Here in John's Gospel, I want
to begin reading in verse 1. And let's read the first nine
verses, then we'll go back to it and just look at it. I have accomplished a great task.
I never thought I would do it, but I don't know if I can stay
with it or not. But none of you folks have commended
me for it. I should have been commending
it, but none of you have commended me. You don't know what I'm talking
about, do you? I told you a long time ago I was going to try to
shorten my messages on Sunday. You know the average message
length is about 20 minutes on Sunday even. And Wayne, you haven't
said a thing about that. I could go back to 45 minutes
and put all of you to sleep after you ate. But we'll look at these
and we won't keep you very long this afternoon either. Verse 1, When Jesus had spoken
these words, he went forth with his disciples over the book of
Kedron, where was a garden unto which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted there with
his disciples. Judas then, having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh hither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said unto them, I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. And as
soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and
fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom
seek you? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you
seek me, let these go their way, that the same might be fulfilled
which he spake of them which thou gavest me, I have lost none."
I want us to think about the arrest of Jesus and meditate
upon this for a few minutes. In verse 1, if you'll remember
the context of this incident, the Lord Jesus had been in the
garden of Gethsemane. And you remember there what a
struggle, what an agony He had been going through until His
sweat, literally, became either as blood red dropping down to
the ground, or the blood was literally seeping through his
pores and falling down to the ground in great drops. And if
you remember, this was a cold night. The servants of the high
priest had lit a fire just to keep warm. So the agony that
our Master was in must have been tremendous, this cold night,
when He just came from the Garden. That's the context of His arrest. And here in verse 2, we're told
that Judas, which betrayed Him, also knew the place. Isn't this
amazing that Judas would be the one to betray the Lord Jesus
Christ? If it had been a stranger, it
would have been amazing enough. But here was, we could almost
call Him, looking at it from a natural standpoint, we could
almost call Him a family member, couldn't we? He was a man that
had received these gifts. He was possessed with the power
to go cast out devils, to heal the sick, to go preach the gospel. The Bible says He even went out
and preached repentance. Isn't that amazing? He preached
repentance and was without repentance Himself. But here we're told
that Judas knew this place. I wonder how he knew this place.
Well, the Holy Spirit tells us, doesn't He? He often resorted
here with a master. Here is where the master often
brought his apostles and some of his disciples and they would
pray here. And he probably opened up many
passages of Scripture to them here in this garden. He often
resorted here with his disciples to pray. I was reading the Psalms about
Judas. There are several Psalms that
apply to him. Listen to a couple of them. In
Psalms 41, this is what the Lord Jesus said about him. Yea, my
own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat bread
with me, hath lifted up his hand against me. My familiar friend. Matthew tells us when Judas came,
the Lord Jesus said, Friend? Friend? He counted him as his
friend, didn't he? Humanly speaking, the human side
of the Lord Jesus looked upon Judas as his friend. Now did
he know Judas? Yes, he knew him. He knew what
he would do. He knew who he was from the very
beginning. But he called him his friend. In Psalms 55, it
said this about him. For it was not an enemy. It wasn't a professed enemy that
reproached me. Then I could have borne it. Neither
was it he that openly hated me that did magnify himself against
me. Then I could have hid myself.
But it was thou, a man my equal, my guide, and my acquaintance."
A friend. Friend? Do you betray the Son
of Man with a kiss? Friend. There's another time
on the Day of Judgment where the Lord addressed a man as a
friend. Remember the judgment when They came into the wedding
garment, and there was a man there that didn't have a wedding
garment on, a robe, and the Lord Jesus addressed him and said,
Friend, how come you're in here without a wedding garment on?
Friend, but until you prove yourself His enemy, He'll address you
as His friend. Friend, how come you're in here
without a wedding garment on? Well, I tell you, it's one thing
that I don't want, and I'm sure some of you don't want either.
