Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Kingdom

Introduction:

John 12:32-33 - "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

The Lord on Trial (John 18:28-40):

1. Who is Jesus ? (John 18:33-37)
2. What is Truth ? (John 18:38a)
3. Do you want Jesus or Barabbas ? (John 18:38b-40)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:05

  Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 18.

  00:08-00:19

  John chapter 18, are you there? Last week I told you a story about a foster son that we had and I coached his soccer team and there's another story about him.

  00:19-00:22

  We actually had his brother and sister. They were five and seven.

  00:24-00:32

  and we had them for what, about a year and a half or so, and at one point, their mother took us to court.

  00:34-00:52

  And some of you know this story, and I'm not gonna go into all of it, but it was the most surreal moment of my life, because I am in the courthouse, I got my suit on, I'm on the stand, we got the judge, we got the attorney, you got the whole scene here.

  00:54-01:00

  And they started throwing at us the most insane allegations I've ever heard.

  01:01-01:04

  Nothing like abusive or anything like that.

  01:05-01:13

  Literally, it was, "Did you tell the little girl that there is no Santa Claus?" That's what we were in court for.

  01:14-01:32

  And another one of the allegations was, They said, "Did you buy the DVD, The Passion of the Christ, for the five-year-old?" I said, "That's a very strange question, but no.

  01:33-01:40

  No, we did not buy The Passion of the Christ for a five-year-old." And when I said that, they seemed like in complete disbelief.

  01:40-02:43

  They're like, "You didn't buy that?" We need to check our notes here because they're like, "You didn't buy The Passion of the Christ for the five-year-old? Like, we know you did!" And I said, "No, I didn't." And, you know, sometimes you gotta say something and you don't mean to be smart alecky, but you know it's gonna sound like it no matter how you say it. You know what I'm talking about? But anyways, when they expressed how incredulous they were that I said no we didn't buy the Passion of the Christ for this fiver they said you didn't buy that for him and I I said I'm like I don't want this to sound smart alecky but here's it here's how it came out I said well the the movies in Aramaic and it's subtitled in English and because the five-year-old can't read and because he can't speak Aramaic we went with a different Christmas gift option.

  02:47-02:57

  And this is all true, and it's actually more absurd than I'm making it sound, but buy me Starbucks or Chick-fil-A sometime, I'll tell you the rest of the story.

  02:57-03:12

  But I will say this, as crazy and surreal as this whole scene was, I'm on trial, and we're talking about Santa Claus, and this really weird accusation about buying the passion of the Christ for this five-year-old.

  03:12-03:15

  It was just, there was just so many weird things.

  03:15-03:17

  I'm like, is this happening?

  03:17-03:19

  Is this trial really happening?

  03:21-03:26

  That's not even the craziest trial that I'm aware of.

  03:27-03:33

  Because when we turn to God's word today, what you're going to see is Jesus is on trial here.

  03:34-03:35

  And it's even crazier.

  03:37-03:39

  than anything Aaron and I went through.

  03:41-03:45

  We're at this section in John where we've seen Jesus betrayed by Judas.

  03:47-03:51

  And last week we saw John was telling two stories at one time.

  03:51-03:55

  Jesus is before Annas and ultimately Caiaphas.

  03:56-03:58

  And here's Jesus being faithful.

  03:58-04:03

  And he saw Peter denying that he knew Jesus.

  04:04-04:07

  And now we're off to the civil trials.

  04:07-04:11

  So John 18, picking up in verse 28.

  04:12-04:18

  It says, "Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.

  04:19-04:20

  It was early morning.

  04:22-04:31

  They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover." Stop right there for a second.

  04:33-04:39

  In this scene, the only innocent person is the one that's being accused of a crime.

  04:41-04:45

  So why did the Jews take Jesus to Pilate?

  04:46-04:52

  Well, quick history lesson, at this period of history, Roman had conquered the entire Mediterranean world.

  04:53-04:57

  And Israel, at this point in Israel's history, was under Roman occupation.

  04:58-05:08

  And the Romans allowed Israel to live in their land and sort of self-govern themselves to a limited extent, but the Israelites were ultimately under the Roman authority.

  05:09-05:13

  And that meant a couple of things. One, it meant that they had to pay taxes to Rome.

  05:14-05:20

  And another thing that's important, and it's going to come up here in the text, Israel was not allowed to execute capital punishment.

  05:23-05:28

  That's why the Jews had to take Jesus to the Romans.

  05:29-05:31

  And your Bible says it was early morning.

  05:33-05:36

  Roman court actually began at daybreak.

  05:36-05:40

  And I think this was them wanting to be first in line, right?

  05:41-05:41

  Let's get there early.

  05:42-05:43

  Let's get there before the rush.

  05:47-05:52

  Interestingly enough, verse 28 tells us that they were, do you see that?

  05:52-06:07

  They were unwilling to go into the governor's headquarters because it was Passover and going into a Gentile place would have defiled them and made them unclean and they would have been unable to eat the Passover.

  06:07-06:09

  And I gotta tell you something about that.

  06:11-06:13

  Because you're like, where is that in the Old Testament law?

  06:13-06:17

  It's not, that is not in the Old Testament law at all.

  06:18-06:24

  That was invented by some rabbis who wanted to separate themselves from the Gentiles.

  06:24-06:26

  So they made up all these rules and this was one of them.

  06:27-06:32

  During the Passover, you can't go into a Gentile place or you're unclean.

  06:35-06:46

  Because you know, you wanna make sure that you keep your religious rules while you're on the way to execute a perfectly innocent man.

  06:48-06:48

  Right?

  06:50-06:51

  Isn't that what's happening here?

  06:51-06:52

  And we can, you know what?

  06:52-06:57

  That's funny, we can laugh at that, but we all know people like that, don't we?

  06:59-07:08

  You know, they're like, "Pro-abortion, but I would never wash my car on a Sunday." That's exactly what's happening here.

  07:11-07:13

  Verse 29, that's a whole nother sermon.

  07:14-07:24

  But you just gotta watch out for those people that are so concerned about keeping their little religious rules, and they just live this flagrantly godless lifestyle.

  07:24-07:25

  Just watch out for those people.

  07:26-07:27

  That's what we got happening here.

  07:28-07:36

  Verse 29 and 30, it says, "So Pilate went outside to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?

  07:38-07:48

  "They answered him, "If this man were not doing evil, "we would not have delivered him over to you." Stop there.

  07:48-07:49

  So Pilate comes out.

  07:50-08:06

  Okay, so the Jews bring Jesus to Pilate and he's like, "What's the accusation here?" And their response, "We don't have one." He asked them for an accusation and they actually accused him of questioning their integrity.

  08:07-08:17

  Like, come on Pilate, seriously, you think we'd get up this early and come all the way here and ask you to execute an innocent man?

  08:18-08:20

  I mean, come on, come on, come on, Pilate.

  08:20-08:21

  I thought you knew us better than that.

  08:24-08:32

  Verse 31, "Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.

  08:33-08:41

  "The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." See, Pilate didn't wanna kill Jesus.

  08:41-08:44

  You gotta try to look at this a little bit from Pilate's perspective.

  08:44-08:46

  They bring this guy, there's no specific crime.

  08:47-08:48

  There's just a general statement.

  08:48-08:49

  Well, he's a bad guy.

  08:49-08:51

  That's why we brought him to you.

  08:51-08:53

  So Pilate's like, you go judge him.

  08:56-08:58

  And then they quoted Roman law, we can't.

  09:01-09:08

  Now, if you've been with us through this journey and John, you've seen that the Jews, they've wanted Jesus dead.

  09:09-09:13

  And if you're familiar with the gospels in general, they've tried to kill Jesus previously.

  09:14-09:18

  So the question is, why are they so concerned about Roman law now.

  09:18-09:28

  Remember, they wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff and they wanted to execute him before, but why are they so concerned about the Roman law now?

  09:29-09:30

  Verse 32 tells us.

  09:31-09:45

  It says, "This was to fulfill the word "that Jesus had spoken to show "by what kind of death he was going to die." See, this is why the Jews didn't stone Jesus.

  09:45-09:54

  This is why Jesus didn't allow himself as the spotless lamb of God to be executed any other way.

  09:56-09:57

  It was to fulfill his word.

  09:58-10:02

  John 12 is that word.

  10:02-10:13

  Jesus said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

  10:14-10:14

  And that's important.

  10:16-10:27

  Because under Old Testament law, was it Deuteronomy 21, a man who was hung on a tree was considered cursed by God.

  10:29-10:31

  And Jesus was to fulfill that.

  10:31-10:37

  Because He was going to take the curse of sin on Himself when He was on the cross.

  10:40-11:00

  Jesus promised He was going to die lifted up. That's the Roman way of execution. Not die being thrown down and stoned, which is the Jewish way of execution. So what we have now is Pilate beginning the interrogation of Jesus. So we're going to court here.

  11:05-11:11

  And when we go through this, it might look like Jesus is on trial.

  11:12-11:14

  But that's actually not what's happening here.

  11:15-11:16

  Actually Pilate's on trial.

  11:19-11:20

  And Pilate was a horrible person.

  11:22-11:23

  You can do some homework.

  11:23-11:31

  I did so much reading on Pilate, and I could spend easily an hour just telling you what a horrible person he was.

  11:32-11:38

  And certainly we're going to see in the text here, he was a coward, but you have to give Pilate credit for one thing.

  11:39-11:43

  There was one thing that Pilate was, he excelled at this one thing.

  11:44-11:47

  And that's what we're going to be talking about for the next two weeks.

  11:48-11:49

  Pilate's area of expertise.

  11:50-11:50

  You ready for this?

  11:51-11:56

  You're like, "Yeah, I want to hear what glowing review you have, Pilate, here." Here it is.

  11:58-12:00

  Pilate asked the right questions.

  12:02-12:15

  And if you go through your Gospels and just pull out the questions that Pilate asked, You're like, "He asked the best questions of anyone, and he asked these questions to the perfect person." But there's a problem.

  12:18-12:20

  The problem was he didn't care about the answers.

  12:22-12:23

  I mean, get this scene in your head.

  12:24-12:33

  Here's Pilate standing before God, having an interview with the Messiah, with the King of Heaven.

  12:34-12:44

  He has them and can ask him anything, and he asks him the greatest questions, and when he's done, he ultimately just doesn't care.

  12:47-12:57

  And our sermon series is called "Knowing Jesus." And for the next two weeks, we're going to look at the answers to Pilate's excellent questions.

  12:58-13:02

  This is like a trial way more compelling than that OJ stuff.

  13:03-13:10

  This is, to me, one of the most fascinating things in all of God's word, watching this exchange.

  13:11-13:17

  So on your outline, if you're taking notes, which we always encourage, knowing Jesus, the Lord on trial.

  13:19-13:19

  The Lord on trial.

  13:20-13:22

  First question, write this one down.

  13:22-13:24

  Number one, first question is who is Jesus?

  13:27-13:28

  Write that down, who is Jesus?

  13:29-13:34

  We're going to look at Pilate's first three questions, but we're gonna put them all in one bucket.

  13:34-13:36

  We're gonna put them all under one heading.

  13:36-13:38

  And this is a logical place to start.

  13:38-13:39

  It's who are you?

  13:39-13:40

  Look at verses 33 and 34.

  13:41-14:01

  It says, "So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' Jesus answered, 'Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?'" That's Pilate's first question.

  14:01-14:03

  Are you the king of the Jews?

  14:03-14:12

  Interestingly, in the Greek, you can tell there's different words emphasized that kind of helps you understand sort of the way the question was asked.

  14:13-14:16

  And the word that has special emphasis here is the word you.

  14:17-14:21

  So you get to see, and here's Jesus dragged before Pilate, standing before him.

  14:22-14:30

  And what's Pilate is saying here, he's like, you, you're the king of the Jews, you.

  14:32-14:35

  You're the one everybody's so fussed up about.

  14:37-14:40

  You!" I love Jesus' response.

  14:41-14:44

  Jesus was asking, what prompted that question?

  14:46-14:50

  Is this something that you are personally curious about?

  14:53-14:55

  Or are you just repeating something you heard?

  14:56-15:12

  Jesus was saying, "Okay, Pilate, how sincere is your interest?" Now, Jesus wasn't being a smart aleck, because this drives to something that Pilate, and really all of us, have to wrestle with.

  15:14-15:17

  I need to ask you, are you interested in personally seeking Jesus?

  15:21-15:31

  Or are you just okay with basing whatever you think, your opinion about Jesus, you base it on some unverified information that you might have heard somewhere?

  15:34-15:39

  Because people have all kinds of opinions about Jesus that don't come from the source material.

  15:42-15:43

  But it's just what I heard.

  15:44-16:06

  People say, "Well, I saw this TV preacher once and he said this." Or, "I attended this mass when I was a kid and this is what I know." Or, "Some guy at work read this article in Time Magazine and he said that this is what it says about Jesus." Do you really care who he is?

  16:08-16:14

  Are you personally seeking him in his word or do you just parrot what you've heard?

  16:17-16:22

  So Jesus questions the sincerity of Pilate's question.

  16:23-16:24

  Look at verse 35.

  16:26-16:28

  Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?

  16:30-16:33

  Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you over to me.

  16:34-16:37

  What have you done?" I love this.

  16:37-16:44

  Jesus is like, "How sincere is your interest in your 'are you the king of the Jews' question?" You want to know?

  16:44-16:44

  Really?

  16:47-16:54

  Pilate's like, "Do I look like a Jew to you?" He's like, he's saying, "This isn't for me.

  16:54-17:12

  I don't care about your Jewish stuff." Pilate's like, "It was your people that handed you over to me." Pilate actually seemed to resent the idea that someone would think that he would have a personal interest in Jewish business.

  17:14-17:15

  And that takes us to Pilate's second question.

  17:17-17:22

  He's like, "What have you done?" Now in the Greek, that's a very blunt question.

  17:23-17:27

  It's not like Pilate's taking notes and sort of asking, not really paying attention.

  17:27-17:28

  Okay, what are you in for?

  17:28-17:29

  What have you done?

  17:29-17:30

  It's not like that.

  17:30-17:37

  In the Greek, it's sort of Pilate leaning in, like, "Dude, what did you do?

  17:38-17:40

  Like, all these people are so like fired up.

  17:41-17:42

  Like, what is it that you did?

  17:43-17:49

  Like, "Come on, bro, just tell me, what did you do?" Verse 36, look at Jesus' answer.

  17:50-17:54

  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.

  17:56-18:03

  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

  18:05-18:12

  But my kingdom is not from the world." Jesus answers both the Pilate's questions, right?

  18:13-18:17

  Are you the king of the Jews? What have you done?" This is Jesus' answer.

  18:17-18:20

  Notice how both of Jesus' answers are in the negative.

  18:20-18:22

  He's like, "My kingdom's not of this world.

  18:25-18:34

  And my servants don't fight political wars." Jesus' kingdom is spiritual.

  18:36-18:38

  And He didn't come to conquer Rome.

  18:38-18:39

  He came to conquer sin and death.

  18:42-18:44

  Shame on us church when we try to make Jesus political.

  18:45-18:49

  Because you know Jesus is a conservative right-wing Republican, right?

  18:54-18:59

  And Jesus made His political position very clear here.

  19:00-19:02

  He says, "My kingdom is not of this world.

  19:05-19:11

  It's not of this world. My servants don't fight political wars." And that leads to Pilate's third question.

  19:11-19:12

  Look at verse 37.

  19:13-19:20

  "Then Pilate said to him, 'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king.

  19:21-19:29

  For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

  19:31-19:45

  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.'" Jesus says, "I have this kingdom, it's not of this world, or my servants will be fighting." And Pilate's like, "Okay, right, right, right.

  19:46-19:47

  My kingdom, okay, I got it.

  19:48-19:55

  So you're a king." Jesus replied, "You said it." Notice, look at Jesus' reply here.

  19:56-20:01

  He says, "For this purpose I was born," that speaks to his humanity.

  20:01-20:07

  And he says, "For this purpose I have come into the world," that speaks of his deity.

  20:09-20:19

  that Jesus was saying, "I am fully man and I'm fully God, and I showed up here for one purpose, and that is to bear witness to the truth of God.

  20:20-20:25

  That's why I'm here." Bear witness to the truth.

  20:26-20:29

  Truth about life and who is God and who is man.

  20:29-20:34

  Truth about spiritual things, salvation, eternity, all of the things that matter.

  20:35-20:36

  Jesus said, "That's why I'm here.

  20:38-20:40

  I'm here to tell you what's true.

  20:42-20:45

  There isn't anyone who knows the truth who rejects Jesus.

  20:48-20:54

  But church, this is the most important question any of us are ever going to wrestle with.

  20:55-21:12

  Where Pilate started, "Who is Jesus?" And if we're just going to compile Jesus' answers to Pilate, you see that Jesus gave Pilate the ultimate abbreviated theology lesson.

  21:15-21:20

  In a nutshell, here's what, in just a few short verses, here's what Jesus said to Pilate about himself.

  21:21-21:23

  He's fully God and fully man.

  21:23-21:29

  He is the king over the spiritual realm and he is possessor of ultimate truth.

  21:32-21:39

  I have to ask you again, Are you seeking to know Jesus yourself from the Word of God?

  21:41-21:46

  Or like Pilate, do you just rely on what someone else said about Him because you really aren't that interested?

  21:49-21:55

  There might be some people that attend this church to get my weekly dose of Jesus.

  21:55-21:56

  And hey, we're glad you're here.

  21:57-21:57

  We're glad you're streaming.

  21:58-22:00

  We're glad you're part of us, however you're part of us.

  22:01-22:06

  But this can't be a substitute for you personally seeking Jesus Christ yourself.

  22:09-22:19

  Because what you see here is even though Jesus was on trial, He was making an appeal to Pilate when He makes this statement.

  22:19-22:22

  Look at this last statement, because this is huge.

  22:23-22:25

  And this is all inclusive here, alright?

  22:26-22:35

  Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice." We talked about that earlier. What was it? John 10.

  22:36-22:39

  "My sheep know My voice." It's the same concept.

  22:39-22:48

  If you're tuned into the truth, if you care about the truth, if you love the truth, you're going after Jesus, because He is the truth.

  22:48-22:51

  So Jesus is putting Pilate on trial here.

  22:51-23:09

  He says, "Hey, everyone who is of the truth listens to Me." It's like, "All right, this is it. This is the critical moment." Pilate, the ball is in your court.

  23:11-23:24

  God Himself is standing in your courtroom, And He is telling you the most important thing you will ever hear in your entire life.

  23:25-23:28

  What do you say to the King of Heaven, Pilate?

  23:30-23:30

  Look at verse 38.

  23:32-23:41

  "Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?'" That leads us to our second question.

  23:42-23:44

  It's actually Pilate's fourth question to Jesus.

  23:47-24:01

  "What is truth?" I did a lot of reading this week, trying to understand what's happening in this passage, word tenses and things like that.

  24:02-24:07

  And so much of what I read, people asking, "How did he mean this? We don't really know.

  24:07-24:18

  Was Pilate being sincere?" The pilot was like, "Well, what is truth?" Or was he being like cynical and sarcastic?

  24:19-24:26

  Like, "What is truth?" And I think it's pretty obvious, isn't it?

  24:28-24:29

  He's being cynical.

  24:30-24:31

  Like, how do you know that?

  24:33-24:34

  Because he's indifferent.

  24:36-24:38

  Because he didn't stick around for an answer.

  24:39-24:53

  If he really cared, he would have pulled up a chair and said, "Explain to me what truth is." You see here in the text, he says, "What is truth?" And it's a way of dismissing Jesus.

  24:53-24:57

  It's a way of, this conversation's over at this point.

  25:00-25:01

  It's dismissive.

  25:01-25:07

  And I mean, can you even wrap your brain around that?

  25:09-25:16

  The pilot would look at Jesus and go, "What is truth?" And walk away from Him.

  25:17-25:18

  Can you believe that?

  25:20-25:22

  I mean, can you believe that?

  25:25-25:31

  It's so easy to be appalled at pilot.

  25:33-25:37

  Like, "Wow, wow, what an idiot.

  25:37-25:41

  Shame on him. How wicked. How foolish he is.

  25:43-25:45

  I would say first of all, don't pronounce foolish that way.

  25:46-25:53

  But secondly, I would say, look church, even people who call themselves followers of Jesus do the same thing.

  25:56-26:05

  Because when our sin is confronted with the truth of God's Word, Listen, we can be just as dismissive as Pilate was here.

  26:08-26:17

  You know, we can hear what the Bible says about money, everything belongs to God, I'm a steward, I'm to give and God will give to me.

