these words spake Jesus, all
of those previous chapters, 13, 14, 15, 16, these words spake
Jesus. Words of teaching for his disciples
concerning his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension
to the Father. In those four chapters he over
and over to talk to them about, I came from the Father, I go
back to the Father. I go to prepare a place for you.
I will come again and receive you. He talked about leaving
them. And then he gave words of comfort to these troubled
men who now realized there'd be no earthly kingdom. There'd
be no Jewish kingdom. There'd be no great honor and
a plane for them personally, but rather persecution, harassment
for the gospel of Christ. And their Lord was leaving them.
So he gave them words of great comfort. Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, you believe
in me. And then he gave them in those
four chapters instructions concerning their future work and their ministry. and what they should expect from
the people to whom they preached. And that they wouldn't be left
alone. He said, I won't leave you alone. The Comforter will
come, the Holy Spirit. You'll convince the world of
sin, righteousness, judgment. But He'll guide you in the truth. He'll take the things of mine
and show them to you. He'll glorify me. I'll not leave
you alone. The Holy Spirit will come and
He'll teach you all things, and bring things to your remembrance
that I've said to you." And then, verse 1 of chapter 17, he spake
those words, and then he lifted his eyes to heaven. And he interceded for them. He
said, I pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast
given me. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. and they have kept thy word, and I've manifested your
word, I've manifested your name, I've kept them, and I've given
them the glory you gave me. And then I finish up down at
verse 24, last Sunday night. So I begin tonight at verse 25. And our Lord said, O righteous
father, There's a world of treasure and information, that righteous
Father. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee. This world doesn't know a righteous
God. This world has an all-loving
God without righteousness or wrath. Isn't that true? This
world has a powerless God who wants to do what he can't do.
This world has an impotent God who has a wonderful plan for
everybody, but nobody will cooperate with Him. Isn't that true? But
a righteous God, O righteous Father, O holy Father, O God
who must be just, who must be righteous, who is
love, but it's a righteous love, who is merciful, but it's a mercy
based on a sacrifice of the blood of His Son. Righteous Father,
Holy Father, holy in all His nature, who can by no means clear
the guilty, who will in no while clear the guilty, who will in
no time of sin, righteous Father in all His nature, in all His
ways, oh, I believe that the fellow died without the blood,
you talked about the righteousness, I think God would make a way,
righteous Father, in all His ways, in all His dealings, in
all His nature, in all His purposes, in all His promises, righteous
Father. Listen, the world hath not known
thee, not the righteous God. Paul said in Romans 10, I know
I know them, I know the Israelites." He said, they have a zeal of
God. They have a zeal of God. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness, but they're ignorant of the righteous
God. You know what he said? They're
ignorant of the righteous God. He was in this world, and the
world knew him not. He came into his own. The nation
Israel, his own temple, his own priesthood, his own sacrifices,
his own holy days, his own people, and they were speaking about
it. But I've known them. I've known them. I've known thy
divine nature and glory. I was with thee before the world
was founded, before the foundation stones were laid. I know your
sacred will. I know your everlasting covenant
of grace. I know your will of redemption.
I know thee. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. No man hath
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son hath declared
him. I am the Father of one. I know
thee, O righteous, holy, just, almighty God. I know thee. And this is beautiful, listen.
