Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

John 19:16b-27 So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
    “They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Have you ever heard or read something really profound? What I mean is, can you think of a time in which you heard news that would significantly change the course of things for you? Chances are good that everyone here has experienced that on some level. I certainly have.

The thing that stands out to me is how disproportionate the message seems compared to the reality it points to. For instance, I remember a friend of mind calling me back in August of 1990 (I had to look the actual date up) to tell me that “The war started” (in reference to the first Gulf War). His words were so simple, that they seemed entirely disconnected from the reality of what that meant in terms of the death and destruction that followed over the course of the next six months. And that’s to say nothing of the effects of the war on the individuals and families who participated in it for the years and even decades that followed. One man I know was only recently diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease, which the military has acknowledged to be caused by chemicals he was exposed to in combat.

The words “the war started” were entirely true and accurate, and there isn’t really a better way to say it, but they seem so insignificant compared to what they represented.

Likewise, when Gerri told me, “I’m pregnant,” she was telling the truth, and I knew it was a big deal, but those two words fall so far short of all they encompass that it now feels like the understatement of the last 25 years for me—and yet, what else could she say? Those were the right words.

I felt this profoundly when we commissioned the Adams’ and Krista to be sent off to the mission field. I used more words, and they were true, but they felt painfully inadequate to capture the fullness of the reality they pointed to.

Well, we have perhaps the biggest version of that of all time in our passage for this morning. Pilate, having entirely abdicated his responsibility as governor of the land, handed Jesus over to be crucified. “16 So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out… to …Golgotha.” And then come the words that, true as they are, fall so far short of the fullness of their meaning that it’s impossible to overstate, “18 There they crucified him…”.

We could take all of the other understatements in world history and multiply them by a million and still fall infinitely short of the understatement of John 19:18, “There they crucified him…” Embedded in those simple, unassuming words are the most significant truths of all.

They crucified the innocent, eternal, Son of God who had come to take away the sins of the world. In their most heinous injustice, they provided the means of the salvation of the Word. All of this was planned by God before the foundation of the world. Jesus’ crucifixion tore the vail of the temple of God in two, it reconciled sinners to God, it fulfilled the entire law of God, it satisfied the wrath of God, and on and on and on, and all of that and more is supposed to be captured in John’s four words, “There they crucified him…”

The big idea of this passage is that the Son of God was crucified. And within that, we see the incongruity of the crucifixion, several different responses to the truth of the crucifixion, and the sovereign plan of God in the crucifixion. The main takeaways from these things are to live lives of consistency and trust; consistent with the truth of God and trust in the promises of God.

As we’ve seen over and over again, nothing about Jesus’ crucifixion made sense. On an earthy level, everyone involved knew it was a sham. The Jewish leaders who initiated it, had to manufacture charges and put forward fake witnesses. The one most immediately responsible for His condemnation, Roman governor, Pontious Pilate, repeatedly acknowledged that he found no guilt in Jesus and repeatedly sought to release Him.

And on a heavenly level, it’s even worse. Nothing more absurd has ever taken place than the eternal, immortal Second Person of the godhead, lovingly taking on flesh to rescue the world from sin against Him, only to be murdered by those He came to save.

None of that irony has been lost on John. He’s subtly drawn our attention to it repeatedly. In that familiar stream, the first two verses of this section highlight two more ironies, absurdities, incongruities.

First, in v.17, we see that not only had Jesus been handed over to be crucified, but additionally, He was forced to carry the cross that they would soon hang Him on.

So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

It was a common practice in Rome at that time for those condemned to carry their own crosses. They were guilty. It was a part of the consequences of their crimes. Why should anyone else be forced to bear such a burden? There’s probably something our judicial system could learn from that, actually.

Of course, things are different when it’s an innocent man and far more different still when it’s the perfect Son of God. But the greatest incongruency of all is in the fact that Jesus is the One by whom, and for whom, the cross He bore was made. What I mean is, Jesus made the tree that He would hang on. Jesus made the iron the nails were made of. He created the fiber for the rope that would bind Him. He made the dirt of the path they walked and that of the hill He was climbing. He made the minds and mouths and bodies of the men who were carrying out His murder. They were made for Him, and as the Second Person of the Godhead, He was still actively holding those things together.

Everything involved in this atrocity belonged to Jesus, and was for Jesus, and was at that moment being sustained by Jesus. Jesus carrying His own cross was a vivid picture of these things and John knew it.

Grace, it is right to keep this in the forefront of our minds. It is right to remember this when we use the very instruments God created for purposes other than those for which He created them. James 3:9-10 captures this well, “With [our mouth] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”

When we use that which belongs to God to dishonor God (our minds, our bodies, or mouths, our skills, our gifts, our money, etc), we are functionally identical to the Romans who forced Jesus to bear His own cross. Ask the Spirit to help you recognize the simple fact that nothing truly belongs to you. You are merely a steward, a caretaker, of that which belongs to God. You must use all of it for His purposes and His glory, not as means to sin against Him as the Romans did.

The second incongruity in the opening lines of our passage is found in v.18. There we’re told that Jesus was experiencing the same fate, at the same time, as those who were actually guilty.

18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

According to Luke’s Gospel, even one of the criminals saw the ridiculousness of this.

Luke 23:39-41 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

His is the Name above all names and the name at which every knee will bow and tongue confess His Lordship. He alone is the image of the invisible God and the exact imprint of His being. To Him alone belong all glory and honor and power. He ought to be exalted in highest praise, but instead He was crucified in the midst of sinners.

One significant application of this is to prayerfully consider where Jesus is completely out of place in your life. Where has He been misplaced or even displaced? Where is He second when He should be first and where is He absent when He should be preeminent? Are there pockets of your work day or parenting or recreation that are functionally godless? Are there areas of your marriage or friendships in which you are relying more on the relationship than the Lord of those relationships? Where are you acting as if Jesus is just one more thing in your life (sandwiched between sports and house projects and coffee dates and doctors’ appointments), rather than the source and power and center and aim of your whole?

John means us to consider the absolute ridiculousness of Jesus being placed on the cross in between robbers, scoff, and then look inward to see where we’re doing the same.

It is critical that we note the incongruities of this passage, but the heart of this passage is the various responses to the truth of Jesus crucifixion. Pilate, the Jews, the Roman soldiers, John, and Jesus all responded to the truths surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion differently. It is good for us to consider them carefully. Like the incongruencies, each in its own way functions as a mirror, helping us to see if any of their responses are in us.

First, we see that Pilate, the Roman governor, had the truth. He knew on some level that Jesus truly was the king of the Jews. From his perspective, this was mainly a way to mock the Jews. However, in his mocking was a measure of understanding.

19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

Jesus will be praised by people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And again, mostly in ignorance, but apparently with some small measure of understanding, Pilate testified to this in declaring Jesus to be King of the Jews in the three most widely spoken languages in the area.

Pilate had the truth. Again, like Ciaphias on the Jewish side, he was unwittingly functioning as a prophet. However, instead of finding freedom and forgiveness and joy and life in it, he mostly missed it, was tormented by it, and used it to mock others.

Do you find hints of this in yourself? I see this whenever tender consciences are mocked. I see this whenever people are more concerned with being accepted by those who reject the Bible than with holding fast to biblical truth. I see it whenever people want the benefits of Christianity (the moral clarity, the service of the saints, etc.), but reject the central truth-claims of it. I see it whenever I shy away from sharing elements of the gospel that I know will be particularly hard for someone to hear.

The second response, that of the Jews is familiar as well. They too had the truth, but denied it entirely.

21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

If you don’t understand the total depravity caused by sin, if you don’t really believe that it spiritually blinds entirely, if your view of sin is more of a minor infraction than cosmic treason warranting death, then you won’t be able to make sense of this. You won’t be able to make sense of how the Jews, or anyone else, could miss the truth entirely, while standing in the actual, physical presence of Jesus, seeing Mis miracles and hearing His teaching. Indeed, the Apostle Paul addresses this blindness in listing the numerous advantages the Jews had to be able to recognize Jesus.

Romans 3:1-2 Then what advantage has the Jew? … 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

He continued with this idea a few chapters later…

Romans 9:4-5 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all.

Paul’s point is that the Jews in John 19, not only had the truth of Jesus in front of them, but they’d had it for centuries. The fact that they denied it all simultaneously testifies to the sinfulness of sin and to the justness of their condemnation. They could not have had any greater advantages in properly receiving the truth of Jesus as Savior and King, but they still denied it entirely.

Again, look at this situation with your eyes wide open and ask the Lord to help you see any hints (or massive doses) of it in you. Where are you denying the truth of Jesus as the King? Where are you functioning as if you are the sovereign ruler of your life? Where, as one author puts it, are you stuck in the “claustrophobic kingdom of one”? Where, like the Jews in this passage, is the truth right in front of you and yet you have turned your eyes away from it in order to turn them to your own purposes?

Pilate mocked, the Jews denied, and the Roman soldiers commodified the truth of Jesus as the King who would die to rescue His people.

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.”

Jesus came for the world’s gain. That is, He came to bring great advantage to all who would receive Him. The gain and advantage, of course, is no small one. It is, once again, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God and man, freedom from condemnation, true satisfaction, right ordering, complete redemption and restoration, and eternal life.

That truth, as it was with Pilate and the Jews, was looking right at the soldiers. As is often the case, however, the Romans traded all of that for a pile of used clothes. How absurd?!

Have you ever asked a young kid something like, “Would you rather have a cookie now or an elaborate dessert buffet later tonight?” Almost every time, the kid takes the single cookie instead of the much greater reward. They become so enamored with the crumbs in front of them, that it blinds them to the much better offer.

We all do that to different degrees in all kinds of areas of life. Jesus offers us everything we need for fullness of life and everlasting joy, through His death and in His commands, promises, and presence. Following Jesus is always the straightest path to the fullest satisfaction and yet we constantly veer off that path into the false promises of money, sexual immorality, comfort, family, and worldly success. And insodoing, we are responding to the truth of Jesus just as the Roman soldiers did—trying to scavenge some scraps at the expense of the true blessing.

Again, Pilate, the Jews, and the soldiers had the truth and rejected it, each in their own way. But not everyone responded in faithlessness and disbelief. It is almost universally accepted that John, the writer of the Gospel, is the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. (Yes, that means that John is calling himself the disciple loved by Jesus.) John had the truth of Jesus’ crucifixion and, at least in the way described in v.27, he believed it and acted in faith.

27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

At this point, John clearly understood that Jesus was about to die. And He was growing in his understanding of what that meant. But on the most basic level, John loved and trusted Jesus enough to accept responsibility for Jesus’ mother, Mary. John believed the truth of Jesus such that, at Jesus’ command, he treated Mary as His own mother, taking her into his own home.

This is about as practical as it gets. Timothy will later echo this sentiment, “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” John received the truth of Jesus, believed it, and in the most practical way possible acted in light of it.

Grace, it is a simple, but critical fact that believing in the truth of Jesus will never remain in the abstract. It will always, always work itself out in reality. Sometimes it will do so in big ways like adoption or caring for an aged family member or going to the mission field or even martyrdom. And sometimes it will work out in the simplest ways imaginable like not speeding, sharing your cookie, not exaggerating, saying an encouraging word instead of a funny one, etc. But the fact remains that it will always work itself out. It will always become incarnate. If a truth about Jesus doesn’t affect the way you live, you don’t really believe it, it’s that simple.

John would certainly respond to the truth of Jesus in bigger ways, but here he simply acted in the way put in front of him by meeting the very practical need of looking out for Mary once Jesus was gone. May we do so as well. As one of my favorite kids’ books says it, look to John, and “live the life that unfolds before you,” in every big and tiny choice, in light of the truth of the crucifixion and all it entails.

Finally, Jesus lived entirely in light of the truth as well. And like John, although it had and would take on much bigger forms, in this passage it took a the very practical form of loving His mom and looking out for her wellbeing; even while experiencing the agony of hanging on the cross.

25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

In His darkest hour, Jesus perfect conformity to righteousness caused Him to think in the most practical terms.

It can be too easy for people who love God’s word—who love to carefully consider lofty theological truths—to be put off by the child-like, simple, practice of the faith. It can be too easy to go on learning more and more and more, while scoffing at the immediate, small differences it should make in the way you talk and listen and act.

This passage is filled with the glory of the practical, even as we’re about to enter into the profound, eternal glory of the theological. Both John and Jesus help us to see that the two are never in conflict and ought always go together.

We’ve considered the incongruity of the crucifixion and the various responses to the truth of the crucifixion. The final aspect of this passage that I want to point out is the plan of God in the crucifixion.

We see that in John’s repeated focus on the fact that none of the injustices or atrocities perpetrated against Jesus caught God off guard. They were all, in their own ways, ordained by God and the fulfillment of the Word of God. In vs.23-24 we see that this is the case yet again in the Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothes. We’ll come back to that in a bit, but first, I want to remind you of how important this is for John.

Back in John 12(:37-40) we saw this concerning the reason people did not believe in Jesus in spite of His marvelous works.

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

    40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

In 13:18, in reference to Judas’s betrayal, Jesus said, “I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’”

In 15:25 Jesus explained why the Jews hated Him in spite of His miracles and teaching, “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”

17:12 records Jesus praying to the Father concerning His protection of His followers, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Again, in reference to His persevering of His disciples, in 18:8, at His arrest, Jesus negotiated the release of His disciples and then in v.9 John explains, “This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: ‘Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.’”

And in John 18:32, concerning the fact that He would be crucified by Rome rather than stoned by Israel, John explained that, “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

All of that brings us back to vs.23-24 in our passage for today.

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
    “They divided my garments among them,
        and for my clothing they cast lots.”

This is a quote from Psalm 22:18, “…they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” John will note Jesus’ fulfillment of two other parts of Psalm 22 in the coming chapters as well.

Once again, John’s main point in repeatedly highlighting Jesus’ fulfilment of these prophecies is to demonstrate that his Gospel was not one of revisionist history. He was not fabricating a story after the fact to explain away the easy subduing of the Christ. He was, instead, telling of the climax of a story that had been going on for millennia.

Far from being a surprise and crushing defeat, everything about Jesus’ suffering and death was a foreknown display of strength and victory.

We have life through His death and that was the plan all along! It’s why Jesus came. And in order that we might believe and have faith, God had been leaving breadcrumbs for His people to follow from the beginning. What gift of grace is Jesus our long-promised Redeemer.

The big idea of this passage is that the Son of God was crucified. And within that, we see the incongruity of the crucifixion, several different responses to the truth of the crucifixion, and the sovereign plan of God in the crucifixion. The main takeaways are to live lives of consistency and trust; or, better still, consistency in trust.

The good news is that we don’t have to pretend that we don’t know how this story goes. This isn’t the end of things. Christ is risen from the dead. Which is why we now get to turn our attention to the His meal of celebration.

John 18:38b-19:16 …After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

Guests and those of you who are joining us for the dedication, once again, welcome. As I begin my sermon, it’s important for you to know that I’ve been preaching through John’s Gospel for some time now. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John’s main aim, which he tells us at the end of the Gospel (20:30-31), is to convince his readers, including you and me today, that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [we] may have life in His name.” That’s our main aim and prayer as well.

To this point, we’ve made our way through John’s description of Jesus’ eternality as the Son of God, John the Baptist’s ministry preparing the way for Jesus, and Jesus’ calling of His disciples, teaching, miracles, and continual confrontations with the Jewish religious leaders of His day. We’ve seen Jesus feed thousands with a few pieces of bread and a few fish, heal decades-old sicknesses, raise people from the dead, teach with unprecedented authority, make claims no mere man could truthfully make, and forgive people of their sins.

Throughout this Gospel, we’ve seen person after person encounter Jesus and then have to decide what to do about it. Everyone was impressed on some level, but many angerly rejected His claim to be the Christ. Others were simply indifferent after initial intrigue. Still others believed they believed in Jesus for a time, only to fall away later. And some, those entrusted to Jesus by God the Father, really did believe in Jesus and followed Him through increasing persecution.

Jesus’ ministry on earth lasted just over three years and we’ve come to the last hours of the last day of His life. Tragically, rather than spend those hours as He should have, receiving the thanksgiving and praise of those He came to save, Jesus under arrest, bound, and forced to undergo a series of trials at the hands of both the Jews and the Romans. We already considered the three Jewish trials and the first Roman trial.

The Jewish trials, we saw, were not about discovering the truth and rendering a just verdict. They were about finding a way—any way—to get the Romans to put Jesus to death. The Jews believed they found what they were after when Jesus publicly claimed to be the Christ during the second Jewish trial. In the mind of the Jewish leaders, the Christ would necessarily be seen as an insurrectionist by the Romans. With that charge in their pocket, they took Jesus to a man named Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea for the first of the Roman trials.

And the three main things to remember concerning Pilate’s initial interrogation of Jesus are, first, Pilate could tell that there was something different about Jesus. Second, Pilate wanted to release Jesus, declaring, “I find no guilt in Him.” And third, Pilate was on thin ice with the Roman leaders above him, so a Jewish revolt (which they were threatening) would likely have ended his career (or worse). He was, therefore, trying hard to navigate the turbulent waters of dealing with the extraordinary Jesus, manipulative Jews, and breathing-down-the-neck Romans.

Perhaps, hoping to buy himself a bit of time, or perhaps hoping to pass the buck entirely, after his initial interrogation, Pilate sent Jesus off to Herod, king of Judea. That’s where we pick up this morning.

As I hope to help you see, the big idea of this passage, indeed, the big idea of all Jesus’ trials, is that although they were anything but just, they were, nevertheless, the means by which God had sovereignly chosen to save the world. Did you catch that? It is a truly remarkable aspect of God’s perfect providence that He chose to use the sins of sinners to save sinners from their sin.

The main takeaway for us is to trust in Jesus in such a way that gladly causes us to stand firm against any opposition that comes our way for doing so…which, once again, is what we see in such significant ways in the families who just dedicated their children to the Lord this morning.

As I mentioned before, just as there were three Jewish trials, there were also three Roman trials.

John 18:29-38a describes the first Roman trial which, as I just mentioned, was before Pontious Pilate. By the end, of it, Pilate was convinced of Jesus’ innocence and could clearly see what the Jews were trying to do (get him to execute Jesus apart from any real crime against Rome). Not wanting to be in the middle of it, he decided to send Jesus to Herod (for the second trial).