  26:18-26:30

  We can hear all these sermons about money and go to Financial Peace University and get all these factoids and biblical truths and verses and we dismiss it and say, "I'm going to spend, it's my money.

  26:30-26:32

  Nobody tells me how to spend my money.

  26:34-26:38

  And I would ask you, if you do that, how are you any different than Pilate?

  26:39-26:39

  Truly.

  26:40-26:42

  To be staring at truth and walk away from it?

  26:44-26:45

  How are you different than Pilate?

  26:47-26:58

  Or you can hear sermons about what the Bible says about sexuality, this is designed to be between a man and a woman in the context of marriage.

  26:58-27:18

  And you can hear all of that and say, "Yeah, I know, but I'm doing things differently, my situation's different." And I have to ask you, when the truth stares you in the face and you just dismiss it, again, how are you any different than Pilate?

  27:21-27:33

  When Pilate just said, "What is truth?" Or you know when the Bible says, "We are saved to be a part of a body." We are members of one another.

  27:33-27:39

  We have a Holy Spirit gift that we are to use for the edification of the church.

  27:39-27:47

  And we need to find our primary relationships and ministry and life in the context of the body of Christ.

  27:48-27:57

  And you hear that truth and you know that truth and you have justified the reason why You can't get involved in a small group.

  27:57-27:59

  You can't get involved in serving Christ.

  27:59-28:03

  You just want to be a church attender, but not involved.

  28:04-28:14

  Let me ask you again, how can you stare at the truth of God and walk away from that and think that you're any different than Pilate here?

  28:17-28:24

  Face to face with the truth, confronted with the truth, We can be just as dismissive as Pilate.

  28:27-28:28

  What is truth?

  28:31-28:41

  Maybe you're more familiar with the way Satan asked that question in the Garden of Eden, when he said, "Did God really say?" It's the same question.

  28:44-28:50

  Because truth, listen to me, Truth is when we let God's word shape our thinking.

  28:53-29:02

  And this is gonna be a newsflash, a cold dose of reality for some people, but here we go.

  29:03-29:09

  When God's word contradicts the way you think, either you're wrong or God's wrong.

  29:11-29:13

  And I have a pretty good guess which one it is.

  29:16-29:31

  You're like, "Well, how did Jesus reply to that?" Pilate's like, "What is truth?" Now I would want to think Jesus would just like grab him by the arm, be like, "Look, pal, let me tell you what the truth is.

  29:31-29:39

  You're looking at him, and hell's too long to be wrong, and look at me, I'm going to set you straight." And that's not what we see.

  29:41-29:42

  You know how Jesus replied to this question?

  29:45-29:46

  He didn't say anything.

  29:48-29:50

  You're like, "Why not?

  29:50-29:51

  Jesus, this is...

  29:51-29:56

  I thought you were about evangelism and this is the greatest opportunity.

  29:57-29:59

  Why didn't Jesus say anything?" Do you know why Jesus didn't say anything?

  30:00-30:02

  Because nothing can be said.

  30:03-30:09

  If you aren't willing to come to Jesus for the truth, There's nothing else to say.

  30:12-30:16

  And finally for today, last question.

  30:18-30:21

  Do you want Jesus or Barabbas?

  30:24-30:31

  Okay, so Pilate famously says, "What is truth?" Look at the rest of verse 38.

  30:31-30:45

  It says, "After he had said this, went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him." That's the first of many times he's going to say that.

  30:48-30:53

  Now a man of truth would have just let Jesus go.

  30:54-30:56

  The pilot you see was a politician.

  30:58-31:06

  Verse 39, we see some like master class political maneuvers here.

  31:06-31:15

  All right, verse 39, Pilate says, "But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover.

  31:19-31:28

  So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Now this was Pilate's last ditch effort here.

  31:28-31:31

  We gotta get rid of, look, we can release him.

  31:31-31:34

  We don't, Pilate's like, obviously this guy's not a threat.

  31:35-31:36

  Obviously, obviously.

  31:36-31:39

  So Pilate's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

  31:42-31:45

  I know a way where I can have the best of both worlds.

  31:47-31:49

  You want a criminal released.

  31:50-31:55

  And according to this tradition, we release to you one on Passover.

  31:56-32:04

  So if I release Jesus to you, then we're all acknowledging that he's a criminal.

  32:04-32:06

  It isn't that what you want, right?

  32:07-32:11

  And then I don't got to kill an innocent man and we all get what we want.

  32:14-32:23

  Verse 40 says, "They cried out again, 'Not this man, but Barabbas!'" He says, "Now Barabbas was a robber.

  32:26-32:27

  Barabbas was a robber.

  32:28-32:36

  You know, John's mom must have really taught him some manners because he is really being nice here.

  32:37-32:38

  Barabbas was a robber.

  32:39-32:42

  Barabbas wasn't just like a robber.

  32:42-32:50

  If you study your Bibles, like go back to Luke 23:19-25, Barabbas was an insurrectionist.

  32:50-32:52

  Barabbas was a murderer.

  32:55-32:56

  But John, he's being nice.

  32:58-33:02

  Technically you could translate it, Brabus was an outlaw, but still kind of softens the blow.

  33:02-33:03

  He was a murderer.

  33:05-33:06

  He was a violent revolutionary.

  33:08-33:11

  And can you just see the irony here?

  33:12-33:22

  They release the man guilty of what Jesus was wrongly being accused of, which is being a revolutionary.

  33:25-33:27

  And there's another layer of irony here, the name Barabbas.

  33:29-33:38

  Bar, Abbas, Bar is son of, Abba is father.

  33:39-33:42

  Barabbas' name literally means son of a father.

  33:44-33:56

  And you see the irony that they release the Son of the Father, to crucify the true Son of the Father.

  33:59-34:03

  And that leads us as we close Pilate's fifth question.

  34:05-34:07

  Oh, this one wasn't directed at Jesus, obviously.

  34:08-34:10

  It was directed at the Jews.

  34:11-34:20

  When he says, "Do you want me to release the King of the Jews?" We face the same question.

  34:23-34:24

  Do you want Barabbas or Jesus?

  34:28-34:30

  Well, you're like, well, duh, that's an easy one.

  34:30-34:32

  I would rather have Jesus than Barabbas.

  34:34-34:37

  Let me ask the exact same question a different way.

  34:39-34:42

  Would you rather have lawlessness or righteousness?

  34:44-34:45

  Which one would you rather have?

  34:48-34:52

  Because if we're being honest, most of us would rather have lawlessness.

  34:53-34:56

  Most of us would rather say, "I wanna live life on my terms.

  34:57-34:58

  "Nobody tells me what to do.

  34:58-35:12

  "I am El Capitan of this ship." Versus righteousness, versus seeking God and trying to always do the right thing, even if I don't feel like it.

  35:15-35:20

  It is amazing what people would rather have than Jesus Christ.

  35:22-35:23

  It's astounding.

  35:24-35:29

  Would you rather have forgiveness of sin, or would you rather walk around with the guilt of your sin?

  35:29-35:31

  Which would you rather have?

  35:32-35:35

  And you know, for a lot of people, it's I'll take the guilt, thank you.

  35:37-35:41

  And when you do that, you're with this crowd saying, we'll take Barabbas, please.

  35:43-35:48

  Would you rather live life your way on your terms or would you rather live life God's way?

  35:49-35:56

  And for a lot of people, again, we sing that horrible Bon Jovi song, right?

  35:57-36:05

  ♪ It's my life ♪ And when we sing that, we're singing the song of Barabbas.

  36:08-36:09

  Which would you rather have?

  36:10-36:11

  The world?

  36:13-36:13

  or heaven.

  36:16-36:17

  They made their choice.

  36:19-36:21

  Now it's time for you to make yours.

  36:22-36:24

  I'd like you to bow your heads as the worship team comes out.

  36:25-36:26

  Bow your heads with me please.

  36:29-37:03

  Whether you're visiting with us today, or you've been coming here for ten years, us all to bow our heads. And this is a question that you have to ask yourself right now. If we're going to be honest before the Lord, let me ask you again. Do you want lawlessness or righteousness? Do you want everything that the world offers, or everything Jesus offers?

  37:06-37:17

  Because this scene that we're witnessing here in God's Word is being replayed on a global scale right now, people.

  37:19-37:33

  Because the world right now is shouting, "Give us anything but Jesus." And for some of you, you're going to need to make that decision today.

  37:34-37:36

  Say no, I'm shouting louder than that.

  37:36-37:38

  I'm going to say, "Give me Jesus!

  37:39-37:41

  I see what the world offers.

  37:45-37:48

  I see the fruit of living lawlessly.

  37:52-37:55

  And I see the glorious promises of Jesus Christ.

  37:56-37:58

  I see the love that He showed.

  38:01-38:02

  Every promise of heaven.

  38:05-38:16

  His presence, His perfect provision, forgiveness of sin, eternal life adopted into the family of God, co-heirs with Christ, reigning with Him.

  38:20-38:23

  and I'm done dismissing Him.

  38:25-38:31

  Being so foolish like Pilate, where I just say, "What is truth?" and I shrug Him off.

  38:34-38:36

  Let's pray together, church.

  38:38-38:49

  That there might be somebody here today that's like, "Yeah, what you're describing has been my life." Even though that's where you've been, That's not where you have to stay.

  38:52-38:58

  Father, we come before you today, and really Jesus puts us all on trial here.

  39:00-39:06

  When He made the statement, everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice.

  39:06-39:22

  God, I pray if there's anyone here today who doesn't know You and realizes, Maybe they've been as dismissive towards Jesus in their life as Pilate was here.

  39:22-39:25

  I pray, Father, today's the day of salvation for them.

  39:27-39:32

  Right now, Father, that person would cry out to You.

  39:34-39:42

  And Father, for those of us who know You, it's easy for us to go back to some old ways of thinking.

  39:45-39:51

  It's easy for us to go back to saying, maybe Barabbas, a little Barabbas wouldn't be too bad.

  39:54-40:16

  Father, as we're seeing things like persecution and supply chain breakage and shortages at the stores and COVID and all these things, Father, the things that government's doing right now, Father, not just in this country, but all over the world, Father.

  40:19-40:26

  I pray that these circumstances drive us to You like never before.

  40:29-40:37

  We thank You, Father, that Jesus was born and came into this world to bear witness to the truth.

  40:40-40:46

  Let His truth reign in our lives, Father, in our homes and in this church.

  40:48-40:50

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 18:28-40

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. How can people be so committed to religious ritual while being blind to blatant sin (John 18:28)? Have you seen examples of this?
   

3. When Pilate asked Jesus if He was the “king of the Jews” - why didn't Jesus just say “YES” (John 18:33-34)?
   

4. When Pilate asked “what is truth?”, do you think he sincerely wanted an answer, or was he being cynical? Why didn't Jesus answer this question?
   

5. Is there any area of your life where God's truth isn't directing your thinking? Any area where the truth is clear but you have dismissed it?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Innocence

Introduction:

Two Things to Avoid When the Pressure is On: (John 18:12-27):

1. Avoid the Extremes .
2. Avoid Compromising the Truth.

Matthew 10:32-33 - So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:03

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to John 18.

  00:06-00:08

  John 18, are you there?

  00:09-00:20

  Many, many, many years ago, Aaron and I were foster parents, and we had a five-year-old foster son that we signed up for rec soccer.

  00:21-00:31

  And because I played soccer in high school and college, they said, "Will you help coach the team?" I'm like, "Why not?" Coaching five-year-old kids soccer, right?

  00:32-00:33

  Woo-hoo!

  00:33-00:38

  Well, when you're coaching these teams, you don't stand on the sideline with a clipboard.

  00:38-00:39

  Do you know how you coach these teams?

  00:40-00:46

  You're on the field with them, running with them, coaching them on the fly.

  00:46-00:48

  That was how you coached these teams.

  00:48-00:51

  And yes, I was a lot thinner then, but that was how you coached these teams.

  00:52-01:00

  But before our first game, there was another parent, a mom who was another coach, and her son played goalie.

  01:01-01:15

  And before the first game, she pulled me aside, she said, "I just gotta warn you." I can't remember the kid's name, but she's like, "Little Joey here, he gets rather upset when we get scored on.

  01:16-01:31

  I'm just gonna warn you." I'm like, "Well, nobody likes to get scored on, right?" Like, "He's five." Like, "Okay, thanks for that." Well, sure enough, game starts and the other team comes right down and scores on us.

  01:33-01:36

  And little Joey loses his mind.

  01:37-01:40

  And I don't just mean it's like, oh man, bummer.

  01:40-01:47

  He was crying and screaming and he was trying to rip his shirt, but he wasn't strong enough to do it.

  01:47-01:54

  So he's like, (yells) He's just like, he is throwing the most unholy fit I've ever seen.

  01:55-01:57

  I'm like, it's one nothing, right?

  01:57-01:59

  Like, we got time.

  01:59-02:01

  Well, he's throwing this fit, right?

  02:02-02:08

  And I'm watching him and all of a sudden, it occurred to me, I'm like, where's my foster son at?

  02:09-02:11

  Because he wasn't with the team.

  02:13-02:15

  Like, where's our foster son?

  02:15-02:20

  And I looked down on the other end of the field and he was down celebrating with the other team.

  02:21-02:22

  (congregation laughing)

  02:22-02:29

  There was this huddle and he was hugs and high fives "Good shot!" He was just like celebrating with them.

  02:29-02:37

  So if you get this scene, I'm standing in the middle field because that's where the coaches were, and I'm watching little Joey here completely lose his mind.

  02:37-02:38

  (yells)

  02:39-03:01

  And then I'm looked down at the others like, "Yay, yay, yay!" And I'm looking, (yells) and I'm looking, "Yay!" And I'm just like, "Are these guys on the same team?" And they're like, "Why are you telling us this story?" Well, the reason I'm telling you this story I was in the middle of this incredible contrast, to say the least.

  03:03-03:09

  And when we get to this section of John, he's doing the same thing here.

  03:09-03:13

  And this section is a very unique format here in John.

  03:14-03:16

  He's telling two stories at once.

  03:18-03:40

  And you might wonder, "Well, why does he keep bouncing back and forth?" and he's talking about Jesus' trial and Peter's denial, and Jesus' trial and Peter's denial, and he's sort of like me on the soccer field, like, "What is going on here?" He's making a contrast, you see, between Jesus' faithfulness and Peter's sin.

  03:41-03:44

  And that's why he's telling these two stories at once, alright?

  03:46-03:49

  So let's look at chapter 18, verse 12.

  03:52-04:00

  It says, "So the band of soldiers last week where we left off, Jesus, betrayed by Judas, hundreds of soldiers showed up.

  04:02-04:10

  So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.

  04:11-04:17

  First they led Him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year.

  04:18-04:26

  It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

  04:27-04:28

  Now stop there for a second.

  04:28-04:29

  This is the first scene.

  04:29-04:32

  Now Annas was technically not the high priest.

  04:34-04:37

  He was, but he was removed years before this due to corruption.

  04:40-04:46

  But here's the thing, in the Old Testament, back in Old Testament times, When you were the high priest, you were high priest for life.

  04:47-04:57

  But the Romans really weren't on board with that because they thought if somebody was high priest for life, they would get this massive following and get too much power, and Rome couldn't have that.

  04:57-05:00

  So they made it sort of a rotating position.

  05:01-05:06

  And Annas actually at this point was the power behind the throne.

  05:07-05:17

  He had five sons who served as high priest over time, and currently his son-in-law was high priest.

  05:17-05:23

  It was like this, you could say family of politicians, right, like the Bushes, right?

  05:24-05:25

  It was kind of that thing.

  05:25-05:30

  But they still called Annas the high priest because it's, you know, like the president.

  05:30-05:35

  Once somebody is the president, you call him the president for the rest of his life, even when he's no longer serving as the president.

  05:36-05:43

  I'm telling you all this because, you know, you see Annas is sort of referred to as the high priest, but then it says Caiaphas is the high priest.

  05:43-05:44

  You're like, well, which is it?

  05:45-05:52

  Well, technically it was Caiaphas, but Annas was really the power behind the scenes, all right?

  05:53-05:55

  And then John here reminds us back in chapter 11.

  05:55-06:10

  You remember when Jesus raised Lazarus and then the council got together and they're like, look, we can't have this because there's gonna, this revolution is going to start behind this Jesus guy, and the Romans are going to come, and they're going to remove us from our place.

  06:11-06:33

  You remember at the time Caiaphas, the official high priest, spoke up and he said, "Look, if we have to like kill one man to prevent everybody else from suffering, that's probably smart, right?" And he made what one commentator called an unconscious prophecy that John reminds us of here.

  06:33-06:35

  He says it's better that one man should die for the people.

  06:35-06:37

  He didn't even know what he was saying.

  06:38-06:46

  But it's rather appropriate, isn't it, that the high priest here is initiating the death of the sacrificial lamb of God.

  06:46-06:50

  All right, so cut to the next scene, verse 15.

  06:50-06:54

  It says, "Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

  06:55-07:01

  Since that disciple was known to the high priest, He entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest.

  07:02-07:05

  But Peter stood outside the door.

  07:07-07:13

  So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in.

  07:16-07:36

  The servant girl at the door said to Peter, "You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves.

  07:36-07:41

  Peter also was with them standing and warming himself.

  07:42-07:49

  Okay, so you remember when Jesus was taken, the disciples all fled, but Peter and another disciple came back.

  07:49-07:50

  And you're like, who was the other disciple?

  07:51-07:55

  And for a whole lot of reasons, I believe it was John.

  07:55-07:57

  And there's a whole lot of reasons.

  07:57-07:58

  I'm not going to bore you with the details.

  07:58-08:02

  If you want to know the details, buy me Chick-fil-A or Starbucks and I'll tell you all of them.

  08:02-08:07

  But here's one reason in particular, in this context I believe that it's John.

  08:07-08:11

  It says this disciple had connections to the high priest, right?

  08:12-08:17

  And John's mom was Salome, who was related to Mary.

  08:17-08:18

  They're sisters, right?

  08:19-08:24

  And Mary was related to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's husband was Zechariah the priest.

  08:25-08:33

  So there was a family connection there for sure with John and the high priestly family.

  08:33-08:36

  So I think he's talking about John.

  08:37-08:37

  All right?

  08:38-08:39

  So Peter waited outside.

  08:41-08:46

  John went and talked to the servant girl who was watching the door and brought Peter in.

  08:47-08:51

  And we see here Peter's first denial.

  08:53-08:55

  Now, I found this extremely interesting.

  08:56-09:08

  It's something you don't really see in the English, but in the Greek, the way that she asked the question was the way you would ask a question if you were anticipating a negative response.

  09:08-09:09

  Do you know what I mean by that?

  09:10-09:15

  In other words, you know how you ask a question when you assume the answer is no?

  09:16-09:16

  Do you know what I mean by that?

  09:18-09:19

  When you assume the answer is no.

  09:19-09:21

  Like, perfect example here.

  09:21-09:34

  "If I said to you, 'You don't want the sermon to end now, do you?' Now, do you see how I asked that?" I'm like, "I'm assuming you're going to say no." Well, that is the sense in which she asked this question.

  09:35-09:46

  As he was coming in, she's like, "You're not with Jesus, are you?" "Expectant." "Oh, no, no, no, no." "Oh, that's what I figured." That's the way she asked the question.

  09:46-09:52

  And as we know, Peter made his first denial.

  09:54-09:57

  Interestingly, it says that there was a charcoal fire.

  09:57-09:58

  Why is that an important detail?

  09:59-10:02

  That is a hugely important detail I'm going to tell you about in a couple months.

  10:03-10:04

  So mark that down.

  10:04-10:11

  But the reason it's an important detail in this context, is a charcoal fire talks mainly about heat without light, right?

  10:12-10:14

  And the point is, it's hard to identify in the dark.

  10:15-10:16

  And that's what was happening here.

  10:16-10:24

  People were around this charcoal getting warm, and because it was dark, Peter was just trying to blend in, right?

  10:25-10:26

  It was dark, nobody's going to look at him.

  10:26-10:31

  He's going to blend in, and he's stuck.

  10:32-10:32

  He's stuck.

  10:32-10:40

  He's like, "I can't be here, but I can't leave." That's where John leaves us here.

  10:41-10:42

  Okay, back to the trial, verse 19.

  10:43-10:48

  It says, "The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

  10:50-10:55

  Jesus answered him, 'I have spoken openly to the world.

  10:56-11:00

  I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together.

  11:01-11:03

  I have said nothing in secret.

