The Captain of Our Salvation

James and the Danger of Friendship with the World

Well, we're officially on record. Today, this morning, we will survey quickly. What I would like to do first is bring us up to speed. And what the Lord pressed upon me is that we were going through the book of James.

And James said, He who is a friend to the world is an enemy with God. Make no friendship with the world. So I thought, wow. Who is one person that comes to mind that loved the world greater than the Savior?

That we have in holy writ, that was given the most privileges. The most privileges ever given to man. So, this morning, we come, beloved, to our text, John 18, verses 1 -11, and hear the word of the living God.

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with His disciples.

Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, Whom are you seeking?

They answered, Him. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am He. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. Then He asked them again, Who are you seeking?

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He, therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled, which He spoke, of those whom you gave Me, I have lost none.

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?

This is the Word of God. Let us pray. Father, this is Your Holy Word. We can do nothing apart from You. Father, I need You to expound Your Word. Lord, I need to be fed. Lord, Your Word informs, but it also inflames our hearts.

Lord, let us see Jesus. Holy Spirit, as we just sung, Teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. Lord, this is all that matters. The Name above all names. Lord God, we come to this text and we humble ourselves before Thee.

We are on holy grounds. Lord God, we humble ourselves. We are nothing but from the dust. And we only have significance because of You. Lord God, teach us what we need to know and encourage us to love You more.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, beloved, I'm going to attempt to cover a lot of ground in the next hour. So please, fasten your seatbelts and stay with me. Quickly, what I would like to do is do a 30 ,000 foot commercial jet flyover starting in chapter 12 to bring us up to speed.

And starting in chapter 12, this is where Jesus separates Himself back only to the inner circle. He separates Himself preparing this small band of raw materials to take the Gospel to the world. So we're going to start.

And what I'd like to do is give you just quickly a brief overview of the book of John. As John, as a coin, has two sides, so both is valid of its worth. So Jesus Christ has two natures, both valid. The Son of Man and the Son of God.

So John, in the book of John, John emphasizes on His deity, on being the Son of God. So the Gospel of John, the Gospel according to John, is a topical Gospel that's not in chronological order. And it's revolved around seven miracles and seven I Am statements.

So quickly, if you look at chapter 12, what I'm going to do is just... You can go with me there or just follow along. There really is no clear-cut divisions. There's a lot of overlapping through these.

Some form clearer units than others. So chapter 12, as I mentioned, Christ turns away from the multitude and withdraws Himself to His inner circle. Chapter 13 starts the upper room discourse. This is within the temple walls.

This is in Jerusalem. So chapter 14 is considered the words of comfort. It centers around ten comforting statements to encourage His weary, perplexed, prone to stray disciples. I'm just going to point out some key points in chapter 14.

Verse 1, let not your hearts be troubled. In verses 25 -26 it says, I'm going to leave a helper, the Holy Spirit. And the last, in verse 27, one of the most comforting words, I will leave the greatest gift of all, my peace.

So chapter 15 is words of admonition that all believers are to abide in Christ, how we relate to Christ, and then to relate to one another. So that's admonitions, teachings, of how we are to relate with Christ and how we are to relate with one another.

And I remember this acronym, the C-A-P-P. So if you remember this, words of comfort in 14, A is admonition, P is prediction, and then the priestly prayer. C-A-P-P. So in chapter 16 we see the prediction that persecution is going to come and He's preparing His band of disciples.

He's preparing us. As you follow Me, there will be persecution. But that sorrow will be turned into joy because I'm going to be raised from the dead. I'm going to conquer what conquered you. Chapter 17, this is probably the holiest holy grounds in Scripture.

Christ, in verses 1 -5, prays to the Father. In verses 6 -9, He prays for His immediate disciples. And in verses 20 -26 towards the end of the chapter, He prays for us, the church at large. So now we come.

We've gone from 12 as He turns away. And what I would like to do is I want you to journey with me. Our destination is Gethsemane this morning. We want to journey to Gethsemane. We all are going to cross these same paths in life and we're going to journey with our Lord this morning to the Garden of Gethsemane.

So in chapter 18, which is where I'd like to focus on this morning and land the plane and really walk this path. Walk this path from the temple walls from a Thursday night. A setting is a Thursday night during Passion Week.

And Jesus has just had Supper. So Supper discourse. So in John 18 and 19, this forms a unit. And this describes Christ dying as a substitute for His people. And then towards the end of the chapter, chapters 20 and 21, describing His resurrection and we see His appearances.