I don't want the Lord to give me some special gift. I don't even want to sit among
His saints with sweet fellowship with Him. There's something I
want more than that. I want a heart to love the Savior. I want a heart to know Him and
truly fellowship with Him. Lord, the song said, don't let
me be a Judas in my heart. Wouldn't it be awful to be given
some kind of a special gift to preach or to teach or do something
else? And people appreciate you and
you go out and in among the Lord's people and come to find out you're
a Judas. Wouldn't that be awful? I tell
you, I want a new heart, don't you? I don't want a different
heart. I don't want just to be changed
into another person. I want that covenant blessings
that I'll give them a new heart, a new spirit will I put within
them, and I'll give them the heart of flesh, I'll take out
that old stony heart, I'll put my fear in their heart, and they
shall not depart from me. That's the blessing I want. Wouldn't
it be awful for me to preach to you and pastor you and go
preach in other places and people say, oh yeah, we've heard him
preach, we know old Bruce Crabtree. Wouldn't that be awful? And then
the Lord Jesus tell me someday, friend, I never knew you. Or betray Him? Betray His trust
here? Wouldn't that be awful? I don't
want to be a Judas to you. He knew the place. He knew the
place. And in verse 3, He says this,
Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the
chief priest and Pharisees, cometh hither with lanners and torches
and weapons." They had their clubs and their swords, their
knives. Matthew tells us it was a great
multitude with swords and spears. And Luke says this, listen to
this, Luke said, the chief priests and the captains of the temple
and the elders came with Judas. I forgot about that. until I
rehearsed this. There was a great company, and
it was these officers, and they had clubs and knives and swords. One of the reasons so many of
them came out, they had sent for him before, remember? And
they didn't come back with him. They sent some soldiers and said,
you go take him. And when the soldiers come back,
they said, where is he? They said, never a man spake
like this man did. And they said, we're not going
to fail again. We're going to have enough men, we're going
to have enough weapons, and we're going to take him this time.
I'll tell you why they took him this time, and you'll see in
a minute. Yeah, they took him, but not by force. And verse 4
is an amazing verse. And therefore, knowing all things
that should come upon him, he went forth and said unto them,
Whom seekest thou? Boy, I tell you, our Lord was
a brave man, wasn't He? He wasn't afraid. I tell you,
the only thing, the only time you ever see Him draw back was
when He was stirring our sin in the face. When He was stirring
the wrath of God in the face, that cup, He didn't want anything
to do with that. But He wasn't afraid of men.
He wasn't afraid of devils. He knew everything that was coming
on Him. He knew the high priest was going
to take him into his house. He knew they was going to mock
him. He knew they was going to slap him, accuse him of being
a blasphemer. He knew they was going to take
him into Pilate's judgment hall. He knew everything that was going
on there that stripped him naked, mocked him as he was a king. He knew what Herod's soldiers
was going to do. He knew he was going to the cross.
He was going to suffer at the hands of God, at the hands of
devils, and at the hands of man. He knew all things that was coming
upon Him. And yet He got up and faced His
enemy. Now that's bravery, isn't it? This was the same one that said
to Joshua, Joshua, you be strong and of a good courage. I'm with
you. And now here he is facing the
enemy himself. And what does he do? He doesn't
flinch. He doesn't flinch. And He says here, this is an
amazing verse here in the last portion of verse 4. He said,
Whom seek you? And look at this. And they answered
Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am. Now you see He in italics, and
that's our translators put that in there, and I'm glad they did.