Herod was one of the rulers (along with two brothers and an aunt) of his father, Herod the Great’s, kingdom. Within the Roman empire, he was in charge of both Jesus’ hometown and Jerusalem (the city in which the events of our passage take place). In other words, Herod was over Pilate and controlled each area of jurisdictional significance in the case against Jesus.

It’s not obvious from John’s Gospel, but Jesus’ first Roman trial ended in the middle of v.38. That’s why (if you have an ESV Bible) there’s a new paragraph in the middle of the verse. The second half of v.38, where our passage for this morning begins, is actually the beginning of the third Roman trial (again before Pilate). In between, we know from Luke’s Gospel, that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.

Before getting to the nature of the trial itself, let me take you on a quick aside concerning the nature of the differences in the different Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.

Some have considered things like the fact that John leaves out the trial before Herod to be evidence of the fact that the Bible is just another in a long line of human religious books. Others have suggested it means there are errors in the Bible or that it’s merely a collection of stories passed down and modified over time.

Rather than prove or even suggest any of these things, these kinds of differences highlight the wisdom of God. Rather than a single story, from a single person, for a single purpose, God inspired four different men to retell the story and significance of Jesus’ life for slightly different audiences and with slightly different aims in mind.

For John, for instance, as I mentioned earlier, his aim was to retell the stories of Jesus’ life that were most likely to convince his readers that Jesus is the Christ. Luke, on the other hand, was far more concerned with providing a detailed and “orderly account…that [we] may have certainty concerning the things…taught” (Luke 1:3-4).

Together, the four Gospels give a fuller and perfectly harmonious picture of the events and significance of Jesus’ life; fuller and more harmonious than if there were only three, or two, or one. What a gift it is that God has provided for us several accounts of the Means by which He saves us.

We can trust His Word, Grace. We can build our entire and eternal lives upon it. It is how we know who God is, who we are, why things are the way they are, how to properly order our lives, and the hope we have in light of the fact that we haven’t. Grace, God’s Word, as unique as it is, tells us of the straightest path to the greatest joy.

With that, let’s look first at Luke 9:7-9 to get a bit of insight into Herrod’s mindset.

7 Now Herod the tetrarch [ruler over 1/4th of his father’s kingdom] heard about all that was happening [in Jesus’ ministry], and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John [the Baptist] had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah [the OT prophet] had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9 Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.

The main thing for us to see here is that early on in Jesus’ ministry, word of His teaching and miracles had reached Herod in a way that left him confused, frightened, and intrigued. He didn’t know what to make of Jesus, was concerned that Jesus was the reincarnation of John the Baptist (whom he’d reluctantly beheaded out of an impulsiveness fueled by lust), and he was interested in seeing some of the “tricks” of Jesus for himself.

Therefore, because Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time of the events described in our passage, and because Pilate was looking to pass the buck, the opportunity finally presented itself for Herod to question Jesus and see if Jesus really warranted all the buzz He’d generated.

All of that brings us to Luke 23:6-11 and the second Roman trial of Jesus.

6 When Pilate heard this [the response of the Jews to his reluctance to prosecute Jesus], he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

In light of what we’ve already seen of Pilate and Herod, this looked a golden opportunity for both. Indeed…

8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

Herod saw Jesus more as a parlor trick or a circus act than the Son of God. Just as we saw back in Luke 9, Herod’s interest in Jesus was much the same as the draw to viral videos today. Jesus was the talk of the town for all kinds of unbelievable reasons and Herod was hoping to catch a glimpse.

9 So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.

Jesus initially responded to Pilate this way as well and Pilate understood the insubordination that Jesus’ silence represented. Herod was above Pilate and so the insubordination had even higher stakes. On top of that, Jesus’ restraint was not what the Jews were after. They wanted Him to continue to say things that reinforced their case. Neither the Jews nor Herod were content with Jesus non-response and so both sought to antagonize Him in their own way.

10 The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11 And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

It seems that Herod quickly became bored with Jesus. Just like Pilate, then, Herod didn’t want anything to do with Jesus either. After Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate (for the third trial, our passage for this morning), Pilate reported to the Jews, “I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him.”

Once again, Grace, the thing to see here is that it was obvious to everyone who hadn’t decided in advance that Jesus needed to die that the charges being leveled against Jesus were baseless. Jesus was innocent and the charges were illegitimate. And the other thing to see is the total lack of courage, integrity, and justice in anyone charged to lead a people with courage, integrity, and justice.

Being convinced of Jesus’ innocence ought to have led Pilate and Herod to work to secure His safe release from the Jews. Instead, concerned only for their own comfort and position, the two Roman leaders simply jockeyed with one another to avoid responsibility.

Men and women of God, look to Jesus and see what it looks like to embrace all the responsibilities that God has charged you with. We must follow Jesus’ example in carrying the weight of our responsibilities and paying their price, however heavy and costly they may be. Jesus perfectly demonstrated this and promised to strengthen His followers to follow in His example.

Jesus’ third and final Roman trial, the second before Pilate, went much the same as the first. It began with Pilate reiterating to the Jews that “I find no guilt in [Jesus]” (18:38) and trying, therefore, to release Him in a way that would not incite the Jews to riot. Look at 18:39.

39 … you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

The goal was to release Jesus peacefully, but at the same time Pilate just couldn’t help himself from including a jab in his attempt. He knew the very source of their anger toward Jesus was tied to His claim, that Jesus was King. He was mocking them.

This lack of self-control is likely what made him a bad leader, in hot water because of his poor leadership, and vulnerable to this kind of manipulation. Oh, how true is the Proverb, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back” (29:11).

While the slight certainly didn’t help, the fact remains that the Jews had their hearts and minds set on Jesus’ murder; so much so, that they would rather Pilate release a robber and a genuine insurrectionist than Jesus. In their thirst for justice, the Jews would rather release a dangerous man than the One who had come to save them.

40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”

Not one to give up, Pilate continued to probe for a way to release Jesus without inciting mob violence and endangering himself. Seeking to placate the Jews, Pilate had Jesus flogged (19:1), he allowed the soldiers under his command to mistreat and mock Jesus, covering Him with a “royal” robe, crowing Him with a crown of thorns, punching Him, and mocking Him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (2-3).

Hoping that would do…

4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

Pilate essentially declared, “He is innocent, but see how I abused Him. You’ve gotten your pound of flesh. You claim He is dangerous, but behold Him now, look how weak He is, now let’s move on.”

Once again, in this display, and this proclamation (behold the man), Jesus was flipping everything upside down. Pilate meant “behold the weak man, the man so easily subdued and mocked.” But it was Jesus’ strength, indeed His omnipotence, that allowed Him to endure this injustice, in love, for the sake of those who betrayed and mocked and beat Him.

Grace, may we learn this lesson. In Jesus’ kingdom, strength is about lovingly laying down our lives for those who would do us harm. It is about running with the gospel into the scorn of those who remain lost in sin. It is about serving in Jesus’ name, those who have no means of repayment. It is about living lives wholly dedicated to freely giving sinners the same grace we received as sinners.

Still oblivious to all of that and undeterred once again, rather than relent…

6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

Void of any mercy, grace, or love, cloaked in the appearance of godliness but lacking it entirely, the chief priests and officers betrayed the fact that their anger against Jesus was anything but righteous. It was self-serving and tragically misguided. It was merely and purely horizontal anger at Jesus for threatening their place of “honor and power”. It was not vertical anger (which is a prerequisite for righteous, horizontal anger) that God’s glory was being hidden and marred.

With the wicked cries calling for Jesus’ crucifixion still ringing, for the fourth time in John’s Gospel, Pilate tried to release Jesus as an innocent man, charging the Jews to crucify Him themselves (which was another jab, since he knew they couldn’t/wouldn’t) (6).

But for the fourth time the Jews refused to let up on their pressure. Indeed, they increased the pressure, reminding Pilate of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and the fact that Jewish and Roman law demanded that one making such claims be put to death (7).

Sensing things slip from His fingers and only now having heard the fullness of Jesus’ claim, John tells us that Pilate was “even more afraid” (8). We’re not explicitly told what Pilate had been less afraid of previously, but every indication is that it is of the fact that Jesus was clearly different; unintimidated by the combined power of the Jewish leaders and Roman empire pressing down on Him, entirely in control in spite of what was at stake in the agony of crucifixion, and confidently focused on truth in the midst of all the lies and liars around Him.

One last time, then, Pilate brought Jesus inside his headquarters for private interrogation. Away from the added pressure of watching eyes and listening ears, Pilate asked Jesus about His origin, “Where are you from” (9).

Jesus didn’t answer once again. And once again, Pilate was quick to pick up on the insubordination that implied.

10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”

And here’s where, if this had an accompanying musical score, it would reach a crescendo. A measure of the hidden Kingliness of Jesus broke forth. The Lion, for just a moment, didn’t entirely contain His roar.

11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.

In this simple, but almighty statement, Jesus simultaneously affirmed Pilate’s sinfulness and God’s sovereign hand in it. Pilate really had made wicked, cowardly decisions, and at the exact same time those wicked, cowardly decisions were instruments in God’s redemptive hand.

Grace, there is more to what I’m about to say than what I’m about to say, but there’s not less: Just as this was true of Jesus, if your hope is in Jesus, so is it true for you in every mistreatment and injustice and abuse you’ve ever received. Evil acts perpetrated against you by sinful people are truly evil acts perpetrated against you by sinful people. But they are also tools of God’s grace in your life.

As you know, it’s often hard to see exactly how that works in real time. And yet, we must learn from God’s use of the even greater mistreatment of Jesus (than anything you or I will ever receive) to accomplish the salvation of the world, that no matter how visible or invisible the gracious hand of God is in your suffering, it is there.

Clearly humbled and probably all the more frightened…

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him…

That’s the clearest statement of all that Pilate wanted nothing to do with Jesus. He clearly didn’t really understand what he was dealing with, but he knew it was nothing he wanted to be dealing with.

Jesus continued speaking for one last time, condemning the Jews who had handed Him over. His own people—those who had the law and the prophets that spoke of Him and the promises of the deliverance He would bring, who claimed to have longed for His coming for centuries—they were less able to recognize Jesus as the Christ than were the pagan Romans. Jesus pointed this out to them, engaging them one more time.

Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Understanding the implications and condemnation of Jesus’ words, the Jews played their final and highest trump card…

…the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

Just as the Jews understood the seriousness of Jesus’ charge against them, Pilate understood the seriousness of the Jews’ charge against him: to release Jesus, one claiming to be a king over Caesar, is to oppose Caesar’s rightful rule. And all who oppose Caesar’s “rightful rule” will know nothing but the wrath of Caesar.

13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews [with yet another slight], “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them [with one last act of defiance], “Shall I crucify your King?”

And here it was, Grace, the Jews’ final chance. What Pilate meant and the Jews took as a slight was the truest truth and the greatest news. Jesus was their King and He was standing before them, offering Himself to them for their good. This was their last chance to see it and believe. And yet, just as when Caiaphas had earlier held the truest truth in his hand, but grossly and tragically misinterpreted it, the Jews followed in his footsteps. Therefore…

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

And in this, the Jews finally played their whole, wretched hand. God alone was their king, but in their hatred for His Son, they renounced Father and Son.

And that led to Pilate’s final chance. This was his point of no return. His King was standing in front of him. Offering Himself to Pilate as much as to the Jews for his highest good. Pilate could see the uniqueness and innocence of Jesus. Would he act according to his own judgment and conviction or would he play the coward and pay the price of an innocent man’s life to save his job? According to the example of the religious leaders, Pilate…

16 … delivered [Jesus] over to them to be crucified.

Israel was charged by God to be a light to the nations. They were supposed to live in such a way as to demonstrate the goodness of God, so that the nations would be drawn to their light. The nations did follow, but instead of following Israel into the light, they followed Israel into the darkness.

And that’s how it is, Grace. God has put His power in His image bearers and even more so in those who hope in Him. But God has made us in such a way that we can use that power in both directions, for good and evil. It can have as much of a significant impact for harm as it can for what it was intended.

Let me close, then by highlighting the three great contrasts of this morning. In the dedications we saw an example of God’s people using God’s power for staggering good. In this passage we saw a contrasting example of God’s people using God’s power for staggering evil. Most importantly, and in greatest contrast, we saw Jesus’ example of making use of the full measure of the power of God for the full measure of God’s good.

Once again, then, the main takeaway for us is to look to Jesus’ example, as did the parents of the kids dedicated today, and ask the Lord to send us out in His power to pour forth dozens more bursts of light this week as we all give ourselves to living, no matter the cost, for God’s glory and the good of the world.

28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Welcome back to the Gospel of John and its retelling of the final hours of Jesus’ life and its interpretation of the significance of the events that take place during them. So much treachery, so much courage, so much fear, so much trust, so much worldliness, so much truth. The spectrum of emotions and character traits and motives is remarkable; to the point of being overwhelming if you really stop to process it.

Last week I mentioned that after praying in the Garden, Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and throughout Thursday night and into Friday morning, brought through a series of six trials (three Jewish and three Roman). We considered the three Jewish trials, noting that they were sham trials designed only to come up with some accusation that would stick with the Roman authorities. In the course of the second Jewish trial, Jesus claimed that He was the Christ. Insodoing, the Jews believed that Jesus gave them the charge they needed to take to Rome—insurrection, which carried the death penalty.

In today’s sermon, we pick up on the events of Friday morning with the Roman trials. Throughout these trials we’ll clearly see Jesus acting in perfect control, courage, and trust in and obedience to His Father’s plan. At the same time, we’ll clearly see the fact that neither Pilate nor Herod acted in complete self interest, not wanting anything to do with Jesus, but not willing to stand up for justice. The only reason they went along with the shenanigans of the Jews was to avoid a Jewish revolt. Pilate says as much at the end of the third trial.

With that, in just a moment, we’ll pick up where we left off: Jesus’ trial before Pilate. First, though, I want to make clear the big idea of this passage. The big idea is that although there were no credible accusations against Jesus, the sinfulness of man, the righteousness of Jesus, and the loving, gracious plan of God all came together to bring about Jesus’ condemnation. The main takeaways for us are to praise Jesus for gladly giving Himself to the will of God even though it led to His mistreatment at the hands sinful men and to follow Jesus’ example in that.

Our passage opens with these words: “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning.” The Jews brought Jesus to Pilate’s headquarters in order to undergo what ended up being the first of three trials before the Roman authorities.

Once again, having been tried by the Jewish leaders, and with the Jewish leaders having determined Jesus to be guilty of blasphemy for making Himself out to be the Christ, the Son of God, the Jews handed Jesus over to the Roman authorities.

By itself, that’s curious, isn’t it? Why would they do that? The main issue was that Jesus claimed to be the Christ. That was a Jewish matter, not a Roman one. Equally curious is the question of why the Romans even allowed this religious matter to be brought before them.

The short answer, as I mentioned in the introduction, is the combination of the sinfulness of man, the righteousness of Jesus, and the loving, gracious plan of God. Here we see most clearly the sinfulness of man. And for both the Jews and the Romans, the primary sin was fear of man (the Jews added significant measures of bad doctrine and the love of power as well).

What do I mean by “the fear of man”? The answer will become clearer as we move through the text, but for now I’d like to give you a bird’s eye view to help you better see it in the text.

The Jews’ bad doctrine (misunderstanding of the nature of God and the promised Christ) led them to completely miss the fact that Jesus was the Christ they claimed to be waiting for. And their sinful love of power caused them to seek to keep it by any means necessary as they perceived Jesus’ threat to it. But their fear of man is what is front and center in this passage.

If Jesus was right in His claim to be the Christ, then the Jews ought to have celebrated God’s kindness and faithfulness and followed Jesus; which they clearly didn’t believe or do. On the other hand, if Jesus was lying about being the Christ, then Leviticus 24:16 gave them clear instructions on what to do with that blasphemy.

Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

As we’ll see next week, the Jews knew this. They would eventually say to Pilate (19:7), “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

Again, then, why were the Jews involving the Romans? Why did they take Him to Pilate. Why did they not just put Him to death as the law of God required? And again, the answer is the fear of man.

Although the law of God commanded them to put Jesus to death themselves, given what they believed about Jesus, nevertheless, they said to Pilate, “31 It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

We just saw that putting blasphemers to death was not only lawful, but lawfully required by God. And we saw that they knew that. So what did they mean? They meant that Roman law prohibited them from doing what God’s law required. The Romans would not allow the Jews to execute capital punishment at that time. And because of their greater fear of Rome than God, the Jews submitted themselves to Roman law instead of Gods; which, once again, provided a sharp contrast between righteous Jesus and sinful Israel.

But what about the Roman fear of man? Where do we see that? Again, it will become clearer as we move through the trials, but we see it plainly in the fact that although Pilate admitted, “38 …I find no guilt in Him,” he, nevertheless, eventually “delivered Him over to be crucified” (19:16).

Again, why would he do that? Why did he even “take the case” of Jews vs. Jesus, much less knowingly allow Jesus’ illegitimate conviction and crucifixion?

Pilate, who was in charge of Judea, was on thin ice as far as the Roman authorities were concerned. He was a bad leader and the Romans weren’t happy about it. The Jews knew that he was in danger of losing his position so they were able to easily manipulate him with the threat of a riot.

Therefore, even though Pilate was “even more afraid” (19:8) when He was told that Jesus claimed to be the Christ (knowing that there was something unique about Jesus), and even though he repeatedly tried to release Jesus (19:12), he was, evidently, even more afraid still of the prospect of the hand of Rome coming down on him should a Jewish revolt break out on his watch.

Again, then, as we’re about to see, even though Pilate could tell that Jesus was not an ordinary criminal or man, the fear of man (the Jews), led him to eventually allow Jesus to be crucified under Roman (not Jewish) law.

In this, we’re given two clear pictures of what the fear of man looks like and two clear pictures of how tragic of a result it can produce. Let’s learn from this, Grace. Our ability to honor God in this life is very much tied to living out of a view of God as infinitely greater than any person. When that’s the case, God’s favor or disfavor will (rightly) matter in a way that the favor or disfavor or others never will. It is only when we are in proper relation to God that we can be in proper relation to others—caring very much about them, but at the same time able to keep their opinions, assessments, desires, thoughts, demands, sins, and blessings in the right perspective. And as was the case for the Jews and Rome, when we’re off on this—when we revere man over God—we’re certain to experience and cause all kinds of hardships.