And these for whom I pray, they know thee. They know you sent
me. These men know you sent me. They
know the manner in which you sent me. Peter said, we know
who you are. You're the Son of God. You're
the Christ. Isn't that what he said? Who
do you say I am, Peter? You're the Son of God. You're
the Christ. They know this. The Son of God
has come and given us an understanding that we may know Him, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent. They know the manner
in which you sent me. They know the purpose for which
you sent me. Peter wrote later, he came to
just, suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us
to God. That's right. to bring us to
God. They know your name. They know
that you sent me. How do they know? Look at verse
26. I've declared unto them your name. They weren't born knowing your
name. They were born as ignorant as all the rest of the world
and all the rest of Israel. But I have declared your name
unto them. I have manifested your name unto
them. Every attribute of Almighty God
they have seen in me. I've manifested. I've declared. And watch this now. And I will
declare it. I will keep on declaring. I've
declared your name. We can take our place right there. We know him, but we pray with
Paul, O that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
O that I might know him. He said, I've declared your name,
and I'll keep on declaring. Let me tell you, the more we
grow in grace, in the knowledge of Christ, the more we know God. That's right, I will keep on
declaring. that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." These are the
two things. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We grow in knowledge. He said,
I've declared your name to them. They know you. They know you. And I'll keep on declaring it.
But another thing I have, that your love may be in them. Not
only a knowledge of the doctrines, of what we call the truth, but
a love for that truth. You see this was a problem with
the folks he sent his judgment upon, they received not the love
of the truth. And these men will not digress This is one thing we need to
declare loud and clear to all the churches of the Lord Jesus
Christ. These men do not digress. I've
declared thy name, I'll keep on declaring it. That thy love
may be in them, and I in them continually. Alright, now verse
1 of chapter 18. When Jesus had spoken these words,
when his prayer was completed, when his prayer was ended, he
went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron. This is at the base of the Mount
of Olives, over the brook Cedron. And I found an interesting thing
about that brook. Hundreds of years before this
moment, Our Lord, with all of the burden upon Him and the cross
before Him and His disciples with Him and such an awesome,
awesome time of decision and of weight, He crossed this little
brook. Well, hundreds of years before,
somebody else crossed that brook. Turn, if you will, to 2 Samuel
15. Second, David crossed that brook. The same brook. In fact, 2 Samuel chapter 15. In fact, David,
when he crossed that little brook, he was fleeing from his son Absalom. Absalom had taken the kingdom.
And David had a few faithful men, a few faithful disciples.
And he was leaving Jerusalem, leaving in exile. And he crossed
that brook with his disciples. Let's read it. This is interesting.
What I see here is here David, hundreds of years before, Christ
is the son of David. And here, somebody said, is a
father fleeing from the wrath of his son. A father fleeing
from the wrath of his son. And over here in John 18 is the
son, willingly going to meet the wrath of his father on behalf
of his people. And David and his disciples,
you're going to note, went over that brook weeping and crying
in defeat. Our Lord and his disciples did
not go over that brook, this son of David, weeping in defeat. He went over it willingly and
cheerfully, not in defeat, but going to meet the enemy and going
to conquer him. No man takes my life from me,
nor my kingdom. Now watch this, this is interesting. 2 Samuel chapter 15, verse 19,
And the king said to the king, Eteai, the Gittai. Wherefore goest thou also with
us? Return to your place, abide with
King Absalom. You are a stranger and also an
exile. Where is thou, chemist, but yesterday?
Should I this day make thee go up and down with us? Seeing I
go, whether I may return, whether I may return thou, take back
thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with you.
And Attei answered the king and said, As my lord the king liveth,
surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in
life or death, even there also will thy servant be. And David
said to Attei, Go and pass over. And Attei the Gittite passed
over, and all his men and all the little ones that were with
him, and all the country wept. with a loud voice, and all the
people weeping passed over. Then the king also himself passed
over the brook, pronounced here Codron, but it's the same brook,
and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness."
Our Lord is going here to the Mount of Olives to pray, crossed
over the brook, There was a garden there, verse 1, chapter 18, into
which he entered and his disciples. Now watch verse 2. And Judas
also, who betrayed him, he was well acquainted with that place.
He knew the place. You can read about it in other
scriptures. But he knew the place. For Jesus oftentimes resorted
thither with his disciples. David was running from Absalom. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
not running. He was not hiding. He was not
evading arrest. He was not evading betrayal. He went to this garden to meet
Judas and his men. That's the reason he went there.
Judas knew the place. That's the reason that says that.