  11:04-11:05

  Why do you ask me?

  11:06-11:09

  Ask those who have heard me what I said to them.

  11:11-11:12

  They know what I said.

  11:14-11:28

  When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand saying, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" Jesus answered him, "If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong.

  11:31-11:39

  But if what I said is right, why do you strike me?" Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

  11:40-11:49

  Okay, so here, in this scene, Annas is obviously trying to prove that Jesus was forming some secret revolution.

  11:50-11:54

  He was asking about specifically his disciples and his teaching, like, "Tell us what you're really up to.

  11:55-12:00

  What are you really up to?" And that certainly would have been enough to get the Romans' attention.

  12:00-12:01

  That's what he's trying to do here.

  12:02-12:11

  Everything about this trial is so illegal on Annas' end, and Caiaphas' end.

  12:11-12:12

  It's so illegal.

  12:13-12:16

  It's illegal to force someone to incriminate themselves, right?

  12:16-12:18

  Like our Fifth Amendment, that's where we get that.

  12:19-12:23

  It's illegal to take somebody and question them like that, trying to get them to incriminate.

  12:23-12:25

  And that's exactly what Annas was doing.

  12:26-12:36

  But the huge illegal act here on Annas' part was when you brought somebody like this, you had the burden of providing the witnesses, right?

  12:38-12:42

  And that is why Jesus said what he said. Understand that.

  12:42-12:52

  Jesus wasn't being like intentionally provocative, or like passive-aggressive, or like wholly cantankerous. He wasn't being any of that.

  12:52-12:58

  Jesus was pointing out to them, "Well, you know, legally, you're supposed to have witnesses.

  12:59-13:01

  And if you check the record, I've spoken openly.

  13:04-13:06

  So there should be plenty of witnesses.

  13:07-13:13

  I mean, if you want to do this legally, there are lots of witnesses out there.

  13:14-13:16

  Jesus was pointing out what they were doing was completely illegal.

  13:19-13:23

  Well, it says that Jesus was struck.

  13:23-13:25

  Is that how you answer the high priest?

  13:25-13:28

  that was actually the first strike on Jesus.

  13:30-13:30

  Many more to come.

  13:32-13:43

  Jesus just responds, "Well, hey, point out my wrong, but if I'm right, why did you hit me?" And Jesus is pointing out again His innocence in light of their illegal activity.

  13:44-13:45

  Jesus was innocent.

  13:45-13:51

  He said, "You're just not doing any of this legally." And then it says He was taken to Caiaphas.

  13:52-14:00

  And John doesn't give us the details of locations, but likely this was probably just across a courtyard in the same building.

  14:02-14:08

  Likely Annas and Caiaphas occupied rooms in the same building and it wasn't along John.

  14:09-14:12

  Alright? Back to Peter, verse 25.

  14:14-14:16

  See how John's just bouncing back and forth?

  14:17-14:18

  You see why here, right?

  14:18-14:21

  Verse 25, "Now Simon Peter was standing and worming himself.

  14:23-14:49

  So they said to him, "You also are not one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked him, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

  14:50-14:55

  Okay, so we're back in the scene with Peter, still stuck, still waiting, still hiding.

  14:57-15:05

  Which is ironic because we go from Jesus saying, "I have nothing to hide," to Peter, who was actually literally hiding.

  15:07-15:12

  And he was asked two more times, which note, that's a chance to redeem yourself, right?

  15:15-15:17

  But here's something a little bit different.

  15:17-15:24

  the way these questions were asked, different than the servant girl watching the door.

  15:24-15:30

  The way these were asked implies the one asking was assuming an affirmative response.

  15:31-15:36

  Meaning the way these questions were asked were done in a way that you assume that the person is going to say yes.

  15:37-15:38

  A little different, right?

  15:38-15:40

  You understand what I mean by that?

  15:40-15:44

  It'd be like if I said to you, you like Mission Mahi, right?

  15:46-16:03

  And he'd be like, "Yeah, see that's the way these questions were asked here." Like, "Yeah, you're one of his." And then Malkus' relative, like, "Dude, didn't I see you in the garden with him?

  16:03-16:15

  Like, obviously, yeah." When you see the pressure just keeps building and building and building with Peter and the stakes keep getting higher and higher.

  16:15-16:16

  Did you notice that?

  16:17-16:33

  Because we went from servant girl at the door to standing around the fire with these guys to one of Malkus' relatives who probably wasn't happy with Peter's actions.

  16:35-16:47

  So it builds and builds and builds and Peter's like, "I am not with Jesus!" And at once a rooster crowed, just like Jesus said, the rooster would crow.

  16:48-16:51

  Jesus predicted this back in chapter 13, verse 38.

  16:53-16:55

  Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?

  16:56-17:01

  Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you've denied me three times." Remember that?

  17:04-17:11

  Now again, John's point in telling us the story the way he did, obviously he's showing us a contrast.

  17:12-17:22

  We have Jesus on trial, and we have, I guess in a more informal sense, you could say Peter's on trial.

  17:24-17:26

  Both of them were cornered with questions.

  17:28-17:34

  Both of them would be in what we would call high pressure situations, right?

  17:34-17:39

  Even though I don't think anyone would argue that Jesus' situation was a lot more higher pressure, right?

  17:40-17:48

  standing before the Jewish religious leaders and all these soldiers versus standing before the girl that's watching the door.

  17:49-17:55

  Yeah, Jesus was under a lot more pressure, but we could see a parallel that they were both being interrogated.

  17:58-18:00

  But they both handled it completely different.

  18:02-18:05

  I mean, let's be honest, nobody likes being put into these situations, right?

  18:07-18:11

  You're called out, you're brought to the carpet, You're sweating it out under the lights.

  18:13-18:17

  But there is one really good thing about being in these situations.

  18:19-18:26

  You're like, "I can't possibly imagine something good about being in these situations." Well, there is something great about these situations, and that is this.

  18:29-18:30

  They show you who you really are.

  18:33-18:37

  These situations show you who you really are.

  18:38-18:42

  You see, Peter, he thought he was strong.

  18:45-18:46

  Until he had to be.

  18:49-18:51

  I mean, didn't we see that throughout the Gospel?

  18:51-18:55

  Peter was so strong when he was with Jesus and the boys, right?

  18:56-18:57

  He's with the boys!

  18:57-19:04

  He's like, "Yeah, yeah man, I would die for you!" And they would deny him, but not me.

  19:04-19:06

  And he was so strong with the boys.

  19:10-19:12

  But we see Peter on his own here and he crumbled.

  19:13-19:14

  He just crumbled.

  19:16-19:20

  And like Simon Peter, get this, because you know what I found out about Peter?

  19:21-19:25

  Christians love to just point their finger at him like, oh, he's such a, what a, what a.

  19:26-19:29

  We are more like him than we want to admit sometimes.

  19:32-19:36

  And I think Christians, we're all like Peter in this way.

  19:36-19:40

  We have a failure to recognize our own weakness.

  19:40-19:45

  We are so good at pointing out everybody else's weaknesses, we are lousy at noticing our own.

  19:48-19:54

  And this event showed Peter where his weakness was.

  19:56-20:03

  And when you face real adversity, We're going to find out what you really believe.

  20:06-20:13

  Like if I stood here today and said, "Do you believe that God is a provider?" You would be like, "Amen, I believe God's a provider.

  20:13-20:20

  "Preach it, brother, I believe that." Well, we'll find out if you really believe that when you have need and what you do about that.

  20:22-20:26

  Do you believe that showing forgiveness and grace is Christ-like?

  20:26-20:27

  Do you believe that?

  20:28-20:33

  Like, "I believe there's nothing more Christ -like than showing grace like Jesus.

  20:33-20:38

  I don't think there's anything more Christ-like than that." And I'd say, "First of all, why are you talking with that accent?"

  20:39-20:39

  (Laughter)

  20:41-20:54

  And second of all, I would say, "Well, we'll find out if you really believe that when somebody wrongs you, when somebody is clearly wrong in the way they treat you.

  20:54-21:04

  We'll see how big of a fan of grace you are then." And I guess as we talk about Simon Peter, I have to ask, are you unashamed of Jesus?

  21:05-21:09

  I mean, really, as a Christian, would you say, "I am unashamed of Jesus Christ.

  21:10-21:16

  I don't care who knows that I am a follower of Jesus Christ." Are you unashamed of Jesus?

  21:19-21:21

  Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we?

  21:22-21:32

  When you are in the face of opposition, When you're in a situation where you're surrounded by people who aren't such big fans of Jesus.

  21:33-21:36

  See, Peter was great with the boys because they were all big fans of Jesus.

  21:37-21:49

  But when you're surrounded by people who aren't, and you're tempted to shrink back, and maybe not be such a blatantly outspoken Christian, we'll see.

  21:52-22:00

  We'll see that maybe you find yourself having a little more sympathy for Peter than you did when you were sitting and listening to a story about Him in church.

  22:03-22:05

  We're just like Him, guys.

  22:06-22:09

  The pressure situations show us who we really are.

  22:12-22:23

  So, here, while we are tuned in to God's Word, I just want us to commit ourselves to avoiding the two mistakes that Peter made.

  22:24-22:38

  And really, we can sort of sum up Peter's weakness with just looking at these two mistakes on your outline.

  22:39-22:41

  Two things to avoid when the pressure is on.

  22:42-22:45

  Two things to avoid when the pressure is on.

  22:47-22:51

  Initially my outline heading said under pressure.

  22:52-23:09

  I'm like, "I gotta change that, because I know people in this church are gonna be sitting there going, 'doon, doon, doon, do-do-doon, doon, doon, doon.'" "Pressure, pushing down on me, pressing down on you, no man asked for." And I don't want you to think about that.

  23:09-23:10

  So I changed it.

  23:11-23:13

  I changed it so you wouldn't think about that, see?

  23:14-23:15

  I'm always thinking.

  23:20-23:25

  "Pressure." Two things to avoid when the pressure is on.

  23:26-23:28

  Number one, avoid the extremes.

  23:29-23:31

  Avoid the extremes.

  23:34-23:39

  Now, this point is actually going to take us back to last week's passage, and I need you to follow with me on this.

  23:40-23:42

  But you know, remember the scene in the garden?

  23:42-23:45

  If you weren't here, you really need to listen to that sermon but remember the scene in the garden?

  23:47-23:49

  All the way to trial.

  23:51-23:53

  Jesus was always in control.

  23:53-23:55

  We've noticed, we saw that, didn't we?

  23:55-24:03

  He was always in control, standing before hundreds of armed guards, standing before the high priest and more guards, slapping them around.

  24:04-24:05

  Jesus was always in control.

  24:06-24:13

  And when we go from garden to Peter's trial, he was never in control.

  24:16-24:23

  And when you get back to verse 10, Again, just to kind of review, here's Peter and there's hundreds of guards.

  24:23-24:24

  We talked about that.

  24:24-24:31

  We don't know exactly how many, but it's safe to say there were literally hundreds of guards and what was Peter's response?

  24:32-24:39

  He pulls out his sword and takes a swipe at one of them, Malchus who ducks and he gets his ear and Jesus ends up healing him.

  24:39-24:41

  We find out in the other gospels.

  24:41-24:54

  Okay, so we have Peter who just a few minutes before this scene, he pulls out a sword and he's gonna take them all down, right?

  24:55-24:59

  Just one ear at a time, I'm gonna hack them to pieces and I'm gonna take them down.

  25:00-25:05

  We went from that to, now I'm afraid of door girl.

  25:08-25:09

  Did you see that?

  25:10-25:11

  Did you see that?

  25:11-25:15

  And I look at this and I'm like, is this the same guy?

  25:16-25:19

  Like, wait a minute, did Jesus have two Simon Peters in the group?

  25:20-25:21

  Is this the same guy?

  25:24-25:32

  One minute he's got the sword and he's going right after them, and the next minute he's scared to death of a little girl.

  25:33-25:37

  How did he go from one extreme to the other?

  25:37-25:45

  And the truth is I have seen this so many times in ministry and in the church, and I bet you have too.

  25:47-25:50

  Some of you right now know exactly what I'm talking about.

  25:52-25:58

  People that are so fired up for Jesus that they'll take down the army by themselves.

  25:58-26:03

  And the next minute, they are a turtle in the shell.

  26:05-26:07

  I've seen this so many times.

  26:08-26:24

  In the early days, before the church launched, there was a man from Pittsburgh who reached out to me and he's like, "I'm gonna be your right-hand man." He literally said, "I'm gonna be the Aaron to your Moses and I wanna get baptized and I wanna do." And then he just completely flaked out before launch.

  26:25-26:41

  And you're like, "What happened to him?" "I don't know, he ghosted me, he just vanished." I knew another guy who had come to Christ And he was so good at going after Christians.

  26:43-26:48

  Because he came to Christ and he'd go after Christians, and he'd be like, "I can't believe you guys are watching a movie.

  26:49-27:02

  That's two hours you could have spent studying the Bible, and you wasted it watching a movie, and you call yourself a Christian?" And you know, fast forward, and that guy's life, not long after, and he's not walking with Christ.

  27:04-27:05

  You know people like that?

  27:06-27:16

  like John the Baptist one second, and the next second they're just like Peter here.

  27:18-27:24

  And again, before we point fingers too hard, I noticed in my own life that I'm not exempt.

  27:26-27:30

  I'm not exempt from the tendency of the extreme swings.

  27:30-27:31

  I'm not.

  27:33-27:34

  You're not either.

  27:36-27:41

  so fired up for Jesus one minute, and the next minute you're spiritually despondent.

  27:43-27:45

  We all have that temptation in us.

  27:47-27:56

  You know, you're like, I'm gonna start a prayer group, and it's going to, this prayer group is going to change the city.

  27:57-27:59

  In your first meeting, two people show up.

  28:00-28:01

  You're like, I give up, I quit.

  28:04-28:07

  I'm done, nobody around here loves Jesus.

  28:09-28:11

  Or you're like, I'm gonna witness at work.

  28:11-28:19

  You know what, there's a lot of people at my work that don't know Jesus, and God has me there as a missionary, and I'm bringing 'em all to Christ.

  28:20-28:28

  And you go out there, and the first person you share the gospel with does not repent in sackcloth and ashes, and you're like, I'm done.

  28:31-28:32

  You know what I'm talking about?

  28:35-28:36

  Have you seen people like this?

  28:37-28:40

  Because I've seen a lot of this in my life.

  28:41-28:46

  You're like, "Well, how does it happen?" I'll tell you exactly how it happens.

  28:48-28:50

  Because look, zeal, right?

  28:50-28:50

  I'm all about zeal.

  28:50-28:53

  We had a whole sermon about zeal a couple of years ago.

  28:53-28:54

  Wasn't that a good one?

  28:56-28:57

  Wasn't that a good one?

  28:59-29:00

  I'm just kidding.

  29:00-29:01

  I'm just kidding.

  29:01-29:04

  I'm reminding you what it's like to ask a question where you expect the answer to be yes.

  29:06-29:08

  But we did, you can find it online.

  29:11-29:28

  But we had a whole message about zeal, and I'm all for zeal, but how do you go from, how do you go from, "I will take a sword and hack through the entire army," to, "Oh, please don't talk to me, don't ask me any more questions, little girl." How do you go from there?

  29:28-29:29

  Here's exactly how that happens.

  29:30-29:35

  It's when your zeal is flesh-fueled, not faith-fueled.

  29:36-29:37

  That's how that happens.

  29:39-29:45

  It's when your zeal is flesh-fueled, not faith-fueled.

  29:48-29:49

  Do you notice this other disciple?

  29:50-29:53

  He's not named, but I'm pretty sure he's John, so I'm gonna call him John.

  29:54-29:55

  Do you notice this other disciple?

  29:56-29:57

  He walked right in.

  29:58-30:01

  Number of times denying Jesus, zero.

  30:04-30:11

  And I think that's why he specifically mentioned in this account.

  30:13-30:30

  I think it's our way of seeing, this is John saying, "Look, Simon Peter, you can follow Jesus without hiding by the charcoal, And you don't have to be Conan the Barbarian either.

  30:33-30:34

  Avoid the extremes.

  30:36-30:38

  And there's a lesson to be learned for us.

  30:39-30:44

  Like Jesus, our zeal has to come from God, not the flesh.

  30:47-30:50

  If you're looking to get zeal from the flesh, you're going to be up and down.

  30:53-31:07

  But when your zeal comes from God, see there's the contrast with Jesus, steady and consistent throughout the whole ordeal because his faith was in his Father.

  31:10-31:16

  Not the bipolar type faith that Peter had because the zeal is from the flesh.

  31:16-31:21

  So I would just caution us, listen, let's avoid the extremes.

  31:22-31:28

  Avoid the extremes and make sure your zeal comes from God, not your flesh.

  31:30-31:32

  And finally today, avoid compromising the truth.

  31:35-31:37

  Avoid compromising the truth.

  31:40-31:43

  You know, Peter had no reason to deny, right?

  31:43-31:45

  He had no reason to deny Jesus.

  31:46-31:48

  Peter was not in any danger.

  31:48-31:49

  You're like, well, how do you know that?

  31:49-31:50

  You weren't there.

  31:51-31:58

  Correct, but John was there, and John was a disciple, and John wasn't harassed, and John wasn't threatened.

  32:01-32:13

  Peter could have just joined him the whole time, but instead Peter did it his way, and he didn't even learn from his mistake when he denied Jesus in front of door girl.

  32:15-32:16

  Like, I don't think that's her name.

  32:17-32:18

  That's what we're going with.

  32:19-32:24

  But you know, that's the thing about Peter, not learning from his mistake, you know, that's the thing about lying.

  32:26-32:28

  Lying is a lot like playing the guitar.

  32:30-32:31

  The more you do it, the easier it is.

  32:33-32:36

  And it's an ironic parallel again.

  32:37-32:43

  Peter was asked fair questions and he lied.

  32:44-32:50

  And Jesus was asked illegal questions He was open and honest.

  32:53-32:58

  Now obviously, Peter didn't hate Jesus here.

  32:59-33:02

  It's not like he lost his faith in this moment.

  33:04-33:05

  He was afraid.

  33:06-33:07

  Peter was afraid.

  33:07-33:12

  And in this moment, Peter thought, "Look, pressure's on.

  33:12-33:13

  My safest bet.

  33:14-33:19

  My safest bet right now is to just skirt the truth a little bit.

  33:20-33:21

  Nobody has to get hurt.

  33:23-33:25

  Just a little compromise, right?

  33:25-33:27

  I can stay close to Jesus.

  33:28-33:32

  I can stay in proximity if I lie to protect myself.

  33:32-33:33

  Again, we know that's not true, John.

  33:34-33:41

  But I can stay in close proximity to Jesus if I just lie because, look, the ends justify the means, right?

  33:42-33:58

  gets hurt, it's just a little white lie. It's not even a little white lie, it's like a group of lies, and I'm not sure how white they are, but the ends justify the means. Right?

  34:00-34:02

  Don't the ends justify the means?

  34:05-34:06

  No.

  34:08-34:10

  The ends never justify the means.

  34:11-34:11

  Hear me.

  34:12-34:16

  The kingdom of God is not advanced through deception.

  34:17-34:19

  It is not advanced through falsehood.

  34:19-34:23

  It is not advanced through creative improvisations around the charcoal.

  34:25-34:31

  The kingdom of God is advanced, as Jesus showed, through the unashamed proclamation of the truth.

  34:32-34:34

  That's how the kingdom of God is advanced.

  34:34-34:40

  And it's through disciples of Jesus who aren't ashamed of Jesus, no matter the cost.

  34:41-34:42

  That's how the kingdom's advanced.

  34:47-34:49

  Compromise dishonors the Lord.

  34:50-34:50

  Okay?

  34:52-34:55

  Jesus promised this, Matthew 10.

  34:57-35:10

  Jesus said, "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before or my Father who is in heaven." Can we just pause for a second and bask in the awesomeness of that statement?

  35:11-35:29

  To think that if you're not afraid to stand up and say, "I belong to Jesus Christ because He's God, and He saves, He saved me, He can save you, and He's coming back, and He's awesome in every way." If you're willing to do that, the day is coming when Jesus will acknowledge you before His Father.

  35:31-35:36

  Jesus said, "Hey, he's one of mine." And he was faithful to the end.

  35:36-35:40

  And he served me with such joy and with such honor.

  35:40-35:41

  He's one of mine.

  35:43-35:43

  Awesome.

  35:44-36:00

  But Jesus said, "There's another side to this coin." He said, "But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." If you're like, look, I'm not like really super into, I go to church occasionally, but I'm not like one of them Jesus people.