So as we worship on the Lord's day, we're going to see where this all begins. So what I'd like to do is give you a quick overview of my outline. I'm going to try to work through this as fast as I can.

Verses 1 -3, I'd like to discuss privileges misused. Verse 4, perfect knowledge. Verse 5, great profit. Verse 6, king of kings. Verses 7 -9, compassionate high priest. Verse 10, zeal without knowledge.

And verse 11, perfect submission. So here we go. Let's plunge into this journey together. John 18 verse 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples. No more talking.

No more talking.

It was time for our captain of our salvation. Action must commence. As Brother Ben reminded me yesterday, a good captain, a good officer, never asks his soldiers to do something that he hasn't done, but that's not willing to do.

Jesus had just shared quite a bit.

With His disciples.

And their hearts were heavy and complex. Not only were their hearts heavy, their bellies were full. They just had been fed. There was a great feasting. Many people had come to the festivals within this Jewish tradition, to the temple.

And they brought a lot of people, the garrisons. There was a large number of officers there because any event that comes to Atlanta, there's special security that comes. So nevertheless, here we go. Jesus, the greatest prophet, has said all He can say.

So what does the prophet do? God speaks to the prophet. The prophet tells God's people what God has to say. So the prophet turns his back to God. God speaks to the prophet. The prophet tells the people.

Now he takes upon the priestly office. The priest represents God's people. So he turns his back. And what he does in that, he prays for his people,.

He teaches his people,.

And ultimately, he makes the sacrifice for his people. This is what a priest does. And we're going to see later on the king of kings. So now he takes upon, he said all he could say to his own people as a prophet.

Now he turns to the office of his priest. Okay, so let us journey. Jesus had just shared a lot at this time to demonstrate to His band of disciples, better yet known, I see this as a bunch of raw goods.

I mean, raw goods. They all started out with the same lump of raw goods. This is what Jesus... He chose this.

Raw goods.

That would be responsible and have the privilege for making the Gospel known to the rest of the world. Judas has already redrew himself and his plan of betraying Christ is already into effect. He's isolated himself and is starting to have fellowship with the world.

A great military leader doesn't stand back. He goes before his people. This setting, as I said, is Thursday night and it is a full moon in the last days of Jesus' ministry. So as we continue in verse 18,.

He said,.

He went out over with His disciples to the brook Kidron where there was a garden which His disciples entered. Every word of God is inspired. And I could just stop right here, I told my wife, I could just stop right here and worship when I came to the brook Kidron.

David.

First, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the geography. The brook Kidron, so you had the temple that was up in Jerusalem. In the brook Kidron, you would come down and enter into a valley and cross over it.

And to get to the Garden of Gethsemane from eastern Jerusalem was about a mile and a quarter walk to the Mount of Olives. And the Garden of Gethsemane was at the base of the Mount of Olives. So you can imagine runoff that would come down from the temple.

All the sacrifices.

That was being made,.

The filth, the stench, the rottenness that was all through that valley. And just around that corner, there was another valley where they used to burn bodies. And these valleys merged together and would come around the corner.

This valley right here, this brook Kidron, why is there significance? Why is it in here that it says He crossed over?

Come on.

What is the significance of this?

Yeah.

We must ask. That's the key question.

This brook Kidron lies down in the shadow of the temple walls. Our Savior didn't have a velvet slipper.

Come on.

In 2 Samuel 15, King David himself passed over when his son Absalom and his close confidant Ahipothel. You can read this in 2 Samuel 15, 23 which is the Old Testament Judas. Turns on David to turn David's people against him.

He crossed over this same brook. But now we come to the greater of the kings. This brook was so vile and so filthy it received runoff from the temple. It was a dark valley. It was dark and knowing that the temple had no lights, it was dark from a visible standpoint and it was dark and vile from a vileness standpoint.

And what this symbol represents of the brook Kidron is a time of distress, a time of discomfort, and it was a time of suffering. Ultimately, crossing this brook would be a foretaste of suffering. Dear brothers and sisters, we must all pass over our own brook Kidron.

If you're suffering this morning, if you're struggling through slander, shame, any kind of pain in your life,.

Be of good cheer.

Let your heart not be troubled because the royal road lies across this brook. Kidron.

Come on, bro.

Another way to get there.

And this place of sorrow has our captain's footprints all along it.

When they said,.

Hey, I'll walk a mud puddle, he walked it dry. He walked through it. He walked through it. So he crossed over. He crossed over it to the garden. What's so significant? This garden is called the Garden of Gethsemane.