They put it in there to make it more readable, but it may
have been just as well to left it out here. Because what He
says here is I What does that mean? We've read
that before, haven't we? Remember over in the 8th chapter
of John, where the Jews were bragging about being Abraham's
seed and Abraham's children, and the Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. You fellows are trying to kill
me. Your father Abraham loved me, and he rejoiced to see my
day, and he saw it. And they said, well, you're not
even 50 years old. Have you seen Abraham? He said,
yes, and he's seen me. He's seen me. They said, how
in the world could that be? Before Abraham was, I am. And they knew what that meant
to me. They took up stones to stone him. The first time you
ever read anyone describing himself By that name, it's all the way
back with Moses in the land of Midian, standing there before
that burning bush. And the Lord said, You go down
and deliver My people out of Pharaoh's hands. And Moses said,
Who shall I say that sent Me? And He said, Tell them that I
Am that sent Me. I Am that I Am. He's the eternal And here He says to them, I am. And what happens to them? Every
one of them goes backwards. The whole group, Judas, the high
priest, the soldiers, the multitude, all went backwards. And the Bible
says they fell to the ground. Wouldn't you love to see how
that happened? I don't know how this happened. I don't know if
His glory shone through His flesh. I don't know if it was just an
instant, the glory consumed them and they saw it and backwards
they went. I don't know. Maybe it was just the power of
this Word. I tell you, when God speaks,
buddy, when God speaks, that's enough to take His enemies back
in. I am! And the whole multitude went
backwards. And the Bible says they failed
to the ground. Did that deter them? It didn't
deter them. Boy, isn't man's heart deceitful. Look here what they did. I mean,
they got up. They got up. In verse 7, Then asked He them
again, Whom seek you? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, I told you
that I am. If therefore you seek Me, let
these go their way. What did they do? They got right
up and sought to arrest Him. Boy, I tell you, one man, It
is impossible for anybody but God to deter one man from his
wickedness. But you get a whole group of
men together and nobody is going to stop them but God. You are
this whole group and they got up and they come back out and
they joined hand to hand to take the Master. What they see in
this deceitful... Clarence read that passage to
us this morning. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Sin is deceitful. Satan is deceitful. Those men of Sodom, when they'd
been smitten with blindness, they groped to find the door.
Every time the Lord would send a little bit of relief to Pharaoh,
He had hardened his heart. I tell you folks, we're ruined,
aren't we? We're absolutely ruined. Sin has ruined us. It's ruined
us. We don't have any spiritual sense.
No means will avail to soften a sinner's heart, not even a
miracle. Wouldn't you have thought at
least Judas would have said, boy, that's that power. I'm going
to humble myself. Somebody surely would have said,
this has got to be the Son of God. I'm having nothing to do
with this, and bow before Him. But nobody did. Nothing, not
even a miracle like this will tender a man's heart. It won't
do it. Clarence talked about me and
him going and seeing his sister last week. The poor lady is dying. I've got neighbors who are dying.
I went to another one of my neighbors the other day and talked to him.
He's getting ready to go into open heart surgery and probably
won't even come out of it. And I said, are you concerned
about your soul? You've got to face God. You've
got to face eternity. And he said, not really. Not
really. I'm telling you, God lifting
a man up, giving him health, giving him gifts. God stripping
a man, taking his health away from him, bringing him into poverty.
Nothing will tender a man's heart. Nothing but the sovereign grace
of God in Jesus Christ. That's all that will do it. Everywhere
you look, you see such evidence to prove again and again that
Scripture where the Lord Jesus said, no man can come to Me except
My Father which sent Me, draw him. And you will not come to Me.
It's man's inability and his rebellion against God. And nobody
can bring him to the Savior. Miracles won't do it. Gifts won't
do it. Stripping a man who won't do
any of his earthly things, making him sick, laying him on his deathbed.