  36:01-36:07

  Jesus said, "I'm going to deny you before my Father." Like, "I don't really have anything to do with Him.

  36:07-36:09

  He really didn't have anything to do with me.

  36:09-36:19

  We're kind of detached from each other, actually." The point is this, church, there's never a good enough reason to compromise the truth.

  36:20-36:21

  Peter thought he had one here.

  36:23-36:25

  This is a good reason to compromise.

  36:25-36:29

  There's never a good enough reason to compromise the truth.

  36:32-36:34

  And just one more thing.

  36:36-36:47

  And this could be the most important thing, but we see a contrast between Simon Peter's sin and Jesus' grace.

  36:50-36:53

  Because in this moment, okay, do you have the scene?

  36:54-36:58

  Because John is really, he did an incredible job under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

  36:59-37:02

  He did an incredible job painting this portrait for us of what's happening.

  37:03-37:13

  He's showing us that Peter sinned in the presence of Jesus, like no other example we have in the Gospels.

  37:15-37:18

  I mean, let's be honest, this is pretty bad.

  37:19-37:36

  One of Jesus' select, chosen few, elite disciples pretends he doesn't even know who Jesus is, while Jesus is on trial, illegally and unfairly.

  37:36-37:37

  It's pretty bad, isn't it?

  37:38-37:39

  It's pretty bad.

  37:41-37:44

  And I think this is John's main point.

  37:45-38:00

  The exact moment that Peter is sinning, That exact moment, Jesus is on his way to die for Peter's sin.

  38:02-38:10

  All of his sin, including the one that he was doing right in this moment.

  38:13-38:19

  It's encouraging to know that Jesus knows our weaknesses.

  38:20-38:30

  And even when we fail miserably like Simon Peter, Jesus wants to love us and forgive us and restore us.

  38:31-38:37

  I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please, as the worship team makes their way forward.

  38:40-38:50

  Father in heaven, we stand in awe of you, as always God.

  38:51-39:17

  And you've given us countless reasons to do so, but the one today specifically is to catch this realization that Jesus was paying the penalty for sin on the way to the cross, willing to go through with it, while Peter was literally sinning against Him.

  39:20-39:36

  God, I just know if that was me, if I was Jesus, seeing this happen, and we know Jesus saw it, actually called it ahead of time, I know if that was me, I would have just left, back to heaven.

  39:38-39:39

  People aren't worth it.

  39:41-39:45

  We see incredible grace in light of such horrible sin.

  39:48-39:53

  That You know our weakness and You love us even in our worst moments.

  39:55-40:36

  So Father, I pray today for those among us who are watching the stream or sitting in this room, those who are called by Your name and born again, Father, I pray for an honest assessment of ourselves that we are more like Peter than we want to admit. We do have this tendency, God, to let our flesh fire us up instead of Your Word and Your Spirit. Father, even Your people sometimes want to cut corners and take shortcuts because a little lie here and there is not going to hurt anybody if it's for the greater good.

  40:36-40:38

  God, we know that that's not true.

  40:40-40:43

  Father, I want to pray specifically for those who don't know you.

  40:45-40:54

  And specifically for the people who feel like maybe they're beyond your forgiveness because of the way or the amount that they've sinned.

  40:54-41:05

  And I just pray, Father, they take a hard look at this passage and see how beautiful the grace of Jesus Christ is against the ugliness of the sin of Simon Peter.

  41:06-41:12

  You are the same God. You're the same God today. Same saving power today.

  41:14-41:16

  Same solution for our sin today.

  41:19-41:22

  Father, glorify Your name, we pray in Jesus' name.

  41:23-41:23

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 18:12-27

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Is there an example in your life when you were like Simon Peter: went from one extreme to the other in your walk with Christ? What did you do?
   

3. Is there any context in your life right now where you are tempted to be afraid to speak up for Jesus and His Gospel?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Resolve

Introduction:

Knowing His Resolve: How to Face Trouble Confidently Like Jesus (John 18:1-11):

1. Know what's Comin . (John 18:1-4a)
2. Remember who has the Power . (John 18:4b-6)

3. Rest in His Promises . (John 18:7-9)
4. Follow His Example . (John 18:10-11)

   Isaiah 51:17 - Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

   1 Peter 2:21,23 - For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps... When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  John 18, are you there?

  00:04-00:14

  We're in the homestretch in our series, "Knowing Jesus." And where we are in John's Gospel, we're getting to his betrayal and arrest.

  00:17-00:22

  So I was thinking, as I always do, to introduce a sermon.

  00:22-00:38

  Like, what personal story or understanding do I have for my own life where I can connect with the events that we're seeing here, and the truth is I've never been arrested, but I've been very, very close.

  00:41-00:51

  And some of you know this story, and I'm going to try to make it quick, because it's longer and crazier than I'm about to tell you.

  00:52-01:00

  But when I was in college, one of the jobs I had, I was a magazine vendor, I had two Walmarts and two Kmarts, and I was in charge of all their magazines.

  01:00-01:08

  And the one day, I usually worked late at night over third shift because that way you didn't have to walk around customers and all of that.

  01:08-01:14

  So the one night I went into work and I'm stalking the magazines.

  01:14-01:15

  I'm at the big rack right there at the front.

  01:15-01:18

  It was a Kmart in Chillicothe, Ohio.

  01:18-01:24

  And I'm rotating the magazines and all of a sudden these two police officers come up to me.

  01:25-01:43

  And they said, "Sir, we received a report "that you're here to kill someone." And I'm like, "What?" I'm laughing, I'm like, "What are you talking about?" And they weren't laughing.

  01:44-02:04

  They said, "No, we have a report "that you are obviously here with malintent." And I'm like, "This must be some kind of a joke." and they're like, "This is not a joke." And I'm like, "Okay, clearly you have the wrong guy." So the one police officer, you know, they wear those little radios on their thing.

  02:04-02:52

  They're like, "Can you please describe the suspect?" And I'm like, "Here we go, vindication straight ahead." And it came back through, they said, "Caucasian male, 5'10, medium build, "blonde hair, maroon dress shirt, "khaki pants, brown shoes." And I was like, "Oh dear." I said, "There has to be some kind of mistake." I said, "I work here." They said, "Oh, you work here." And I'm like, "Hang on." No offense, but if I didn't work here, What I'm doing right now with the magazines is awfully weird.

  02:55-02:56

  So like, oh, you work here.

  02:56-03:04

  So they took my driver's license and I found out some of these facts afterwards, I'm just summing it up for you, but they went and talked to the manager.

  03:05-03:07

  They went to the manager and they said, do you know a Jeffrey Miller?

  03:07-03:10

  The manager says, no.

  03:13-03:15

  And the police officer said, he says he works here.

  03:15-03:18

  The manager goes, oh no, there's no Jeff Miller that works here.

  03:21-03:22

  (sighs)

  03:22-03:54

  Well, finally, one of the cashiers that works third shift recognized, she goes, "Oh, oh, oh, that's magazine guy." They're like, "Oh yeah, magazine guy." And they said, "Do you think he would ever hurt someone?" And then the one cashier goes, "No, he's a preacher." And the police officer said, "That might mean something to some people." So they frisked me right in the front of the store.

  03:55-04:14

  And as I was being frisked, I was praying to heaven that nobody from the church walked in at that moment to show up like, "Hey, there's Pastor Jeff getting frisked in the front of the store." "Yes, hope to see you in church tomorrow if I make bail." Well, again, it's a very long story, but they ended up just like, have a good night.

  04:14-04:15

  Well, they left.

  04:15-04:20

  And I found out later what the problem was.

  04:21-04:26

  I was eating a roll of spree on the way in, and it comes in those long foil tubes.

  04:26-04:37

  And as I was eating it, walking into the store, I folded it in half and put it in my pocket, and somebody thought I had a switchblade and was going in to gut somebody in Kmart.

  04:39-04:55

  Which was really funny because at one point when the police officers were talking to me, They said, "Do you have a knife on you?" And I said, "Yeah." And they're like, "Pull it out nice and slow." So, all right.

  04:59-04:59

  (audience laughing)

  05:01-05:02

  And I'm not kidding you, this wasn't a knife.

  05:02-05:04

  The knife I actually had was about half this size.

  05:05-05:05

  (audience laughing)

  05:06-05:16

  I'm like, "Here it is." And they're like, "You can put that away." So anyways, that's a story of almost getting arrested.

  05:17-05:29

  But in that moment, it's also a story of staring down more trouble than I could ever imagine having to handle in one moment.

  05:29-05:37

  And I gotta tell you, I was trying to play it cool, but I was freaking out with every second that ticked in that whole affair.

  05:37-05:39

  And like I said, I gave you the short version.

  05:40-05:46

  And we're getting to this scene in John, and he's so selective in his details.

  05:48-05:55

  Because here, Jesus is about to face way more trouble than my little K-Mart incident.

  05:56-06:05

  But John, in the selection of his details, wants to make one thing absolutely clear, no question, don't miss this.

  06:06-06:08

  John wants us to know Jesus was no victim.

  06:11-06:15

  I mean, up to this point, Jesus was verbally attacked many times.

  06:15-06:18

  And we've gone through God's Word, we've seen that.

  06:19-06:21

  But no one could lay a hand on Jesus physically.

  06:22-06:30

  In fact, we saw at least twice in John's Gospel in chapter 10 and in chapter 11, they wanted to get Him, but Jesus eluded them.

  06:31-06:35

  But now, Jesus' hour had come.

  06:37-06:44

  And in this scene that we're about to look at today, you know, Satan wanted to make this look as bad as possible.

  06:46-06:51

  He wanted to make Jesus look as bad as possible.

  06:54-06:55

  But Jesus was no victim.

  06:57-07:04

  Jesus knew His mission, and in the face of trouble, Jesus stepped up.

  07:06-07:10

  In what looked like the worst kind of trouble.

  07:11-07:16

  Now, granted, we are never going to face anything like Jesus faced in this passage.

  07:19-07:25

  But if we're honest, church, sometimes we do stare down the barrel of trouble.

  07:27-07:32

  of insurmountable odds, of more than we can handle, true or false.

  07:34-07:35

  We feel it sometimes, don't we?

  07:37-07:37

  Don't we?

  07:38-07:39

  Don't leave me up here. Just me?

  07:40-07:40

  Really, just me.

  07:43-07:48

  We stare down things like, maybe possibly losing our job.

  07:50-08:06

  And then, "How am I going to provide for my family?" Or maybe you have a prodigal child, maybe fighting an addiction, and you're like, "I don't know how to handle this." Or maybe for some it's some financial mountain.

  08:07-08:19

  Like, "I've got way more than I could possibly handle financially here." For some it's a serious health diagnosis.

  08:21-08:25

  Like you go to the doctor and you get some news you didn't want to hear.

  08:25-08:35

  You're like, "How am I going to face this? I wasn't ready for this." And maybe for some of us, maybe somebody is out to get you.

  08:35-08:41

  Maybe some of us actually have a person that is out to get you.

  08:44-09:01

  Whatever trouble you're facing, or will face, you're going to look at this passage today and you're going to say, "Man, I wish that I could face trouble as confidently as Jesus faced trouble." Right? I mean, we go back to chapter 16 and verse 33.

  09:01-09:24

  Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." He said, "But take courage, I have" - what? - "overcome the world." And sometimes, church, I think we read that verse and we think, "Oh, Jesus overcame. That's wonderful. Hooray." and I'm going to heaven, so hooray, my troubles are over when I die.

  09:25-09:28

  Hallelujah. But how do I deal with trouble now?

  09:31-09:52

  Well that's what we're going to see in this passage, as Jesus showed us how we can confidently face whatever trouble is before us, right? Whatever your trouble looks like, you don't have to run, and you don't have to fear. You can face it the way Jesus showed us to face trouble.

  09:53-10:00

  So on your outline, if you're taking notes, which I always encourage, knowing His resolve, how to face trouble confidently like Jesus.

  10:00-10:03

  Number one, know what's coming.

  10:06-10:07

  Know what's coming.

  10:08-10:10

  Let's look at the first four verses.

  10:11-10:16

  It says, "When Jesus had spoken these words..." That's the prayer from chapter 17.

  10:16-10:32

  It says, "He went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered." It says, "Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

  10:34-10:44

  So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

  10:46-10:52

  then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward.

  10:54-10:55

  Stop right there.

  10:55-10:56

  Let's get the scene.

  10:56-11:03

  After Jesus prayed, He went to the garden and Judas shows up with this enormous crowd.

  11:03-11:05

  And this is a huge crowd.

  11:06-11:07

  You're like, how big of a crowd was it?

  11:08-11:11

  Well, verse three says it was a band of soldiers.

  11:11-11:15

  And literally, that word band is the word cohort.

  11:15-11:21

  And that was a technical term that referred to a group of 600 soldiers.

  11:22-11:39

  Okay, so there were the 600 soldiers in the cohort and there were temple guards, which scholars estimate there were hundreds of temple guards, and all of them armed. Do you have the scene?

  11:41-11:51

  Now, we don't know the exact number, but it's safe to say that in this garden at night, hundreds of armed people showed up.

  11:53-11:54

  For what?

  11:55-11:59

  They wanted to get one controversial rabbi.

  12:02-12:12

  You're like, "Why so many?" Well, some would say, "Well, they knew how powerful Jesus was, and I think there's an an element of truth in that, but I think there was something else too.

  12:13-12:15

  They not only knew how powerful he was, they knew how popular he was.

  12:15-12:18

  Everywhere Jesus went, there were huge crowds that gathered, right?

  12:19-12:26

  And I think that the authorities were thinking, what if there's a commotion and a bunch of Jesus fanboys show up?

  12:26-12:36

  You know, like these hundreds or thousands of people that would come and listen to him preach, like what if all these fanboys show up and they're like, "You ain't taking him," and all of a sudden there's this big riot.

  12:36-12:42

  So like, what if we have this massive show of force on the front end, and we just bring hundreds of people armed.

  12:42-12:44

  I think that's what was happening here.

  12:45-12:49

  And this garden was a place that the Bible says Jesus went often.

  12:51-13:01

  And you're like, "Well, whose garden was it?" We don't know, but we do know that many Jerusalem residents would often have a garden outside the city, a private garden.

  13:01-13:10

  So apparently Jesus and the disciples knew whoever owned this one, And it was a popular place for Jesus and the disciples to go.

  13:11-13:16

  Your Bible tells us that Judas knew that Jesus would be there.

  13:19-13:28

  But more so, don't miss this, Jesus knew that Judas was going to be looking for Him there.

  13:29-13:30

  I mean, come on.

  13:32-13:33

  Jesus knew that Judas knew.

  13:34-13:36

  And Jesus knew that Judas would be there.

  13:39-13:45

  And I think we just have to pause and parenthetically say, what a commentary on how far Judas had fallen, right?

  13:46-13:50

  Did you imagine how evil you have to be to say, "Hey guys, I got a plan.

  13:51-13:52

  I know where Jesus goes to pray.

  13:53-13:57

  Let's get him there." Like, how wicked is that?

  13:58-13:59

  Let's jump him while he's praying?

  14:01-14:03

  Judas is gone, right?

  14:07-14:13

  And if Jesus wasn't so resolved to His mission, He would have gone elsewhere. He knew Judas was going to be there.

  14:14-14:24

  If Jesus wasn't so dedicated to doing what the Father sent Him to do, He would have said, "All right, boys, pack it up. We're heading west." But He didn't do that.

  14:27-14:34

  Verse 4, key phrase, you have to have this underlined and/or highlighted in your Bible.

  14:34-14:36

  It says that Jesus came forward.

  14:39-14:40

  Underline that. He came forward.

  14:42-14:43

  Do you see this scene?

  14:44-14:53

  Garden, night, here comes hundreds of armed law enforcement to where Jesus is praying, and what does Jesus do?

  14:54-14:55

  Shrink back, hide.

  14:55-14:57

  No, the Bible says he stepped up.

  14:58-15:01

  He came forward and met them.

  15:04-15:11

  And you're like, well, why would Jesus step forward so boldly?

  15:11-15:16

  What would make Jesus step forward in the face of all of this?

  15:16-15:19

  What would make him so bold to step forward like he did?

  15:20-15:22

  Well, we don't have to wonder because the Bible tells us.

  15:25-15:31

  In the very previous phrase, see that in verse 4?

  15:31-15:42

  It says, "Jesus knowing all that would happen to him." That is how Jesus was able to step up.

  15:43-16:01

  He said, "I know exactly what's going to happen to me, and I ain't running from it." It's astounding how many people today are responding in despair to world events.

  16:02-16:03

  It's astounding.

  16:05-16:17

  Fear of getting sick, fear of mandates, fear of job loss, fear of lockdowns, fear of supply chains breaking and empty shelves at the store and horribly corrupt leadership.

  16:17-16:23

  Now please hear me, I'm not minimizing these things because these are all legitimate issues.

  16:24-16:32

  I just want to say this church, as followers of Jesus Christ, shouldn't we respond to these things differently than the world responds to these things?

  16:35-16:44

  Jesus was able to boldly step up and face the trouble before Him because He knew all that was going to happen to Him.

  16:44-17:14

  And right now somebody is streaming this sitting right here and you're thinking, "Well, that's easy for Jesus, because Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to Him." I mean, yeah, I hear what you're saying, Jeff. Real easy for Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen, that's easy for Him to step up and be so bold because He knew everything that was going to happen. And to that I would say this, That's a fair point.

  17:17-17:17

  That's a fair point.

  17:18-17:21

  Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen.

  17:22-17:28

  I'm like, "Man, if only we did." I mean, could you imagine?

  17:29-17:33

  Could you imagine if we knew everything that was going to happen?

  17:35-17:37

  I mean, wouldn't it be amazing?

  17:38-17:44

  I'm just spitballing here hypothetically, But wouldn't it be amazing if God told us everything that was going to happen?

  17:48-17:50

  What if God had some people write it down?

  17:53-17:57

  And put it in... I know, let's make it the best-selling book of all time.

  17:58-18:02

  And we'll get people to put it in hotel drawers.

  18:04-18:06

  Wouldn't that be awesome if God did that?

  18:07-18:10

  And that way we would know everything that's going to happen.

  18:13-18:16

  Well, I think you see the point, right?

  18:17-18:20

  Listen church, this is where I need to remind you, like Jesus, we know all that's going to happen.

  18:22-18:25

  We know. And this is a whole other sermon series, we'll do that later.

  18:28-18:30

  But just to give you a down payment on that.

  18:31-18:35

  You know, the Bible tells us in the last days, people are going to be selfishly wicked.

  18:36-18:39

  Look at 2 Timothy 3, like the first five verses.

  18:39-18:42

  Not now, later. Just write that down.

  18:42-18:44

  The people are going to be selfishly wicked.

  18:46-18:47

  We're seeing it.

  18:47-18:53

  We spent a year going through Revelation, and we've talked about the things that God said are coming soon.

  18:55-19:04

  A coming one-world religion, a one-world economy, mark of the beast, assault on Israel, famine and pestilence and natural disasters.

  19:05-19:10

  All of these things God said was going to happen.

  19:11-19:15

  And church, we're watching it happen before us.

  19:18-19:23

  And people have asked me several times, "Do you think the vaccine is the mark of the beast?" No, it's not.

  19:24-19:26

  But here's the purpose that it's serving.

  19:28-19:32

  The purpose that that is serving is conditioning people to get some things in their mind.

  19:33-19:37

  that in order to do business, you have to receive a certain mark.

  19:39-19:44

  So that when the mark of the beast comes, at that point people are already going to be so used to this idea.

  19:44-19:47

  "Oh, I've got to get something in order to do business. Okay, I'll do that.

  19:47-19:52

  I mean, we've been doing that." People are being conditioned.

  19:55-19:57

  So church, here's your options.

  19:58-20:17

  You can watch the news in despair, Or you can watch the news and say, "Huh, God said this was going to happen, and it's happening exactly as He said." Because we're seeing the prelude to all of the end-time prophecies.

  20:18-20:24

  God gave us the biggest spoiler alert in history when He gave us His Word.

  20:25-20:28

  So we too, church, we can step forward knowing what's coming.

  20:30-20:31

  So know what's coming.

  20:31-20:34

  Secondly, remember who has the power?

  20:36-20:37

  Remember who has the power?

  20:37-20:41

  This is one of the most amazing scenes in the whole Bible.

  20:42-20:44

  Pick up where we left off in verse 4.

  20:45-21:03

  It says, "Jesus came forward and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered Him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am He.' Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them.

