Verse 43, And immediately, while he yet
spoke, the Lord had just told his disciples that he that betrayeth
me is at hand. And as he yet spoke, Judas cometh,
one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords
and staves of clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes
and the elders. And he that betrayed him had
given them a token. He said, Whomsoever I shall kiss,
that same is he, take it and lead him away safely. And as
soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him and says,
Master! Master!" And they laid their hands on
him and kicked him. And one of them that stood by,
John tells us it was Peter. And it's interesting that John
tells us it was Peter, because the Holy Spirit thereby shows
us that Peter truly was courageous and bold. in defending the master,
errant though he was in so many things, when he said, I'm willing
to die with you, he was willing to die with the master. But he
had learned something about his pride as well. One of them that
stood by drew a sword and slowed off, slowed a high servant, a
servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. That takes a
little, that takes a little backbone. Here's this fisherman standing
in the midst of a garrison of Roman soldiers, and he's serving
fear, and the Lord told him, he said, Peter, put up your sword.
And he healed the high priest serving fear. And you'd think
that ought to take care of that fella. That ought to take care
of him. But that very same man, that
very same one, said to Peter, I saw you. You're one of these
disciples too. What he was saying is, we'll
take you to kill you too. We'll put you to death with it. And Jesus, verse 48, answered
and said unto them, he says to the soldiers, you remember John
said, he said, whom seek ye? And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth, he takes the initiative, he's in charge of this whole
thing. The Lord Jesus answered and said to these soldiers and
these elders and these chief priests and these scribes, he
said, Have you come out as against the feet with swords and clubs
to take me? I was daily with you in the temple
teaching and you took me not. But the scriptures must be fulfilled
and they also took it. And there followed him a certain
young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. And
the young men laid hold on him, the soldiers grabbed him, and
he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Now regrettably,
I have to acknowledge that probably like many of you, when I read
this passage of Scripture and began to prepare for this message,
the thing that stood out most quickly to me, the vision that
was most glaring to me, the thing that caught my attention, just
like that, was the picture of this young man in this crowd,
this mob, running naked out of Gethsemane. And since our curiosity
is such that we want to know who he was, Why this is recorded,
and why he fled naked, I promise you that before I get done, I'll
show you. Now that ought to keep the interest
up for at least 30 minutes. So give me attention, and I want
to show you five things in this passage of Scripture. May God
the Holy Spirit inscribe upon our hearts the lessons he has
for us in these five areas. First, the Scripture speaks here
to us plainly about the enemies of God. And then secondly, the
kingdom of God. Thirdly we have a lesson here
about the Word of God and fourthly about the people of God and then
finally about the gospel of God. First our text opens by identifying
the enemies of God. I'll not spend much time on this
because our Lord's enemies don't deserve much time. But his enemies
are the same in all places and at all times. It never changes. And you can be sure of this,
his enemies are our enemies. And we will be wise to know who
our enemies are, that we may prepare ourselves for them. Notice
how they're identified in verse 43. They're identified as three
groups of people. First, here is Judas, one of
the twelve. There's a sermon there. And then
there are the Roman soldiers, a great multitude with spades
and swords, the swords and clubs. And then the chief priests, and
the scribes, and the elders. Our Lord's enemies are found
in these three categories of people in all ages of the world. And the enemies are his enemies
always for the same reason. Our Lord's enemies and our enemies
are ever to be found in the world. Now, we can expect this. We have
no surprise here. We expect the world to oppose
Christ and the gospel of his grace. We just anticipate that.
If you and I faithfully preach the gospel, if we faithfully
declare the gospel of God's free, sovereign, saving grace, only
in Christ the substitute, we can expect the reproach, the
scorn, and the anger of the world to be vented against us. Turn
to Matthew chapter 5. I want you to see this. Matthew
the 5th chapter. Our Lord here gives those famous
Beatitudes with which he began the Sermon on the Mount. And
regrettably, they are commonly misinterpreted and used to give
folks bad instruction, false instruction from the Word of
God, particularly in verse 10. Our Lord says to his disciples,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Now you correct me if I'm mistaken.
You correct me. Stand up right here and correct
me if I'm mistaken. You who have been raised in various
religious organizations where works were preached up. I know
David was raised in such, Diane was raised in such in her youth,
and many others as well. You correct me if I'm mistaken.
Every time you heard verse 10 preached up, every time as a
child. Was it not saying this? If you
do good, if you try to keep the commandments, if you live right,
if you dress right, don't go to wrong places, you're gonna
be persecuted for it. That is not what this text says.