There’s one more thing I want you to see before we get to the Roman trials. I want you to see the deep, deep irony of the second half of the opening line of our passage. Look again at v.28. The Jews took Jesus to “the governor’s headquarters” but…

28 They themselves did not enter … so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

The Jews refused to enter into the governor’s headquarters so that they would not be defiled. On one hand, OK. God had given certain purity laws concerning the celebration of the Passover. He meant those laws to be followed. On the other hand, OH MAN. They were worried about keeping some kind of purity law…while handing the perfectly pure Son of God over to be crucified. They were worried about remaining clean to eat the Passover meal when Jesus was the Passover meal (6:53-58).

Jesus taught on this tendency of the Jews earlier. We read about it in Matthew’s Gospel (23:23-28),

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

These Jewish leaders were more concerned in keeping a technical portion of the Word of God than they were with the Word of God Himself. They worked hard to remain ceremonially “clean” at the expense of the true cleanliness that Jesus came to bring.

John certainly understood the irony in what he was writing. Do you, Grace? What I mean is, do you understand where in your life, you are straining out gnats and swallowing camels?

I have met a number of people over the years who were more concerned about the hymn/contemporary song ratio than they were about the joy of the Lord found in Christ that they point to. I have met a number of people who were more concerned about access to a certain type of Bible study than they were about the fact that God has given us His Word and it was being taught and lived out in exceptional ways all around them. I have met a number of people who were more concerned about following certain processes than they were about the people they were in process with. (Whenever someone asks to see our constitution I cringe a bit.)

At times, I’ve personally found myself more attentive to making a prayer list than to actually praying; more excited to talk about theology than to praising the God of my study; and more interested in teaching on godly marriage than cultivating one.

That is not to say that those things (picking the right songs, studying the Bible, constitutional integrity, prayer lists, theological discourse, and instructing on marriage, etc.) are unimportant. But it is to say, as Jesus said and the Jews missed, that we know we’ve made them an idol when they are able to overpower the more important aspects of God’s nature and saving grace and love for neighbor.

In John’s simple recounting of the actions and motives of the Jews, we find a warning. Wherever you are more emotionally or practically invested in a lesser aspect of the Christian life than you are in Christ in His glory and His image bearers, let this be a warning call. Don’t neglect the lesser matters, but give yourself first to the weightier matters so that the lesser matters can find their proper place. Don’t strain gnats and swallow camels.

Not to drive this train past the end of the tracks, but I want to briefly touch on one more aspect of this. In my experience, many in the church today think nothing of swallowing gnats and camels. We often think very little about living lives of godliness, when godliness conflicts with our desires. I’m afraid that our main problem is less holiness-out-of-proportion, and more a lack of concern for holiness at all. Our justification comes only on account of Christ’s righteousness, but the nature of the faith that unites us to Christ’s righteousness always comes united to the pursuit of our own sanctification as well. Let us learn that lesson as well.

Thanks be to God that Jesus went all the way to the cross for gnat and camel-swallowers like us.

Let’s now turn our attention to the Roman trials themselves. The three Roman trials were before Pilate (governor of Judea), then Herod (ruler of Galilee), and then Pilate again. This sermon and our passage deal exclusively with the first trial. We have to turn to Luke to read of the second trial, and then, beginning in the second half v.38, John picks up with the third trial (both of which we’ll get to next week, Lord willing).

In John 18:29 we see the beginning first Roman trial.

29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

That’s a reasonable question, right? Here you are, at my doorstep at the crack of dawn (probably before 6am), dragging a bound man before me. Why are you here? What are you accusing Him of?

Pilate’s question is reasonable in that it was formal way of beginning the official proceedings against Jesus.

On the other hand, it was a bit of posturing. Pilate must have had a pretty god idea of what was happening since he had already agreed to dispatch a significant military force to arrest Jesus. Nevertheless, it’s possible he only had a general sense, since the Jews still seemed to be trying to figure things out for themselves during the trials they’d just put Jesus through.

Whatever the reason, the Jews seemed to have forgotten proper decorum and assumed they’d be able to fast track their plans. The ridiculousness of that assumption serves to demonstrate both the facts that they were walking with shaky legs on shaky ground and that their intentions were anything but good. Their reply only further evidenced these things.

30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

The Jews bought Jesus before Pilate. Pilate asked the charge and the Jews said, in effect, “Trust us, He’s guilty, just crucify Him.” The audacity and transparent injustice of such an answer is impossible to miss. Indeed, Pilate did not miss it. He might not have been the best leader, but even he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that nonsense. He was not going to let them manipulate him in such a ways as to make him take all the responsibility. At the very least he was going to require formal charges. Therefore, cleverly…

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

Again, in essence, Pilate told them that he wasn’t going to play their games. If they had a real charge against Jesus, they would need to publicly state it. Since they didn’t, Pilate could only (and rightly) assume they were either making stuff up or upset about some matter of Jewish law; something he couldn’t care less about. Already, Pilate knew that something foul was afoot and so he tried to get out from under it.

Undeterred, the Jews replied in the fearful way we saw earlier.

The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

The Plan of God Triumphs over the Sin of Man, through the Sin of Man (32)

The next verse, v.32, adds an interesting and critical piece to this, however.

32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Back in chapter 12 we read of Jesus’ teaching His disciples that, “32 … when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

In v.32 of our passage, John reiterated both that Jesus knew He had come to die and that He had come to die a certain kind of death, and both to “fulfill the word”.

What kind of death was Jesus going to die? A death that involved being lifted up (on a cross) rather than pressed down (through stoning). Jesus knew that He would die a Roman death rather than a Jewish one. And what do we know about those who die on a cross? Deuteronomy 21:22-23.

22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

Jesus knew that He came to die as a man cursed by God. And what do we know about that? Paul tells us in Galatians 3.

10 it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” … 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”.

Jesus knew that He came to die as a man cursed by God, because of the curse on man by God, according to the plan of God. The Jews and the Romans, even in their treachery, were instruments in God’s hands to accomplish God’s purposes. Without knowing it, through their fear and manipulation, through their denial of God’s power and Son, they were demonstrating the almighty hand of God. Jesus would be lifted up and the only way that could happen is if the Jews and Romans cowered in fear; which they did.

I said at the beginning that although there were no credible accusations against Jesus, the sinfulness of man, the righteousness of Jesus, and the plan of God led to Jesus’ condemnation. We continue to see how the sinfulness of man factors in. Here we see that it is the plan of God. And as we continue to move through this trial, we’ll see even more plainly the unwavering righteousness of Christ.

Pilate Recognizes that Things Are Not as they Seem and Questions Jesus Privately (33-35)

Again, Pilate’s actions continued to display his uneasiness with the things in front of him. The Jews were acting funny. They were being anything but forthright. And at the same time, the Man before Him was extrordinary. He seemed entirely unintimidated and forthright.

Wanting to examine Jesus apart from the watching eyes of the Jews, therefore…

33 …Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus…[inside]

While the Jews were not willing to enter, Jesus was. As we’ve seen, and as the Jews outside knew, when ordinary people touched something unclean, they became unclean. But by the staggering and upside down (from the world’s perspective) grace of God, when something unclean touched Jesus, that thing became clean.

From Pilate’s perspective, the unfolding events were about finding out what crime Jesus had committed. But from Jesus’ perspective, as will become easier to see in a moment, it was about offering Pilate a chance to be forgiven of his crimes, to be made clean.

As we saw earlier, Pilate’s main concern was whether Jesus represented a genuine threat to his office. Claiming to be a rival king would certainly rise to that level. It was certainly what the Jews had whispered in his ear to get him to take them seriously.

Remember, the Jews of Jesus’ day had no concept of a Christ apart from a military leader; specifically, one who would overthrow the Romans. Therefore, for them, to claim to be the Christ was necessarily a claim to be the rival of Cesar and Rome. They didn’t believe that’s who Jesus was, but all that mattered was convincing Pilate that Jesus believed that’s who He was. If they could convince Pilate, he would have to treat Jesus as an insurrectionist and put Him to death.

Knowing this, bluntly, Pilate asked Jesus, “33 …Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus’ answer was a model of wisdom, courage, and love. Of course, the answer on one level was a resounding, YES! He is the King of kings. On the other hand, Jesus was determined to answer the question Pilate was actually asking. And that in order to help Pilate see the deeper meaning of His answer should the Spirit be pleased to open Pilate’s eyes. Therefore,

34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

Jesus wanted to know if Pilate was simply restating what the Jews had told him—In which case Jesus would know that he wasn’t genuinely interested in the answer beyond what it meant to save his neck—or if Pilate was genuinely curious because he had seen something in Jesus that made him truly wonder—in which case there might be hope for him to be made clean.

35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”

Pilate’s reply seemed to indicate that he was uncertain where his question was actually coming from, but quickly growing tired of all of this. It’s as if he said to Jesus, “I’m not interested in all this petty Jewish bickering. Just tell me who you are and what you’ve done so I can figure out if you are someone I need to be concerned about.”

Still unintimidated and in control, still acting in perfect righteousness, and still more interested in Pilate’s heart than anything he might do to Him,

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

In His most blunt reply yet, Jesus said to Pilate, “I am a king, but not the kind you’re thinking of. If I were that kind of king, I wouldn’t have stayed the hand of my followers as they sought to fight on my behalf.”

In essence, Jesus tried to help Pilate see that his concerns were misguided. They were simultaneously over and under concerned. Pilate needed to be concerned, but not for the reasons Pilate thought. Jesus’ Kingdom is not one more among the many earthly kingdoms (as Pilate was overly concerned about), but it was the kingdom above all kingdoms (which Pilate was under concerned about).

Jesus came to begin to establish the Kingdom of God in a new way and that was only good news for all who would receive it. Pilate’s main concern, then, ought not have been whether or not Jesus was a king, but what kind of king, of what kind of kingdom, and how he might become one of its citizens.

Still not really getting it…

37 …Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”

Gaining some measure of insight, but still not quite following, Pilate failed to understand the distinction Jesus was trying to make. Aware of this…

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

In one final plea, Jesus explained to Pilate that he had a choice to make. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth. He came to reveal the lies of the world. All who would accept the truth would know everlasting life and light and goodness and joy in reconciliation with God and man in the perfect kingdom of God. All who would reject the truth and continue in lies would know everlasting death and darkness and evil and misery in the kingdom of the world. Jesus was providing Pilate with a clear choice.

Grace, in seeing this in John’s Gospel, we too have that choice. You were made by God, for God. You were made for a kingdom not of this earth. He created you and established your nature and purpose. He designed you to function in certain ways and in certain relationships. You belong to Him. It is only when your life is ordered in light of these things—when you properly acknowledge your true King and kingdom—that you can know true fulfillment. And it is only when you accept that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, the King of kings, that you can live a life ordered in light of these things.

At the same time, Jesus’ consistent message has been that it is only the sovereign grace of God that can open your eyes to this. Sin blinds. The Spirit gives sight. If you will seek sight in faith, you will see. If you will not, you will join Pilate in his nihilism and death.

Out of ideas and out of patience, Pilate simply replied, “38 …What is truth?”

One of the greatest questions that all of us face day in and day out, moment by moment, is what kingdom will have our highest allegiance. Where will we look as our highest source of truth and authority? Will we continue to function primarily as citizens of this world, living according to its principles and priorities, or will we choose in faith, in the Spirit’s power, to honor Christ as King?

The Romans and Jews model the former, while Jesus perfectly models and provides the way for the latter.

The big idea is that although there were no credible accusations against Jesus, the sinfulness of man, the righteousness of Jesus, and the loving, gracious plan of God all came together to bring about Jesus’ condemnation. The main takeaways for us are to praise Jesus for gladly giving Himself to the will of God even though it led to His mistreatment at the hands sinful men and to follow Jesus’ example in that.

Let’s praise Him now and give ourselves to following His example, living as we were made to live, as citizens of our true kingdom, no matter the result, no matter the injustices we face, no matter the opinions of others, in the certain knowledge that the result is that we will temporarily “weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, [we] will be sorrowful, but [our] sorrow will turn into [full and everlasting] joy” (16:20).

John 18:12-27 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. 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. 17 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.” 18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 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?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Last week’s sermon ended at 18:11, with Jesus having been betrayed, having been surrounded by an untold, but significant number of Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders, and having insisted on His followers being released. We were left wondering what would happen.

Judas, the band of soldiers, and the officers were seeking Jesus. They found Him. Now what?

Was this the moment in which He would throw back His cloak and reveal the emblazoned “C” (for Christ) on His chest? Is this the moment when Jesus would begin crushing the resistance and shame His doubters? Was this the moment in which Jesus would force the enemies of God to drink the cup of God’s wrath they so deserved?

Peter seemed to think so as he started hacking off ears before Jesus stopped him. Did Jesus halt his assault just so that He could begin His own?

As you know, that was certainly not the case. Jesus came to drink the cup of the wrath of God for those who had betrayed Him, not to make them drink it. And the means by which He would do so was to hand Himself over to His betrayers.

Practically, our passage begins with Jesus’ arrest and then continues quickly on to a series of “trials” that Jesus was brought through—three Jewish and three Romans. In the midst of all of that, John tells of Peter denying Jesus three times in fairly short succession.

We’ll consider the three Jewish trials this morning as well as Peter’s denials.

The big idea in all of this is the staggering love and grace of Jesus in the face of the growing treachery of those He came to save. The main takeaways are the Spirit-empowered cultivation of humility, gratitude, trust, and love.

In John’s Gospel, as is the case with the rest of the Gospels, there is a significantly disproportionate amount of time given to the final weeks of Jesus’ life. Approximately half of John covers the beginning of Creation through the first 30 years of Jesus’s life. The other half covers the final week of Jesus’ life. Clearly, John means us to understand that everything was leading to this last week.

For that reason, as we often point out at our Maundy Thursday and Easter services, being clear on both the events of Holy Week and their spiritual significance, is critical for us. I’ll continue to do my best to highlight both as they show up in the text. Right now, however, I want to give a bit of attention to the timeline of the week.

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, which was marked by Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem. He did so at a time in which the city was filled to the brim with the Passover crowd. In so doing, He publicly presented Himself as the Messiah and the people received Him with adulation and praise. That evening He returned to a city not far from Jerusalem, Bethany (where He’d raised Lazarus from the dead).

On Monday of Holy Week Jesus rode back into Jerusalem (from Bethany) and wept over Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness. He also cleansed the temple for a second time before returning to Bethany again at night.

On Tuesday, again on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus showed His power and explained that His followers would share in it through faith. This is also the day in which Judas agreed to betray Jesus, the religious leaders plotted His death, and Mary anointed Jesus’ feet.

Wednesday seems to have been a silent day for Jesus and one in which Judas and the Jewish and Roman leaders put their plans together to arrest Jesus.

And on Thursday, as we’ve been considering for some time in John’s Gospel, Jesus returned one more time from Bethany in order to meet with His disciples and eat the Passover meal together. During the meal, He washed their feet (and commanded them to do the same for one another), explained Judas’s treachery, worked to strengthen the disciples’ faith for when He was gone, and instituted the Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant.

Later in the evening, which we saw over the last several last weeks’ sermons, after Judas left to betray Jesus, Jesus and the remaining eleven disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus prayed to the Father in one of the most moving passages in all of Scripture (Matthew 26:36-46).

It’s interesting and important to note that on each previous night (Sunday-Wednesday) Jesus had returned to Bethany. In Bethany He would have been protected from His enemies by the people who had witnessed Him raise Lazarus from the dead. On Thursday night, however, Jesus remained in Jerusalem because His time had finally come. That’s what allowed the treachery we’re now reading about to take place.

Late Thursday night, and into Friday morning, then, several enormously significant events unfolded. As I mentioned in the introduction, those events began with Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, leading to a confrontation with a cohort of armed Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders.

Once again, before continuing on with the timeline of events, it’s critical for us to settle on the fact that these are historical events. They really happened. They all have significant spiritual implications, but they are at the same time entirely factual. They are more than historical, but they are not less.

Grace, our faith rests not merely on concepts or ideas, but on genuine people and events in the course history. Our faith rests on both spiritual and historical realities. Kids, that’s why some of you should give your lives to studying and teaching theology and some of you should give your lives to studying and teaching history. This is why historical and theological methods matter. Parents, this is why you need to help your kids learn not just what to think, but how it all fits together. This is why we all need to make sure that all of our learning is properly connected to the biggest story. Paying attention to the historicity of the events of the Gospels is part of what it means to love God with all our minds. Not every Christian needs to pursue academic degrees, but the fact that God ordained the salvation of the world to come through actual events and people in the course of history means that there can be no thoughtless Christians.

It seems pretty obvious to me that if we didn’t already know what happens next, it wouldn’t be obvious what happens next. Continually, Jesus acted in ways no one seemed to understand or predict.

Rather than fight back or cause the betrayers to fall back once and for all (18:6), rather even than mysteriously slip away again (John 10:39), Jesus simply allowed Himself to be arrested and bound.

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

Again, what a staggering response. It was the Word of God that created the soldiers, their captain, the officers, and the bonds. It was the Word of God that sustained them in that moment.

Jesus could have crushed His enemies more easily than we can crush an ant. And if He didn’t want to get His hands dirty, it would have been no problem for Him call in countless angels to slice down those who would presume to lay hands on the Son of God. It seems that His disciples were ready to fight on Jesus’ behalf. He could have charged them to charge. At the very least, Jesus could have simply stopped holding the bonds together by the word of His power!

But He didn’t do any of those things. He did nothing to stay the hand of the Romans or Jews. He demanded the release of His followers and then “came forward” (18:4), handing Himself over to His betrayers.

I hope it’s easy to see that Jesus’ Kingdom is not like the kingdoms of the world. Things work differently in Jesus’ kingdom. It is, in many ways, an “upside down” kingdom. The first are last and the last are first (Matthew 20:16). The greatest are the servants (Matthew 23:11-12). Burden taking is easy and light (Matthew 11:30). Trials are joy (James 1:2). Love sacrifices rather than demands (John 15:13). And Jesus defeated His enemies, in order to save His enemies, by surrendering to His enemies.