Our Lord went to that familiar place where he resorted with
his disciples and prayed many, many, many times. And Judas knew
where he was going. And he went there to meet him. He went there to meet him. You
see, our Lord, turn to Mark 14. Our Lord said this in Mark 14,
about this meeting, about this betrayal. He said this in Mark
14, verse 21. The Son of Man indeed goeth, as it is written of him. but
woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good work
for that man if he had never been born. So Judas was coming
with his band of soldiers and high priest men and our Lord
Jesus Christ was coming to that very spot to meet him. Now let's
see verse 3, Judas then John 18, having received a band of
men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons." Now John doesn't
say anything about the plot, the plot between Judas and the
priest to betray Christ. He doesn't say anything, John
doesn't say anything about the gift of betrayal. John doesn't
say anything about what took place here on the part of Judas
when he sold the Lord and kissed him and betrayed him and identified
him. But Matthew does. So let's go to Matthew's account
in Matthew 26. This is interesting and ought
to be read here. Matthew 26, verse 14. Matthew
26, 14. Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot. went to the chief priest and
said to them, what will you give me? And I will deliver him unto
you. And they coveted with him for
30 pieces of silver. And from that time he sought
an opportunity to betray them. He knew where he could meet him,
where he could find him. But he waited for the opportunity.
Now look at the same chapter, chapter 26, verse 47. Verse 46,
Matthew 26, 46, "...arise, Christ said, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me." And they went to this garden,
and while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and
with him a great multitude." John doesn't say anything about
this. There's a great multitude following Judas. Judas felt pretty
good with that crowd behind him. He's doing a terrible thing,
but he kind of feels encouraged by it. He's got the majority. He's got the crowd with him.
He's in perfect multitude with swords and staves, people from
the chief priests and from the elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him, Judas
gave them a sign. He said, Whomsoever I shall kiss. You see, this is late evening,
darkness. The disciples and our Lord were
dressed much alack. And so Judas said, I tell you,
they'll all be here. They'll all be there. And I'll
go over and kiss the one that's Jesus. And you can get him. That's what he said. Whomsoever
I kiss, the same is he. Hold him fast. I'll show you
something in a few minutes. Judas knew they better hold him
fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus
and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And our Lord said, Friend,
wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus, and took him." Now let's pick up there now, back
in our text, John 18. You see, John didn't mention
the multitude, but there was a multitude of soldiers and officers
with weapons and porches and staves and swords. And in verse 4 now, so Jesus
therefore knowing that all things that should come upon him, now
you think about this a minute, our Lord knowing everything that
should come upon him, everything, not, he knew all things, he knew
all things from the cradle to the cross. He knew every person,
he knew every person's attitude, he knew everything they'd say,
he knew every act that they'd perform, he knew every betrayal,
every denial, every... He knew... Like he said in John
2, he needed not that anyone should tell him about man, he
knew what was in man. Let me show you a verse on that. John 6, 64. John... Our Lord is God! He died in John 6, 64. Now he said, there's some of
you that believe not. He's preaching to this crowd
in John 6, same crowd he fed, 5,000. Followed them across the
lake. There's some of you that believe
not. Jesus knew from the beginning. The beginning of what? This sermon?
From the beginning. In the beginning, God. in the beginning. He knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not
and who should betray. He knew all things. You see, God's purpose that righteousness
be fulfilled, that was Christ's purpose. God's purpose that a
Redeemer should come, Christ himself. and fulfill righteousness,
and accomplish a sacrificial death, that justice should be
satisfied for all believers, that the nature of sin should
be exposed, and that the guilt of sin should be conquered, that
the wrath of God the Father must fall upon him. He knew all those
things. And let me show you a scripture
that is so positive about it, it's undeniable. Turn to Isaiah
6. Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6. Everything that the
Father does, the Son does. Everything that the Son does,
the Father does and wills, and the Holy Spirit does. Isaiah
6. You remember he said, Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord. I lifted up his train and filled
the temple. The seraphims cried, holy, holy, holy. And then you
know what happened, he got the live coal and touched his tongue.