That is not what it teaches. Now, do good. By all means, do
good. I urge you, do what's right. But nobody has ever been persecuted
for doing what's right. Nobody. Nobody. Whoever was persecuted
for telling the truth rather than lying. Whoever was persecuted
for being honest in business rather than being a thief. Who
was ever persecuted for dressing modestly rather than immodestly.
Who was ever persecuted for behaving in a manner that was kind and
gracious and generous and charitable rather than being mean and miserly
and hard. Nobody. For what on earth is
this text saying? This is what it's saying, Bob.
If you tell your sons and daughters, if you tell your mother and father,
if you tell your neighbors and your employers and your companions
that there's no righteousness in the world except the righteousness
that God gives sinners in Jesus Christ, they're going to hate
you. You tell men and women that there
is no possibility of acceptance with God but by the interior
righteousness of his crucified son, the sinner's substitute.
They'll turn on you and despise you. They'll be fighting mad
with you. No, no, your mom is not good
enough to go to heaven. You're not either. No, no, your
children are not good enough to be accepted with God. Neither
are you. How then can a man stand before
God? Only through the righteousness
of God's own dear Son. Because you and I are sinners
and we have nothing to offer God. It comes as fact opposition and
persecution from the world. And we come to expect it from
religionists as well. The lost religious people of
this world, being duped, deceived, lied to, and instigated by their
leaders, their chief priests, their scribes, and their elders,
being ignorant of Christ and the gospel of God's free, sovereign,
saving grace in him, are historically the most incessant persecutors
of God's people the world has ever known. Normally, politicians
and governments pretty well leave us alone, historically, until
they are inspired by religionists who hate the gospel. And religionists
become horrible shedders of blood. You see, no one hates the grace
of God. like a lost religion is. No one.
No one. You can go talk to a drunk about
it and don't expect him to love you for it. But that fellow's
not, he's not going to want to kill you. Not likely. But you
go talk to a preacher about free grace. You go talk to a preacher
about it. He'll do whatever he can to get
rid of you. You go talk to elders and deacons
and Sunday school teachers about free grace. I mean absolute free
grace alone. And you'll find them feeding
mad. Fact is, there's no missionary field in the world more needy
or more hostile today than professed Christianity, the professed Church
of God in this reprobate age. We expect to find our enemies
in the world, and we even expect to find them in the religious
world around us. But it becomes shocking and painful
beyond description. To understand that our enemy
had to be found. Those whom we've esteemed to
be our best. Our choice companions. Our hopeless
friends. Those with whom we walked into
the house of God together. But this is what our Lord tells
us. Judas. One of the twelve. Like a sheep
and wolves clothing. or a wolf rather in sheep's clothing,
excuse me. The psalmist records the words
of our Lord in Psalm 41 9, mine own familiar friend in whom I
trusted which did eat of my bread hath lifted up his heel against
me. In Psalm 55 he says it was not an enemy that repulsed Then
could I have borne it. Neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me. Then I would have hid myself
from him. It was he. Mine own equal. A man mine equal,
my guide and mine acquaintance. When the Apostle Paul left Ephesus
The last warning he gave is, he said, I know after my departure,
grievous woe shall enter in, not sparing the flock. And of
your own souls shall men rise up, speaking perverse things,
drawing away disciples after themselves. Now our Lord warns
us, and his apostles warn us repeatedly, to beware of the
fact that we must expect to find men and women rise up from within
the professed church and kingdom of God who claim to be our brethren,
who claim to be our friends, who turn violently against the
gospel. David gave me a tape this past
week. A fellow who's pastor of one
of the big churches here in town now used to attend this church.
I listened to it. I'm going to send him the tape.
I haven't decided what I want to write to him yet, but I'm
going to send him the tape. I preached a message here at one of your
conferences before I ever came here. Declaring free grace. Declaring it. And that name despises
us now. I mean despises us. Men rise
up from within who turn and hate the gospel of God's grace. These warnings are given not
to make us suspicious. Not to make us wary of one another.
Don't ever let that happen. Don't ever let that happen. But
they're given, Ron, to keep us from being shocked and utterly
driven to despair. You can expect it. You can expect
betrayal by friends. You can expect false prophets
to rise up among those whom you trust. You can expect it. Because
the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above
his Lord. All right, now secondly, There
is a lesson here about the kingdom of God. We must never expect
the people of this world, neither the politicians of the world,
nor the educators, nor the religionists of this world, to understand
the character and nature of God's kingdom. The fact is, our Lord's
own disciples here did not understand what he had taught them with
regard to his kingdom. and this bloodthirsty mob. They
came out against the Lord Jesus like they were hunting for some
kind of a wild, murdering revolutionary. They came out with swords and
clubs to take him. When they did, Peter drew out
his sword and he said, I'll fight to the death for him. And he
smote off the high priest's servant's ear and the Lord Jesus picked
his ear up, put it back on and said, you'll be alright now.