I also hope it’s easy to see that following Jesus means loving and trusting Jesus, such that we too humbly and gratefully come forward into obedience, no matter the cost. We love our persecutors (Matthew 5:44), bless those who curse us (Romans 12:14), we turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), and we endure mistreatment (1 Peter 2:20) in the name of Jesus, according to the example of Jesus. For us, discomfort is a blessing when it leads to godliness (James 1:2-4), persecution for godliness is joy (Acts 5:41), and it is not death to die (John 11:25-26).

Grace, hear me, young people especially, in allowing Himself to be arrested and bound, for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), in obedience to His Father and love for His people, Jesus shows us that godliness isn’t about running toward the world’s invitation for fun, comfort, acceptance, or power. It is about running toward God’s commands and promises in service and sacrifice.

Again, after His betrayal and arrest Jesus was immediately brought through three Jewish “trials”.

Jesus’ first Jewish trial was before Annas, the former High Priest (who was also father-in-Law to Caiaphas, the current High Priest). John writes primarily about this trial.

13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

19 The high priest [Annas] then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

Apart from the background I’ve shared, this might appear to have some measure of legitimacy. Perhaps the former High Priest really did want to examine Jesus concerning legitimate charges against Him. Again, though, the facts that it came about through a paid betrayal, that it was in collusion with the Romans, that it was at night, and in light of how Jesus replied, we know the Jewish leaders were after anything but a fair trial. Therefore…

20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”

Jesus understood the situation. Perhaps Annas’s antics would have duped someone else. Or perhaps, his authority would have intimidated someone else. But Jesus would not be duped and could not be intimidated. He saw right through the whole ruse, cut straight to the heart of the matter, and let Annas know that He knew what was going on; and remained in perfect control as He did.

In essence, Jesus told Annas that if this were a legitimate inquiry, he wouldn’t have asked a question that everyone already knew the answer to, at night, and without witnesses. By that point, Jesus had made everything public. By that point, there were thousands of witnesses to all of His teaching. This wasn’t about fact-finding, it was about setting a trap and doing so in a way the provided a hint of legitimacy. Again, Jesus knew this.

While He didn’t directly insult Annas, Jesus’ refusal to play Annas’s games or cower in fear was enough to elicit his anger and that of his officers. Thus…

22 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?”

Still unfazed in the way that only a clean conscience, immovable trust in the rightness of mission, the strength of the Spirit, and the favor of God can do…

23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

Annas got no where with Jesus and so, from there, Jesus was then taken to the Caiaphas, the current high priest’s, home for the second Jewish “trial”.

In this, we have a model, Grace. This is what it looks like to fear none, but God alone. This is what it looks like to stand in faith against those who accuse us and seek our harm for bearing the name of Jesus.

His second Jewish trial was before Caiaphas (the current high priest) and the Sanhedrin. John alludes to this trial in v.24, but it is explained in some detail in the other Gospels (Matthew 26:57, 59-68, Mark 14:53, 55-65, and Luke 22:63-65).

24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

From the other Gospels, we find that…

Matthew 26:59 … the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, 60 but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.

In response to these false accusations “62 the high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’ 63 But Jesus remained silent.”

Unwilling to let the matter go as Annas did, “63 …[Caiaphas] said to [Jesus], ‘I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’”

This time, Jesus did reply. Indeed, His time had truly come! Therefore…

64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus acknowledged that He was indeed the Christ to these men. Having what they were after…

65 … the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your judgment?”

And joining in, the members of the whole council answered…

66 “He deserves death.” 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

Jesus was brough before Caiaphas, the one “who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.” Do you see the irony, Grace? Without even understanding it, Caiphas was given the gospel. That is the good news! The One Man, Jesus, died for the people. He died in the place of all. But because Caiaphas was thinking only of worldly self-preservation, he missed the greater meaning, glory, and salvation offered to him by God. He was correct in his conclusion, but deadly wrong in his reasoning and motives.

Finally, Jesus’ third Jewish trial took place before the Sanhedrin for the second time, but this time in the day so as to give everything the appearance of legitimacy. John doesn’t mention this trial at all, but it is described in Matthew (27:1), Mark (15:1), and Luke (22:66-71).

Matthew 27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

Nothing new was revealed in this third trial, but again, the fact that it was held in the morning gave the Jews a kind of protective cover, a kind of plausible deniability, a veneer of legitimacy.

And yet, appearances aside, the fact that 70 of the most important men in the city (the entire Sanhedrin) were available to hold a trial in the middle of the night, as summoned by the high priests of Israel, demonstrates that this was a planned and shady event.

Virtually everything about the Jewish trials was against Jewish law. Jesus was arrested with no charge, he was struck before being found guilty, witnesses were manufactured, and the first two trials took place at night.

Eventually, however, during the second Jewish trial, Jesus admitted to being the Messiah and therein gave the Pharisees and Sadducees the insurrectionist charge they needed to have Pilate put Jesus to death. The third trial, then was convened in the day to make things look on the up and up. Convinced things were in order, as we’ll begin to consider next week, the Jews took Jesus to the Romans for execution, which led to the three Roman trials.

In all of this treachery, we see that sin is sinful and so it will find ways to sin. Unchecked, sin sets its appetite on a thing and will go about satisfying that craving by any means possible. The very keepers of the Law of God were willing to violate the Law of God to suite their own misguided purposes.

That is treacherous, but you do not know the gospel, the good news of Jesus, if you do not know that apart from God’s grace, that’s you and that’s me and that’s all mankind since Adam’s fall. There is no place for pride or self-righteous scorn. It is right to acknowledge the folly and evil and wickedness of the actions of these men, but only as we first recognize that our sin crucified Jesus as much as theirs. Had God not graciously intervened on our behalf, we would all remain stuck in our sin and folly as well.

And the greatest irony of all of this is seen very clearly in the contrast between “high priests.” Annas and Caiaphas were holding an office created by God to foreshadow the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). They were charged by God to be holy, clean, and righteous, to perform sacrificial and leadership functions as a way of pointing to the One who was to come. Their lives were to be lived in such a way that when the True High Priest came, the parallels would make sense. Instead, however, they were acting in every way the opposite. They were acting wickedly and in selfishness and ignorance. And they did so in such a way that, instead of making Jesus more recognizable, they made Him unrecognizable. And yet Jesus, the High Priest of high priests, acted in perfect righteousness, soon to offer and be the sacrifice, once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

Grace, consider this carefully. Your marriage is a version of this. It was created by God to reflect the gospel and make our evangelism make sense. Husbands, are you loving your wife as Christ loves the church, giving yourself up for her holiness? Wives are you respecting and submitting to your husbands as the Church does Christ? These charges are meant to provide a living picture of the gospel. Is that the case, or are you like the high priests who made it harder to recognize Jesus?

This is the case for us as members as well. The way we interact with one another is designed by God to show the transforming power of the gospel. Are you using your gifts to build up the church? Are you gladly bearing others burdens or mainly focused on your own? Do you confess and help others fight against sin? Do you forgive quickly and avoid gossip and slander? Do you love sacrificially and look to serve rather than be served? Do you love deeply and continually seek unity? Again, rightly oriented, collectively, we are an example to the world of the truthfulness of God’s promises. Wrongly oriented, we are like the high priests.

In the midst of all of this, we are right to wonder what the disciples were doing. Jesus had “negotiated” their release at His surrender, so what did they do? We don’t know what all of them were up to, but John tells us about two of them. Look at v.15.

15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. 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.

There’s a good deal of debate about who the “other disciple” is. And yet most agree that it was the “beloved disciple” (John 13:23), John, the Gospel writer, himself. Whoever it was, though, the point is simply that he knew Annas well enough to gain entrance for himself and his +1 into his house and examination of Jesus.

But that’s when things got dicey for Peter.

17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?”

For me, the most interesting aspect of this question is the word “also.” It seems clear that the servant girl already knew that John (or whoever the other disciple was) was a disciple of Jesus and let him in with a guest anyway. That makes Peter’s response even more troubling and confusing.

He said, “I am not.”

In spite of all he’d seen, heard, experienced, sacrificed, and received, Peter denied Jesus.

John doesn’t mention it, but like Judas’s betrayal, Jesus knew of Peter’s denial as well. It was promised many years earlier.

Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; will turn my hand against the little ones.

Indeed, claiming this very text, Jesus Himself predicted it. Back to Matthew 26.

31 …Jesus said to [the Twelve], “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ … 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

In spite of his vehement assertion, Peter succumbed to temptation and did indeed deny Jesus. But would he really do so two more times?

18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

25 … So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?”

Peter’s first denial seemed about as unnecessary as you can imagine. The heat is turned up a bit here, though. He was not being questioned by a servant girl who would have let him in no matter what, but by Jewish officers who had some measure of authority over him. Not overly high stakes, but higher than the first time. Had Peter learned his lesson? Had conviction set in? Was there a chance that Jesus miscounted?

He denied it and said, “I am not.”

Again, Peter denied Jesus.

Almost immediately after, Peter was confronted with a steeper challenge still. This time he was questioned by someone who certainly had skin in the game.

26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”

A family member of the man Peter had attacked questioned Peter. Here, there was at least an implied threat of violence. But Peter had already had two chanced to recalibrate. Would he? Did he?

27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Let us all learn two lessons from this, Grace.

First, Jesus came for betrayers. Jesus came for unjust leaders. Jesus came for deniers. No kind or measure of sin puts you outside of the reach of Jesus’ saving grace. The only thing that puts you outside of it, is failing to recognize that you are an unjust betraying denier. It is not the deniers who will be left out of the kingdom of God, but those who deny their denial and refuse to turn to Jesus for rescue from it.

Second, your past sin does not determine your present ability to serve Jesus in significant ways. At the end of John’s Gospel, John made sure to record Peter’s reconciliation with Jesus and Jesus’ charge to love and lead His people. Peter, as you know, would go on to be a fearless proclaimer of the resurrected Jesus and the leader of the early Church. What matters in the service of the kingdom of God is not past failure, but present faithfulness.

O, what amazing grace.

The big idea in all of this is the staggering love and grace of Jesus in the face of the growing treachery of those He came to save—including you and me. The main takeaways are the Spirit-empowered cultivation of humility, gratitude, trust, and love. May it be so among us, in increasing measure, Grace. All glory be to Christ.

John 18:1-11 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 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. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

There are events in world history and in each of our lives that truly and dramatically catch us off guard. That is, we all know of and have experienced the sensation of going about our day as usual only to be surprisingly confronted with an unexpected situation, confrontation, conversation, or piece of news. Imagine Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 or downtown NYC on July 11th, 2001. Imagine going in for a routine checkup only to find out you have some serious health condition. Imagine finding out that your spouse had been unfaithful. Imagine getting a phone call letting you know that a loved one was in a car crash. You get the idea.

As I mentioned last week, the backdrop and tone change dramatically from the end of ch.17 to the beginning of ch.18. In ch.17, Jesus was praying in a garden with His closest followers nearby. It was a humble, hopeful prayer for Himself and His followers. It was a quiet, isolated setting. And then, ch.18 begins with the “shocking” description of one of Jesus disciples betraying Him.

Was Jesus’ experience like Pearl Harbor, 9/11, a cancer diagnosis, revealed adultery, or news of a crash? In one way it was. There was a clear, immediate, and tragic shift in Jesus’ situation—from prayer to betrayal. But in a more significant sense, it was very different. As v.4 clearly states, Jesus was fully aware of that betrayal. Indeed, Jesus came to earth to endure it. Far from being shocked out of peaceful prayer by an unexpected betrayal, Jesus had known about it and been preparing His disciples for it from the beginning. And, therefore, far from being subdued against His will, Jesus willingly surrendered Himself as a ransom.

The big idea of this passage is that the time had come for Jesus to “drink the cup that the Father” had given Him—He knew exactly what was coming, because it was the loving, eternal plan of God, to save the world. The main takeaway for us is to humbly trust Jesus’ promises even when conventional reason suggests otherwise—especially His promise to save those who would trust in Him.

Before we come to the substance of the passage, let’s first consider a few background ideas. But before we come to the background ideas, let’s first consider why we would do that.

I heard a pastor liken preaching to a nice dinner a while ago. Preparing to preach is a lot like a chef’s time in the kitchen. A chef typically selects ingredients, cuts, mixes, cooks, bakes, and arranges outside of the view of those who will eventually eat the food. The vast majority of what a chef does is never seen by restaurant guests. Likewise, pastors typically study, diagram, pray, outline, consult commentaries, and go through several revisions of the sermon apart from the knowledge of those who will eventually hear the sermon. Intentionally, much of the work a chef does in the kitchen and a pastor does in the study never sees the light of day.

Under ordinary circumstances, people who go to a restaurant don’t want to know about how their food was prepared, they simply want to enjoy eating it and be nourished by it. Again, that’s a lot like preaching.

However, there are times in which your enjoyment of a well-prepared meal is enhanced by a chef’s explanation of the ingredients, the reason behind their combination and pairing, and certain aspects of their preparation. And, once again, in the same way, sometimes getting a bit more of the background of a passage (grammar, history, literary or historical context, etc), can help appreciate the content of the sermon. I think this passage is one of those kinds of passages. There are five specific pieces of background information that I think will serve to enhance the three main points of the passage—that will make it more nourishing and enjoyable.

Our passage is set in a garden. The first piece of background/kitchen information concerns the path that Jesus and His followers took to the garden. Throughout chapters 13-14, Jesus and the Twelve were together in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem. That’s where they celebrated the Passover meal together. At the end of ch.14, Jesus said to His disciples, “Rise, let us go from here.”

This background information is significant for two main reasons. First, this means there is a good chance that the events of ch.15-17, including Jesus’ high priestly prayer, took place as Jesus and the eleven walked together from that house to this garden. In that way, it is right to imagine these men walking, talking, and praying together over some length of time at night. They walked through lower Jerusalem, came around the Temple Mount, across the brook Kidron, and made their way up the Mount of Olives, which looked down on the Temple Mount.

Grace, Jesus, the Son of David, was leading His followers around the City of David, seeing all the things put in place by God over centuries to prepare the way for…Him…on His way to His death at the hands of those He came to save. In the city in which most things pointed to Him, in the darkness of night, set the perfect backdrop for what was to come.

And second, this is significant because it’s another reminder of the historical reality of these events. These are real people, in real places, doing real things, at a real point in time. There really were streets to walk and animal droppings to avoid, streams to cross and mountains to climb. This took place at a time in which the city was as full as it would be, celebrating a meal and the God who gave it to them just as they had done for centuries.

This is not a myth or a fairy tale or one more religious lesson. It is as real and true as is the fact that we are all here now, on Faxton Ave., in Wyoming, MN, at Grace Church, in the year of our Lord 2024.

Second, this garden itself testified to Jesus. It did so in several ways, but I’d like to quickly point out just two. First, it was an olive garden (not that kind). We learn from the other Gospels that this “garden” was called Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32) and on the side of the Mount of Olives. This is significant because it’s a reminder that God gives what He requires. For instance, God required pure olive oil to be used to light the lamps of the Tabernacle. And God sent Jesus as the sinless light of the world. Similarly, pure olive oil was used to anoint kings and priests. And God gave Jesus as the Priest and King.

Second, and even more significantly, throughout his Gospel, from the very first words, John has connected many of stories to the creation account in Genesis. His main point seems to be to communicate the continuity and imminent fulfillment of the one grand story in Jesus.

In that way, as you undoubtedly remember, Genesis begins in a garden, with a man tempted by Satan. It’s impossible to miss that this story is coming to a climax in a garden with a new temptation by Satan. The first man, in the first garden, Adam, succumbed to that temptation and died such that all mankind died with him. This next man, in this olive garden, Jesus, came to do what the first man didn’t and undo what he did. He came to resist temptation and die in our place such that all mankind might live with Him.

Again, everywhere Jesus went was a reminder that all things were made by Him and for Him. And that is a reminder of what an absolutely treacherous thing it is that He went to be betrayed in a garden filled with a fruit created to instruct and prepare a people for His glory.

Third, it’s important to grasp the significance of who Judas brought with Him in his betrayal. In v.3 we read, “Judas…procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees”.

The thing to see here is that Judas brough two groups of two groups who despised each other. The “band of soldiers” was Roman and the “officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees” were Jewish. Romans and Jews hated each other at that time since the Jews were under Roman control and oppression. And within the Jewish officers were both Pharisees and Sadducees. They too hated each other at that time because of different interpretations of the Law and different spheres of authority.

The background key to all of this is that it took quite a situation to bring these groups together under a common cause. Jesus was a significant problem in their eyes, so much so that waring groups joined forces to put Him down. What would it take for today’s Democrats and Republicans to come together in a common cause, with a common strategy? And again, the thing to see is that it was the One who came to save the world who united them.

The third piece of significant background information (which we just considered) was the people Judas brought with Him. The fourth (which we’ll now consider) was the objects they brought with them.

They brought weapons and lights (3). The weapons were brought by the (possibly 600) Roman soldiers. The weapons and the numbers are significant in that they meant that the Romans understood the seriousness of the situation, but not the nature of it. Jesus made clear from the beginning that His kingdom was not of this world. He’d also made clear that He had come to die, not to kill. That’s the essence of vs.10-11, which we’ll come back to in a bit.

They brought weapons and they brought lanterns and torches. The torches and lanterns make it clear that it was night, which is significant because that meant the Jewish leaders were acting against the Law of God. To ensure justice, God had prescribed the manner in which a person could be accused and tried of a capital offense, and part of God’s prescribed manner was that trials had to be done in the daytime. This was treacherous treachery and everyone knew it.

The final piece of background/kitchen information I’d like to give concerns one of the more interesting aspects of this whole scene. Why was there a need for betrayal? More specifically, why did Judas need to be involved? Hadn’t Jesus lived and taught and performed marvelous works in public for years, in and around Jerusalem? Wouldn’t His face have been recognized by nearly everyone? Certainly, the Romans and Jewish leaders could find plenty of men among them who’d seen Jesus, right? Was this really a matter of identifying Jesus for those who wanted Him dead?

