demand why this or that my God ordained, my heart in
faith, Lord, humbly bend before your throne, my God and King.
When doubts disturb me and distress, when darkness seems to block
my way, oh, give me grace on this to rest, that thus it seemeth
good to thee. Be this my joy, my Christ is
Lord and by all things performs his will. Your providence I would
adore and calmly, sweetly trust you still. Here's a second thing
set before us here. And now I have to be brief with
the rest of this. And that is the astonishing,
astonishing, hardness of depraved human hearts. Oh, how astonishing the heart
of man is in its hardness. In this crowd are the servants
of the high priest, numerous Jews, the Pharisees, Judas, and
Roman soldiers. Now, try to picture what they
had seen, what they had experienced right here. I'm talking about
in the immediate present. They had seen the Lord Jesus
display his divine omnipotence when he said, I am. And the soldiers
fell away backward as dead men. Somehow, somehow I just think
that would get my attention. Would it yours? I think that, wow, I've gotten it over my head
now. I think that would get my attention.
But it wouldn't. It wouldn't. Not if I'd been
in their shoes. They had seen the Lord Jesus.
When Peter drew out his sword and cut off Malchus's ear, you
remember what Master did? He touched it. He just reached
out and touched his ear, and his ear was made completely whole
again. They'd seen that. Now, surely that's going to get
your attention. Surely these fellows who came
out intending to have the master arrested Judas who came out here
to kiss him and betray him this this Roman soldiers this band
of soldiers that came out to take him away to be crucified
surely now They'll be turned all boys. We've made a mistake
now. Well, we got to stop and consider this it looks like that
happened Sure, that would happen with me. No Not with you not
with me These people continued relentless in their mad hardness,
in their cold indifference, insensitivity and hardness of heart. And they
went on about their business coolly with callousness, hardening
their hearts even as Pharaoh hardened his heart. Zechariah
describes it this way. They made their hearts as an
adamant stone, an adamant stone. How hard is the heart of man? Nothing can break it. Nothing can penetrate it. Nothing. Oh, but preacher, I've seen,
I've seen mama sit down and talk to little boys and break their
hearts? Well, I'll give it to you in
a natural sense, maybe. They stir their emotions. I've
seen, I've seen sinners tremble into conviction and hold on to
the back of their peel and would not give in to God. They were
broken, but they wouldn't give in. No, no. Terror doesn't break the heart.
Fear doesn't break the heart. Gentleness doesn't break the
heart. Tsunamis and earthquakes and
tornadoes don't break the heart. Judgment doesn't break the heart. Reason doesn't break the heart. The heart is as adamant. As adamant. The scripture describes
it that way. Harder than flint. As adamant,
harder than the nether millstone. Adamant. Why that word? Adamant was a legendary stone.
It doesn't really exist. It was a legendary stone. The
legend exists in God's providence for the very purpose of illustrating
what God uses it to illustrate. The hardness of a sinner's heart. The legendary adamant stone.
You could take a sledgehammer and hit it and hit it and hit
it and you'd never crack it, not even on the surface. You
could burn it with the hottest fire and never heat it except
just on the surface. The atom of stone, hard, hard
beyond description. Nothing can penetrate it. Nothing
can break it. Nothing can melt it. Except one
thing. the blood of a goat. And the adamant stone, when soaked
in the blood of a goat, dissolves like a peel in water. So it is with you whose hearts
are so hard. If God, the Holy Spirit, will
sprinkle on you the blood of the scapegoat Christ Jesus, Your hearts will melt like wax
before the sun before him and break in repentance before him,
but nothing else will do it. Third, we see here an amazing
condescension, the condescension of our Lord Jesus. Here is the son of God, our creator,
the sovereign of the universe. taken prisoner, led away and
bound like a common male factor. He's arraigned before wicked,
unjust judges. He's insulted. He's treated with
contempt, smacked in the face. He had only to will his deliverance,
and he'd have been free. Only to will it, and he'd have
been free. He had only to command the confusion
of his enemies And they would have been confounded. He's the
one who confused Pharaoh's armies. He's the one who sent them spinning
around in darkness while the children of Israel walked in
light. This man, Christ Jesus, is the judge before whom Annas
and Caiaphas must soon stand at his bar and who will pass
upon them the judgment of everlasting damnation and torment. And yet
he is bound. He's taken and bound and led
away. They took Jesus and bound him
and led him away with no resistance. Why is that? Why is that? Because Isaiah said
he was taken from prison and from judgment when the Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Deity was arrested, that guilty
sinners might never be arrested by God's law. Like the sacrifices
of old, Christ our sacrifice was bound to the altar with cords,
pinioned and manacled by cords of divine justice as a common
malefactor, so that we common malefactors might never be bound
to the altar. The Lord Jesus were bound for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, that by his bondage we might from chains of darkness
be set free. Here is love that passeth knowledge. So to die willingly For one who
is the object of your love, who is somewhat worthy of your love,
any man can understand. So to die willingly so that you
submit to powers you cannot control is gracious and wise and we can
understand it. But to willingly suffer and die
in the room instead of people who wanted you to die. more than
a thirsty man wants water. For a people who thirst for your
blood, to do so unsought, unwanted, unasked, and unthanked, this
is love that passeth knowledge. That's the love of God our Savior