And by doing so, he let Peter understand and his disciples
understand that no, this man was a bold, zealous man. He was mistaken in his understanding
of things. And the Lord stopped the conflict.
These chief priests The scribes, they clung tenaciously to the
idea that men throughout the Old Testament had gotten mistakenly,
the various Jewish Talmudists and so forth, had mistakenly
gotten the idea that when Messiah comes, he's going to establish
a political, physical kingdom that would be a Zionist regime,
and he's going to with blood and sword and fear destroy his
enemies. Many today still hold that same
notion. They look for a time when Armageddon
is going to come and there are going to be tanks and wars and
planes and blood is going to rise up to the horses' vitals
and all that. The Kingdom of God is not like
that. No, no. No, no, no. But what
is Armageddon? It's not talking about a physical
war, it's talking about a spiritual war. It's not talking about,
it's not talking about folks being killed physically. It's
talking about the souls of men. It's not talking about opposition
between folks physically, but spiritually. These men came prepared
for a bloodletting conflict. And they presumed that if this
man who claims to be the Messiah is confronted, then he will defend
his kingdom to his death. because this kingdom will be
established as a political machinery. Our Lord later told Pilate plainly
that his kingdom was not of this world. And it's a lesson that
still needs to be taught. Look in John 18. John chapter
18. Hold your hands here and turn
to John 18. Verse 36. Jesus answered Pilate, And he
said, my kingdom is not of this world. It wasn't born here. It doesn't come from here. It's
not established by anything here. If my kingdom were of the world,
like yours, then would my servants fight? They'd take up swords. Man, they'd march in the streets.
They'd be marching around abortion clinics, protesting liberal politicians. They'd be everywhere. My servants
would fight. But I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
him. You see, the kingdom of God is
not, has never been, and never can be built, promoted, propagated,
or established in any way by the arm of the flesh. I wish
I could get this world to hear this. The cause of Christ Father,
what we're doing here, what we're endeavoring to do in this generation
for the glory of God, does not need and cannot use legislative
power. We do not need and we cannot
use carnal manipulation. We do not need and we will not
use any of those things that men think are so vital and necessary
to the establishing of God's kingdom. called me up all the time wanting
us to join some kind of a political movement, some kind of a protest
rally, want to march against this and fight against that and
sign this petition and that. They'd not quit calling because
I would say no, no, not interested. You're not interested in those
things? Well, I have an interest in those things, but I'm not
interested in going about things the way you are. Not interested.
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty. Mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. The Lord God says, and is irremovable,
not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord
of hosts. Now what's the practical application
of that for us? Papacy, Mohammedanism, Hinduism
and Judaism, all have to have the sword. They all have to have
it. When you read about those wars
over in the eastern countries or over in Ireland between Catholics
and Protestants, between Muslims and Christians, between Jews
and Muslims, don't pay attention to that nonsense. Don't pay attention
to that stuff. Christians aren't involved in
wars in defense of Christ. Oh no, oh no, that's just, that's
just not the, religion's involved in wars, not Christians. Christianity
isn't involved in the use of the sword. Oh no, no, that's,
that's politicians and religious politicians. False religion depends
upon and survives by every carnal means imaginable. You say, well
what, what's that got to do with us? You remember, most of you
will, some of the religious slogans that are left over from our youth. They used to say in school when
you start to get folks to come to church first thing you got
to do now you got to find something to do. Give them something to
do. Give them a class to teach. Give them a bus to drive. Give
them some literature to practice. Give them something to do. Use
them or lose them. That's the philosophy. Use them
or lose them. That's the way it is with any
club, but not the kingdom of God. Not the kingdom of God. False religion uses programs
and puppet shows and entertainment and bake sales and tricks and
gimmicks and rituals and ceremonies and costumes and all the paraphernalia
to keep folks entertained. We're getting to this time of
the year where I'm bound to see it. Bound to see it. Somebody
in town is going to have my candlelight vigil. They're going to get together
a bunch of adults. I'm talking about grown-up men
and women. I'm talking about folks with good sense. You know
how folks they check out at the sauna bar? They'll have hundreds
of them get together in their churches, in their choir robes,
and they'll hold their candle for Jesus. And I was so impressed. And they'll have them a living
Christmas tree. Oh, it'll be so nice. Folks love
it. I started preaching the gospel
to them in Suzuka. Oh, don't you think we ought
to do things like that to get folks to come to church? Oh,
no. No. So I knocked on our door the
other morning and stopped by. He said, you pastor over here? I
said, yes, sir. He said, Bill, I'm with this quartet down at
Stanford. He said, we do a lot of singing
in different churches. He said, y'all ever have any
singing over there? I said, yes, sir. He said, you ever have any quartets
there? And I said, no, except our folks. He said, you mean
you don't ever have any special things? I said, no. And he looked at me kind of funny
like, it's real good to meet you. They don't understand. They just don't understand. How
do you build God's kingdom? How do you pay for things around
here? Somebody had a bake sale recently. I was reading a paper
came across my desk. They were having a blooming bake
sale raising money for a church building and folks who claimed
to be believing in grace. Boy, what's wrong with that? If we would do God's work, in
God's name, for God's glory, let me tell you something, we
gotta do it God's way. The church of God can be built
by only one thing, gospel preaching. That's all. That's all. What do y'all offer folks down
there? Free grace. What do y'all new folks say that
we preach to them? What do you got for the young people? Salvation.