  21:05-21:13

  When Jesus said to them, 'I am He,' they drew back and fell to the ground." So stop there for a second.

  21:14-21:29

  Now, literally in the Greek, when Jesus said, "Whom do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Literally in the Greek, He said, "I am." And that's significant because "I Am" is the name of God.

  21:29-21:33

  Go back to Exodus 3.14, that's the tetragrammaton.

  21:33-21:36

  It's the name, God's personal name.

  21:38-21:50

  And that's exactly what Jesus said when they responded to His question, "Who are you looking for?" Hundreds of armed men.

  21:53-21:58

  Jesus spoke the name of God, and they collapsed.

  21:59-22:06

  And I've read so many commentators this week that either ignore this scene, or they try to explain their way around it.

  22:06-22:09

  But it's pretty straightforward what's happening here, right?

  22:10-22:15

  Jesus steps up and He says, "I am," and they fall.

  22:16-22:18

  You're like, "What was that like?

  22:19-22:27

  What was that like?" Did you ever see, did you ever see like, like, like Benny Hinn, like waving at people and they all fall down?

  22:27-22:28

  Have you ever seen that?

  22:29-22:33

  This was like Benny Hinn but real, is what was going on here.

  22:36-22:42

  And sometimes, they're like, "Why is that in there?" Number one, because it's awesome.

  22:43-22:47

  But secondly, sometimes we just forget who's really in control.

  22:48-22:50

  Sometimes we forget who has all the power.

  22:51-22:55

  I mean, can you put yourself in the disciples' sandals here for a second.

  22:55-23:00

  They're in the garden, it's night, it's dark, they're praying, and here comes hundreds of armed guards?

  23:02-23:06

  And they're like, "Oh, did you see this crowd of people that's come?

  23:07-23:08

  Do you see all...

  23:08-23:19

  There's like hundreds of them and they're armed." You take those hundreds of guards, you multiply them by a trillion, you give them each a tank, and it's not going to be enough.

  23:22-23:48

  But so often church we stand facing trouble that looks to us like an army of hundreds of armed soldiers. And we're faced with this mountain of trouble before us and we say, "Well, all you can do is pray." Oh, don't say that! Don't say that!

  23:49-23:52

  "All we can do is pray." You are not allowed to say that.

  23:55-23:59

  Is that how we view prayer? Really? Is that how we view prayer?

  24:00-24:04

  but we have this one last ditch Hail Mary effort.

  24:05-24:12

  We're gonna, I guess we'll cry out to the Almighty who created all things by speaking them into existence.

  24:12-24:21

  You know, the same God who loves me with an infinite love and would love nothing more than to show Himself powerful and mighty and loving on my behalf.

  24:21-24:23

  I guess all we can do is cry out to Him.

  24:26-24:28

  We don't say all you can do is pray.

  24:28-24:31

  We say this, we say the best thing we can do is pray.

  24:33-24:35

  Do you believe that Jesus has all power and authority?

  24:35-24:36

  Do you believe that?

  24:38-24:40

  Well, let me ask you, do you pray like that?

  24:42-24:58

  Because when you do, and when Jesus shows up before all of your troubles, and says, "I am," you're going to see them fall like dominoes.

  25:00-25:02

  So church, remember who has all the power.

  25:02-25:04

  You want to face trouble confidently?

  25:04-25:05

  Remember who has the power.

  25:05-25:11

  Number three, how to face trouble confidently like Jesus rested His promises.

  25:12-25:13

  Look at verses 7 and 8.

  25:15-25:31

  It says, "So He asked them again," after they picked themselves up, "So He asked them again, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answered, "I told you that I am He." Literally, "I told you I am.

  25:34-25:41

  So if you seek Me, let these men go." So Jesus said, "Who are you looking for?" Twice.

  25:43-25:56

  And Jesus' response here is, "Look, if you're looking for Me as you said twice, and as I confirmed twice, then you're going to let these people go." Jesus was not a victim. Did I mention that?

  25:58-26:04

  I love this. Jesus is approached by this massive mob, and He's still giving the orders, and they're still obeying Him.

  26:07-26:15

  He kept the disciples from a faith-destroying experience, or possibly a life-ending experience, and He commanded their release.

  26:16-26:40

  In verse 9, it says this is to fulfill the word that He had spoken back in chapter 17, verse 12, "Of those whom you gave Me, I have lost not one." Usually that kind of phrasing goes to, "He fulfilled something from the Old Testament." But here, it just takes us back a few minutes to when Jesus was praying.

  26:43-26:45

  He promised he would lose none of them.

  26:46-26:49

  And apparently they heard him pray that, right?

  26:49-26:50

  Because they wrote it down.

  26:53-27:03

  But you understand, church, the disciples thought it was going to be really hard for him to keep that promise in that moment they saw all these guards show up.

  27:06-27:10

  And I think we can relate to that, because isn't that the way it is with God's promises?

  27:12-27:16

  I mean, God's promises are so easy to believe in this room, right?

  27:16-27:27

  I share them with you, and you're like, "Amen! Yes!" And you're singing, and your hands are up, and they're so easy to believe here, right?

  27:30-27:43

  But once you go out there, and the guards show up, whatever that looks like in your life, we start to doubt that He'll keep His word.

  27:46-28:05

  I mean, Jesus knew - we already talked about this - He knew they would flee and abandon Him, and eventually - spoiler alert - Peter is going to deny three times that he even knows Jesus, and then there's that whole awkward, ashamed Peter on the beach afterwards talking to Jesus.

  28:07-28:21

  And I look at all that took place with the disciples as Jesus was going through what He went through, and I just have to ask myself, how much easier would it have been for the disciples if they had just believed Jesus in the first place?

  28:24-28:27

  And I thought, you know, that same principle's true for you and I, isn't it?

  28:30-28:35

  I mean, yeah, we're going to face trouble, that's for sure.

  28:35-28:40

  But refusing to believe Jesus' promises is going to bring even more trouble.

  28:42-28:50

  And you end up bringing self-inflicted trouble, because you won't believe His promises.

  28:51-29:00

  In other words, the sooner you commit to resting in Jesus' promises, you will save yourself a lot of pain.

  29:03-29:06

  So how to face trouble confidently like Jesus? Rest in His promises.

  29:07-29:11

  And finally, number four, follow His example.

  29:13-29:16

  Follow His example. Look at verse 10.

  29:18-29:26

  It says, "Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

  29:27-29:41

  The servant's name was Malchus." I love this scene because Peter pulls out his sword and with surgical precision, just like he meant to, cut off the guy's ear.

  29:44-29:55

  Then he was like, "And if you don't leave, I'm gonna take the next ear." Actually, I don't think Peter was trying to cut his ear off.

  29:57-30:01

  I think he was trying to take his head off, and he missed.

  30:03-30:08

  Now look, Peter gets a bad rap from a lot of people, right?

  30:09-30:12

  But I think a lot of it is unjustified.

  30:13-30:24

  Because, you know, back in John 13, verse 37, Peter said to Jesus, "I'll lay down my life for you." And whatever else you want to say about Peter, he was backing those words up here.

  30:24-30:28

  He knew he didn't have a snowball's chance against this many people.

  30:29-30:37

  He's like, "I'm going down swinging, man. I will go down swinging." Well, look at verse 11.

  30:38-30:45

  "So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword into its sheath.'" Quickly corrects Peter.

  30:45-30:57

  Jesus says, "Peter, this isn't the way. This isn't how we do." So Peter tried to stop Jesus, And so Jesus had to stop Peter from stopping Jesus.

  31:00-31:00

  Yes.

  31:03-31:19

  But then Jesus says, "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given?" You're like, "What's he talking about? What's the cup? What is the cup?

  31:19-31:24

  What's that mean?" The cup is God's wrath.

  31:26-31:27

  That's what the cup is.

  31:29-31:32

  You see this all through the Old Testament.

  31:32-31:34

  Like one example here, Isaiah 51.17.

  31:37-31:45

  "Wake yourself, wake yourself! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord." See this? "The cup of His wrath.

  31:46-31:50

  Who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

  31:50-31:58

  So often in the Old Testament, God's wrath is pictured as a cup of very intoxicating drink.

  32:00-32:06

  And God's like, "I'm going to make you drink it down." It's God's wrath.

  32:08-32:22

  And Jesus here is saying, "Peter, am I not supposed to drink the cup that the Father has given me?" Jesus knew when He was on the cross, He was going to bear the wrath of God.

  32:25-32:28

  And essentially, Jesus was saying to Peter, "Peter, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  32:29-32:38

  Are you trying to get me to skip my whole reason for coming to the earth in the first place?" See, that's how our sins are taken away, by the way.

  32:40-32:44

  You can't be good enough or do good enough to take your sins away.

  32:44-32:55

  the only hope that you have of being forgiven of your sin is believing in Jesus Christ, because when He was on that cross, He took God's wrath in your place.

  32:55-33:02

  You should have been nailed to the cross, and I should have been nailed to that cross bearing God's wrath, but Jesus stepped in and said, "No, I will do that.

  33:03-33:10

  I will drink the cup so that you don't have to." And that cup wasn't pleasant.

  33:13-33:26

  You know, it was a cup of agony, it was a cup of torment, it was a cup of pain, and we get that, but you have to notice here, Jesus very clearly pointed out that it was a cup that the Father had given to Jesus.

  33:27-33:32

  In other words, it was the Father's choice that Jesus drink this cup.

  33:35-33:42

  Church, sometimes God, just as He chose a hard road for Jesus, Sometimes God chooses some hardship for us.

  33:46-33:55

  Like, "Well, how do you know that?" Well, He chose a hard road for Jesus, and Jesus said, "A servant is not greater than his master." Right?

  33:57-34:07

  So sometimes you've got to get it in your head that the trouble that you're facing and the hard road that you're on John is God's choice for you.

  34:11-34:19

  But too often, unfortunately, we respond to the trouble like Peter did.

  34:20-34:26

  It's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what Jesus said." But Peter's like, "We're going to do this my way.

  34:27-34:37

  I will take them down one ear at a time." As silly as that sounds, we do the same thing, right?

  34:39-34:50

  Like maybe you're facing some huge financial burden and you're like, I know what God says about trusting his provision, but step aside, Jesus, because I have a credit card.

  34:50-34:52

  I'm gonna take care of this for you.

  34:54-35:03

  And we say, well, I know what God said about forgiving others, and there's somebody in my life right now that I just haven't forgiven and I'm unwilling to forgive, but you know what?

  35:04-35:05

  Step aside, Jesus.

  35:06-35:08

  I'm gonna handle this grudge my way.

  35:11-35:26

  Maybe you are having problems with a prodigal child of any age, maybe they're still living in the home, and you're like, I know what your word says about disciplining children, but step aside, Jesus, because nobody tells me how to parent my kids.

  35:30-35:31

  And that's what we have here, church.

  35:31-35:36

  Peter acting in the flesh, doing things his way.

  35:37-35:40

  And that never works.

  35:43-35:53

  That's why Jesus said, "Put that away." And there's something in your life right now that you're trusting instead of what God has told you to trust.

  35:54-35:56

  And Jesus is saying to you, "Hey, you need to put that away.

  35:58-36:02

  Start doing it my way instead of doing it your way.

  36:04-36:06

  There's good news because Peter eventually learned.

  36:07-36:12

  He eventually learned because sometime after this, Peter wrote these words.

  36:14-36:28

  He says, "To this you've been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps." He says, "When he was reviled, He did not revile in return when He suffered.

  36:29-36:35

  He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly." Did you see that? Peter wrote that.

  36:36-36:55

  Peter's like, "Man, I've been swinging that sword like a madman, and you know what I saw? I saw Jesus instead trusting the Father." He's like, "That's the example that I needed to learn." And he says, "Church, that's the example that you need to learn." Jesus gave us an example to follow.

  36:56-37:10

  that in the face of our worst trouble, my conduct is not based on the way other people treat me, my conduct is not based on worldly wisdom, my conduct is not based on how I'm used to handling things, my conduct is based on the Word of God.

  37:12-37:20

  So I'm just going to do that, and I'm going to entrust myself to God, because that's the example that Jesus demonstrated.

  37:22-37:28

  So, church, trouble's coming.

  37:31-37:38

  And you don't want to make decisions on how to react to it when the trouble shows up.

  37:39-37:42

  "Peter, you want to decide ahead of time.

  37:43-37:45

  Look, here's how I'm going to face trouble.

  37:47-37:48

  First of all, I know what's coming.

  37:50-37:53

  I'm going to remember that Jesus still has all power.

  37:56-37:59

  So I'm going to rest in His promises.

  38:01-38:03

  I'm going to follow His example.

  38:04-38:08

  And when the trouble shows up, I'm going to step forward.

  38:09-38:10

  Let's pray.

  38:12-38:19

  Father in heaven, We just want to pause right now and thank You for the example that we have in Christ.

  38:20-38:31

  Peter very clearly told us, "Jesus gave us an example to follow in His steps." And so often, God, we confess to You, "We are too much like Peter.

  38:31-38:45

  The trouble comes and we're going to hack away and handle it our way." God, I pray that we would take a closer look in this passage at the way Jesus confidently stepped up.

  38:45-39:04

  and what motivated Him to be so trusting and powerful and faithful in the face of the kind of trouble that would honestly just make most of us collapse.

  39:06-39:09

  Father, we pray for a humble and holy boldness.

  39:12-39:20

  Whatever trouble was before us, Father, I pray that You would give us Holy Spirit, wisdom, and strength to step forward like Jesus.

  39:22-39:25

  In whose name we pray to You, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 18:1-11

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. What “trouble” are you facing right now? What promises from God's Word directly address your situation?
   

3. How does knowing what's coming (end-time prophecies) equip us to handle these global troubles confidently? How confidently are you handling them?
   

4. Recall Peter's actions in John 18:10. Tell of a time you tried to handle the trouble before you in your own way (instead of God's). If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Prayer - Part 2

Introduction:

Knowing His Prayer: What Jesus Wants for You (John 17:20-26):

1. He wants you to be Unified . (John 17:21-23)

2. He wants you to be With Him . (John 17:24-26)

   1 John 3:2 - Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:53-01:11

  Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 17, as we continue our series, "Knowing Jesus." This past week I lost a very good friend, who passed away last Sunday night about 11.30.

  01:11-01:18

  And he was a man who, he attended our church before, but he was a member of another church, and he actually worked in this building.

  01:19-01:42

  And one day, about, I want to say, three years ago or so, he just showed up at my office, and he's like, "You're a pastor, right?" I'm like, "Yeah." He's like, "Will you pray with me?" I'm like, "Yeah." And from that day, every day that we were both here in the building, he would meet with me for prayer.

  01:42-01:56

  And there were times he'd say, "Can we go pray in the chapel?" and he bought a mat, and he would kneel right here, and I would kneel over here, and we would spend an extended time together crying out to the Lord.

  01:57-02:07

  And this man would pray for our families, he would pray for our churches, he would pray for the president, the governor, and the local leaders.

  02:08-02:10

  And he would pray weeping.

  02:10-02:23

  And for him it wasn't just a matter of saying your prayers, You know, "God bless Grandma, traveling mercies, be with me today, Amen." That prayer time was prayer time.

  02:25-02:34

  And you know, I got to know him pretty well over the last three years, because you can learn a lot by a person by the way they pray, right?

  02:37-02:45

  And that's never more on display than it is in the life of our Lord when we get to John chapter 17, because we have this insight.

  02:45-02:49

  This is the only extended prayer of Jesus in the Bible.

  02:50-02:59

  And we see examples of Him praying, but this is the only example where we get insight to what He is praying in extended prayer time.

  03:00-03:06

  We knew He was constantly in prayer, but here we get a glimpse, right?

  03:07-03:15

  And the main thing that Jesus was praying for, where we started this last week, the main thing Jesus was praying for was for the Father's glory.

  03:16-03:22

  And it's my hope as we go through this prayer that we would grow as prayers ourselves.

  03:24-03:34

  Because knowing Jesus - which is our theme - knowing Jesus should include us knowing how to pray for the things that Jesus prayed for.

  03:34-04:01

  And last week, we saw Jesus prayed for authentic disciples - of God. Jesus prayed that we would be protected from the world that hates us because it hated him and from the evil one, the devil, and Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified by the Word. In other words, used by God, being set apart by the Word of God.

  04:02-04:14

  And you have to see when we get to verse 20 that Jesus, his prayer originally in the last for the eleven disciples, and they were principles for us.

  04:14-04:20

  But here, Jesus' prayer is for you specifically, not you generally.

  04:21-04:23

  Jesus is praying for you specifically.

  04:23-04:26

  Look at verse 20, Jesus continuing His prayer.

  04:26-04:30

  He says, "I do not ask for these only," meaning these apostles.

  04:30-04:46

  "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." as those apostles go out and preach and ultimately record the Word of God, there are going to be people that come to faith in Christ through their ministry.

  04:46-04:57

  And Jesus says, "Okay, now I'm praying for them. Now He's praying for us here." This is a statement that covers a couple of thousand years.

  04:57-05:04

  And it's a statement that covers how many millions of people through those couple of thousands of years.

  05:04-05:11

  At all times, every age, every culture, Jesus is praying for people who weren't even yet born.

  05:11-05:19

  Like, okay, so Jesus is praying for us, and we should be praying for us the same things that Jesus was praying for us.

  05:20-05:26

  So on your outline, knowing his prayer, what Jesus wants for you.

  05:28-05:29

  Alright, so write this down first of all.

  05:29-05:42

  Number one, or if you were here last week, you can write number four, because this is an extension of the same message from last week.

  05:42-05:43

  I broke it up into two parts.

  05:43-05:44

  Say thank you.

  05:45-05:46

  You're welcome.

  05:47-05:55

  But if you're here for the first time, it can be number one for you if you're here last week, number four, if you wanna build off of last week's.

  05:56-05:58

  Number one, he wants you to be unified.

  05:59-06:00

  He wants you to be unified.

  06:01-06:02

  Look at verse 21.

  06:04-06:29

  Jesus says, again praying for us specifically, "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me, the glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one.

  06:30-06:44

  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." He wants you to be unified.

  06:44-06:45

  Did you notice?

  06:45-06:51

  Three times in just those couple of verses, Jesus was praying, "They may be one.

  06:52-06:53

  Father, that they may be one.

  06:53-06:54

  You and I are one.

  06:54-06:59

  I want them to be one." We're talking about spiritual union.

  07:00-07:03

  You see, the Father and the Son share life.

  07:05-07:14

  And believers in Christ share the same life that is in the Father and the Son, because the life of the Son is in us.

  07:14-07:22

  But in v. 22, Jesus says, "The glory You've given Me, I've given to them." What is He talking about?

  07:24-07:29

  What is this glory that He was given that was given to us?

  07:30-07:35

  You're like, "Jeff, what is that?" And the question is not what is that, the question is who is that?

  07:35-07:36

  Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit.

  07:37-07:50

  The Bible says that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, right, like Luke 4, verse one, for example, many other places, meaning Jesus literally had all of the attributes of God.

  07:50-07:55

  And in giving us the Spirit of God, We share those attributes.

  07:56-07:58

  That's what Jesus was talking about back in chapter 15.

  07:59-08:02

  I am the vine, you are the branches.

  08:02-08:05

  Abide in me because apart from me you can do nothing.

  08:05-08:07

  It's the exact same concept.

  08:07-08:10

  It's the same life flowing through, right?

  08:10-08:12

  That's what he's talking about.

  08:13-08:15

  And this is what he's praying for.

  08:16-08:18

  He's praying for unity for the church.

  08:18-08:20

  He's praying for oneness.

  08:22-08:24

  Let's talk about oneness for a couple of minutes here.

  08:24-08:25

  What is oneness?

  08:25-08:28

  Well, I wanna tell you what it's not.

  08:29-08:31

  Don't you love it when preachers do that?

  08:32-08:33

  Like, well, what is it?

  08:33-08:34

  Well, I'm gonna tell you what it's not.

  08:34-08:35

  Well, I'm not here to know what it's not.

  08:36-08:37

  You have to know what it's not so you know what it is, right?

  08:38-08:40

  But it's not ecumenical.

  08:40-08:48

  Many years ago, I was part of a group of churches and religious organizations that were doing this community outreach thing.

  08:48-08:57

  And one of the people that was involved in organizing it said, "Look, we just gotta get the kids together, and we gotta do good things for the community.

  08:58-09:13

  So look, praise Jesus, praise whoever, it doesn't matter so long as we take care of the kids." I was like, "Whoa." I said, "I'm really not comfortable with the concept of praise Jesus, praise whoever.