It's only the Holy Spirit coming into his mind, his heart, and
enlightening him to make him aware of the need he has of Christ
and being saved by Christ. And teaching him and drawing
him. That's the only way men will come to Christ. You'd think
surely somebody here in this multitude. Nobody. Nobody. I'm aware that as I get up here
and preach, and you're aware as you go witnessing to people
on your job, or your families, or your neighbors, and you see
it over and over again, and you're aware that though you're as sincere
and powerful as you can be, they will not come. And here we see in verse 7, Then
ask ye them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth,
I told you that I am, if therefore you seek me, let these go their
way. Boy, it's evident here that our
Lord could escape to these people if that was His will and desire. He had to be willing to be arrested. I said this morning, he wasn't
forced. None of this was forced on him. He went there voluntarily,
willingly, deliberately gave himself into their hands. And
here's one of the magnificent things about this. He knew exactly
what he was going to suffer. He knew everything, and yet willingly
gave himself up to it. He knew that he could escape,
and yet willingly gave himself up to it. Lo, I come, I delight
to do Thy will, O my God." And that's what this is about. That's
what it's about. It was God's will for Him to
give Himself up now into the hands of His enemies. He said
Himself, the hours come. It's time. They couldn't take
Him until His hours come, but this is the hour. And now here,
this is so important. Verse 8, I have told you I am
He, If therefore you seek me, let these go their way." Boy,
this is so important. There were some things these
poor disciples, they couldn't bear. He told them, said, there's
things I need to tell you, but you can't bear it now. There
are situations that they couldn't have endured, and this is one
of them. So he said, I'm going to deliver my poor disciples
from this. They couldn't abhor what was going to take place
here. You know something, brothers and sisters, you and I don't
realize this. There's things we can't take. And He keeps us
from it. He's wise, you see. He put His
disciples through some hardships. Boy, later they had to go through
some things, some whipping and reproach and shame. But that's
after they grew in His grace and come to know Him better.
He never puts His children through difficult things unless He has
a wise purpose in it. So He protected them here. And
He protects you. You may think, boy, it's tough.
It's tough. He's put me through. But He knows
you can take it. He's strengthened you. He's prepared
you for it. And He'll not lay any more upon
you than what you're able to bear. He won't do it. And when
you think He has, sometimes He's doing it to make you stronger.
He's doing it to show you His grace. But it wasn't time for
these disciples. So what does He do? He delivers
them. He delivers them. He was ready
to suffer what no man could suffer. But these poor disciples had
nothing to do with that at this time. And look here what He says.
If you seek Me, let these go their way. Now you may think
that's a request, but it's not. That's a command. These guys
wouldn't have listened to a request. They were ready to capture him.
What good would a request make? This was a command. You get me
on these terms, on my term. You let these go. What would
they have done with these four disciples? They'd have arrested
them too. Why, they'd have probably flew into it and beat them or
cut them to pieces or killed them, put them in prison. But
here's the terms, the Lord Jesus said, here's my command, let
these go our their way. Ain't that the gospel? That's
the gospel, ain't it? Why did Christ come to die? Why
do you see him upon the cross? What was the terms, what was
the conditions that He would go there? That these would be
gone their way. These would be free from their
sins. Now ain't that the gospel? You
get me and they go free. Dave this morning was talking
about Barabbas out there. What a beautiful type He is of
God's children, of God's elect. You let Barabbas go. And you
take me. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. That's the gospel. This was a command. And it's
the gospel in a nutshell. I want you to look at one or
two places with me and let me show you that. Look in Psalms.
You can let go of that right quick and go over in the book
of Psalms. Chapter 71. Psalm 71. I didn't know this and you didn't
either when you were lost. You had no idea about this. You're here this afternoon and
you know the Lord you believe in. You're one of His by new
birth. You didn't realize this when
you were lost. But did you know when you were lost a commandment
had already gone out to save you? Ain't that amazing? A commandment had already gone
out from God to save you. You wonder why you didn't perish
before He called you? Now you know why. The commandment
had already gone out to save you. Wayne, you didn't perish. The commandment had gone out.
On this day, at this time, I'm going to call that man. That
was the conditions of Christ going to the cross. You go there,
and I'll give you these people, and I'll command that they be
saved. It won't be a request. It'll
be a command. Now look here, and you'll see
this in Psalm 71. Look in verse 1. In thee, O Lord,
do I put my trust. Let me never be put to confusion.
Deliver me in thy righteousness. There ain't no deliverance anyplace
else. And cause me to escape. incline thine ear unto me, and
save me. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continue to resort. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress." Ain't that
wonderful? A commandment. That's not a request. That's a commandment. This is
the encouragement I get out of preaching. And you ought to get
it out of going witnessing to people. If the Lord's given a
commandment to save that person that you're witnessing to or
preaching to, I'm telling you, they're going to hear. They're
going to believe. And they're going to be saved.