And then he said in verse 8, And I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, now listen, Whom shall I send? Who will go forth? What's that little word? Us. Who's that us? Us? Father and the Son and the Spirit. God's not saying who'll go for
me and my angels, angels got nothing to do with redemption,
this is who'll go with bearing the glad tiding, who'll go telling
the gospel, who'll go preaching the Word, who'll go for us! Isaiah said, here I am, send
me. So Jesus knowing, that's what he says here in verse 4,
all things, that's the reason. When our Lord came under that
tree, There were multitudes of people in that crowd, sons of Abraham by natural birth. He came under a tree and saw
a man called Zacchaeus and said, Zacchaeus, come down. Today I
must abide at your house. Why must he? Because he also
is a son of Abraham, learned from the beginning. When our
Lord walked by the receipt of customs, there were all kind
of tax collectors there, but there's one sitting there named
Matthew. He walked by the receipt of customs where they were collecting
taxes, and he turned to one man, Matthew. He said, Matthew, follow
me. And that fellow folded his books,
stood up, pushed his chair back, never seen him before, and followed
him. He came down there with the fishermen.
How many I don't know. But there was James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, washing their nets. And he said, you
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Just like that. Now this, don't feel too sorry for the
Lord Jesus, OK? Don't waste too much sympathy
on King of kings and Lord of lords. He does as he will, when
he will, with whom he will. He's king. He knew everything was going
to happen. Harvest read on. Knowing all things that should
come upon him. Now verse 4, let's stay there.
He went forward. What did he do? He stepped out
in the open. Back here with his disciples.
Here comes this howling mob of tearing torches swords, and you
know a lynch mob, now they can get ugly, led by Judas. And our Lord stepped forth, stepped
out in front of them, walked out right in front of them, and
stood directly in front of them. That was when Judas probably
stepped forth and kissed him. When he stepped forth in front
of them, the royal king, king of kings and Lord of lords, He
stepped in front of them, and he said, Whom seek ye? That's when Judas came up and
kissed him on the cheek and said, Hey, old master. And they answered him. Whom seek
ye? They answered him and said, Jesus
of Nazareth. And our Lord said unto them,
I am, I am. I know that he is there, but
that's in italics, and that's to tell us that the translators
added it because they felt it should be added. But this is the same voice Moses
heard at the burning bush, I am, I am, I am. He speaks and worlds are created. He speaks, and He says, I say
to the lightning, come and it comes and go and it goes. The
rain falls, the snow covers the earth. He speaks and men live
or die. He speaks and graves are opened. Lazarus, come forth. He came
forth. And when these fellows heard
this voice, and Judas stood there with them, Verse 6, as soon as
he said, I am, they went backward. Power of his voice, the power
of his person, glory of that voice. They said he spake as
no man ever spake. I wish I could say that like
he said, no way. But I could hear it like, I am. And all the strength went out
of them, all the sores just dropped, and I bet the torches fell to
the ground and they just passed out. Glory of our God. If men can't
stand before His voice, how can they stand before His judgments?
And His great white throne. It says all the dead, small and
great will stand before God, but I'll tell you this, not for
long. And they went backward and fell to the ground. He might
have easily walked away. Think about it. They are all
lying on the ground. They are all stunned. Like they have been struck by
lightning. Just stunned. Lying on the ground. He could
have just turned and got Peter and James and John. He did it
before. Let me show you a couple of times. Luke 4. I told you I'd come back to this.
Luke 4. You know when he spoke in the
temple at Nazareth? And it says in verse 28, Luke
4, And all that were in the synagogue, now this was a big crowd too,
a multitude, when they heard these things were filled with
wrath, and they rose up and thrust him out of the city they rose
up and herded him out of that temple and out of that city and
led him this is a five hundred or seven hundred or a thousand
people angry, eight, filling their eyes and their voices they
led him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built
that they might cast him down headlong but he passing through
the middle of it just walked his way. His eye was not yet
come. You just, somebody said, what
will I do with Jesus? Just what he lets you do. You ever heard preachers preach,
what will you do with Jesus? What will you do with Jesus?