What do you got for the old folks? Same thing. What do y'all do special? We
preach the gospel. That's it. Our needs are supplied
by the generous giving of God's people as they're directed by
God's Spirit. Be no browbeaten, be no threatened,
be no promiscuity, Just, here's the need, you take care of it
as God honors you, as God directs you, as God leads you. And here's
a lesson about the word of God. Our Lord said, the scriptures
must be. This sort of came out to him
with swords and clubs. Most peaceable man who ever lived,
Linda. I mean, you're talking about a man who did no violence. No guile was found in his mouth.
And they come out against him like they were coming out against
some wild, murdering revolutionary. The fact is, they did so because
the scripture said that's the way it's going to be. Listen
to this. Acts chapter 13, verse 29. You
don't need to turn there. When they had fulfilled all that
was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid
him in a sack. The betrayal, the price of 30
pieces of silver, his garment not being rent, them casting
lots for his garment, them piercing his hands and his feet, his beating,
his mockery, every one of those things. were specifically, precisely
foretold in the scriptures hundreds of years before they ever came
to pass. Well how do you explain that?
These men, these wicked men, these men whom our Lord calls
dogs, these bulls, these strong bulls of Bashan, these lions
from the pit of hell, they were but the hands of God for the
accomplishment You read it, I believe, Bobby, last week in Psalm 17. The psalmist says, the wicked
are thy hands. Thy hands. Unwittingly, unknowingly,
absolutely ruled by him who rules the universe, our God, to accomplish
his purpose for the saving of his people. Oh, now there's a
pillow upon which to rest your weary head. Now then, look at
verse 50. Again and again and again the
Holy Spirit reminds us of this fact about the people of God. And they all forsook him and
fled. This is what that's telling us
here. God thinks, as long as they're
in this world, are just sinful. Why does the book keep reminding
us of this? Why does it tell us about Noah's
drunkenness, Lot's carnality, Abraham's fear, and David's adultery
and murder, and Peter's denial and forsaking of the master,
and these all forsaking him? Because the scriptures would
ever remind us that salvation is of the Lord. We have no righteousness
but the righteousness of God given to us in Jesus Christ the
Lord. And we are kept only by his grace. Now then, look in verses 51 and
52 and let me tell you something here about the gospel of God.
This young man who had a linen garment cast about his body and
they laid hold of him and he ran away naked. What on earth
does all that mean? There's been a lot of speculation
about who this young man was, but Martin didn't tell us. And
I think there's a reason for that. I don't think anybody knew
who he was. I suspect that this young man lived somewhere near
about Gethsemane. And in the middle of the night,
he heard all this commotion going on. Now, if I were out here in
my house, and I heard this kind of stuff going on, I wouldn't
stop to get dressed. I'd come outside and see what
on earth is happening. And this fellow laid in his bed,
and he grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around himself and
stepped outside to see what was going on. And he began to follow along. And this furious, enraged mob
of men were so, so furious and angry that they were grabbing
everybody who was anybody they thought might be suspected of
being a follower of Christ and ready to kill him too. And this
young man trying to see what's going on, they grabbed him. And
he, he just took off. And when he did, he took off
buck naked. Running away from them. Well, why is that in there? What's it written for? Now, some
folks will think this is a bit far-fetched. In the Old Testament,
in Leviticus 14, there was a picture of the cleansing of a leper.
When the leper was cleansed, two birds were taken. One was
killed, and the other was dipped in blood and let go free. I believe providentially he's
the acrobat. Providentially. Now, I don't
know whether that's the intent of the Holy Spirit here or not,
but I know by experience and by grace, this is what God did
for me. This sinner was caught in the
teeth of God's holy law. And the law of God reached to
take my substitute.