Look in one more place. Look in John chapter 10. Here's
what the shepherd, the great shepherd said. Look in John chapter
10 and begin there in verse 18. Again, verse 11 through verse
18. Now look at this. Look in verse 11. John 10 verse
11. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is not
in Harlan, he's hard to do his work. and not the shepherd, whose
own the sheep are not. He sees the wolf coming, and
he leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches them and
scatters the sheep. The harlan flees because he isn't
in Harlan, and he don't care for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the
Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my
life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Therefore doeth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again." Now look
at this. This commandment, have I received of my Father." When
we come to the gospel, brothers and sisters, it's not a request. When the Lord went by and spoke
to His disciples and called them and they were cleaning nets and
He said, follow Me, that wasn't a request, was it? And when He come to you, He may
not have said, follow Me right now, if He had you to follow
Him right now. Sometimes He comes to His people and says, follow
Me, and He lets them procrastinate. He lets them stay in their sins.
But if it's a commandment, they're going to eventually arise and
follow Him. That's a commandment. One more verse. I want to read
this one more verse. Look back over in chapter 18
again. Just one more verse and look at this. Look in verse 9. All this happened. Look at this. That the saying
might be fulfilled, which he spoke of them which thou gavest
me, I have lost nothing. Isn't that wonderful? Why did
he say you got to let these go? Because all the Father had given
Him, He'd lost none of them. And He wasn't about to start
now. So He says, here's the condition. You let them go. And you know
something? They let them go. They won them with. Listen, dear child of God, if
the Lord Jesus rejoices in this, to brag about it, and boast about
it, then why don't you honor Him by believing it? Are you
His? Surely, you don't think He's
going to lose you? Would you harbor such thoughts
against Him? Have you ever known Him to lose
the one the Father gave Him? There's something more important
than my salvation. And you know what it is? It's
His honor. It's His doing His Father's will.
And he said in John chapter 6, All the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast him
out. Why? Because I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. What is that will? That of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing. Now if he loses one, who's going
to bear the blame for that? He is. There's something more
important than your salvation, and that's His honor. And He'll
never lose one of His because that's for His honor. He'll bow
His head in shame if He ever loses one of His. Could you see
the devil down in hell if he's got just one that belonged to
Christ? Could you see him holding him
up in hell and say, And all the demons gathered around, look,
I got one of them. Just one of them, but I got him.
And what's Christ in heaven doing? Bowing his head in shame. Oh,
brothers and sisters, listen. If you believe that the Lord
is going to lose just one of His, please go back. I am not
trying to cram anything down anybody's throat, but please
go back and read these verses again. And see if you are not
believing something maybe that is dishonoring to His name. All of this was done that it
might be fulfilled, that saying that was written of all of those
fathers that you gave to me. I've lost another. Not a one
of them. Oh, believe Him. Believe Him
and go your way rejoicing. I'm not saying be careless. Nobody's
saying that. I'm not saying be slothful and
neglectful. I'm saying be proudful and loving
and gracious. But the way you do that is by
believing Him. If you go out there and think
He's going to lose you just at any time, ever slip, you're going
to fall into hell, and He's looking over you thinking, boy, I'm just
waiting for Him to mess up. That's not our Father. He loves
His children. He secured their eternal salvation. in His Son. Believe Him and glorify
Him in doing it. And go live your life in that
liberty that He secured you. And I tell you one of the effects
this will have upon you. You know something about hell.
You know something about heaven. You know something about eternity.
If you're a saved person, you face something about these things.
and then to believe in your heart of hearts that He has fixed your
eternal salvation? That your everlasting happiness
is unchangeably fixed? Oh, I can't imagine the effects
that might have upon a man. I can't imagine what that might
provoke a man to do for God's glory. What does it matter where
I've got to go? My salvation is fixed. What does
it matter if I give myself poor? My salvation is fixed. Well, things haven't changed
today. His disciples haven't changed. We're just as weak and
feeble as these fellows were. But Christ hasn't changed. He hasn't changed. And His Word
hasn't changed. Bless His name. Wayne, would
you dismiss us, dear brother?