  09:14-09:21

  I'm just not comfortable with that." But you see, some people think that's what Jesus meant by oneness.

  09:22-09:23

  Like, "Look, we all get along.

  09:24-09:28

  Look at those churches and mosques and synagogues and Mormon temples.

  09:28-09:34

  They're all getting along just like Jesus prayed for, they're all one." And some people think that that's oneness.

  09:35-09:36

  We just all get along.

  09:37-09:38

  That's not what he's talking about.

  09:39-09:41

  And some people think it's uniformity.

  09:41-09:49

  Like, look, we should just get rid of every denomination and brand and flavor of Christianity and all be uniform.

  09:50-09:51

  And He's not talking about that either.

  09:53-09:55

  He's talking about a oneness of holiness.

  09:56-09:58

  He's talking about being pure and holy.

  09:59-10:01

  He's talking about being set apart.

  10:02-10:12

  He's talking about, because we are not of this world, we are citizens of heaven, that identity is the thing that should unify us and set us apart.

  10:13-10:21

  You're like, "Well, what does that look like?" If you've been with us through any chunk of this sermon series, through John, we've seen what that looks like.

  10:22-10:25

  Because there's a oneness that Jesus brings up here in this passage.

  10:25-10:27

  There's a oneness that exists between Him and the Father.

  10:28-10:28

  Right?

  10:30-10:40

  Jesus and God the Father, they had the same authority, they do the same works, they have the same will, they preach the same doctrine, they have the same glory, They're both sinless.

  10:41-10:51

  They have this unity exist between the Father and the Son, and Jesus here is praying that His people are brought into that unity.

  10:51-10:56

  "God, I want them to be part of this!" That's what He's praying for.

  10:57-11:05

  You're like, "Well, why?" Well you probably noticed verses 21 and 23 are very similar verses.

  11:06-11:10

  There's in general three parts of these verses.

  11:10-11:13

  Jesus prayed about the Father being in Jesus.

  11:13-11:16

  Jesus talked about the Father and Jesus being in us.

  11:18-11:23

  And in both verses, he says so that the world believes, so that the world knows.

  11:24-11:32

  And he said, "What's the purpose of unity?" The purpose of unity, church, is seeing people saved.

  11:32-11:33

  Jesus made it very clear.

  11:34-11:36

  The purpose of our oneness, he said it twice.

  11:36-11:41

  The purpose of our oneness is so that the world sees the oneness we have with each other and with God.

  11:42-11:50

  And they're like, "Jesus Christ must be real, because look at how He changed those people." That's what He's talking about.

  11:51-11:53

  Convincing the world that Jesus is God.

  11:54-11:57

  And it's not merely unity for the sake of unity.

  11:57-11:58

  Let's just all get along.

  11:59-12:01

  It's unity for the sake of evangelism.

  12:02-12:08

  the world sees oneness, the world sees set-apartness, and the world is attracted to that.

  12:10-12:14

  You're like, "Well, how does that work?" Have you ever read the Gospels?

  12:15-12:16

  Have you ever read the Gospels?

  12:17-12:23

  I would ask you, "What made Zacchaeus climb that tree?" You're like, "Oh, because he was short." Okay, smart aleck.

  12:25-12:27

  What made Zacchaeus climb that tree?

  12:28-12:34

  What drove the disciples to leave their jobs and their families to follow some Jewish rabbi?

  12:35-12:35

  Why?

  12:37-12:48

  What made Nicodemus come at night to understand who this Jesus of Nazareth was?

  12:49-13:10

  What was the draw - and I could go on and on, but I won't - what was the draw With all of these people pursuing this Jesus, people could see that he had a oneness with God that made him stand out from the rest of the world.

  13:11-13:15

  And when you read your gospels, you see people flocked to that.

  13:16-13:20

  This guy is not like anybody who's ever walked on the earth.

  13:20-13:21

  I gotta see who he is.

  13:22-13:25

  He has a oneness with God.

  13:25-13:26

  I've got to know more about this.

  13:27-13:29

  And Jesus is saying, "This is what I want for my church.

  13:30-13:43

  Stand out in holiness, united, that the world will look at our unity and say, 'Jesus must save, Jesus must change.' That church isn't just some religious club.

  13:44-13:45

  Those people are different.

  13:46-13:47

  It's a holy oneness.

  13:50-13:51

  It's a holy oneness.

  13:52-13:53

  That's what he's calling us to.

  13:54-14:01

  And this is just a point of church life and doctrine and practice that just gets so messed up.

  14:02-14:08

  This past May, the Evangelical Lutheran Church elected the first transgender pastor.

  14:09-14:15

  And we're seeing more and more and more and more churches getting woke to such things.

  14:16-14:17

  And what does that communicate?

  14:18-14:25

  You see, for the people on that side, it communicates this makes us look relevant.

  14:26-14:27

  This makes us look real, right?

  14:27-14:29

  We're relevant with our culture.

  14:29-14:31

  We're up with the times, we're woke like you.

  14:32-14:33

  We're accepting, right?

  14:34-14:37

  That's what they think it communicates.

  14:38-14:40

  You know, doesn't this make us look relevant?

  14:42-14:42

  No.

  14:43-14:48

  It makes you look unholy, is what it makes you look like.

  14:49-14:57

  Because what happens is the world, whether they want to articulate it or not, whether they even want to admit it or not, deep down they know it's true.

  14:57-15:00

  When the world sees that garbage, they know!

  15:02-15:15

  When they look at this church doing such wickedness, the world's like, "Okay, what I'm seeing is a mix of holiness and unholiness at the same time." They're hypocrites. They're hypocrites.

  15:16-15:22

  Because I know a sense of what the book says, and these people aren't even living by their own book.

  15:23-15:25

  That's what the world sees. Hypocrisy.

  15:28-15:31

  And church, I hear it all the time. I heard it last week.

  15:32-15:36

  Last week, from a friend who doesn't go to church.

  15:37-15:47

  You know, I grew up, I went to a church growing up, and a bunch of bad stuff went down, and the pastor was having an affair, and these people were fighting, And that's why I don't want anything to do with church.

  15:48-15:49

  You ever hear somebody like that?

  15:51-15:55

  I'm sure everyone in this room and everybody watching this stream has heard or knows somebody like that.

  15:56-16:04

  That the church has ruined the testimony of holiness and oneness because we don't act according to how we say we should believe.

  16:05-16:07

  And shame on us for that.

  16:08-16:45

  Before we start pointing fingers at churches with, You know transgender pastors or rainbow flags look look we're not exempt in this church Okay, we can be just as guilty claiming to be Christian, but living an unholy lifestyle And when we do that Whatever our favorite sin is in our churches when we do that what we communicate to the world is the gospel is not effective It's either a scam or a sham, but Jesus Christ ain't really changing people down at that place is what we communicate.

  16:47-16:50

  Because the gospel ultimately is about transformation.

  16:50-16:52

  It's seeing God save people.

  16:52-16:53

  It's seeing God change people.

  16:54-16:56

  It's seeing God dwell in people.

  16:56-17:15

  And the testimony is to be, you know, "Hey, Jesus saved me from my sin!" And the response is, "Did He really?" "Did He save you from your sin?" "Because you look like you're still living in your sin." "What exactly did He save you from?" Do they see the power of God in you?

  17:16-17:18

  Or does the world see you living in an ungodly way?

  17:20-17:20

  And church, shame on us.

  17:20-17:23

  Sometimes we're engaged in the same sin.

  17:24-17:25

  We're telling the same dirty jokes.

  17:26-17:28

  We're using the same perverted language.

  17:30-17:32

  We're applauding the same perversity.

  17:33-17:43

  And like I've heard my pastor say often, he says, "Just when the world needs us the most, we become just like them." And that is the exact opposite of what Jesus was praying for here.

  17:43-18:01

  "Father, unify them, set them apart so the world sees us in them, and that is going to draw the world." So we're one with Jesus Christ, but I have to remind us here, it's not just that, we're one with each other.

  18:03-18:11

  And at this point I have to remind us that biblical New Testament Christianity is a corporate thing, not an individual thing. Hang on.

  18:13-18:21

  Hear me out. Because so many people get this idea that your walk with Christ is just a me and Jesus thing.

  18:22-18:27

  Right? It's just me and Jesus. I don't need a church, I don't need another believer, I don't need a small group.

  18:27-18:31

  It's just a me and Jesus thing. It's me and Jesus. That's my religion, that's my church.

  18:32-18:35

  And I would say that is... First of all, I would say don't talk like that.

  18:35-18:41

  Second of all, I would say that is nowhere in the Bible.

  18:42-18:45

  Now, yes, listen, don't misunderstand.

  18:45-18:53

  Your salvation is an individual matter, meaning your grandma can't save you, your pastor can't save you, your small group leader can't save you.

  18:54-18:57

  That is a between you and Jesus thing, because it has to do with your personal sin.

  18:58-18:59

  Yes, absolutely true.

  18:59-19:07

  But, at the same time, when you are saved, You are called to be a part of a body of believers.

  19:09-19:11

  Otherwise, what was Jesus praying for here?

  19:11-19:22

  When Jesus said, "Father, I'm praying that they may all be one." And you're like, "Not me, I'm a lone wolf Christian." Oh, then you're not in the group that Jesus is praying for here then, right?

  19:24-19:28

  You want to disqualify yourself from the group that Jesus is praying for.

  19:28-19:30

  That's a terrible idea, by the way.

  19:31-19:36

  Alright? Because Jesus is praying that they may be one.

  19:36-19:39

  And isn't it ironic that you can't be one by yourself?

  19:41-19:43

  Because oneness here is unity.

  19:43-19:55

  Every part of the body of Christ going after the same thing, the same thing that Jesus and the Father went after, seeing lost people saved through a testimony of oneness.

  19:57-20:09

  So listen, if you're truly saved, if you are truly in Christ, you can't separate yourself from Jesus, and you can't separate yourself from one another.

  20:12-20:18

  So church, can we agree with Jesus in prayer for unity and oneness?

  20:19-20:27

  that we would be united with God, and as a result be united with one another.

  20:28-20:30

  Shouldn't we be praying for that?

  20:31-20:32

  One more.

  20:34-20:39

  One more. Number two, or number five, you really should have been here last week.

  20:39-20:41

  He wants you to be with Him.

  20:43-20:44

  He wants you to be with Him.

  20:45-20:58

  Okay, now, this is one of those really hard times that I can't possibly communicate with any words that I try to string together.

  20:58-21:00

  I can't communicate the impact of this statement.

  21:01-21:02

  That doesn't mean I'm not going to try.

  21:02-21:05

  I'm just saying I feel already inadequate going into this.

  21:06-21:20

  Okay, this was Jesus' last extended prayer time before betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, Right? So we've seen Jesus is praying for some pretty significant things.

  21:20-21:29

  And what we're about to look at, verse 24, is the very last petition Jesus makes to God, the Father, before the cross.

  21:29-21:33

  This is the last thing, the last petition, the last thing I'm asking.

  21:33-21:35

  This is His, "Okay, Father, just one more thing.

  21:36-21:44

  Just one more thing, Father." And you're like, "Okay, the last thing Jesus asked the Father for before the cross." It has to have huge significance and impact, right?

  21:44-21:46

  This has to be something major, right?

  21:47-21:54

  This has to be more than, "Father, give me traveling mercies on my way." It has to be something so much bigger than that, right?

  21:55-21:57

  Well, here it is.

  21:58-21:59

  Look at verse 24.

  22:00-22:19

  Jesus said, "Father, I desire that they also whom You have given Me may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that you have given Me, because you love Me before the foundation of the world." Did you see that?

  22:20-22:23

  The very last thing that Jesus Christ prays for, did you see it?

  22:24-22:27

  He's like, "I'm about to die, but God, I'm going to ask You for one more thing.

  22:28-22:35

  I want these people to be with Me." He wants you to be with Him.

  22:36-22:39

  Alright, I see that it's not landing here.

  22:39-22:40

  I'm going to take another run at this.

  22:43-22:45

  He wants you to be with Him.

  22:48-22:49

  Okay, I'm going to take another run at it.

  22:50-22:52

  Maybe I'm just not emphasizing t he right words.

  22:52-22:57

  Okay, He wants you to be with Him.

  23:00-23:01

  Yes! Yes!

  23:02-23:03

  This for sure, okay?

  23:05-23:07

  He wants you to be with Him.

  23:08-23:09

  He wants you to be what?

  23:10-23:11

  He wants you to be with Him!

  23:13-23:17

  Maybe this is like a theological grenade that will go off later in your head.

  23:18-23:19

  And that's what I'm hoping for.

  23:20-23:24

  Because it will here in a second, because I'm going to show you something else that will absolutely blow your mind.

  23:26-23:31

  But you know, the president's never asked me to come to the White House.

  23:32-24:01

  And you're like, "I don't think the president would want you at the White House." the last president didn't either. But what I see here is the God of the universe is praying that I'd be with him. And look, if that truth doesn't move you, if the truth doesn't move you that Jesus Christ wants you with him, then you are too attached to this world. And spoiler alert, you aren't going to be here forever.

  24:03-24:11

  Like, "What? You're not going to be here forever." Okay, that was mind-blowing to me, but there's...

  24:12-24:13

  It's even deeper than that.

  24:13-24:17

  You're like, "Well, why does He want us there?" Why does He want us there?

  24:17-24:19

  That's a really good question, why He wants us there.

  24:20-24:24

  You know, because I've never had anybody really important, like want me to be somewhere.

  24:24-24:30

  I've had a lot of really important people ask me to not be certain places, but why does He want us there?

  24:30-24:31

  Look at the verse again.

  24:31-24:38

  He says, "I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am." Okay, why Jesus? Why do you want me there? Look at this.

  24:38-24:47

  Next phrase, "To see my glory." "To see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." He wants us there to see his glory.

  24:48-24:55

  Now the disciples, when they walked with Jesus, Jesus' glory was veiled in the human flesh, right?

  24:56-24:57

  Except for that transfiguration.

  24:58-25:00

  They got a peak, right?

  25:00-25:02

  Kind of like Superman opening the shirt.

  25:02-25:05

  That's what the disciples got with the Transfiguration.

  25:05-25:15

  "We got to see His glory, but just for a minute, but we saw it." And most of the time, Jesus veiled in flesh they didn't see.

  25:16-25:19

  And we've never seen Him, right?

  25:20-25:31

  But the day is coming when Jesus Christ is going to put His full glory on display for all of us to see.

  25:32-25:33

  And I know what you're thinking.

  25:33-25:48

  Some of you are thinking, "So why does He want us to be there for that?" "Why does He want us to be there for that?" I mean, does Jesus need affirmation from me?

  25:48-25:51

  Like, Jesus is glorious because, you know what?

  25:52-26:19

  I really need you there to be patting me on the back and saying, "Oh boy, Jesus, pretty glorious today. Does Jesus need my affirmation? That is not it at all. And you know I thought I thought about this all week like okay Jesus wants me there which is mind-blowingly awesome for whatever reason that might be but the fact that Jesus wants me there to see his glory all week I've been like why does he want me there to see his glory? Why does he want me there to see his glory?

  26:20-26:20

  Like why?

  26:21-26:22

  And then it hit me.

  26:23-26:29

  You know, when little kids play soccer, you know, a lot of you have kids that play on little soccer teams and stuff.

  26:29-26:33

  When kids play soccer, they want their parents to be there, right?

  26:33-26:34

  Why?

  26:35-26:37

  The parents aren't playing, right?

  26:37-26:38

  At least I hope not.

  26:38-26:43

  Why does the kid want the parents there when they're playing soccer?

  26:43-26:45

  Mommy, I scored a goal, did you see?

  26:46-26:47

  Why is that such a big deal?

  26:48-26:52

  Or like when somebody graduates and they want grandma there.

  26:53-26:55

  Like I'm graduating grandma, I really want you to be there.

  26:55-26:56

  Like why?

  26:57-26:58

  Grandma ain't graduating.

  26:59-27:01

  Grandma graduated decades ago.

  27:02-27:04

  Like why does grandma need to be there?

  27:05-27:10

  Now I thought you know when somebody gets married, one of the first things they do is they put that guest list together.

  27:11-27:13

  And they're like, I want my BFF to be there.

  27:14-27:15

  Like why do you want your BFF to be there?

  27:17-27:18

  Your BFF ain't getting married.

  27:19-27:20

  Why do you want them there?

  27:21-27:22

  Do you see a common thread?

  27:23-27:26

  In every one of those instances, it's this.

  27:27-27:28

  I love you.

  27:29-27:32

  And I want to share this glorious experience with you.

  27:33-27:39

  Scoring that goal, getting that diploma, saying those vows, these are glorious things.

  27:40-28:45

  And it means a lot to me to have people that I love to be there to share that experience me. So what Jesus is praying for here is that times infinity to say, "God, I love them so much and I realize I'm about to be glorified with the name above all names and I want them there for that. I want to make sure they're on the guest list so they can share the most glorious experience in all of the universe with me. Please God, that's what I'm praying for. But it's even deeper than that. Because understand that this isn't just looking at Him. Okay? This isn't just, you know, you get to heaven and it's like, okay, everybody sit down, Jesus is about to come on the stage, to put His glory on display, make sure you watch. It's even more than that. Because the Bible says that we will be just like Him, sharing in that glory.

  28:45-28:48

  Look at 1 John 3.2.

  28:48-28:48

  Look at this.

  28:48-28:54

  John says, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.

  28:55-29:07

  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him." We talked about that back in our 1 Corinthians 15 series, I believe, that we're going to get a glorified body exactly like Jesus' glorified body.

  29:07-29:09

  He says, "We shall be like Him." Why?

  29:10-29:12

  Do you see that next phrase?

  29:12-29:14

  Because we shall see Him as He is.

  29:14-29:22

  So do you understand when Jesus is talking about, "I want them to see My glory," it's so much more than just eyeballing it.

  29:22-29:25

  It's about experiencing the glory with Him.

  29:26-29:28

  That we actually become part of His glory.

  29:29-29:39

  That in heaven, everything we do, everything we say, ultimately has to do with beholding and sharing and experiencing the glory of the Son of God.

  29:39-29:54

  So I would just ask, "Who's excited for heaven?" But you know, when I read this prayer, it sounds to me like heaven is a bigger deal to Jesus than it is to us.

  29:55-30:06

  You know, so often we talk about, "Can't wait for heaven, can't wait to go to heaven, can't wait to go to heaven," and it sounds to me like Jesus, even more than us, can't wait for us to be in heaven.

  30:07-30:08

  Now you wrap your brain around that.

  30:09-30:09

  He's worthy.

  30:10-30:18

  He's worthy to have us see His glory, and it is going to be our privilege to share that glory with Him.

  30:18-30:23

  It is going to be our privilege to worship Him in that glory forever.

  30:24-30:28

  So can we agree with Jesus in prayer for a desire to be with Him?

  30:29-30:30

  Alright, two more verses here.

  30:31-30:33

  Verses 25 and 26.

  30:33-30:39

  Jesus says, "O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You, and these know that You have sent Me.

  30:40-30:51

  I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them." So He's not asking for anything.

  30:51-30:53

  This is the end of the prayer.

  30:53-30:54

  This is the amen.

  30:55-30:57

  This is the "You are loved" part of the prayer.

  30:58-31:03

  And in this, Jesus doesn't ask for anything, but He declares something.

  31:03-31:20

  Do you see that? He says, "I'm going to continue to make your name known." And I would say Jesus certainly kept His word, because as I look around this room, I see that He's continuing to make the Father's name known, because His love is certainly in you, and Jesus is certainly in you.

  31:20-31:22

  So Jesus is certainly keeping His word.

  31:23-31:27

  Jesus prayed for you to be unified and ultimately to be in His presence.

  31:28-31:41

  Father in heaven, I've been thinking about this all week, and I still just feel like I don't have the capacity to absorb everything that this is saying.

  31:41-31:48

  That Jesus Christ loves us so much that He wants to share His glory with us.

  31:49-31:58

  And that until that day comes, Father, He wants us to be unified in holy oneness, to glorify your name and empowered by your spirit.

  31:58-32:17

  Father, as we come to your table today, I pray for unity for this church, that we would be people who believe we are sanctified, we are set apart by your word, and we are passionately authentic in pursuing a relationship with you, that you provided through your Son, Jesus Christ.

  32:18-32:24

  Father, we thank you for the very deep and personal love that you've demonstrated for us.

  32:25-32:31

  We got to witness through a sneak peek at what Jesus was praying before he suffered for us.