There are two answers to this question; one practical and one spiritual. The practical reason for the need for Judas is hinted at in v.2, “Jesus often met there with his disciples.“ Jesus and His followers (including Judas) had gone regularly to this particular garden. This is significant, the text tells us, because it’s how Judas knew where to take the authorities. It seems like none of the arresting party recognized Jesus, but that is almost certainly related to the fact that it was dark and on the side of a mountain. He was easy to find and recognize in the day (Mark 14:49), but because the leaders decided to do their wickedness at night to avoid stirring up the crowds, they needed an inside man to pinpoint Jesus’ location at a time in which (they thought) He’d be most vulnerable.

And the spiritual reason was that God had long ago promised a betrayer, which John points out, and which we’ll consider in a bit. In other words, the spiritual need for Judas’s betrayal was to fulfill prophecy and serve as the starting line for Jesus’ path to the cross.

My aim is that this more-than-normal time in the “kitchen” is to set you up well to enjoy the rest of the “meal;” the meal of Jesus knowing what was coming, because it was according to God’s loving, eternal plan, to save the world.

If you remember back to John 13, we’re told that at the end of the Passover meal, “…after receiving the morsel of bread, [Judas] immediately went out [to betray Jesus]. And it was night.”

Luke adds another key detail.

Luke 22:1-6 …the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put [Jesus] to death, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot… 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Provoked by Satan, Judas sought out an opportunity to betray Jesus. It seems that he caught wind of the wicked desires of the Jewish leaders and looked for a way to profit from it. He went to them.

In other words, at some point during Passover week, Judas met with the Jews and they contrived a plan to capture Jesus out of the eye of the public. Judas, knowing the quiet place in which Jesus took His disciples, the garden of Gethsemane, and the fact that they’d be going there once again after the Passover, set it all up. At the end of the Passover meal, Judas left the group and went off to set the plan in motion.

Just as he imagined and revealed to the Jews, after the meal, “[Jesus] went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered” (1).

Thus, when we come to v.3 of our passage, we read, “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.”

What a treacherous act! What a diabolical scheme! Entrusted as one of Jesus’ closest followers, having lived and served with Jesus for years, having heard His teaching and witnessed His miracles, having been offered eternal life by Jesus at the cost of His own life, Judas chose to betray Jesus. Indeed, more than a mere passing thought or initial impulse that he later regretted and aborted, he saw it all the way through. He did it. He betrayed Jesus and did so such that he believed himself to have successfully carried out the coupe in secret.

Under ordinary circumstances, things might have been just as they appeared. It might have been a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 where Jesus thought He was in the clear, only to be completely caught off guard by Judas’s wickedness.

As I mentioned in the introduction, however, these were anything but ordinary circumstances. Far from surprised, as we saw for the first time back in 6:64, “Jesus knew from the beginning … who it was who would betray him.”

Similarly, a little late in John 6(:70) we read that, “Jesus [said], ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

Again, in John 13:21 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

And most clearly of all, in v.4 in our passage we read, “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward…”.

Jesus was not caught off guard by Judas’s betrayal. It was not a surprise at all. He expected it. He planned on it. He prepared for it. He prayed about it. He came forward to receive it. He was not subdued, He volunteered.

Grace, all by itself, even apart from the greater glory of the next point, this is a remarkable thing. Rightly understood, it is nourishing and enjoyable to eat. At the very least, on its own, it means that Jesus was wise beyond any ordinary wisdom and trusted in His Father with an extraordinary faith.

It might be possible for someone particularly in tune with the people and circumstances surrounding him to anticipate such a thing. Think Sherlock Holmes on steroids. We have a concept, even if it’s only on TV of someone with nearly this level of perceptive power. Even on an earthly level, though, for Jesus to know that He would be betrayed and by whom the betrayal would come, as far in advance as He did (“from the beginning”), puts him in a category all by Himself. It’s worth marveling at.

Likewise, even if Jesus was merely a man like us, the faith He placed in His Father to carry the weight of such a thing for years is astounding. Imagine 3+ years living with someone, nearly 24 hours/day, knowing all the while that one day they’d betray you to the worst death imaginable. Imagine willingly enduring that in faith that God’s good plans for it were more than worth it. Imagine Abraham’s march to the alter with Isaac on steroids. That too is worth tasting and seeing the glory of Jesus.

And yet, of course, Jesus was not merely a more perceptive Sherlock Holmes and a more faithful Abraham. His knowledge and faith went far, far deeper than exceptional insight and extraordinary trust.

That leads to the second main course of this meal.

Jesus knew what to expect because the betrayal was a part of the loving, eternal plan of God for the salvation of the world.

We see this in Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” This Psalm predicted the events of John 18:1-11 in ways David never could have imagined.

That’s astounding, isn’t it, Grace? Inspired by God, unknowingly, King David wrote a song, sung by the people of God, about Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, centuries before it happened. O, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Jesus knew what to expect because He knew the Psalm was about Him.

But that leaves us wondering why that would be the case. Why would God intend His Son to be betrayed and inspire a song about it? Who writes corporate songs about a betrayal? Why was it worth commemorating and celebrating?

The answer takes us a bit further back and deeper into the meaning of all of this. More fundamentally, and many years earlier, in Genesis 3:15, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Before explaining how that relates, I simply want you to note that within the first three chapters of the Bible is a promise of someone who will crush the head of Satan. And before explaining what that means, consider a couple of NT passage with a similar promise.

In Ephesians 1:3-4, Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Similarly, in 1 Peter 1:20 we read, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you…”

God promised that a descendant of Eve would one day defeat the devil who tempted Adam and Eve. More than that, we’re told that Jesus was that descendant, that His coming was promised long before Genesis 3 even—before the foundation of the word, and that He would not only defeat the devil but save a chosen people.

Indirectly, we see this in our passage in the fact that at His self-revelation the authorities “drew back and fell to the ground”. There is no explanation for this other than the glory and power of God being briefly revealed to the betrayer and his henchmen. In that moment, in that revelation of glory, they were given yet another chance to recognize that the man they sought to kill was no mere man, though none accepted. Like the rest of Jesus’ marvelous works and words, it didn’t register. That’s what sin does.

Indirectly this is evidenced by the fact that Jesus commanded the Romans and Jews to let His disciples go, “to fulfill the word that he had spoken: ‘Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.’” Jesus came with the power to save a people from sin. We catch a small glimpse of that in the fact that these armed men of authority acknowledged Jesus’ power to save the eleven from them.

Directly, we see this in our passage at the very end. There we find that the sword-carrying Romans were not the only ones who understood the seriousness of all of this without truly grasping the significance. Peter too knew that this was serious. He too carried a sword. But in that, he too revealed that he didn’t yet truly understand what was happening.

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

On one hand, we are right to be amazed by all of this confusion in the face of the very Son of God. At the same time, however, it was through the confusion of Judas, the Romans, the Jews, and Peter, that Jesus made everything clear.

11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Throughout the beginning of His ministry, when pressed to speak with greater clarity or act in more miraculous ways, Jesus consistently said that His time had not yet come. But then, beginning at the end of chapter 12, the beginning of this Passover week, Jesus changed His message, revealing that the hour was now at hand.

Jesus’ time/hour ultimately referred to His suffering, death, and resurrection, which, in the final words of our passage, Jesus referred to as drinking “the cup that the Father has given [Him].

The heart of this passage is that Judas’s betrayal was the first domino to fall on the way to those things. And that is what made this Psalm worthy; not the betrayal, but the fact that the betrayal was part of the plan of God for the salvation of the world. In that way, Judas’s betrayal, as diabolical as it was, was a representation of the fact that we’ve all betrayed Jesus. We are all Judas in that sense.

Grace, I invite you to eat the meal—for nourishment and enjoyment—of the loving, eternal plan of the godhead to send Jesus into the world, to be betrayed by Judas because He’d already been betrayed by the whole world, in order to save the world.

Humble yourself, acknowledge that you are Judas, and accept Jesus as the One who drank the cup of the wrath of God on your behalf. Turn to Him. Trust in Him. Put off worldly wisdom and eat His flesh and drink His blood as He commanded, and you will be forgiven, freed, reconciled, and brought eternally into the loving family of God as His beloved sons and daughters. Praise be to God!

The big idea of this passage is that the time had come for Jesus to “drink the cup that the Father” had given Him—it was why Jesus had come, it was the loving, gracious plan of God from eternity past, He knew what to expect, and it was the means by which Jesus would bring salvation to the world. The main takeaway for us is to humbly trust Jesus’ promises. We ought to respond to this passage in awe and wonder at the awesome plan of God to save us from our betrayal, through betrayal. And we ought, as a result, to gladly drink whatever cup the Father has for us, knowing that will certainly be a more refreshing drink than any other.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 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.”

One aspect of good preaching is that the tone of the sermon will match the tone of the text. Hopeful passages should be preached hopefully. Passages of condemnation should be preached somberly; not as if we don’t know that Jesus is victorious, but in such a way that helps us best see what He gained victory over. Passages calling for specific action should be preached admonishingly. You get the idea.

What, then, is the tone of this passage? To really grasp it, we need to remember the backdrop. All of John 17 records Jesus praying to His Father in heaven. He was praying by Himself, but His faithful followers were within earshot. Jesus prayed fully aware of the fact that in a matter of mere moments, He will be betrayed and arrested. He prayed this prayer fully aware of the fact that within mere hours, He will be mocked and beaten. He prayed fully aware of the fact that in less than a day, he would be crucified and killed. But He also prayed this prayer fully aware that in four days He would rise from the dead, defeating death, bringing salvation to the world, and ascending back to the place of highest glory.

The tone, therefore, is weighty and reverent, but it is also confident and personal. It is both serious and compassionate; honest and hopeful; grave and peaceful. To preach well on these two verses, then, we all ought to consider the content with heavy, but hopeful hearts.

The content is the last few words of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer”. He began, you may remember, by praying for Himself (17:1-5). He then quickly focused His prayers on His present (6-19) and future followers (20-24). In this final section of His prayer, Jesus turned His attention back to Himself and His relationship with the Father, His disciples, and the world. Here, once again, Jesus concluded by sharing His heart and mind with His “righteous Father” concerning His fulfillment of His time on earth. Jesus makes no requests in these two verses. He merely acknowledges certain truths that are critical to the next few days; critical both on earth and in heaven.

Within all of that, the big idea of our passage is that in Jesus’ life and ministry we find a perfect example of what it looks like to live fully in the light; to live fully consistently with the will and in the love of God—all the way to the end. That is, in these closing sentences of Jesus’ prayer, we can clearly see the essence of living in the light: (1) Knowing God for who He really is and what He is really like and (2) Conforming every aspect of our lives to that. In His prayer, Jesus acknowledged that He did that and taught His followers to do so as well, and both in order that the love of God may be in us as it is in Him.

I’ve broken the sermon into four main parts. First, we’ll consider (1) the “third name” used by Jesus in His prayer. And then, in the next three parts, we’ll consider the familiar truths that (2) although the world does not know the Father, (3) Jesus does, and (4) so do His true followers. First, the “third name.”

I’ve noticed that in general we don’t think a lot about the power of naming or the significance of names. For the most part, most of the people I know, including Gerri and I, name our kids based on what sounds good (and doesn’t remind us of someone we don’t like). But as you may have noticed, that’s not how things were in biblical times.

As many of the footnotes in your Bible indicate, names were given to tell part of a story (like Naomi wanting to be called Mara) or to indicate what part of a story someone would play (Like Simon’s name being changed to Peter). Biblically, names are more than what people call you, they are a declaration of who you are.

Even more significantly, the power to name is one of the most profound aspects of authority in the Bible. God alone truly possesses that power and authority, but He has also delegated it to some extent, primarily to parents.

As I’ve mentioned before, and as I should unpack at some point in an entire sermon, some of the greatest trials and tragedies in world history, as well as in the lives of individuals, especially today, come when people wrongly presume the power to name and others wrongly accept the names given by them.

Without getting too far into the weeds, the main point for us to see is that in the Bible names and naming matter a great deal. In this prayer, Jesus didn’t name God, of course, but it is significant that He uses three names for God: Father (1, 5, 21, 24), Holy Father (11), and (in our passage) Righteous Father. The significance is found in what each of the names indicates about God’s nature and relationship with Jesus.

The first name, “Father,” has two primary components. It means that Jesus is eternally begotten as the Son of God. That is significantly significant. You can read more on what that means in my sermon from June 9th. It also means that there is an indestructible bond of unity, warmth, love, purpose, and understanding between Jesus and the Father.

“Holy Father” adds an element to that. It highlights another aspect of God’s nature. Not only is He an eternal begetter and in perfect relationship with Jesus, He is also utterly unique as Father. One pastor says it like this,

“…most essentially [God’s holiness] consists in his absolute uniqueness and therefore the infinite value of his beauty and his excellence. He’s in a class by himself. He’s above all things… He’s distinct from everything that is not God, and therefore, he is of infinite and of absolute worth.” That is, He is truly set apart.

God is this in all things, but in His prayer, Jesus acknowledges that it is particularly true in His fathering. He is of infinite value in His beauty and excellence as a Father. His Fathering is of infinite worth. There are no other fathers who are like Him in the glory and splendor of their fathering. He is set apart from all common fathering.

That brings us back to our passage for this morning, and Jesus’ third name. “Father,” “Holy Father,” and, at the beginning of v.25, “Righteous Father.”

Like “holy,” “righteous” clarifies an aspect of the nature of God’s fatherhood. There is a lot of overlap between the holiness of God’s fathering and its righteousness, but there is a key difference too. The same pastor I quoted earlier notes that important difference.

“Righteousness doesn’t have the basic idea of being separate and distinct from what is common. Righteousness has the basic idea of conforming to a standard. When that standard is conformed to, the behavior, the thinking, the feeling is right — it’s righteous.”

God’s holiness is what makes Him righteous. It is because God is above all in glory and power and splendor and wisdom—His holiness—that He is the standard by which all things are measured—His righteousness.

He is the righteous Father in that He is the perfect father and in that all other fathers are meant to look to God as our example. He is the standard by which all other fathers are measured. He has everything and lacks nothing a father should have; perfectly proportioned and apportioned. He is the Father of fathers. He truly is the righteous Father.

Grace, please know, everything begins here. Everything begins with God’s name. That is, all reality is rooted in God’s nature. To get God’s name and nature wrong, is to necessarily misinterpret everything else.

Again, Jesus perfectly knew and experienced and loved God for who He is, Holy and Righteous Father. As we are about to be reminded, so did His followers in increasing measure, but the world knew none of that.

That leads us to the next aspect of Jesus’ prayer and the next section of this sermon. God is eternally the holy and righteous father, but the world does not see, understand, or believe that. They do not know God.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you…

Those who had persecuted Jesus and would soon persecute His followers, did not know God as Father. Indeed, He was not their Father in the sense Jesus prayed. And it is that lack of understanding, that sin-wrought broken relationship, that kept them of the world.

They did not know God, but, ironically the world (the Jewish leaders in particular) were supremely confident that they did. They actually believed they knew God as their holy and righteous father and that it was Jesus who was mistaken and/or lying. They were sons of the devil (8:44), but they believed Jesus was of the evil one (Matthew 9:34). They were entirely misguided, but they believed Jesus was the confused one.

Those who most adamantly rejected Jesus were close in many ways, but off in the most crucial one. They believed they knew God, but when Jesus, God’s own Son stood in front of them teaching, preaching, and doing the works of the Father, they proved they were mistaken by not recognizing Him and despising all that He did.

As Jesus said many times, to know the Son is to know the Father and to know the Father is to know the Son. And, conversely, to not know the Son is to not know the Father and to not know the Father is to not know the Son.

One of the more significant passages for me over the past 10 years has been 1 Corinthians 4:4, “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” Confidence and zeal are not necessarily connected to truth. Let that stir up humility in you, Grace.

Although the world does not know the Father, Jesus most certainly does.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you…

To know someone is to understand who they are, what they want, how they function, what motivates them, where they’re headed, and where they’ve been. It is to be in tune with their gifts and limits, their joys and sorrows, their likes and dislikes. It is to recognize their voice and their frame.

At the same time, knowing someone involves more than merely knowing these things about them. Because of the internet, we can know most of those things about almost every public figure, but that’s different than knowing them. To truly know someone is to experience the things we know about them, with them.

That’s what makes marriage so special. It is designed by God to be the place on earth that you are most fully know and most fully know. That’s why physical intimacy within marriage is euphemistically called “knowing” your spouse; for it is the place in which all of your knowledge about your spouse is meant to come together in the fullest sense.

The world possessed much knowledge about God, but they did not experience the things they knew with God. In the most meaningful way, they did not know Him.

And yet, even though the world did not know the Father, Jesus most certainly did. He perfectly knew the Father eternally. That is, He is perfectly and eternally one in mind, heart, and essence with the Father. Within the godhead—Father, Son and Spirit—there is perfect knowledge of one another. Nowhere else in all of creation do two people know one another more than the Son and the Father.

What’s truly staggering, therefore, is the next part of Jesus’ prayer and this sermon; namely, that we are invited into this knowing and being known by God.

Jesus said it like this at the beginning of His prayer (v.3), “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 13(:12), “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Grace, once again, knowing God is the beginning and heart of rationality and wisdom. It is also the very beginning and heart of what it means to be a Christian. And it is the very beginning and heart of the greatest treasure and the blessing of heaven. Ask the Lord to make this clear and amazing and desirable to you above all other things. Seek it with all you have. Sell everything to get it. If you are trusting in Him, He has and is and forever will answer that prayer and cause you to find what you seek.

In those ways, it is not an overstatement or oversimplification to say that knowing God is the chief end of man, for to truly know God is to glorify and enjoy Him forever. And in Jesus’ prayer we find that this is true of His followers.

Grace, you can know God in the fullest possible sense, even as you are known by God in the fullest possible sense. Praise God for this.

That brings up an interesting couple of questions, though. When Jesus describes the disciples as knowing God, we’re right to wonder what they know about the Father and how do they know it.

Of course, Jesus didn’t mean that His followers could believe whatever they wanted about God. They were certainly not free to concoct their own doctrine and “know” that about God—that’s what the world did. At the same time, He certainly didn’t mean that they knew everything about God either. No one, but the Son and Spirit, can know everything about the Father, for He is infinite and we are finite.