for poor, wretched, guilty sinners such as we are. He was led away
captive and dragged before the high priest bar, not because
he could not help himself, but because he came into this world
as our surety to die as our substitute, dying in our stead to deliver
us from the wrath of God and by his blood to purchase for
us eternal salvation. And that's what he was determined
to do. In all these things, Our Lord
humbled himself, and he stood as our example, teaching us how
to suffer. First Peter 2 tells us that Christ
left us an example, showing us how we ought to suffer, submitting
to the hand of God. Bow to the hand of God. Our Savior says, come unto me,
all ye that labor, and a heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
That's what it is to believe on Christ. You who struggle with
sin, come to the Savior. Come to the Savior and he will
give you rest. And he says to you who are his,
you keep coming to me and take my yoke upon you. Take my yoke
upon you. What? Who ever heard tell of
an ox taking the yoke on him. Well, those who become accustomed
to it do. Bring it out and just stick it
on him. What do you do? You can fuss and wiggle and squirm
and buck and butt, but when you bow to your father's will, you
take his yoke upon you. Okay, Lord, it's all right. You
find rest unto your souls. His yoke is easy. His burden
is light. Our Savior is also our example
in preaching. He is by all means the standard
at which every preacher ought to aim. He is the example every
preacher ought to follow. He's the pattern by which every
true preacher is identified. And this high priest asked him,
What about your disciples and your doctrine? You notice how
I answered him? He said, why are you asking me? I didn't just discuss these things
in the coffee shop. I didn't talk about them in secret.
Oh, no, you could find me every Sabbath day in the synagogue
and in the temple where the Jews resort all the time. And there
I declared openly what I came here to declare. You want to
know what I declared? Ask those who heard me. Ask those
who heard me. I hear folks all the time say,
well, I wonder what this preacher preaches. I wonder if he's maybe
preaching a little truth. If you've got to guess, he ain't.
But I tell you how to find out. No need asking him. He'll lie
to you if he's a liar. He'll deceive you if he's a deceiver.
How do you find out what? This is going to go all over
the world all over the world for the days done Let everybody
hear and understand it. If you want to know what Don
Fortner preaches just ask the folks who hear it If I preach
truth plainly and boldly I with no compromise, with no hesitancy,
not attempting to hide anything, then the folks who are sitting
right here this morning know exactly what I preached. And
if you don't know what I've said, it's because I didn't intend
for you to know. Either that, I don't have enough sense to
make myself plain. In either case, I had no business preaching.
Then there's a fourth thing here that we must not neglect. The
Spirit of God shows us the abiding sin that remains in every child
of God as long as we're in this world, in this body of flesh. There's Peter, that strong, faithful,
believing man forsaking the master acting like a reprobate wretch. There's Peter running away when
he ought to have stood by his master's side. Do you see him
ashamed, ashamed to own his Lord when he ought to have confessed
him boldly? Hear him three times denying that he knew him. And
all of this after having just sat with him at the table when
the Lord's Supper was instituted. After having just heard him give
that marvelous last discourse given in John 13, 14, 15, and
16. After hearing him pray that great
high priestly prayer. Denying the master and Bobby
there wasn't one thing for him to gain by doing so. Not one thing to be gained. Not
one thing to be gained. The Lord Jesus had warned him
plainly, plainly, as plainly as possible, this is going to
happen. Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. You see, saved sinners are sinners
still. That's all. Just went in last night late.
As I walked in, shall we flip it to the channels, and some
yay-hoo, and then Corbin was on television doing something,
I guess they called it preaching. And he talked about what he used
to be. Claus Peterson, our problem is
not what we used to be, it's what we are. That's our problem. Saved sinners
are sinners still. Our only righteousness is the
righteousness of Christ given to us. Our only hope before God
is our Savior's obedience, blood, and intercession. Salvation from
start to finish is by grace alone. Now having said that, there's
one more thing clearly set before us here. And that is the abounding
grace of our God. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. And I'm here to tell you that
where sin abounds, grace still much more abounds. That grace
might reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Peter loved the Master. though
he acted otherwise. So it is with you and me. Peter
denied Christ three times, but the Lord Jesus never denied Peter. So it is with you and me. The
Lord Jesus restored Peter by an act of free grace. Otherwise,
Peter would never have returned to him. So it is with you and
me. Peter never reaped what he sowed. You ever said that? He never
reaped what he sowed. Ah, but you're going to sow what
you reap. You don't have to. You don't have to. not as someone
else reaps it for you. And the Lord Jesus reaped what
Peter sowed. Peter forsook his God, but God
forsook his Savior and never forsook him. So it is with you
and me. You and I are great sinners. Christ is a great savior. Come to him and prove it for
yourself. He says, come unto me all you
that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He said, him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I want us to sing a
hymn we seldom sing here. It's a great hymn. Number 249,
just as I am. Now, you who've never come to
Christ, come to him now, just like this. And you who've been coming to
him for years and years and years, as you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him. Come to him now, just as you
are. That's the only way to go. Just
as I am. All right.