  32:32-32:40

  We come around your table, Father, now in the glorious name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior forever. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 17:20-26

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. As specific as you can – describe what Jesus meant by “being one”. How did Jesus demonstrate that with His relationship with the Father?
   

3. What are some obstacles to “one-ness” in the church?
   

4. Why does Jesus want us to “see His glory” (John 17:24)? How would you respond to someone who responds to this, “That sounds arrogant!”?

Breakout
Pray for one another, that we would grow in the reality of one-ness with Christ.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Prayer

Introduction:

Knowing His Prayer: What Jesus Wants for His Disciples (John 17:1-19):

1. He wants you to be Authentic . (John 17:6-7)

2. He wants you to be Protected . (John 17:11-16)
3. He wants you to be Used . (John 17:17-19)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:54-00:59

  Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 17.

  01:01-01:01

  Amen.

  01:02-01:03

  John chapter 17, are you there?

  01:05-01:15

  You know, we're going to be talking about prayer for the next couple of weeks, and kids pray the darndest things, don't they?

  01:17-01:23

  I taught Pioneer Club for many, many years, and I was in charge of the whole program.

  01:24-01:28

  So because I was in charge of the program, I could choose which group I wanted to teach.

  01:29-01:33

  So I chose the third and fourth graders because I loved that age group.

  01:35-01:37

  And Pioneer Club, if you don't know, it's like a WANA.

  01:37-01:44

  It was like a Wednesday night kids program, kind of like a WANA with a little bit of like Boy Scout type stuff in it.

  01:44-01:48

  but there'd be Bible lessons and games and all of that.

  01:48-01:54

  But one of my favorite parts of the night was taking prayer requests from the kids.

  01:55-01:59

  And if you have ever done any kind of kids ministry, you understand what I'm talking about, don't you?

  02:00-02:02

  Kids have the greatest prayer requests.

  02:03-02:06

  And Aaron and I still to this day talk about some of our favorites over the years.

  02:06-02:11

  Remember the one time we started out, you know, all right, what can we pray for kids?

  02:11-02:30

  And one kid, he goes, "I wanna pray that nobody gets bitten by a snake." And I'm like, "I am so on board with that." And all of God's people said, "Amen, amen." But then we had one kid, I'm not gonna mention names, he's like an adult now and he might be watching this stream.

  02:30-02:45

  But I remember he says, "Yeah, I have a prayer request." I said, "Okay, who do we wanna pray for?" He said, "I wanna pray for the man "who was riding his bike in the flood." And I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't know what to pray for that guy.

  02:45-02:47

  I'm like, "Are we praying for his safety?

  02:47-02:48

  Are we praying for his bike?

  02:49-02:52

  Are we praying that he gets where he's going?" I don't know what to pray for this guy.

  02:52-02:58

  I was just at a loss and that's where I was kind of, you know, the Bible says the Holy Spirit, you know, prays with us in things we don't understand.

  02:58-03:17

  I'm like, "Holy Spirit, you're going to have to take this one because I don't even know what to say about that." But probably my all-time favorite prayer request in Pioneer Club was this, we had this one little boy and he talked faster than my brain could process.

  03:17-03:18

  Do you know anybody like that?

  03:19-03:24

  They say three sentences and your brain's still trying to process the first phrase of the first sentence.

  03:25-03:26

  This kid was like that.

  03:26-03:39

  And he went on this whole brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I really wanna pray for this cat because he got caught in the recliner three weeks ago.

  03:43-03:46

  Like your cat got caught in the recliner three weeks ago.

  03:48-03:53

  I said, "Is he okay?" He goes, "I don't know, he's still there."

  03:55-03:55

  (congregation laughing)

  03:58-03:58

  Yeah.

  04:01-04:08

  But you know, there's something honest and innocent about that that I just love.

  04:11-04:16

  And sad to say that, you know what happens to those kids?

  04:17-04:21

  Sad to say they grow up to be people like us and you lose that honesty.

  04:22-04:28

  You lose that innocence and you lose that straightforwardness in prayer.

  04:29-04:33

  And as adults, we get kind of lame when it comes to praying.

  04:34-04:42

  Honestly, we pray things like, "God be with me today." You don't got to pray that.

  04:43-04:49

  If you belong to Jesus Christ, He's already promised, "I will never leave you or forsake you." I don't got to pray that.

  04:50-04:51

  But I know He is.

  04:52-04:54

  Can we please get a little more specific in our prayers?

  04:56-05:01

  or we pray, "God bless grandma." Bless grandma how?

  05:04-05:06

  Her health, give her a million dollars.

  05:06-05:07

  We're like, what are we saying?

  05:07-05:08

  Can we please pray a little more specifically?

  05:10-05:13

  And sometimes, and look church, I can be guilty of this too.

  05:15-05:19

  Sometimes our prayers sum total is just the sick list.

  05:20-05:21

  And I get why that is.

  05:21-05:28

  And like I said, this happens to me because there's so many health needs that consumes our prayer time.

  05:30-05:32

  And absolutely we should be praying.

  05:33-05:36

  I have a good friend right now who's very sick and I've been praying nonstop.

  05:38-05:44

  We should be praying for that, but sometimes that's all we pray for.

  05:46-05:47

  And we don't get to kingdom matters.

  05:47-05:49

  We don't get to spiritual matters.

  05:49-05:52

  We don't get to eternity matters.

  05:52-05:53

  Do you hear what I'm saying?

  05:54-06:04

  And sometimes church, since we're being completely honest here, so many of our prayers revolve around me, right, me.

  06:05-06:07

  God do this for me, God give this to me.

  06:08-06:17

  And yes, we should be praying for ourselves, but again, sometimes like the sick list, it consumes our prayers.

  06:19-06:27

  And for the next two weeks, we're gonna be in John 17, and I want you to see what Jesus prayed for.

  06:29-06:33

  And I want us to learn how to pray for the same things that Jesus asked the Father for.

  06:35-06:41

  And you're like, "Well, what did Jesus pray for?" It's easy, Jesus really only prayed for one thing.

  06:43-06:44

  Prayed for one thing.

  06:46-06:49

  He prayed for the Father's glory to be on display.

  06:50-06:51

  That's what he prayed for.

  06:54-07:03

  Specifically, Father's glory revealed, first of all, Jesus prayed for himself, but he prayed for the Father's glory to be on display through himself.

  07:03-07:05

  He prayed for his disciples.

  07:05-07:08

  He prayed for the Father's glory to be manifest through the disciples.

  07:08-07:13

  And ultimately, in this prayer in John 17, do you know who Jesus prayed for?

  07:13-07:18

  He literally prayed for you and for me, literally.

  07:21-07:26

  So first of all, John 17, let's talk about Jesus' prayers for Himself.

  07:27-07:32

  Again you're going to see, even though He was praying for Himself, these were not self-seeking prayers.

  07:34-07:41

  Verse 1 it says, "When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come.

  07:43-07:51

  your Son that the Son may glorify you." Jesus says it's time.

  07:53-08:04

  "Father, I'm asking that you glorify me for the purpose of glorifying you." What does it mean to glorify?

  08:05-08:22

  It just means Jesus is saying, "God, manifest your presence." Jesus is saying, "God, show them who you are." And when Jesus said, "The hour has come, the hour's here," He's talking about the cross.

  08:23-08:24

  And we've talked about this before.

  08:24-08:32

  Never in all of history was God's character more on display than when Jesus Christ was on the cross.

  08:32-08:34

  That's what Jesus is praying about here.

  08:35-08:41

  When you look at Jesus on the cross, What you see is God's love.

  08:42-08:46

  I love you so much that I'm willing to let my son die on your behalf.

  08:46-08:48

  And at the same time, you see God's hatred for sin.

  08:49-08:56

  Sin is so wicked and your rebellion is so nasty that there has to be payment and my son is going to pay.

  08:56-09:00

  You see the attributes of God perfectly on display on the cross.

  09:00-09:02

  That's what Jesus is praying here.

  09:03-09:05

  He says, "God, show them who you are.

  09:06-09:06

  Show them!

  09:09-09:11

  Two reasons the Son is glorified.

  09:14-09:15

  Jesus goes on to pray.

  09:15-09:19

  He says, "Glorify me that I can glorify you." Why is Jesus glorified?

  09:19-09:20

  Two reasons.

  09:20-09:22

  Who He is and what He's done.

  09:22-09:23

  First of all, who He is.

  09:23-09:23

  Look at verse 2.

  09:26-09:41

  Verse 2, Jesus said, "Since you have given Him," meaning the Son, Jesus, "Since you have You've given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him." This is the who.

  09:41-09:42

  Why is the Son glorified?

  09:43-09:45

  Because He is the one who has all authority.

  09:47-09:49

  Jesus rules over all.

  09:49-09:51

  He's been given the name that is above all names.

  09:53-09:57

  And this verse kind of sounds like the Great Commission, right?

  09:58-10:05

  Jesus said before He sent the disciples out, "All authority in heaven and on earth "has been given to me," Matthew 28, right?

  10:08-10:12

  Specifically here, Jesus is talking about the authority to give eternal life.

  10:15-10:16

  How would you define that?

  10:16-10:19

  Somebody says, "Hey, what's eternal life?" How would you describe that?

  10:19-10:20

  How would you define it?

  10:20-10:22

  I think for a lot of us, we define it in terms of time.

  10:23-10:27

  Eternal life is living forever.

  10:28-10:31

  You know, eternal is just never ending.

  10:31-10:34

  We define in time, and for some people we define it as a place.

  10:34-10:42

  Eternal life is being in heaven, and Jesus defined eternal life as relationship.

  10:43-10:43

  Look at verse three.

  10:45-10:54

  Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, "that they know you." The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

  10:58-11:01

  Jesus said eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus.

  11:02-11:08

  That's the theme of this whole three year series that we're on by the way, knowing Jesus.

  11:09-11:17

  You notice there's a line through the word about because as a church, we wanna grow from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.

  11:18-11:19

  Like what's the difference?

  11:19-11:19

  Everything.

  11:20-11:23

  There's a huge difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.

  11:25-11:33

  You know, for somebody that's visiting this church for the first time, I could right now give you a list of factoids about my wife, Erin.

  11:33-11:43

  I could just give you a list of things about her and you could write them down, and when you left here, you would know some things about my wife, but you wouldn't know her.

  11:43-11:49

  You see, that's relationship, that's connection, and that's what Jesus is talking about here.

  11:49-11:55

  He said eternal life is coming into relationship with God.

  11:56-12:00

  When that happens through him, it's knowing God.

  12:03-12:07

  Jesus points out that it's not possible to know God except through Jesus, right?

  12:10-12:13

  So Jesus is glorified because of who he is.

  12:13-12:14

  He's the one with all authority.

  12:15-12:16

  He has the authority to grant eternal life.

  12:17-12:18

  And he's glorified by what he does.

  12:19-12:20

  Look at verses 4 and 5.

  12:20-12:25

  Jesus said, "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

  12:26-12:28

  And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence.

  12:31-12:39

  With the glory that I had with you before the world existed." Jesus glorified God by his life.

  12:41-12:42

  He finished the work.

  12:42-12:42

  Did you see that?

  12:42-12:54

  Jesus said, "I accomplished the work," verse four, "that you gave me to do." Jesus is talking about the cross like it's already a done deal.

  12:55-12:58

  There's no backing out, there's no turning around, there's no changing your mind.

  12:58-13:24

  Jesus said, "I'm here and I've done everything "and will do everything that you've called me to, "it's over." Jesus here is saying, "I'm finishing up the work "that you gave me, Father, and I'm ready to come home." The prayer then shifts to the disciples, to specifically here what we're looking at today, the 11, right?

  13:24-13:25

  Because Judas left.

  13:26-13:39

  But you're going to see very clearly here, there are principles in this passage, not just for these disciples, but for these disciples and for the disciples that are streaming and watching this on the internet.

  13:40-13:42

  The disciples are going to be watching this later.

  13:42-13:44

  There are principles here for all disciples.

  13:46-13:51

  And I want us to look at this section of prayer from Jesus.

  13:53-13:58

  By the way, this is the only extended prayer of Jesus we have written in the Bible, by the way.

  13:59-14:06

  But I want us to look at this prayer, and I want us to do two things as a result of looking at this.

  14:06-14:11

  First of all, we should be in awe of the things that God prayed for.

  14:12-14:14

  Because make no mistake, this is God praying.

  14:15-14:25

  So not only should we be in awe, but I want this to move us to pray for the things that Jesus prayed for.

  14:26-14:37

  If Jesus thought these things were so important, the hours before His arrest and crucifixion and all that went with that.

  14:39-14:46

  This was Jesus' last opportunity to really get before the Father and pray, and he thought this is what matters.

  14:47-14:51

  So I would suggest to you, church, if this mattered to Jesus in this hour, it should matter to us.

  14:51-14:55

  And we should take a hard look at the things that move God to pray.

  14:56-14:56

  Right?

  14:57-15:08

  So in your outline, knowing his prayer, what Jesus wants for his disciples, that's what we're going to see here, and these are the things that we need to be praying about, church.

  15:09-15:15

  What Jesus wants for His disciples, number one, write this down, He wants you to be authentic.

  15:18-15:19

  Look at verses 6 through 10.

  15:21-15:31

  Jesus said, as He continued to pray, "I have manifested Your name to the people whom You have given Me out of the world.

  15:32-15:37

  they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your Word.

  15:40-15:44

  Now they know that everything that You have given Me is from You.

  15:46-15:59

  For I have given them the words that You gave Me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from You, and they have believed that You sent Me.

  16:01-16:02

  I'm praying for them.

  16:03-16:08

  I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you've given me, for they are yours.

  16:08-16:14

  All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

  16:14-16:15

  Stop there.

  16:16-16:18

  First thing you see, Jesus is praying for his disciples.

  16:19-16:22

  Then, now, he wants his disciples to be authentic.

  16:25-16:29

  Notice, Jesus referred to the disciples as those you gave me.

  16:29-16:32

  That phrase comes up seven times in this passage.

  16:32-16:43

  That Jesus makes it very clear, "Father, you gave them to me." When Jesus makes a very clear distinction here, Jesus says, "I'm praying for my disciples.

  16:44-16:48

  "I'm not praying for the world." And somebody would look at this and be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

  16:48-16:52

  "Are you trying to tell me "that Jesus doesn't care about the world?

  16:53-16:56

  "I'm not saying that at all." Of course he does.

  16:58-17:01

  But this prayer is laser focused, okay?

  17:02-17:04

  This one is laser focused.

  17:05-17:07

  He's praying for authentic disciples.

  17:09-17:09

  Like, well, what's that?

  17:09-17:11

  What is an authentic disciple?

  17:12-17:16

  We notice Jesus didn't pray for church goers.

  17:18-17:20

  Jesus didn't pray for part-time pretenders.

  17:22-17:26

  Jesus didn't pray for those who made some sort of profession.

  17:28-17:31

  Jesus marked a true disciple by one thing.

  17:31-17:32

  Look at verse 6 again.

  17:35-17:45

  He says, the end of verse 6, "They have kept your word." Jesus, that's how you identify a true believer.

  17:46-17:48

  They keep God's word.

  17:49-17:52

  And you're like, "Ahh, hang on, hang on, hang on Jeff, hang on, hang on.

  17:54-18:02

  You might have forgotten this, but I haven't, but last week you did a whole sermon that our walk with Christ is faith-based, not performance-based.

  18:02-18:07

  And now you're saying a true believer is one who keeps God's Word.

  18:10-18:12

  And I still stand by everything I said last week.

  18:13-18:15

  Your faith is not performance-based.

  18:15-18:23

  But a true disciple by definition of being born again has been transformed.

  18:24-18:27

  And what transforms in a true disciple is your appetites and desires.

  18:28-18:33

  None of us are perfect, but you should have this desire and appetite to keep God's Word.

  18:35-18:45

  A true believer has this attitude, to say, "God, Your Word is true, Your way is right, You provided wisdom, I want to honor You.

  18:45-18:52

  I want to live this life that You gave me, this life that You saved, I want to live it in a way that honors You." That's what a true believer says.

  18:53-18:56

  "Oh, I know I'm not going to do it perfectly.

  18:56-18:56

  I'm going to mess up.

  18:56-19:04

  I'm going to struggle, but God, I have this desire to keep your Word, to grow." That's a true believer.

  19:06-19:08

  It's not about perfection, it's about direction.

  19:10-19:21

  And if you're sitting here today and you're like, "Well, it's not performance-based, and I really don't have any desire to know God's Word and to keep God's Word," well, then you don't know.

  19:21-19:23

  That's just all there is to it.

  19:23-19:23

  You don't know Him.

  19:27-19:31

  If Jesus Christ hasn't changed you, then He hasn't saved you, and you don't know Him.

  19:32-19:59

  If you don't see this radical change to want to know and honor God in all things, if you don't see spiritual growth, if you're not striving to honor God's Word, if you're not looking to see like, "How can I incorporate God's wisdom in the home, in the workplace, my neighborhood, how can I live the way God has outlined in His Word?" If that's not you, then you aren't a true disciple.

  20:03-20:08

  That's why the Bible refers to our life in Christ over and over and over.

  20:08-20:09

  The Bible calls it a walk.

  20:11-20:12

  Your walk with Christ.

  20:12-20:14

  Why does the Bible call it a walk?

  20:15-20:20

  We talk about this in the membership class, because a walk implies a couple of things.

  20:20-20:23

  One, a walk implies intentionality, right?

  20:24-20:27

  If you're going to take a walk, that doesn't happen by accident.

  20:27-20:33

  You have to think, "I'm going to stand up and I'm going to move one foot in front of the other." That's an intentional choice.

  20:34-20:35

  So it is with Christ.

  20:35-20:37

  It is an intentional choice.

  20:37-20:38

  I'm going to walk.

  20:39-20:44

  But walking also shows progress over time.

  20:45-20:45

  Right?

  20:47-20:48

  I mean, this isn't rocket science.

  20:49-20:55

  Walk is I'm here, now I'm walking, and now I'm here.

  20:56-20:58

  And a walk shows progress over time.

  20:59-21:04

  Like, you know, a few seconds ago I was there, and now I am here.

  21:06-21:08

  That's how it is in your walk with Christ.

  21:09-21:10

  Spiritual maturity.

  21:10-21:14

  To say, "You know, when I first came to Christ, I was there.

  21:14-21:30

  And I didn't understand a lot, and I was immature in a lot of ways, but I can see how far Christ has brought me, and look where I am now, and here's where I'm heading, and by God's grace, I'm going to get there." But you should be able to see progress over time in your spiritual growth.

  21:31-21:32

  That's why it's called a walk.

  21:35-21:39

  "What's that look like?" Well, Jesus tells us in verse 8, look at verse 8 again real quick with me, please.

  21:41-21:48

  Jesus said, "For I've given them," this is how it works, "For I've given them the words that you gave me, and they've received them.

  21:49-21:53

  Come to know the truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me." Did you see all the elements?

  21:53-21:58

  The word is given, the word is received, the word is believed, and that changes your life.

  21:59-22:00

  That's how it works.

  22:03-22:03

  That's authentic.

  22:05-22:11

  So your view of God's Word honestly tells me everything anybody needs to know about you.

  22:14-22:16

  Your view of God's Word says everything about you.

  22:17-22:25

  Because according to Jesus, the number one characteristic of a disciple in this prayer, he says, "They have kept your Word.

  22:27-22:44

  They've received it, they believe it, and they've kept it, and they're yours, and you gave them to me." So I would just ask church, can we agree with Jesus in prayer for authentic disciples that glorify Him?

  22:46-22:46

  You one of them?

  22:49-22:50

  That's something we should be praying about.

  22:51-22:54

  Authentic disciples glorifying Christ.

  22:54-23:01

  Number two, knowing His prayer, what Jesus wants for His disciples, write this down, He wants you to be protected.

  23:04-23:05

  He wants you to be protected.

  23:05-23:06

  Look at verse 11.

  23:07-23:09

  Jesus goes on in His prayer.

  23:12-23:19

  He says, "And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I'm coming to you.

  23:21-23:28

  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

  23:29-23:32

  While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.

  23:32-23:43

  I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

  23:44-23:46

  You know who he's talking about there, right?

  23:47-23:48

  You know who he's talking about.

  23:49-23:50

  Talking about Judas, right?

  23:52-23:54

  Judas was never really on board.

  23:57-24:05

  Jesus said, "I've kept everybody "except the one that didn't want kept." Verse 13, he goes, "But now I'm coming to you.

  24:06-24:12

  In these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

  24:15-24:19

  I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world.