It's also called the Olive Press.

And you say,.

Why did he choose this place this night? Why did this place? There was such an intimate.

And a solitude.

That he got refreshments to go back and fight the battle. We all have a place that we can call our Garden of Gethsemane, where we get refreshments to go back and fight the battle. He chose this place of many nights.

And his disciples knew where he could be found at any time. If you look at the olive tree, I looked it up, it's really neat because they kind of start off at a wide base.

And they twist and turn.

And it almost looks like agony.

Oh, yeah.

It almost looks like it just...

Pain took it there.

Man, the trees speak.

I was like, wow.

It's good, bro.

So the garden was a place of solitude that we find our beloved Savior spending many nights meditating and crying out and getting refreshments with the Father, being in union and communion with the Father.

We all have a place that we must go to for solitude. I think of that Psalm 4610, Be still and know that I am God. I encourage you to seek that place often, to be still, quiet our busyness within our souls and have refreshments.

Also, I strongly believe.

That he chose this place.

Because it was the place Judas knew where he would be. See, our Savior wasn't running from the enemy. He was saying, I'm going to be where I'm always going to be.

There it is.

This is a quote from Spurgeon. Happy are they who shall be with their Lord in the day of His sorrow, for they shall be with Him in the day of His joy. So as we continue, let us continue to verse 2. And we come to a sorrowful, sorrowful person.

We come now.

And Judas who betrayed Him also knew the place for Jesus often met there with His disciples. So now, continue as we continue on to the garden. We've arrived there at the garden now. And Judas. I've got some questions.

Who is Judas? Where is he from? And who's his parents? Who is this man that Christ said it would be better if this man had never been born? Who is he? Where does he come from?

I'll tell you.

Scripture tells us that his father was Simon. Simon Iscariot. In Greek, Judah is his Greek form which means Jehovah leads. So his parents had all the greatest intentions that he would follow Jehovah. Scripture tells us that his father again, like I said, is Simon in John 6 .71.

And his mother's name from my understanding was never mentioned. But his last name, Iscariot, tells us where he's from. Iscariot in Greek, apakkerotha, Greek meaning keroth. K-E-R-I-O-T-H. Keroth.

It's a city in Judea.

Outsider.

There it is.

Amen.

Eleven of the disciples were all from Galilee. Samaria, Judea.

Right.

Do you realize he started out as an outsider, he was an outsider, and ended up an outsider. That's right. So let us continue. His name is always mentioned last in the list of the disciples. So these are the things that he was called.

He was called a devil. John 6 .71. He's also called the son of perdition, which means the lost child of destruction. And there's only one other person that was ever called the son of perdition, and that was the Antichrist.

Judah so happened,.

Can you imagine,.

It kind of worked to his benefit. He was an outsider, so no one knew his motives, no one really knew who he was. So he entered into this band of brothers. So isn't it beautiful as we see man.

Is plotting and scheming.

While God is orchestrating?

Wow.

Judas was a treasure for the ministry.

Jesus was the treasurer.

For our Lord Jesus Christ. He carried the money back. He carried the money back. He was granted so many privileges. And what I'd like to do is define what is a privilege. A privilege is an honor given to one that's more than the other.

It's also called a right granted in a peculiar benefit. And that's from Merriam-Webster. But before we go any further, I want to simplify this. As the pastor likes to say, put the cookies low. I want to see if this rings a bell with you.

Judas was a follower of Christ, a preacher of the Gospel, actively engaged in ministry, walked three years with Jesus, left everything to follow the Lord.

He was double-minded.

He heard the Sermon on the Mount and even knew that there was a narrow and broad way. Doesn't that make you examine your own heart? When I come to this man outside of Jesus Christ, this is the most interesting man in the Bible to me.

Just for this reason, because our hearts are deceitfully wicked.

And who can know it?

Deceitfully wicked.

Come on, brother.

So as we continue, it's said he betrayed Him.

Did you hear what I said?

He said, who betrayed Him? Who did what? Who loved Him?

No, no, no.

Think again. Who betrayed Him? This was a choice. This was a choice that He made. Joshua 24 .15 says, Choose this day whom you'll serve. Betraying in Greek means para-de-demo. Para-de-demo. I'm probably murdering these words.

But this means to give over or to yield up. Listen to this quote by Charles Spurgeon regarding this area. Familiarity qualifies a man to be a traitor. And familiarity with religion qualifies man to become an apostate.