But that just brings us back to the original question. When Jesus describes His disciples as knowing God, what did they know about the Father and how did they know it? In this prayer alone, we see that the disciples of Jesus knew at least four things about the Father and they knew those things from one primary source.

The first thing to see concerning the disciples’ knowledge of the Father is a familiar one, they knew that the Father sent Jesus into the world and they experienced that in awesome ways.

25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.

That means, as we saw earlier, that the disciples were fully convinced that in every way, Jesus was doing the Father’s work, according to the Father’s will, and for the Father’s glory. There was no confusion in Jesus’ true followers concerning the fact that Jesus stood before them representing the Father in all He said and did. Jesus’ words were the Father’s words. Jesus’ actions were all to accomplish the Father’s purposes.

Knowing that the Father sent Jesus meant that they knew that to follow Jesus was to follow God, to honor Jesus was to honor God, to love Jesus was to love God, to believe, obey, and imitate Jesus was to believe, obey, and imitate God.

Grace, to be a Christian is to know these things. It is to understand and believe that Jesus was sent to earth, by His holy and righteous Father to save us from our sins, to defeat death, and to bring in the kingdom of God. It is to know that Jesus was sent by the Father as the way, truth, and life. And to know these things is to trust in them and celebrate the Father and Son for accomplishing them in love; which leads to the next thing that Jesus’ prayer reveals about what the disciples knew about the Father.

Jesus followers not only know that Jesus was sent by the Father, but they know that the sending and the going were in love.

26 … that the love with which you have loved me…

Far from a selfish sending or a cold obedience, both were done in infinite love.

On my best days as a kid, I would do what my parents told me to do, but I’d almost always do it without really believing it was for my good. Therefore, even when I did obey, I rarely did so with a happy heart. I knew my parents loved me, but I typically saw that as disconnected from what they expected and required of me. I’m sure their experience was similar. I know they knew I loved them, but it was probably pretty hard to see in the way I responded to their “sending” me to do anything.

Again, however, that was never the case for the Father and Son. In every instance, both knew and felt and shared perfect love for and from one another. Every command and obedience was given and performed in absolute and mutual certainty of its rightness and goodness. And the disciples knew this love between Father and Son.

More specifically, they knew that the love between Father and Son was such that all Jesus had done was the will of His Father and that the will of His Father was always for the absolute highest glory and good of the Son; that it was always willed in perfect love—even in every mockery, denial, betrayal, rejection, and scorn that Jesus was about to face. And even in Jesus’ betrayal, torture, crucifixion, and death.

Equally so, the mutual and eternal love of Father and Son for one another poured out onto Jesus followers as well, and they knew that love. That’s the heart of the middle of v.26

26 … that the love with which you have loved me may be in them…

And that’s the heart of the most famous passage of all (John 3:16), “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Grace, Jesus came to earth in the love of the Father, to accomplish the salvation of the world, and His followers had come to know and experience that love as well. Those who trust in Jesus know the saving, redeeming, perfect love of the Father.

If you are a follower of Jesus, the Father loves you with the love with which He loves Jesus. Let me say that again, if you are a Christian, the Father loves you, continually, perfectly, and forever with the same love with which He loves His Son.

I wonder how much more freedom and unity and peace and contentment and courage and obedience we’d have if we really believed this. It’s true. God’s Word is clear. We know it conceptually, but we often forget or reject that and so we are anxious and fearful and selfish and confused and trapped and discontent and disobedient. If your hope is in Jesus, would you spend some time this week considering the nature of God’s love for you and asking the Spirit to help you live more fully in light of it?

Finally, Jesus returned in His prayer to the reality that just as the love of God was in Him and His followers, Jesus Himself abided in His followers and they knew it.

26 … that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Though the world does not know the Father, Jesus does and so do His followers. In particular, they know that Jesus was sent by the Father, that the Father loves Jesus, that the Father loves them with that same love, and they know that Jesus is in them, abiding in them in friendship, imputing His righteousness to them, reminding them of the will of God, convicting them of sin, convincing them of His love for them, and persevering them in their faith. Indeed, He promised to be with them—in them—always, even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

All of this leads to the final part of the sermon and a critical question.

They Know these things Because Jesus Made and Continues to Make these things Known

Jesus revealed in His prayer that His followers are defined, in part, by the fact that they truly know these things. But we ought to ask, how do they know them when the world didn’t?

We find the answer at the beginning of v.26.

26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known…

They know these things because of the revelation and continued revelation of Jesus. Jesus told the disciples all of this while He was with them and the Spirit would continue to remind them of these things and more (16:9-11) after the Son was gone.

We saw earlier that one of the most significant truths in all of reality is that all true understanding begins with the nature of God. Here we see another of the most significant truths: We can only know about God the things God has chosen to reveal about Himself.

In the broadest sense, God reveals Himself in His creation. Of this, Paul writes, “What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:19-20).

In a narrower sense, God has revealed Himself in His Word. All that He requires of us has been handed down to us in the Bible.

The fact remains, however, that countless billions have experienced creation and have had access to His word and yet continued in disbelief. In the most significant sense, therefore, which John has pointed out over and over in his Gospel, is that we can only know about God the things God has chosen to reveal about Himself in a supernatural, regenerating way. We need Jesus (through the Spirit He sent) to give us eyes to see and ears to hear or neither creation nor the Word of God will make any sense to us.

John 3:3 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 1:13 …who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

This is still the case today, Grace. We can only know the things of God because God has chosen to reveal them to us; in creation, the Bible, and ultimately in the regenerating work of the Spirit. At the same time, if you will humble yourself and seek the sovereign grace of God, you will find it. May it be so among us.

These two verses mark the close of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” (ch.17) as well as His “Fairwell Discourse” (ch.13-17). Now more than ever, in closing, it’s important for us to situate the prayer of John 17:25-26 in its larger context. In simplest and clearest terms, the entire history of the world has been funneling toward this point in time. Everything before pointed and was moving toward the events of the next few hours.

As we move into the final section of John’s Gospel, then, may God grant us the grace of seeing, understanding, believing, and celebrating the love of God displayed in the giving of His Son for the salvation of the world that would not and could not otherwise know Him. All glory to God forever.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 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. 24 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 loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus prayed for you; not theoretically or conceptually, but actually. As you can probably tell, Jesus mingled His prayers for His current disciples with that of His future disciples, but do not miss the fact that Jesus really did pray for you. He asked the Father for unity among us, for us to experience the indwelling presence of God, for our indwelling unity to lead to the world’s conversion, for our shared recognition of Jesus’ glory to be the source of our unity, and for us to experience Jesus’ glorious presence. How’s that for a prayer list?

The big idea of this passage is that Jesus cares deeply about His followers, knows certainly what we need most, and believes wholly in the sovereign grace of His Father, and so He prays. The main takeaways for us are to marvel at the fact that Jesus prayed for us and to prayerfully and zealously seek the things Jesus asked of the Father on our behalf.

In the opening line (v.20) of the third part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer,” we find two incredible things. We find that Jesus prayed for us and we find the essence of discipleship.

In vs.6-19 Jesus prayed for the eleven disciples who were with Him at that time. In v.20, however, Jesus turned His prayer-attention to a broader group.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…

He prayed not only for those who did believe in them, but for all who would believe in Him. He prayed for the disciples and for everyone who would hear of the gospel through the disciples. You and I heard the gospel through the disciples (who shared it with those who shared it with those who shared it with us). Therefore, Jesus prayed for us. That is awesome. Be amazed, Grace.

You simply don’t understand this if you don’t marvel at it: Jesus prayed for you on this night in which He was betrayed. Even with all that awaited Him, He prayed for you.

Be amazed and do the same. Be amazed that God truly is the author of the story of all time. And because He is the One True Author, He knows the beginning from the end. He knows when, where, how, and why everything began. He knows every twist and turn and every up and down. He knows where it is all going and how it will all get there. And because of these things, He knew you as much then as He does now. And He prayed for you. Be amazed.

Grace, be amazed that you are not far off from God. You are never out of His earshot or sightline. There are no secrets you have from Him. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your every thought, feeling, inclination, temptation, and need. At the same time, He knows the exact position of every atom in all creation at all times, inside of you and outside, and governs them all. And He prayed for you. Be amazed.

Jesus prayed for you 2000 years ago. Be amazed. But be even more amazed that He is continually praying for you even now. Hebrews 7:25 says, “He always lives to make intercession for [you]”. He is praying for you. Be amazed. You have the attention, love, understanding, benevolence, grace, and mercy of Jesus and so He prayed and prays for you. Be amazed.

And do the same. Set your prayers not only on those who are in your life now, but on those who will be. It is good, like Jesus did, to acknowledge God as the author of all time and, therefore, to take a multi-generational view of things. Pray for your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids, and beyond. Ask the Lord to help them know Him through your word. What a sobering, awesome thing it is to recognize that you heard the gospel because God saw fit to use the faithfulness of someone two millennia ago to bring it to you. In the same way, God very well may be pleased to use your faithfulness in proclaiming His Word to rescue your greatest grandkid and so you pray for them.

Jesus revealed the word of God and prayed for all who had and would receive it. Let us reveal the word of God and pray for all who have and will receive it…and be amazed.

Before coming to the content of Jesus’ prayer for you, I want to point out something else; something that is particularly important as we look to hire a pastor of discipleship. In praying about who He was praying about, Jesus also helps us to see the essence of discipleship.

Contrary to what it might seem like in many ministry contexts, discipleship is not whatever we might make it out to be. Jesus’ prayer for us reveals something essential to discipleship. Again, look at the final clause of v.20.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…

At its core, discipleship is calling people to believe in Jesus by sharing Jesus’ words with them. There are at least three key aspects of this claim.

First, discipleship is about calling people to believe in Jesus. The aim is not mere information impartation. No one becomes a disciple by knowing or even memorizing a sufficient number of facts about Jesus. No one becomes a disciple of Jesus by not disbelieving true things about Jesus. And no one becomes a disciple by merely believing that Jesus…anything.

The beginning and foundation of discipleship is calling people to believing in Jesus; to place their trust in Him, to set their eternal hope in Him. Again, the first thing to see concerning the nature of discipleship from Jesus’ prayer in v.20 is that discipleship starts with inviting someone to surrender everything to Jesus as the only one who can bear the weight of all their needs, hopes, and longings.

Second, discipleship is about calling people to believe in the actual Jesus. Far too often Jesus is presented more as a concept or an idea to be believed in than an actual, historical, factual person.

Believe in Him because He is so loving; when “loving” means whatever you want—usually that He wants for me whatever I want for me and is sad with me that I don’t already have it. Believe in Him because He is forgiving; when “forgiving” is untethered from any objective understanding of sin and often no understanding of repentance. Believe in Jesus because He will make your life better; when “better life” is whatever you want it to be—often involving Jesus’ help to engage more freely in sin. You get the idea.

But Grace, as you know, if discipleship is calling people to believe in Jesus, it must be the actual Jesus we call people to believe in. That’s the heart of what Jesus’ meant when He prayed for the who “believe in me through their word…”. The main point here is that discipleship is calling others to believe in Jesus with the understanding that it is from God’s Word alone that we can know who Jesus is in order to believe in Him (and not some self-concocted notion of Him).

Finally, third, discipleship is about calling people to believe in the actual Jesus according to His word, who call people to believe in the actual Jesus according to His word, who call people to believe in the actual Jesus according to His word. In other words, disciples are people who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Embedded in v.20 is the idea that there is a perpetualness built into discipleship; for if there were not, we would not have received the word of the disciples and Jesus would not have been praying for us.

We need to live and minister in light of these things, Grace. Doing so begins with recognizing that a disciple is a Christian and a Christian is a disciple. In other words, if you are a Christian, you are a disciple. And if you are a disciple, you are committed to prayerfully making disciples by calling people to believe in Jesus according to the word of Jesus. There simply is no category for Christians who are not disciples or disciples who are not actively making disciples. We don’t all play the same role in discipling all nations, but we all have a role to play. If you are not intentionally engaged in calling specific people to believe in Jesus, according to His word, ask the Holy Spirit to grant conviction and repentance. If you aren’t sure how, ask someone at Grace to help you get started.

Jesus prayed for you. Be amazed. In His prayer for you, Jesus revealed part of the essence of discipleship. Make disciples.

And with that, let’s turn our attention to the specific things Jesus prayed for us.

As I mentioned earlier, in this portion of Jesus’ prayer, He revealed that there wasn’t as clean of a line between His prayers for His present and future disciples as it might have seemed at first. Indeed, rather than a hard shift from praying specific things exclusively for the eleven to praying specific things exclusively for all who would come, Jesus prayer revealed that in all of it He was praying for all of us—His past, present, and future followers.

It is for that reason that several of His prayers in this section are similar or the same as those in the previous section. The needs of His followers, engaged in His mission, in this broken world, remain largely unchanged throughout place and time. And among the first needs of His persecuted followers (now as then) is unity.

Clearly, unity was near the top of Jesus’ priorities for His followers. I say clearly because it was a central focus of His prayer for the eleven (in vs.6-19) and it is the thing He prayed most for us. We see it in vs.21, 22, and 23.

21 …that they [we] may all be one…

22 …that they [we] may be one even as we are one…

23 … that they [we] may become perfectly one…

The main thing for us to see here is that His prayer is not for a loose, generic, intermittent unity. It was for perfect oneness, of the same nature as that which exists among the persons of the Trinity. Once again, be amazed at the magnitude of this prayer.

Having already considered the content of this kind of unity, I want to draw your attention to another aspect of it. Be amazed that Jesus would ask the Father for something so spectacular as this—trinitarian-like unity, perfect oneness with each other. The question I have for you is this: Are you so bold as to pray for such things? Or do you doubt God’s power or good intentions such that you temper your prayers in order to make them more feasible, plausible, tenable? Don’t do that, Grace. Pray the will of God in all it’s miraculous, divine, splendor.

Ask for the salvation of the hardest sinner and for the healing of the worst disease and for restoration for the most broken marriage and for the return of the most prodigal child and for unity in the most dysfunctional church. And in that, ask for the hardened sinner to become someone who leads millions to Jesus, the sick person to become a Dr. who will cure cancer, the hopeless spouses to together counsel thousands marital health, the prodigal child to become the next Jim Elliot, and the dysfunctional church to become a training and sending ground for men and women whom God will use to begin the next great revival. Those things are no more difficult for God than any lesser prayer. And our willingness to pray like that demonstrates that we believe it. We trust God to respond for His highest glory and our greatest good, whatever form that may take, but we pray God’s will boldly.

Jesus’ prayed for us to have the same kind of oneness that the Father, Son, and Spirit have with one another. Again, as we saw earlier in the Gospel, that was a oneness of holiness and mission. There are other, lesser forms of unity, but they are not what Jesus asked of the Father for us. With God’s help, seek these things, Grace. Fight for holiness in your life and in the lives of the people around you. And do so in the forge of calling people to believe in Jesus according to the word of Jesus. As you do, and others join you according to the sovereign grace of God, we will continually grow in the same unity that the Father, Son, and Spirit have known eternally. Jesus prayed that for you; for us. Be amazed, seek this unity, and pray like that.

Jesus second prayer for us is familiar and staggering as well. He prayed first for our unity with one another and second for our unity with God. That is, Jesus’ second prayer for you is that you would understand and experience the indwelling presence of God in you and you in Him. That too will take your breath away if you truly grasp it.

21 … just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us

23 I in them and you in me…

Again, the heart of Jesus’ first petition is that we’d experience godly unity with each other. The heart of this second petition is that we’d experience godly unity with God!!! Jesus asked the Father not just that we’d experience trinitarian unity among ourselves. He also asked the Father to allow us to experience that same unity with the persons of the Trinity! Be amazed! What mind can even fathom such a thing?

We considered nature of this abiding unity with God back in chapter 15 when we read Jesus’ constant refrain,

4 Abide in me, and I in you. … 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Of that, I wrote,

The heart of what it means to abide in Jesus [and Him in us] is to gladly acknowledge in every aspect of our lives—every thought, feeling, action, interaction, inclination, observation, and evaluation—that we are entirely dependent on Jesus. Abiding in Jesus begins with knowing and feeling deep in our bones that Jesus is King, Jesus is the life, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, [Jesus is love,] Jesus is supreme. To abide in Him means understanding, believing, loving, and whole-heartedly orienting ourselves around the simple and glorious fact that it is in Jesus that we live and move and have our being.

And it is those recognitions and realities and conditions and experiences and gifts that Jesus asked the Father to grant us—as we come to abide in Him and Him in us. Be amazed.

This type of unity with God and one another is what we were made for. It is what the Garden was briefly and will one day be forever. Grace, you need to understand that your every longing only finds its true fulfillment in unity with God and man. We all seek to find it elsewhere (that’s the essence of sin), but as you’ve repeatedly experienced, nothing else can truly deliver. You were made for unity with God and man and it is only in that, that your heart can find true rest and satisfaction. Jesus knew that and prayed for you to receive it from the gracious hand of God. Be amazed and seek this abiding with all you have. And do so in the knowledge that on account of Jesus’ prayer, the Father’s gracious promises, and the Spirit’s empowering you will receive it.

Jesus’ third prayer request on your behalf was that the effect of His first two (unity with God and one another) would not end with us, but would spill out of us into the world around us, causing knowledge and belief to take root where there had only been ignorance and rejection.

21 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.

23 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.

According to these prayers of Jesus, the great obstacle in the world’s way of unity with God and man is a kind of knowledge. They do not know and so they cannot believe and so they cannot be forgiven and reconciled. What don’t they know and believe? In v.21 and 23 we see that they don’t know that Jesus had been sent by the Father (a continual refrain in John’s Gospel). And in v.23 we see that in addition they don’t know that the Father’s love is upon Jesus and His followers.

To know that Jesus was from the Father is to believe His words about the Father and His will for their lives. To know that Jesus was from the Father is to believe that they needed to be reconciled to the Father and that Jesus had come to make a way for that reconciliation. And to know that the love of the Father was upon Jesus and His followers is to believe that they were living as God requires; that they were living in the pleasure of God.

But none of us know these things from birth. That’s the effect of being born into sin. And to not know these things is to believe that there’s another path to God, that there’s another route to experiencing the Father’s love, that Jesus was lying about God, or that there is no God or need to be reconciled to Him. Any and all of that ignorance is a tragic and deadly obstacle.