  24:20-24:28

  Just as I am not of the world, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

  24:29-24:34

  They are not of the world just as I am not of the world.

  24:35-24:35

  Stop there.

  24:37-24:38

  Like, what's Jesus saying?

  24:39-24:40

  He's saying a lot.

  24:41-24:48

  But the overall thing that Jesus is praying for in that section is just simply this, church.

  24:49-24:50

  He wants you protected.

  24:52-24:52

  You see that?

  24:53-25:01

  Verse 11 to 12, he says, "Keep them as I kept them when I was here." Protect them.

  25:01-25:02

  Why, Jesus?

  25:02-25:04

  Why are you so concerned about protection?

  25:04-25:25

  He tells us in verse 14, he says, "The world hates them." And verse 15, "The evil one is after them." So he says, "Holy Father, keep them." Now certainly, we have our responsibility, right?

  25:26-25:36

  We don't just walk in the world stupidly, like, "I can do whatever I want because God's going to protect me." Like we're not stupid, right?

  25:36-25:39

  The Bible is clear that we have our responsibility.

  25:39-25:44

  The Bible says things like, "We are not unaware of the devil's schemes," right?

  25:45-25:49

  The Bible says things like, "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves," right?

  25:52-26:04

  But whether we face insults or we face imprisonment or we face death, we're on the path to glory and God is going to make sure that we get there.

  26:07-26:10

  And that's why Jesus here is praying for the disciples to be kept by the Father.

  26:11-26:16

  He's like, "I was here and I looked after them "and I guarded them because I'm coming to you.

  26:16-26:17

  "So I'm handing them over to you.

  26:18-26:21

  "Watch after them." That's what he's praying.

  26:24-26:26

  Jesus does pray a negative here though, doesn't he?

  26:27-26:42

  Verse 15, he prays, "Don't take them out of the world." Jesus said, "Don't take them out of the world." And I read that and I'm like, "Come on, man.

  26:45-26:48

  Like, the world's dangerous.

  26:51-27:01

  And Jesus, if you really love me, shouldn't you keep me away from these people that absolutely hate you because they are gonna hate me by default then?

  27:01-27:04

  I mean, didn't you say we're gonna be sheep among wolves?

  27:05-27:10

  Wouldn't it be better?" Like, you know, God's never asked my opinion on anything.

  27:12-27:22

  Unsolicited, but wouldn't it be better if like once somebody got saved, born again, child of God, he was like, "All right, you're coming to heaven." That would be fantastic.

  27:24-27:25

  He doesn't do that.

  27:27-27:33

  So, why are we still here, right?

  27:34-27:39

  If He saved us and we have eternal life, we're heading to heaven, why are we still here?

  27:42-27:47

  We're here to put His glory on display in a lost world.

  27:49-27:58

  We're here to show a dying world the glories of Jesus Christ and 2 Corinthians 5 calls it the ministry of reconciliation.

  27:59-28:00

  That's why we're here.

  28:01-28:07

  We're still here because God wants to use us to lead more people to Jesus Christ.

  28:10-28:11

  That's why we're still here.

  28:12-28:13

  We can't do that in heaven.

  28:15-28:17

  People ask me all the time, what's heaven gonna be like?

  28:17-28:18

  What are we gonna do in heaven?

  28:18-28:19

  What are we gonna look like in heaven?

  28:19-28:19

  What are we gonna do?

  28:20-28:23

  What about that song that says, there's a big yard, we're gonna play football.

  28:23-28:24

  You think that's true?

  28:25-28:27

  And what are we gonna do in heaven?

  28:28-28:35

  And well, the Bible says a lot of things, but I know for a fact there's one thing we won't do in heaven and that's evangelize.

  28:37-28:46

  And I know that if there's an unemployment line in heaven, I'll be in it, hoping for a STEMI from God.

  28:49-28:50

  I'm not going to have a job.

  28:50-28:51

  The worship team will.

  28:53-28:56

  They were smart to jump on that bandwagon early, right?

  28:57-29:01

  Like, yeah, we'll still be playing in heaven, worshiping the King.

  29:02-29:05

  I didn't think this through 20 some years ago.

  29:06-29:08

  Like this job is only for here.

  29:09-29:15

  Like it's awesome to tell people about Jesus and how he can save you and change you and watch God transform somebody.

  29:15-29:15

  That's awesome.

  29:16-29:21

  But you realize I'm like 15 minutes away from the unemployment line and that's hard.

  29:23-29:31

  So, for the little bit of time that I have to do it, I guess we'll do it hard, right?

  29:32-29:35

  We will do the heck out of it while we have opportunity.

  29:36-29:37

  But that's why we're still here.

  29:40-29:40

  Evangelism.

  29:42-29:47

  Jesus prayed in this prayer, he reminded us we're not of this world.

  29:48-29:49

  We're citizens of heaven.

  29:49-29:55

  So while we're in the world, It's our job to bring heaven to the world.

  29:56-30:06

  So I just want to ask you, church, can we agree with Jesus in prayer for God's protection as we seek to glorify Him?

  30:06-30:08

  That's something Jesus prayed for.

  30:08-30:09

  Shouldn't we be praying for that?

  30:09-30:10

  God protect us.

  30:11-30:12

  Look, the world hates us.

  30:12-30:12

  Have you noticed?

  30:12-30:14

  The world hates us.

  30:14-30:15

  Protect us.

  30:19-30:29

  There is an enemy of your soul that would love nothing more than to see you shipwreck your faith, walk away from your family, destroy your testimony, get the world laughing at the church.

  30:30-30:31

  There's an enemy of your soul that would love that.

  30:32-30:34

  He's out to get you, like a lion, right?

  30:37-30:39

  Shouldn't we be praying for protection?

  30:39-30:40

  That's what Jesus prayed for.

  30:42-30:43

  Let's agree with Jesus in prayer.

  30:43-30:44

  He wants you protected.

  30:45-30:48

  And finally, He wants you to be used.

  30:53-30:54

  He wants you to be used.

  30:55-30:59

  Now, when I say used, I don't mean like a used car.

  31:00-31:03

  I mean He wants you to be used by God.

  31:04-31:07

  He wants you, maybe a better word is usable.

  31:07-31:09

  Maybe that's a better word.

  31:10-31:17

  We'll look at verses 17 through 19, and we're going to end with these few verses here today.

  31:19-31:21

  Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth.

  31:23-31:45

  Your word is truth." "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth." And you're like, "Well, there's a couple of unfamiliar words here.

  31:46-31:50

  Sanctified, consecrate, can you explain those?" Well, yes.

  31:51-31:53

  It's the same word actually in the Greek.

  31:55-31:57

  And it just simply means this.

  31:58-31:59

  Sanctified consecrate.

  31:59-33:03

  to be set apart for an intended use. That's what it means. You're set apart for an intended use. When we were kids, I remember this one afternoon in particular, we have a younger brother and this is how far back it goes, he was just old enough to crawl, okay? And it was this, I think, Saturday and my father took a nap on the couch. When I say took a nap it wasn't one of those little 20-minute twilight things, it was on his side, mouth open, you know the ones I'm talking about? You guys take naps like that? Because I sure do. You know what I'm talking about? Just mouth wide open. Our younger brother was just old enough to crawl. And I don't know whose job it was to watch him. It wasn't mine.

  33:04-33:18

  We'll say our sister, right? Because she's not here to defend herself. Okay, it's probably our sister's job to watch him. So what our younger brother did, he crawled into the bathroom and he got the toilet brush.

  33:21-33:25

  And he took that toilet brush and he crawled out to the living room.

  33:27-33:29

  And he saw dad sleeping.

  33:32-33:33

  And he had that toilet brush.

  33:36-33:37

  And he put two and two together.

  33:40-33:41

  I saw mom cleaning with this.

  33:43-33:45

  And he shoved that toilet brush in dad's mouth.

  33:46-33:48

  And started brushing his teeth with it.

  33:50-33:58

  How would you like to wake up that way?" That is a true story everywhere.

  34:00-34:00

  I got a witness.

  34:01-34:02

  I got a witness.

  34:05-34:23

  So we had to lovingly remind him, "That's not what that's for." That was something that for sure was set aside for an intended and specific use.

  34:26-34:27

  That's sanctified.

  34:30-34:35

  And you're like, "Wow, that was the best illustration you could come up with, wasn't it?" Hang on.

  34:36-34:37

  It's like the chair you're sitting in.

  34:38-34:40

  You know that chair you're sitting in right now?

  34:42-34:46

  We set that there for you to sit in it.

  34:46-34:48

  You're using it right now for its intended use.

  34:48-34:49

  It was put there for that reason.

  34:49-34:51

  So you could say that that chair is sanctified.

  34:52-34:53

  You know the guitar?

  34:54-34:58

  We could say this guitar is sanctified.

  34:58-35:00

  It's set aside for an intended use.

  35:01-35:06

  I mean, wouldn't you think it was stupid if you came in and I was hammering in nails with the guitar?

  35:06-35:07

  You're like, "That's not what that's for.

  35:08-35:10

  That has a specific use.

  35:10-35:11

  That's why it's set aside.

  35:14-35:16

  Now we're getting the idea of what it means to be sanctified.

  35:17-35:22

  You're set aside because I've got something very specific I want to do with this, right?

  35:25-35:31

  Jesus here is saying in verse 19 that He was consecrating or sanctifying Himself.

  35:32-35:33

  What was He talking about?

  35:33-35:34

  He was talking about the cross.

  35:35-35:37

  Jesus said, "This is why I'm here.

  35:38-35:40

  I was set aside for this.

  35:41-35:44

  I am the only one who's qualified to do this.

  35:45-35:50

  The only sinless one who can pay the penalty for the sin.

  35:50-35:56

  The only one who is God in the flesh who can offer a sacrifice that's effective for all who will believe.

  35:56-35:58

  I'm the only one who can do this.

  35:58-36:00

  I was set aside for this, and that's why I'm here.

  36:00-36:03

  That's why Jesus said, "I'm consecrating myself." God, this is why I'm here.

  36:04-36:06

  I'm not getting distracted in other things.

  36:06-36:07

  I'm here for this.

  36:08-36:09

  This is why I'm here.

  36:12-36:16

  For us, we too are consecrated.

  36:16-36:17

  We too are sanctified.

  36:17-36:25

  You're like, "For what?" It's for reflecting God's character and accomplishing God's will.

  36:25-36:27

  That's why you're saved.

  36:27-36:28

  That's why you're set apart.

  36:28-36:30

  And that's what God wants to do through you.

  36:31-36:34

  God wants to show the world what He's like through you.

  36:35-36:39

  God wants to accomplish some kingdom things in the world through you.

  36:39-36:43

  That's what it means to be sanctified, to recognize that I am set apart for this.

  36:44-36:53

  I don't get involved in the meaningless, stupid world things because God set me aside for eternal kingdom things.

  36:53-36:56

  That's sanctified, and that's what Jesus is praying for.

  36:57-37:01

  Like, "Oh, oh man, Jeff, oh, that's awesome.

  37:01-37:04

  That's awesome that God would want to do that, but like how?

  37:04-37:05

  What does that look like?

  37:06-37:08

  Yeah, yeah, what does that look like?

  37:09-37:11

  Do we know what that looks like?

  37:11-37:13

  Do we know what sanctification is?

  37:16-37:20

  If only God would show us what sanctification really looks like.

  37:21-37:25

  Like hypothetically, what if God wrote it all down in a book?

  37:28-37:28

  Hypothetically.

  37:29-37:36

  Like God, he gets a book and in this book he says, like, here's who I am and this is the character of me that you're to reflect.

  37:37-37:40

  And this is what my kingdom's about and this is what you're gonna do.

  37:40-37:45

  Like, oh, wouldn't it be really cool if he wrote that down and had it in like a book?

  37:45-37:47

  I bet you that book would sell a lot.

  37:47-37:52

  And I bet you that book would be so popular, they'd probably stick it like in the drawers of hotels.

  37:54-37:55

  Could you imagine?

  37:57-38:00

  Well, that's exactly what Jesus was talking about, right?

  38:00-38:03

  Look at verse 17 again.

  38:03-38:11

  He said, "Sanctify them in the truth." Like, whose truth?

  38:12-38:13

  Look at the next phrase.

  38:13-38:17

  It should be highlighted in your Bible, every Bible, every Bible here highlighted.

  38:18-38:20

  Somebody will be at the door to check.

  38:21-38:30

  Look at this phrase, "Your word is truth." We are set apart by the truth.

  38:30-38:35

  It is God's Word that sanctifies and unifies God's people.

  38:35-38:39

  That's why at this church we are so serious about the Word of God.

  38:39-38:44

  That's why Harvest Bible Chapel, Bible is our middle name.

  38:45-38:53

  Because the Word of God is the means by which we are equipped to be set apart from the world.

  38:54-38:58

  Because this book establishes our character.

  38:58-39:00

  These are the things that I'm about.

  39:00-39:02

  These are the things that I value.

  39:02-39:04

  The world doesn't define those things for me.

  39:05-39:07

  God defines those things for me.

  39:09-39:13

  And it is through this book that we are set apart in our identity.

  39:14-39:15

  This is who I am.

  39:15-39:17

  This is who Jesus says I am.

  39:17-39:19

  This is what He saved me to be.

  39:20-39:22

  This is what He is making me be.

  39:22-39:26

  This is how God is conforming me into the image of His Son.

  39:26-39:28

  This is how my mind is being renewed.

  39:29-39:30

  It is through this.

  39:30-39:33

  So I find my identity in what God says I am.

  39:33-39:36

  I don't find my identity in what the world says I am.

  39:36-39:39

  That's what it means to be sanctified by the truth.

  39:40-39:41

  It comes from the Word.

  39:42-39:44

  This book defines what our mission is.

  39:45-39:46

  What am I to spend my time doing?

  39:47-39:48

  Look, we're only here for a little bit.

  39:49-39:50

  What are you spending your time doing?

  39:54-40:00

  We have a mission to take the love and the word of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

  40:02-40:08

  And oh, what incredible wisdom that God would give us an objective source of truth.

  40:09-40:10

  Thy word is truth, right?

  40:12-40:13

  What wisdom?

  40:14-40:18

  Because if we didn't have the Bible, we'd just all be sitting around, "This is what I think is true.

  40:18-40:19

  "Oh, that's interesting.

  40:19-40:21

  I think something completely different is true.

  40:21-40:23

  Well, here's what I think the church should be doing.

  40:23-40:27

  Here's what I think the church should be doing." That's why we should be sitting around doing that all the time.

  40:27-40:30

  But God gave us this so that we don't have to do that.

  40:30-40:32

  Like, look, we know what God said.

  40:32-40:35

  We know what our character is to be.

  40:35-40:38

  We know what our mission is to be because God wrote it down.

  40:39-40:44

  That's why Jesus said to the Father, "Sanctify them, set them apart.

  40:46-40:50

  And the truth, your word is the truth.

  40:54-40:55

  God wants to use you.

  40:57-41:01

  And the mission couldn't be more important because there's eternal souls at stake.

  41:02-41:11

  So for those of us who are entrusted to carry out the mission, which is all disciples, Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified or set apart by his word.

  41:13-41:34

  By the way, remember earlier in verses nine and 10, Jesus said, "I'm not praying for the world." When it comes to evangelism and praying evangelistic prayers in the Bible, we have a very clear pattern in the New Testament.

  41:37-41:42

  Jesus very specifically said here, "I'm praying for the people "that I'm sending to reach the world.

  41:43-41:44

  I'm not praying for the world.

  41:45-41:51

  And so often when we pray evangelistic prayers, we pray for the lost person, right?

  41:51-41:54

  I pray that Tim comes to know Jesus.

  41:55-41:58

  I pray that so-and-so would come to know Jesus.

  41:59-42:02

  And look, it's great to pray that way.

  42:03-42:05

  I'm just saying that's not the New Testament pattern.

  42:06-42:06

  It's just not.

  42:06-42:08

  You don't see that in the New Testament.

  42:08-42:12

  Pray for Epaphroditus to come to the knowledge of the Lord.

  42:12-42:14

  Pray that Phoebe repents from her sins.

  42:14-42:17

  You don't see that, but do you know what you see every time?

  42:17-42:25

  Every time you pray for the workers, you pray for the one bringing the message, pray to the Lord of the harvest to bring, you know, to put workers in the field.

  42:26-42:32

  Paul so often said, "Pray for us that we may have boldness." Right, over and over and over, and here again you see it.

  42:32-42:34

  Jesus couldn't make it more clear.

  42:34-42:35

  I'm not praying for the world.

  42:36-42:37

  I'm praying for the people that I'm sending out.

  42:38-42:39

  That's who I'm praying for.

  42:41-42:48

  So church, we don't see pray the lost gets saved, we always see pray for the messengers to take the message to lost people.

  42:51-42:59

  Jesus made it clear how to pray for the messengers to be used, sanctified in the truth to be sent out into the world.

  43:00-43:00

  Right?

  43:03-43:11

  So can we agree with Jesus in prayer for God's word to equip us to carry out his mission?

  43:13-43:14

  Shouldn't we be praying for that?

  43:15-43:25

  If Jesus thought it's such a worthy thing to pray that His Word would set us apart for His mission, I think that's something the church needs to spend more time praying about.

  43:27-43:29

  I just want to close as the worship team comes up.

  43:30-43:41

  I don't know what else to do at this point except to close our time here in the Word by praying for these things that Jesus thought was important to pray over.

  43:42-43:47

  And we commend you to do the same, to make these things part of your prayer.

  43:49-43:51

  Would you bow with me please?

  43:54-44:01

  Father, as we bow before you, we thank you for the privilege of prayer.

  44:03-44:09

  And so often, Father, we just pray it safe.

  44:11-44:16

  Maybe we're afraid that we pray too specific, you won't answer, and we'll be disappointed.

  44:17-44:22

  Or maybe we don't really believe that you have the power to do what you promised to do.

  44:22-44:38

  I don't know, God, but I pray for those of us who have struggled in prayer that Jesus' example would motivate us and direct us and get us laser focused as He was.

  44:41-44:54

  Here Father in this passage we see your Son hours away from a horrific death and you've given us unique insight to see the things that He's praying for.

  44:56-45:02

  And Father, as a congregation, we just want to come together right now and pray for those same things.

  45:05-45:08

  Father, I pray for authentic disciples that glorify your name.

  45:10-45:24

  Father, I pray for us as a church that we are known as a people who keep your Word, that we have received it and we believe it, that we are people that are constantly striving to be the people that you've called us to be.

  45:24-45:35

  Father, we know it's not performance-based, but Father, we are fools to think that we can navigate through life in our wisdom when you've given us your wisdom.

  45:36-45:50

  So Father, we pray for authenticity, that we are people who are known, not just for our profession of faith, but for our conduct as children of God.

  45:53-45:59

  Father, like Jesus, we want to pray for protection for your people.

  46:02-46:08

  We live in a world that is becoming less and less shy about showing their hatred for you.

  46:11-46:14

  Less and less shy for showing their hatred towards your people.

  46:17-46:19

  We know the enemy's prowling around like a roaring lion.

  46:23-46:25

  Father, there's just danger all around us.

  46:27-46:30

  I pray for your protection as Jesus did.

  46:30-46:32

  Father, I pray that you would keep us.

  46:35-46:36

  Protect your people.

  46:38-46:43

  Father, I pray that your word would equip us for carrying out your mission.

  46:45-46:51

  Jesus said that your truth sanctifies us, and he's sending us into the world the way that you sent him into the world.

  46:51-46:55

  And that is such a weighty statement.

  46:57-46:59

  He's sending us as you sent him.

  47:01-47:04

  Father, I pray that you would set us apart for your intended use.

  47:06-47:11

  That that flows from the authenticity, and it happens in the context of your protection.

  47:12-47:13

  But God, use us.

  47:24-47:33

  Father, we thank You for what You've done, and I thank You ahead of time for the things that You are going to do.

  47:34-47:35

  We trust You.

  47:37-47:38

  We love You.

  47:40-47:43

  We praise you in the glorious name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

  47:44-47:44

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 17:1-19

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do you think many Christians' prayer list is mainly for physical illnesses? Why don't many Christians pray for spiritual / Kingdom matters?
   

3. Why ISN'T Jesus praying for the world (John 17:9)? Why is Jesus' prayer focused on disciples? What does this say about how we should pray?
   

4. Since Jesus prayed for protection for us, why do so many disciples experience hardships? What exactly was Jesus praying for when He asked the Father to “keep us” (John 17:11)?

Breakout
Pray for the 3 things Jesus prayed for disciples: that we would be authentic, protected, and used by God.