Familiarity qualifies man to become a traitor. And familiarity with religion qualifies man to become apostate. Because if you can't betray one,.

You don't know.

But then, as Timothy tells us, having the form of religion, but denying His power. But precious is that form. But there's something greater than the form that's to be desired.

And that's the power.

That's the Spirit of God.

That's to be desired.

The body is dead without the Spirit.

If you can, if you would,.

Please turn with me to Matthew 25 .14 -16. The book of John is very colorful. It really gives us a lot of details. But the book of John does not go into Christ's prayer to the Father. And it also doesn't mention the betrayal of the kiss in the book of John.

It does in the other synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So if you take a look in, I said Matthew 25 verses 14.

Now hold on.

Matthew 26 .14?

26 .14. My finger. I had a fat finger on my computer. Sorry. It's 26. I'm sorry. I was looking. I was like, let's keep going. Here it is. Thank you, Ben. So verse 14 in chapter 26 of Matthew. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?

And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. Some from that time he sought opportunity. So from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him. So you see, there is a greater significance of what these thirty pieces of silver mean.

And that would be a good study to dig into a little bit later. But I'm going to continue on. But from my understanding, that was the price of a slave.

And I'm going to tell you.

What that got this man. Thirty pieces of silver only got this man his own burial plot. As the proverb says, what a man would do.

For a piece of bread.

Amen.

Just for a piece of bread.

Wow.

So here we go. These prophecies were nothing but prophecies fulfilled in Zechariah 11, Psalm 41 -9, and Psalm 55. Brothers and sisters, Satan makes a relentless assault on one who chooses to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will knock, as you mentioned, Brother Michael, he will knock on that door, and he will knock on that door,.

And he will continue and continue.

It's relentless.

He doesn't take vacations.

He doesn't sleep.

He doesn't slumber.

Amen.

Here we go. So what I would like to look at, Judas had been stealing all along from the money bag. He kept this a secret. Keeping sin a secret, this is when Satan entered him. Let's remember Proverbs 28 -13.

It says, A man who covers his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses them and forsakes them will have mercy. Numbers 20, I believe it's Numbers 23, I'm sorry, Numbers 32 -23.

Basically says,.

And paraphrase, those that have sinned against the Lord, be sure that your sin will find you out.

So he was hiding this.

He was hiding this. What an awful thought when it says Satan entered him. Satan does not gain a foothold in the lives of those whom they are walking in the light, but only when we open the door. Judas had not been thinking nor meditating on...

Think about this. He had not been meditating on what was pure, what is noble, what is trustworthy. As Psalm 119 says, I meditate upon your majesty. I meditate upon your wonderful words, your statutes, your precepts,.

Your law.

Proverbs 23 -7 says, As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So as we continue, in verse 2, Judas who betrayed him also knew the place. He knew the place. What a privilege to know this place and for the Lord to share such intimacy with a friend.

Proverbs 18 -24 tells us, A man who has a friend must himself be a friend.

I will tell you,.

This word friend, when I saw this, it knocked me off my feet. When Judas betrayed him with a kiss, this was the most sacred symbol of worship. Think about this. Mary Magdalene kissed the feet of Jesus.

And was exalted. And he kissed the face and went to hell. Judas kissed the door of heaven.

And went to hell.

So close, but so far. So this is what I want to share with you. The Lord Jesus, when He says, Love your enemies.

He exemplified it.

For three years, He covered this man.

Knowing it.

What matter of love is this? I want to love my enemies like this.

I can't.

Without His help.

Apart from Him, I can't.

Knowing that somebody is going to betray me. Lovingly, I'll just cover you.

As long...

I'll keep covering you.

I'll keep covering you.

I want to share this with you. Jesus knows what our greatest need is. And when Judas kissed Him, Do you know what Christ's first word out of His mouth was?

Friend.

His greatest need was a friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. Oh, what comfort we forfeit. All because we do not carry Him.

To Jesus.

He didn't have to carry this. Verse 3, if you look at verse 3, Then Judas having received A detachment of troops and officers From the chief priests and Pharisees Came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Can you understand this? They come there with lanterns and torches To find the light of the world. It's like, here's your sign. But I want you to understand who these people are. These troops, these officers, chief priests, and the Pharisees.

These sects hardly never got along. Ben shared this with me a while back. There was always conflict among them.

Pride.

Pride. They always got along. But they always didn't get along. But now they're getting along. Because there's a greater common denominator of evil within their own hearts. And that's the hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I'm going to share this with you. Where there's light, there will always be bugs. So, if you follow through the book of Acts, We had the blessing at Berean to go through three years of Acts. So, I mean, what a beautiful to see the history of the church.