All of that is the obstacle, but what’s the solution? How does the world overcome or get around or dismantle that obstacle? One way, we learn from Jesus’ prayer, is through Jesus’ followers living in the abiding unity that Jesus prayed for. Grace, don’t miss this.

The simple logic behind this is that when we joyfully live in ways that make no sense apart from of our gospel claims being True, God is often pleased to use that overcome the obstacle of ignorance and disbelief. It’s one thing to claim that the gospel is true. It’s another thing entirely to live in a kind of unity with one another and with God that simply isn’t possible if God is not real, He is not in us, and we are not in Him. Jesus’ prayer lets us know that the lack of alternative explanations is one means of grace that God uses to allow the world to know that Jesus is from the Father and He and His followers have the love of the Father.

Practically, we must share the gospel with the world. We must bring the good news to those who do not yet believe. We must tell of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and reign. And we must do so in the knowledge that apart from the grace of God, no one will understand or believe us. They will reject our message…unless we are living in unity with God and one another, for God has declared that to be one of the primary means of God’s grace to overcome the disbelief of those we evangelize.

Practically speaking, if you have a non-Christian friend, neighbor, or family member that you long to see saved, your first and primary means of grace for them is your quiet time, for that is where you receive unity with God. Unity with God is a means by which God helps the world to see the truthfulness of the gospel and your daily fellowship with God is the first source of that unity. That puts your mornings in a significantly different light, doesn’t it?!

Likewise, if you want your kids or your neighbor to know Jesus, fight every tendency to talk trash, to complain, to grumble about one another, resist the urge to make things about your preferences, and reject the desire to see church primarily as the place where you are served instead of the place you serve. On the flip side, make your primary words, words of encouragement and building up. Make your primary actions, actions of service. Make your primary disposition toward others, a disposition of gratitude and gladness. When the world looks and sees our love for one another, our care for one another, our shared purpose and mission, our divine unity, God has put eye-opening, saving grace in that.

One of the things I love most about Jesus’ prayer here is how far upstream it takes us. He prays for us to experience unity with God and one another. He gets us further upstream by revealing in His prayer that those things are one significant means of God helping non-Christians know and believe in Jesus. But where does that unity come from? He takes us further upstream still by revealing in His prayers that it comes from a common beholding of the glory of God.

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one

At its most foundational level, our unity isn’t around shared facts or even belief. Our unity is primarily around a shared experience. What do I mean by that? More importantly, what did Jesus mean by that? All true, God-given unity begins with truly experiencing the glory of God. The source of our unity with God and man is having our eyes opened to the magnificence of God, by His Spirit, through His Word, in His Son.

His disciples had seen that glory in Jesus’ teaching, miracles, and perfect faithfulness.

And it is only once we behold the glory of God, by His Word, Spirit, and people, according to the grace of God, that anything and everything else truly makes sense. When, and only when, we see the glory of God, can reality be put in its proper perspective. And once that happens, it’s able to cut through a million lesser differences, overcome a million would-be conflicts, and outshine a million personal preferences.

It’s hard to care all that much about how many ways you have to be served by others when you’re actively experiencing the unmatched glory of Jesus. It’s hard to

Therefore, Grace, if you want to see Grace Church built up in the kind of unity that the Holy Trinity continually experiences, seek not to conform everyone to your preferences. Instead, seek first a fuller and truer experience with the glory of Jesus. Turn your attention away from what you’re not getting and toward the surpassing worth of Jesus who suffered, died, and rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, reigns now from the right hand of the Father, and will return one day to undo every effect of sin. Look no longer to petty differences and fix your eyes on Jesus, the image of the invisible God. As you do, we will experience a kind of unity that will fill us with gladness and the world with the knowledge of God’s saving grace.

That’s what Jesus prayed for you and me. Be amazed.

Finally, we might wonder where all of this is going? Unity with God and man, flowing from experiencing the glory of God, and leading to effective evangelism all sound great, but where does all of that lead? It leads into Jesus’ glorious presence. And that’s the last and greatest thing Jesus prayed for you in this passage.

24 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 loved me before the foundation of the world.

In other words, Jesus was about to be crucified, raise from the dead, and then ascend to the Father’s right hand in glory. He asked the Father to grant that they would be able to join Him in the place He was going to prepare for them (14:3) and see Him in the glory that He possessed eternally (v.5) and would soon have restored. That is eternal life, the greatest blessing, and the goal of our salvation.

Both in Jesus’ day and ours, God’s grace enables God’s people to see Jesus’ glory in a remarkable, but veiled sense. One day, however, we will behold the unveiled glory of Jesus, the glory that was His from eternity past and is not for eternity future. In his first letter (3:2) John spoke even more clearly of this.

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.

If you’ve been at Grace for a while, you’ve heard us say this many times: If your idea of heaven is anything other than to be with Jesus and see the full measure of His glory eternally, you do not know either Jesus or true joy.

If, on the other hand, by God’s grace, you have truly tasted even now the glory of Jesus, you already know that this prayer of Jesus rises above them all in preciousness. Oh, what amazing grace it is that we, cosmic treasonists, enemies of God, dead in our trespasses and sins, might not know the fires of hell that we deserve, but instead, through Jesus’ sacrifice, the everlasting pleasures of Jesus’ glorious presence in heaven. Be amazed. Jesus prayed for this for you and it will certainly be yours.

Jesus prayed for you and me. He asked His Father for unity among us, for us to experience the indwelling presence of God, for our indwelling unity to lead to the world’s conversion, for our shared recognition of Jesus’ glory to be the source of our unity, and for us to experience Jesus’ glorious presence. Be amazed.

That He prayed for these things which means at least two things. First, it means that we need to go after them with zeal. Second, it means that we need help to do so. And both are ours as the Father sees fit to answer the prayers of His Son, which He always does! Thanks be to God.

John 17:11-19 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

To quickly bring you up to speed, our passage for this morning is the portion of Jesus’ high priestly prayer that contains His prayer for His disciples. He prayed these things just before He was betrayed, arrested, and crucified. The two main sections of this part of Jesus’ prayer address (1) the relationship between Jesus and His followers to the world and (2) the content of Jesus’ prayers for them in light of that relationship.

We considered all of the first part and half of the second part last week. That is, in part 1 of this sermon we saw that mankind is defined, in large measure, by our relationship to the world. In that way, Jesus’ disciples are those who are in, but no longer of the world. We also looked at the first three (of six) of Jesus’ prayer requests for the disciples (perseverance, unity, and joy).

This morning, we’ll see three more things from this passage. First, we’ll take a look at the final three prayers of Jesus for His disciples. Second, I’ll point out two things Jesus did not pray for His disciples. And third, we’ll consider the awesome reality that every one of Jesus’ prayers was answered in the lives of the disciples.

Like last week, the big idea of the passage is that Jesus was leaving, the disciples were staying, and, therefore, they needed specific help to continue living according to the Word Jesus had given them. The primary takeaways for us are to consider carefully our relationship to the world, and within that, to seek the things Jesus prayed for above everything else (perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification).

As I mentioned, in light of the facts that Jesus was leaving this world and that the world’s disdain would be redirected from Jesus to His disciples who would remain to carry on His mission, Jesus asked the Father for six things on their behalf. The first three we looked closely at last week.

Let’s now turn our attention to the next three things Jesus prayed for, beginning with faithfulness.

How awesome is all of that, Grace?! How amazing is the grace that Jesus called on the Father to provide for His closest followers?! How marvelous is the price Jesus paid to reconcile a people to Himself?! How sweet is the love of God that leads to our perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification?! This can be yours today, whether for the first time or in in creasing measure as you trust in Jesus. Trust in Jesus, therefore!

Having been sent by the Father’s love, Jesus loved His followers and so He prayed for them in their time of need. He asked that the Father would grant them all they needed to remain faithful to Him as their hardship grew because of it. He prayed for their perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification. That leads us to the second part of the sermon.

In a manner similar to how Jesus clarified who He was and wasn’t praying for (in vs.5-9), Jesus clarified what He was and wasn’t praying for. He described repeatedly how hostile the world was to Him and would be to His followers. He also said several times that He was leaving the world. It might have occurred to the disciples, therefore, that Jesus might ask for something to counter-act their suffering. The simple truth, however, is that He didn’t.

In fact, as I mentioned earlier, were the Father to grant perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification—if He were to answer Jesus’ prayers—those things would almost certainly only make the world and the devil’s hatred grow and therein make the disciples’ suffering increase. That is, by granting those things, the disciples would be living even less like the world and more like Jesus; the exact thing that had and would fan the flames of the world’s disdain.

Perhaps as important was what Jesus did pray for, therefore, is what He didn’t.

It’s hard not to notice two of the things Jesus didn’t pray for, since they are the things most of us pray most for.

In other words, in all of this, Jesus prayed for the Father to help the disciples navigate the world’s hatred in a manner that was pleasing to God, not for the Father to make the disciples’ lives easier or the world’s harder. He prayed for the Father to help the disciples act increasingly in light of the truthfulness of the gospel, not for their circumstances to be made more pleasant.

This isn’t to say that there is no place to pray for any of those things—we have biblical examples elsewhere. It is to say, however, that there is a lesson to learn in the fact that at this time Jesus didn’t.

Finally, it’s remarkably encouraging and hope-building to recognize the awesome reality that the disciples experienced the Father’s answer to every one of the things Jesus prayed for on their behalf.

Acts 4:29-31 probably best captures the perseverance of the disciples in light of Jesus’ prayer.

29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

The Father answered His Son’s prayer in such a way that each of the eleven disciples present to hear this prayer of Jesus died in the faith. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs tells us that…

Acts 4 captures well the unity that the Father created and preserved among them.

Acts 4:32-35 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Acts 5 contains one of my favorite passages on the kind of joy that comes supernaturally, even in the face of steepest hostility, to those who hope in Jesus.

Acts 5:40-42 …when [the Jewish leaders] had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Again, in Acts 5 we’re able to see a powerful example of the Father’s answer to Jesus’ prayer for the disciples to remain faithful to the word of God even when the worst came upon them.

Acts 5:27-32 And when [the Jewish leaders] had brought [the disciples], they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

In Acts 8 we see a remarkable example of the Father not only protecting the disciples from the power of the evil one, but also of giving them power over him!

Acts 8:5-7 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

Finally, the entire book of Acts describes the eleven as men who grew in holiness in every possible way. It is largely the story of the transforming power of God, turning this group of confused, wavering, reluctant followers into fearless, powerful, determined, faithful, godly leaders within the Church; again, even to the point of death.

Jesus prayed for perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification for His disciples and the Father granted it in spectacular fashion; even as He does for all of us today!

Jesus called the disciples out of the world and charged them to live entirely consistent with that. He did so knowing that as they did, the hatred of the world and the devil would be focused on them. Therefore, He prayed. He prayed for perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification. Within that, knowing that the humility, spiritual growth, and worship of the disciples were more important than their comfort, Jesus didn’t pray for their circumstances to improve or the world to be crushed. And out of all of that, in the book of Acts, we’re able to see clearly that the Father was pleased to answer every prayer of Jesus in awesome ways in the lives of the disciples.

In the end, Grace Church, Jesus’ prayer in v.18 must ring continually in our ears,

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Just as Jesus’ mission had become the disciples’ mission, Jesus’ mission has become ours. Let us consider, therefore, Jesus’ prayers, the Father’s answer, and the disciples’ fate. And let us give ourselves, all of ourselves, in faith, to forsaking the world’s ways so that we can bring the good news of Jesus into the world for the glory of God and the good of all who hear.

John 17:11-19 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Good morning, Grace. Thanks for sending us off for vacation and thanks for welcoming us back. I was able to listen to Mark and Matt’s sermons (thanks sound guys and Josh Lewis) and was greatly encouraged. Grace, you have good elders. Thank God and them often.

Also, we were able to go to Daniel’s church and I’d like to report that they had tons of sound feedback.

With that, welcome back to John 17, Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” and perhaps the most significant prayer of all time. In the way of a reminder, there are four primary petitions in this prayer. We considered the first one a few weeks ago. It is found in vs.1-5. In it, Jesus prayed primarily for Himself. On the Sunday before our vacation, we began looking at the second. While the second petition covers vs.6-19, we focused on the first five verses in which Jesus clearly stated who He was and wasn’t praying for (was for His true disciples; wasn’t for the world). This week, we’ll continue working through the second petition and begin considering the content of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples (half this week and the other half next week).

The first half of v.11, the first verse of our passage for today, serves as a smooth transition between Jesus’ explanation of who He was praying for (last sermon) and His actual prayer for them (this sermon). In acknowledging the fact that His disciples would remain in the hostile world even as He departed from it, Jesus was simultaneously identifying a defining characteristic of His disciples (in, but not of the world) and revealing the primary reason He was praying for them (it’s really hard to be in, but not of the world).

The two main sections of this part of Jesus’ prayer, and therefore the two main sections of the sermon, concern (1) the relationship between Jesus and His followers to the world and (2) the content of Jesus’ prayers for them in light of that relationship.

The big idea of the passage is that Jesus was leaving, the disciples were staying, and, therefore, they needed specific help to continue living according to the Word Jesus had given them. The primary takeaways for us are to consider carefully our relationship to the world, and within that, to seek the things Jesus prayed for above everything else (perseverance, unity, joy, faithfulness, protection, and sanctification).

As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the key themes of this part of Jesus’ prayer concerns “the world” and mankind’s varying relationships to it.

The word, “world,” is explicitly used 9 times (and implied several more times) in these few verses alone. In general, it refers to the earth and all that is in it, created by God and belonging to God. More specifically, however, it usually refers to those who have rejected God as God. It refers to all that has set itself up against God’s rule. In other words, there are two very different ways that Jesus speaks of “the world.”

To be in the world, is tied to the first sense in which Jesus speaks of it. When He talks of being in the world (in vs.11, 13, 15,18), He simply means living on earth. It has no moral implications. To be of the world is tied to the second sense. It means being worldly; rejecting God; embracing a distorted or godless view of things (vs.14, 16). That, of course, is inherently unrighteousness. It is the opposite of the life God made us for and requires of us.

With that, let’s consider the world’s relationship to the world as well as that of Jesus and His disciples.

What’s the world’s relationship to the world? “The world” is made up of all people who were born into the world (everyone), who were born into sin (everyone), who remain in sin (which, again, Jesus calls, “being of the world”), and who refuse to turn to Jesus for forgiveness and reconciliation (“the world has hated them…”).

The world is always in the world, and always of the world.

What’s Jesus’ relationship to the world? Jesus created the world (originally good) and came into the world, but He was never “of the world” and would soon no longer be in the world. That is, prior to creation, without beginning, Jesus existed as the Spiritual Son of God. All physical things (the world) were created through Him and for Him. At the appointed time, He was born into the world as a man (“I am no longer in the world” (11), “While I was with them [in the world]” (13), “these things I speak in the world…” (13)), yet, conceived by the Spirit, was born without sin. What’s more, He never sinned throughout His entire life (“I am not of the world” (14, 16)). And He was about to leave the world by way of crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension (“I am no longer in the world” (11), “I am coming to you” (11, 13)).

Jesus was out of the world (prior to His incarnation), in the world (at His incarnation), out of the world (at His ascension), but never, for a single moment, of the world.

Finally, what’s the disciples’ relationship to the world? They were, of course, like everyone else, born into the world. Similarly, they too were, for a time, of the world in that they were born into sin and walked in that sin. By grace through faith, though, they were rescued out of the world by Jesus (“they are not of the world” (14, 16)). And, by God’s design, for their good and the good of the world, they would remain in the world even after Jesus departed from it to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world (“They are in the world” (11), “I do not ask you to take them out of the world” (16), “I have sent them into the world”(18)).

Previously, they were both in and of the world, they were still in the world, but by the grace of God, they were no longer of the world.

One of the more staggering aspects of all of this comes when we recognize that we are largely defined (in biblical, terms) by our relationship to the world.

In our culture, all kinds of people try to define us by all kinds of things. In our culture all kinds of people try to define themselves by all kinds of things. The harsh reality is, however, that it is an exceptional kind of hubris, pride, and conceit to assume that power for ourselves, for it belongs to God alone.

Humility, however, allows us to conform to reality, rather than our self-deceived notion of it. In other words, from the moment of Adam’s fall, all mankind has been defined either by being both in and of the world—as sinners, in love with disorder, confusion, as the enemies of God, and under the just condemnation of God—or as being in, but no longer of the world—as saints, renouncing the ways of the world, acknowledging the rightness of God’s reign, and having been rescued and redeemed by Jesus. There are no other categories among the living, which means there are no other ways in which we relate to God or the world. Like gender, it is binary no matter how zealously or academically or compulsively others may argue.

But humility also fills us with compassion and sympathy for, and eagerness to share the good news with, those still of the world. Humility causes us to continually remember that we too were once of the world as much as (and in some cases even more than) any who still are. And humility helps us be constantly conscious of the facts that we didn’t rescue ourselves from the world and there was nothing in us deserving rescue. It was the grace of God alone and that grace is freely offered to all who will receive it.

It is these convictions that led Jesus to pray for (and not pray for, as we’ll consider next week) the things He did in this passage.

Grace, in case it isn’t already clear, let me say it again: One of the most defining characteristics of your personhood and faith is your relationship to the world. Indicatively, to be a Christian is to no longer be of the world. There are no Christians who are of the world. To be of the world is to not be a Christian. Again, part of the very definition and nature of a Christian is to be someone who has renounced the world’s ways and acknowledged that God alone is God. Just as a husband is the head of his wife whether he is conscious of it or good at it, Christians are no longer of the world even if we are not conscious of it or living consistently with it.

Out of that indicative flows many imperatives (commands). Imperatively, we must refuse the temptation to live as though we are still of the world. Because we are now of Christ, we cannot find rest or pleasure in thinking, feeling, and loving like the world. Jesus rescues us from the world. He brings us out of it. And then He calls us to live differently because of it.

For instance, because we are no longer of the world we must, with the Spirit’s help, increasingly reject the world’s definitions of who we are (autonomous, accidental, racial, essentially good, etc.) and embrace God’s (divine image bearers, creatures, sinners until grace, etc.). We must, increasingly, with the Spirit’s help, reject the world’s priorities (wealth, power, sexual liberty, self-determination, etc.) and embrace God’s (glorify God and enjoy Him forever, loving God and neighbor, making disciples of all nations, etc.).