Not a thing. But I tell you Lord, do something
for me. Don't leave this in my hands.
He just walked through. I'll just show you another one.
John 8. John chapter 8, verse 59. Is that it? John 8, 59? He said in verse 58 of John 8,
I tell you, Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you,
before Abraham was, I am. That is, I am. And this crowd
picked up stone. They began to reach for brickbats
to cast at him. But he hid himself and went out
of the temple going right through the middle of them and passed
them by. So here he is, they said, he
said, Whom seek you? He said, Jesus of Nazareth. He
said, I am. And they all collapsed. He could
have taken his disciples and walked away. glory. He didn't. He kept standing there. And finally they revived. They
revived and evidently rose. And so in verse 8, verse 7, Then
asked he them again, and they said, Jesus is Nazareth.
He said, I told you that I am. He seems to be upbraiding their
stupidity. He said, I told you. Are you
so dumb? I told you, I am. And then, this is showing he
is in full control. The world somehow seems to want
to picture our Lord as a helpless, frail, feminine, weak creature. But he's in total control. I
just love it. I love anything that magnifies
my Lord and reveals Him and pictures Him in His true character. The
King. The King. He said now, He's in full control. This is on His terms. This arrest
is on His terms. It's at His time. He's the only
man that chose the time of His birth. His power. place of his birth, time of his
death, the way he would die, where he would be buried and
raised himself from the dead. That's control. On his terms, at his time with
calmness, everybody's excited with him. This mob's in a frenzy. The disciples are scared to death.
He's in total control. I love that. He allowed himself
to be arrested by them. He allowed himself to be bound. No man takes my life, I lay it
down. I have the power to take it up
or lay it down. Now, here's the key too. He said
in verse 8, I told you I am, if therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. I chose that as the title of
this message. Let these go their way. What's he saying? Six things.
Let these go their way. Number one, Christ must suffer
alone. He must walk the winepress alone. He is the willing and only substitute
and sacrifice for sin. Secondly, if Christ suffers for
sin, this is what Brother Ronnie brought up this morning, It is
not possible for anyone else to suffer for those sins. Payment,
God's justice, justice cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding
shirtless hand, then again at mine. If he suffers, let these
go. Isn't that right? Can't take
them. Thirdly, they cannot suffer with
him. I know they're going to die.
They're going to suffer. In other words, He said, the cup, the
cup which I drink, can you drink it? They said, yes. He said, you will someday, but
you can't now. Now, stay with me. The cup, we'll
come to that in a minute, but the cup of wrath, the cup of
God's indignation, which I drink of, deliver this cup from me. Can you drink it? Well, you will.
They'll kill you too. Peter, they'll crucify you upside
down. They'll behead you, they'll kill
you. Every one of you but John. That's
what he told them how they'd die. But they can't suffer now. Because this poor, benighted,
ignorant, religious world would make their suffering part of
the sacrifice. They would. If any one of those
disciples had died when their Lord died, they'd worship that
disciple alongside Christ, just like they're trying to make his
mother a co-redeemer. That's right. So it can't be. Let these go. Christ must suffer
alone. He must pay the debt alone. These
men cannot die at the same time he does, because they would be,
by some preachers, connected with him in redemption. And another
thing our Lord is saying to the law and justice, let them go. I found the ransom, let them
go. Let these go their way. Law,
justice, turn him loose, let him go. And that's what he did
when he died for us, we were set free. Set the captive free,
let him go his way. Fifthly, and when time shall
be no more, and the judgment of God falls upon this sinful
world and upon all of its rebellious people, these words will still
be written across heavens, clouds of glory, let these go. Let them go their way. Christ
took that place. Stand for us in the judgment.
and then he says in verse 9 here is another reason why they must
let him go that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake of
them which thou hast given me I have lost none isn't that encouraging
to us let them go their way And I tell you, he had particular
respect to his disciples when he said that. And when he said
that saying back in John 17, of them which thou hast given
me I have lost none, except the son of perdition, that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. But he is saying that about everybody
who will believe on him through his word. Of those which thou
hast given me, I have lost none. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh out of no wise cast out."