But where we see the Holy Spirit at work, Unholy Spirit was never far behind. So, you'll see in your own lives, and I've seen this, And I'm sure you can testify, The more seriousness that you set your face like the flint towards the cross, Rest assured, it's coming.

It's coming.

Suffering.

It's coming.

So, here's what we have. The chief priests, these are mostly Sadducees. Don't you see, they were always Sadducee. All these schemers come together as one To arrest a holy living God that has humbled himself, God incarnate, in humanity.

Wow!

Pharisees were the most hatred enemies of Christ And received the most pointed rebukes. They were hypocrites, play actors. Please note that we are too, are born Pharisees. Enemies of God. The number is not specifically quoted of how many people came, But often times they say a cohort of Roman soldiers Were anywhere between six to eight hundred.

So, I'm saying there's a couple hundred people coming. I can't tell you specifically. But these sects, as I said, didn't get along. They hated Christ. And they come with weapons. And if you notice, the very next verse, how calm he is To face this barrage of troops.

Let us continue in verse four. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, Went forward and said to them, Whom are you seeking? Such calm and resolution. Jesus declares himself as a prophet here.

He again tells them. I'm sorry, it's in the next verse. In verse five he tells them, I'm he.

I'm he.

That's what a prophet is, he tells who he is.

I'm he.

But perfect knowledge, getting back into verse four, Knows all things and knows the motives of our hearts. Jesus, knowing what lies ahead, Took the fight to the enemy and was never defensive.

Never defensive.

What resounding resolution that we too have To face our fears and our battles. Matthew Henry said, when people forced him to receive a crown And offered to make him a king, He withdrew and hid himself.

But now, when they come to force him to the cross, He offered himself and came forward. The great question is to all creatures that have a living breath in them At this very moment. Whom are you seeking?

Whom are you seeking today? Verse five, let us look at verse five. They answered him and said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. In Greek, I am.

I am.

I am.

And Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with them. Jesus of Nazareth was a name of reproach to darken the evidence of him being the Messiah. Jesus, this was Jesus of Bethlehem. A town of nothing. A town of nobodies.

This was the great I am, and Exodus tells us, Exodus 3 .14. This was the Lamb chosen before the foundation of the world. Everything was made for him, through him, and unto him. This was the greatest prophet.

Judas now stands with the opposition.

Can I tell you what this defines?

This right now is the definition of an apostate. He has changed sides. Can you imagine the look of Christ looking across with him? Can you imagine with his eyes locked upon him? Looking across. Can I tell you what Satan gave him?

We just read about it in James 4. He says, you adulteresses and adulteresses. Satan gave him a whore's forehead in exchange. This was the biggest hypocrite to ever walk the face of the earth. He comes face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ.

God manifested in the flesh. In verse 6, as we continue, Now when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.

Wow.

This is the king of kings. And just for a moment, just for a moment, when all of others are believing that he's in his weakest humanity and weakest state, there's a divine deity that flashes. A lightning bolt from heaven comes down.

Even in the hour of abasement of his humanity, when we are weak, he is strong. He gives them another sign. They're always seeking a sign. They got one. They got knocked off their feet. And he just said, I am.

Wow. What's in a name?

What's in a name?

That's the question, is it? No brethren, this is the name above all names. This is not a battle of tug of war. This is not a battle of equals. This is the creator of heaven and earth versus a finite creature from the dust.

An angel that has also fallen from that, that has taken control of this man. Also, let us notice that these men fell backwards. They didn't fall forward. God's people fall forward in humility. Worshipped by the true living God, we humble ourselves and we fall at his feet.

Last, let us notice the mercy and the long patience and the loving kindness that God is to evil and rebellious hearts that were knocked down and they gathered themselves and they again ask the same question.

Come on brother.

Having you and your, with sharing the truth with your friends,.

Saying, why don't they get it?

Why don't you turn?

He is the fountain of living water.

Your sin will beat you. It will keep you longer than you want to stay,.

Cost you more than you want to pay,.

And take you further than you want to go.

Amen brother.

It will beat you and leave you with many strikes. He is a good taskmaster. Last, let us notice also, as I mentioned,.

They dropped backwards. They didn't drop dead.

But what mercy there was, because he could have struck them dead just like Ananias and Sapphira. Here is another sign, but they cannot see. Here is Jesus the King before them. As we continue the journey, let us look at verse 7.