It is largely because of Jesus’ and His disciples’ changing relationships with the world that Jesus prayed what He prayed for them. That is, it is because Jesus had modeled what it looks like to be in, not of, the world, because Jesus was leaving the world, and because His disciples, who were no longer of the world, would remain in the world, that Jesus asked the Father for the following six things on the disciples’ behalf.

With all of that in the way of background, if you were in the disciples’ shoes, what would you most want Jesus to pray for on your behalf? Understanding your changed and changing relationship with the world and the world’s growing hostility toward you because of it, what would you hope Jesus would ask of the Father for you?

Again, then, let’s begin considering the content of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples on the night of His betrayal and arrest, the night before His crucifixion? Jesus asked for six things (again, three this week and three next week).

The other side of the coin of coming to trust in Jesus is always, always, always forsaking the world (which is just another way to describe repentance). No forsaking the world, no genuine trust in Jesus. Genuine trust in Jesus, forsaking of the world; every time, without exception, always. There is an immediate forsaking of the world at conversion and an ongoing forsaking in our sanctification. All of it is a gift from God. All of it is grace. All of it is part of the good news Jesus came to accomplish and proclaim.

What’s more, God is pleased to bring that grace to His people through various means in and various forms. One such means is the prayers of the faithful (which is what we have in Jesus in John 17:11-19) and three such forms are perseverance, unity, and joy.

Let us give ourselves, therefore, in faith, in the power of the Spirit, to continually forsaking the world and embracing the things of God. And, at the same time let us give ourselves to prayerfully seeking the things God has given us to do so, perseverance, unity, and joy.

You can read Judges 13-16 on bible.com.

The life of Samson begins somewhere around 1100BC and is quite a remarkable story in the book of Judges and in the Bible as a whole. We are introduced to his parents first as a man and a woman who have not yet been able to have children. Samson is a miracle from birth, someone the Lord was raising up to deliver Israel from the rule of the Philistines just as someday Christ would come to earth to die for the sins of the world to deliver us. Samson was the closest person to Superman who ever lived but this Superman was given to the lust of his flesh and he all too often gave in to the worldly desires of his heart. The nation of Israel should’ve seen themselves in Samson. Samson had been started off on the right foot from the beginning. He had been given parents who loved him and the Lord and taught him what was right, if you compare his beginning to that of Jephthah the judge immediately before him in chapter 11 you see Samson had all the advantages in the family. Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a prostitute and eventually the legitimate sons of Jephthah drive him away when they are all adults. Hardly seems to be the beginning of a great leader. Just as Samson had been chosen to lead from the beginning, Israel was God’s chosen people but both the nation of Israel and Samson pursue after strange women and ultimately the disobedience is their downfall. God still used Samson mightily in spite of his failures and in the end when pride, lust and disobedience have caused him to be stripped of his strength he humbles himself and repents and is used for triumph over the Philistines at the end of his life.

In 13:1 we see once again that oft repeated phrase and Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord gave them up into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Interestingly enough we see that Israel does not give the also oft repeated, and they cried out to God over their bondage. Israel had become so infatuated with their worship of baal that they didn’t desire a deliverer to rescue them from being under the pagan rule of the Philistines. They seem to have become completely content with servitude, if we flip over to Judges 15:11 we see farther along in our story their frustration with Samson at causing difficulties in his acting as a thorn in the nation of Philistia. Their comments of “Don’t you know the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” How could you Samson? Don’t you know we have easy lives right now as long as we don’t rock the boat? What are you doing to us? Their comments sound quite similar to the comments of their forefathers to Moses when they whine to him that it would’ve been better if you would’ve just left us in Egypt! Life was easier there, this is just too hard. Once you recognize this Israel and their lack of faith and trust in the almighty God who brought them out of Egypt, defeated Jericho and gave them victory in Canaan and had delivered them multiple times before in Judges, you cannot help but marvel at the graciousness of God towards them. This is a quote from commentator Dale Ralph Davis on this:

What does He do when He has a people who refuse to forsake Baal and have no desire to forsake Philistia? A people grown so used to bondage they don’t even have sense to call out for relief? At least here the very God who Judges them begins to work their deliverance anyway. That is grace, grace greater than all our sin, than all our stupidity, than all our density. Nor can any Christian fail to rejoice in such a gracious God. For if Yahweh’s help were given only when we prayed for it, only when we asked for it, only when we had sense enough to seek it, what paupers and orphans we would be.

In verses 2-5 of chapter 13 we are introduced to Manoah and his barren wife. The Angel of the Lord (this is the same Yahweh that appeared to Moses) appears to her and tells her that behold you are barren and have not born any children. Almost seems to be rubbing salt in the wound, but then the incredibly joyous words come but you will conceive and you will bear a son. He gives her instructions to be careful and to not drink strong drink or wine and to not touch anything that is unclean, again He reiterates that you will conceive and bear a son. No razor will come upon his head for the child will be a Nazirite (Nazirite vow Numbers 6:1-12) to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the Philistines.

Where else do we hear this familiar motif of a barren woman becoming a mother in scripture? Sarah anguished over childlessness (Gen. 11:30-21:1), Rebekah’s first 20 years of marriage were childless (Gen. 25:19-26), Rachel was barren and incredibly jealous of Leah until she at last bore Joseph (Gen. 29:31-30:24) and then in post-Sampson time we meet Hannah (1 Sam 1) and Elizabeth (Luke 1).

We don’t ever find out Manoah’s wife’s name, we simply know her as Manoah’s wife. How often does the Lord begin there? In complete human obscurity and hopelessness where there is no ability or energy to start deliverance, deliverance must be brought about by the power of God and His ability to do the impossible. God would bring salvation for His people out of nothing.

The wife tells Manoah what happened and he prays with urgency to the Lord to please let the man of God come again to us to teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born. Does this remind you of an earlier passage in Judges? Direction had been given to Gideon but he asked for further signs from the Lord just to be sure this is really true. Similarly here Manoah’s wife had been given direction, God had chosen to send the Angel of the Lord to her with the information, Manoah did not need any further direction on what to do but the Lord’s response in verse 9 is pretty awesome.

And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of the Lord once again comes to the wife, she hurries and gets her husband and the angel of the Lord repeats His instructions to Manoah as well. After Manoah desires to prepare a young goat as food for Him. In verse 16 the angel of the Lord says that He will not eat the food but that they should offer the food as a burnt offering to the Lord, for it says that Manoah did not know Him to be the angel of the Lord. Manoah asked about His name saying so that when His words come true that they may honor Him. The angel of the Lord responds, why do you ask my name seeing that it is wonderful? Manoah offers the burnt offering and as Manoah and his wife are watching and the flame is going up toward heaven the angel of the Lord goes up in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife fall on the ground and Manoah knows that this had been the angel of the Lord (Yahweh). Manoah states that we shall surely die for we have seen God, his wife encourages him saying if the Lord had meant to kill us why did he accept the offering from us and why did he announce such things to us as these?

Samson is born and he grows as a young man and the Lord blesses him and the spirit of the Lord begins to stir in him.

In the beginning of chapter 14 we see Samson going down to Timnah in Philistia. There was evidently not much for conflict between the Israelites and Philistines. The Israelites did not mind being underneath the rule of the Philistines as the city of Timnah was occupied by Philistines. Timnah was a city that sat four miles southwest of Zorah, it was a city on the border between Judah and Dan, and if you reference Judges 15:10 belonged to the tribe of Judah.

In verses 1-4 Samson, on his stroll to Timnah sees a daughter of the Philistines and he comes home and he says to his mom and dad hey go get her for me as my wife. Normally in Israel the parents decided whom their children would marry or at least had an important voice in the decision as to who their child would marry but Samson was being his strong-willed self and making this determination on his own. Can you hear the anguish in his father’s and mother’s voices as they plead with him, is there not a daughter from among your relatives or your people that you could marry? Must you marry this daughter of uncircumcised (pagan) Philistines? Verse four states however that his parents did not know that it was from the Lord for He was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. Also reiterating that at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. Samson’s desire here was of a sinful nature but the Lord in His sovereignty was going to use Samson’s sinful desire for a bride from among a pagan people, because she was pleasing to his fleshly desires, as an occasion for judgment upon the Philistines.

Vs 5-6 there is an incident with a lion. A young lion comes rushing out of the brush roaring at Samson and the spirit of the Lord rushes upon him and he tears the lion apart as the scripture states one would tear a young goat. Why does this happen? What purpose could there be in this lion attack? Who else defeats a lion in scripture? David defeats a lion and a bear as a shepherd through the help of the Lord and because of this his faith is bolstered. He says to King Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-37 that God had enabled him to kill a lion and a bear and because of this he knows that God will make this pagan Philistine (Goliath) as one of them and he will be victorious over it because of the Lord. Was God showing Samson what power he had to do amazing things for the Lord if he simply obeyed? I believe he was, if Samson recognized this a humble heart would’ve turned from the desire to marry this pagan woman but headstrong Samson continues on his way to be married.

Vs 8-9 We see Samson going past the carcass of the lion that he has slain and he hears some buzzing and goes to investigate. Hey there’s honey in the carcass and he scrapes it out with his hands and brings some to his parents to eat as well but he doesn’t tell them where he got this honey. Why doesn’t he tell him? Well he knew as part of his Nazirite vow he was not to eat anything unclean, some scholars argue that because the Numbers 6 passage references just a dead human body that Samson was not sinning and violating his vow by touching the dead body of the lion and other scholars argue that he is indeed in violation of his vow and sinning by touching the carcass. I believe that he was in violation of his vow and I also believe he recognized it and this is why he didn’t want to speak to his parents about where the honey came from. They were frustrated with his choice of a bride, imagine their dismay in finding out that he had violated his Nazirite vow as well.

Vs 10-20 The wedding feast has been prepared and thirty Philistine companions have been brought to him to have a party with. Samson in all his self confidence and cleverness decides to give a riddle to them, and if they can solve the riddle within the seven days of the feast they will get thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes but if you can’t figure it out you owe me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. The men agree to it, I’m sure thinking somewhat what could this Israelite come up with that we couldn’t figure out? So he gives them the riddle, out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet. After three days they can’t figure anything out so they go to Samson’s bride and threaten to burn her and her father’s house with fire if she doesn’t find out the answer for them. So Samson’s new bride comes weeping to him, you only hate me, you do not love me, you have put a riddle to my people and not told me the answer. She nagged him and cried for the rest of the feast until he gave in on the seventh day and tells her the answer. The men come and give the answer and Samson, frustrated as he is, makes reference that if you wouldn’t have plowed with my heifer you wouldn’t have figured this out. He goes and kills thirty men of Ashkelon and gives their clothes to his companions to settle up his debt and then storms off home and his bride is given to his best man. Chapter 14 highlights Samson’s strength in the Lord as the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him as he tears a lion apart and then also as he kills thirty men of Ashkelon, but then we also see quite clearly the weakness Samson had for pagan women and the lust of his flesh which would eventually be his downfall.

We see at the beginning of chapter 15 Samson has cooled off and decides he’s going to go see his wife, so he shows up on the doorstep of his father in laws house with a goat and states I will go into my wife, his father in law responds no you won’t, I thought you despised her so I gave her to your best man, but hey her younger sister is more beautiful than her. Why don’t you take her instead? Samson storms away and declares this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm, he goes and catches 300 foxes and ties their tails together and puts a torch between each pair of tails and sets them free amongst the wheat fields of the Philistines in Timnah as well the grain that had been harvested as well as the olive orchards. Ironically these men had threatened to burn his wife and her father’s house earlier and now Samson comes and burns their fields. The men of Timnah respond by burning Samson’s wife and her father. Samson comes and avenges them by smiting the Philistine men, verse 8 states hip and thigh with a great blow he struck them and then he heads down to the cleft of the rock of Etam.

In verse 9 we see the Philistine men in retaliation coming and making a raid against Judah. The men of Judah ask why have you come up against us? The Philistines respond that they have come for Samson to do to him what he has done to us. So 3000 men of Judah go down to Samson and the exchange that takes place is quite sad really.

Judges 15:11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”

Samson don’t you get it the Philistines rule over us and we’re quite content with that! Why are you rocking the boat? You’re causing discomfort to us! What should’ve been the response of these 3000 men? Hallelujah, almighty God has sent us a deliverer! Samson, we’re with you! What should we do? How are we going to defeat the Philistines? Tell us what you need us to do. No instead these men were incredibly weak who would rather stay subservient to a pagan people than go claim and have complete dominion over their God-given inheritance. This exchange is one that is incredibly sad and disappointing. The Jews would later in history do the same thing to the Savior of the world shouting crucify him, crucify him! God had sent a deliverer for his people in Samson and they missed it just as the Jews would miss who Jesus was, the Savior of the world.

Samson is bound and delivered over to the Philistines, the Spirit of the Lord once again rushes upon him and his bonds are described have become like flax burned and they melt off his hands and he finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey nearby and with it he slays 1000 men. There is such humor in the Lord’s salvation of his people, everytime the Philistines seem to win the Lord uses Samson for things to become disastrous for them. In chapter 14 they solve the riddle but then lose thirty fellow citizens, there seems to be peace in Timnah until Samson sends 300 foxes loose, they’ve got the Israelites doing their bidding by binding Samson up and delivering him over to them until he is giving them a whooping with the jaw of a donkey. This should’ve put smiles on the Israelites faces, they should’ve joined Samson but instead they cowered in a corner and would not join in obedience to God.

Chapter 16 opens with Samson once again pursuing fleshly desires by traveling to Gaza to visit a prostitute. The men of Gaza are told and they set an ambush for Samson at the gate of the city. Samson picks up the gates, posts and all, and carries them forty miles to the top of the hill in front of Hebron. Scholars estimate the weight would have been four to ten tons depending on the thickness of the gates. What a feat! At this point if you’re a Philistine you’d think you’d just stay away from this guy.

We then begin the narrative of Samson’s ultimate undoing. It is a repetition of a sinful pattern in Samson’s life. His inability to control the desires of his flesh and his pursuit of strange women. Samson’s life reminds us of the importance of these verses in Proverbs 5:3-6

    For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
        and her speech is smoother than oil,
    4but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
        sharp as a two-edged sword.
    5Her feet go down to death;
        her steps follow the path to Sheol;
    6she does not ponder the path of life;
        her ways wander, and she does not know it.

Chapter 16:4 states that after this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The Lords of the Philistines come to her and ask her to seduce him and find out what the secret of his strength is. They each promised to give her 1100 pieces of silver if she was successful, this would be approximately 140 lbs in weight. In the US silver is just under $275 a lb right now so quite the fortune for a woman in this time. The Bible does not specifically say that Delilah was a Philistine woman but the location of Sorek and her communication with the Philistine leaders seems to imply that she was most likely a Philistine.

Samson has accomplished great things for the Lord to this point, we have seen great victories wrought by him through the Spirit of the Lord. However Samson instead of his faith being encouraged, and more humility building in him at the fact that God had chosen him to perform such mighty acts he seemed to have become increasingly arrogant the farther we move through this story. His willingness like a little child to continue to step closer and closer to the fire, to see how close they can get without being burned was growing by the minute. He had become arrogant in his strength, he seemed to have the attitude that nothing could slow him down, nothing could defeat him. In his strength he had become incredibly weak because he had forgotten the source of his great strength and he was about to pay dearly for it.

Delilah approaches him and you can picture her sweetly, flirtatiously saying to Samson, “Oh Samson you’re so strong, please tell me the source of that strength and how you could be subdued”. Evidently she didn’t think P90X workouts probably were enough to produce that strength. Red flags should’ve been going off in Samson’s mind at this point. What’s this woman up to? As Joseph fled Potiphar’s wife Samson should’ve got up and ran from her presence, but instead his inability to resist sin causes him to stay and he gives her a story that if he’s bound with seven new bowstrings he will be as weak as any other man. She binds him and wakes him up yelling Samson the Philistines are upon you! Samson snaps the bowstrings like they’re not even there. Delilah is upset with him, you mock me! You tell me lies! Samson gives her another story to keep her quiet. Bind me with fresh new ropes that have never been used and I will be as weak as any other man. She does this and again he breaks the ropes as she yells that the Philistines are upon him. Again she is upset telling him that you are mocking me and telling me lies! Samson once again gives another story, weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom and fasten it with a pin and I will be weak as any other man. Again she does this and again she tells him the Philistines are upon you and again Samson breaks free as if nothing is there. She is exasperated with him, telling him you do not love me! How could you Samson? Again Samson has the chance to leave he could have fled while he had the chance but he chose to stay and the scripture says that she vexed him day after day until his soul was vexed unto death. He was playing with fire but was so blinded by his pursuit of sin and his confidence and pride in his strength that he eventually surrendered the truth as to his strength and told her that a razor had never come upon his head and that if it did he would be as weak as any other man. She cuts his hair and again says the Philistines are upon you, he awakes again thinking I’m sure all will be fine but he awakes to find the Lord has departed from him and his strength has left him. The Philistines take him and gouge out his eyes and he is bound with bronze shackles and he is forced to grind at the mill but the scripture says the hair of his head began to once again grow. Also in the midst of his humiliation his heart begins to change and a spirit of humility begins inside of him.

The Philistines bring him out during a feast at the temple for Dagon for they said our god has given our enemy into our hands, and they brought Samson between the pillars of the temple to entertain them in their feast and merriment. Samson prays a prayer that comes most definitely from a humble repentant heart. Verse 28 “Oh Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, Oh God that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. Samson grasped the two middle pillars and he leaned his weight against them and Samson said let me die with the Philistines and then he bowed with all his strength and the house fell upon the Lords and upon all who were in it. The dead whom he killed in his death were more than he killed throughout his life.

Samson was not the person God used to give complete deliverance to his people from the Philistines but he was the one God chose to begin the deliverance of his people from the Philistines until King David ultimately subdues them in II Samuel 8:1. In his death Samson dealt a great blow to Philistia in the deaths of much of their leadership at this time.

Grace, we serve an amazing, all-powerful, loving, great God. Leave here today worshiping and praising Him for who He is and what He has done for each and everyone of us.