I've lost my... let them go. Firm as his throne, his gospel
stands. My Lord, my hope, my trust. If
I'm found in Jesus' hands, my soul can never be lost. His honor,
you see, is engaged to Satan. even the weakest of his sheep.
All that the Heavenly Father gave, he's a surety and he'll
keep. Nor death nor hell shall ever
remove a loved one from his breast. In the bosom of his love, we
shall forever rest. If you seek me, let them go. Let these go. All right, one
more verse or two and I'll let you go. I had to get into this
right here. Verse 10. Then Simon Peter, bless
his heart. I see so much of me in that man.
Everything quiet and calm, but he's got to do something or say
something to get it rolling again. But I believe he did this to
defend his master. Then Simon Peter having a sword. What's he doing with a sword
at a prayer meeting? Well, I can't explain it, but
I know you can look at it later. They had two swords. Remember
back in Luke 22, you can look at it later, Luke 22, 35 through
38. He said, I told you before when
you go take me the script, no sword, no anything I'll provide
for you. Now he says he's just got script
and and so forth, food, and a sower to take it. And they said, we
got two. Is that enough? He said, that's enough. Remember
that? Well, Peter had it with him.
And he's going to take up his master. I admire him. I don't
admire what he's doing, but I admire him. He's going to defend his
master. And I'll tell you this, look
at what he did. He smoked the high priest's servant, cut off
his right ear. The high priest's servant was
named Malchus. Peter was not aiming for his
ear, I promise you. The man just ducked and Peter
was aiming for right here, he was going to cut off that man's
head. And Luke says, our Lord rebuked
Peter and he touched the man's ear and healed it. That's what
the other disciples, John doesn't say anything about that. But
then he turned to Peter and he said, put up your sword. In another
place he said this that John didn't report. You see, there's
a harmony of the gospels and you put all of it together and
you get the broader picture of what took place. He said to Peter,
they that live by the sword die by the sword. The sword is not
the way we preach the gospel and men are converted to Christ.
I think there was one famous Roman emperor that had all his
army baptized with their arms sticking up in the air with their
swords. They baptized all of them with their swords and their
right arms. But that's not gospel. That's not the way. He said,
put up your sword. Now here's what I want you to see. The cup. What is this? This is the cup
of wrath for our sins. John Gill says, justice makes
the cup. of dreadful suffering, a cup
of wrath, a cup of fury, a cup of soul agony, a cup of trembling,
a cup of separation from God, a cup of soul suffering. My God, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. And the angels came and ministered to him. And he said
to the disciples, let's go. But this cup is called in Revelation,
listen, the cup of God's indignation. I looked up the word indignation.
It's violent passion. It's abhorrence. It's vengeance. And he said, this cup, watch
it now, which my father had given Not which the Roman soldiers
brought for me to drink, or which the Jewish people brought for
me to drink, which an accident or miscarriage of justice sentenced
me to drink. My father, it's his cup, it's
his wrath, it's the cup of his indignation. He gave it to me. My father appointed me to drink
this awesome, awful cup. It pleased God to bruise him.
God made his soul an offering for sin. My father gave me this
cup. My father put it in my hand.
It's written of me in the book. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. My father gave it to me. Now
then, Peter, shall I not drink it? Tell me, shall I not drink it? What do you think? This cup,
from all eternity, the sins of my people, that my father gave
me, sent me to bear and to drink. Shall I not drink?