Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Happy Father's Day to the many of you fathers here. And hopefully it's a day of joy, of honoring you, encouragement. And as you're thinking about all of those things, one of the things that I noticed last week, and you'll notice continually looking ahead, especially if you're coming around 10 o' clock for the service, is the parking lot is getting fuller and fuller, which is not a bad problem.
[00:00:24] But because of that, we want to be mindful of safety in the parking lot. And so as you're coming and going, two things I want to mention to you. One, drive slowly because there's kids running around. Okay? Can you say that? Drive slowly. The second thing is we'd like to be able to provide a little bit more opportunity for space there. And so next to us, as you know, is the PGE yard. But right next to right on the other side of the fence there of our parking lot is the PG and E parking lot. And they've said that it's fine if you park. If we park in their parking lot on Sunday morning. We asked them about that just because it's getting full here. And so if you feel up, feel for a little bit further of a walk, it's not much.
[00:01:02] Feel free to park on Sunday mornings over the PGE yard, the parking lot, not in their yard, but in their parking lot. And that will provide some space, especially because it's getting tight here in the parking lot on this end. So just want to throw that out there.
[00:01:17] Let's get into God's word. So we've been going through a series in John. And so we land today in verse 12 of chapter 18. And last week we saw the beginning process, the beginning of the end. For a long time, Jesus has been talking about this hour that is coming.
[00:01:34] And so now really, it's the beginning of that. He's been arrested. We saw that at the beginning of chapter 18. The conclusion of the Last Supper has taken place. And Ethan, if I could get that on the screen, that'd be helpful. And then now we're gonna see what happens after the arrest. So hopefully you have your bulletins with you. You have your bulletins there in your hands.
[00:01:55] There's three very simple points that you could write in. And maybe you'll write a lot of other things there, but we'll walk through that.
[00:02:03] So what I'd like to do now is just read through the passage and then we will walk through your outline together. So if you would join me. Chapter 18 starting in what verse?
[00:02:14] Verse 12 there of chapter 18. So we know Jesus has just been arrested. Peter has already tried to stop this arrest from happening by pulling out his sword. And. And he. What did he do with his sword? He chopped off somebody's ear. Somebody was really paying attention last week, right ear.
[00:02:32] And so now Peter, Jesus says, peter, put your sword away. They're on the Mount of Olives right now in the garden called Gethsemane.
[00:02:41] And Peter, Jesus says to Peter, put your sword away. This is what is supposed to happen. We saw last week that this is the God's will that this take place.
[00:02:49] And so he says, peter, let this happen. And so now we're gonna see in verses 12 through 27, the next thing that occurs. Actually, I put something on the screen before I read. Can you go to that timeline?
[00:03:03] Some of this is gonna be small, and I'll just kind of walk you through some of this on the screen.
[00:03:08] What we see here is the beginning. At the top of that is the garden. The end is the cross. And there's a lot that actually takes place with Jesus between the garden, which we were at yesterday or last week, to the cross, which doesn't happen too far later. But there's a lot of different things that happen. So after Jesus leaves, he's praying in the garden, the betrayal happens. Jesus is arrested. The other side, we're in red on that corner. The disciples all run away, or most of them run away. Then Jesus is taken back inside the city, and this is where we pick up today. And then he goes through six different trials. The first three are religious trials, and the next three are civil trials or criminal trials, actually. And then after that takes place, they say, all right, you're gonna be flogged. And then he picks up his cross, he begins the journey out to Golgotha. Simon of Cyrene helps him carry the cross, and then he is crucified there, and he comes to death. I'll share that this slide in some other places in your email and on Facebook as well. It's just an interesting timeline that we see for Jesus. But what's important that we here today hold onto is this. There's six trials. How many trials did Jesus go through?
[00:04:16] Six of them. We're gonna look at just the first three today, and then next week we'll look at the next three that occur. We're gonna touch on some of them today, the following three. But we'll look at the first section of this today, so you can go to the next. Go back to that first title slide here. Let's look at verse 12. So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
[00:04:40] First they led him to Annas, for he was the father in law of Caiaphas, who was High priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Simon Peter, who we just heard about a little while ago, 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. But Peter stood outside of 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.
[00:05:16] The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you also are not one.
[00:05:21] Are not one of the man's disciples, are you? He said, what?
[00:05:26] I'm not.
[00:05:28] Now the servant and the officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold. They were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. Verse 19 goes on. The High priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
[00:05:44] Jesus answered, I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews came together. I have said nothing. In what? In. In secret.
[00:05:56] Why do you ask me?
[00:05:58] Ask those who have heard what I said to them.
[00:06:02] They know what I said.
[00:06:05] Then he had said. When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, is this how you answer the High Priest?
[00:06:18] Jesus answered him, if what I said was wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if I said what was right, why do you strike me?
[00:06:29] Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Verse 25. The next few verses before we stop. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, you also are not one of his disciples, are you? And he denied it and said, what?
[00:06:47] I am not he. He's already said that. It's the second time now.
[00:06:50] 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? Peter again denied it. And at once the rooster crowed. Well, Lord Jesus, we come before you today as we look at this text and we're moved in different ways. We see the power of what just is occurring here. The significance happened.
[00:07:18] Not only do we see that one of the disciples hands you over to be arrested.
[00:07:27] We see a close follower denying you. We see an unjust trial taking place.
[00:07:35] And as we consider this text this morning, we ask that you would open our eyes to the power here.
[00:07:41] And not just that, that you would change us by your power, by your strength.
[00:07:46] We know, Lord, that you are a God who is alive and well today. Your spirit is moving as we read this, as you teach us, Lord, we ask that you would shape us to look more and more like you. In Jesus name I pray. Everyone said so.
[00:08:03] The trial and denial. I said already that there is three trials that take place that are religious trials. And then how many more trials that take place?
[00:08:14] Three more that take place that are civil trials or criminal trials. So the first few that take place are in front of Jewish people and the others that take place are in front of Roman individuals. And we'll get into that a little later on. So firstly, if you're writing things down, the first item that you could write down on your outline is, this is Jesus.
[00:08:36] Jesus is bound.
[00:08:38] Nothing profound there. We see that very simply and very straightforward before us. But what I want to do here today is something maybe a little bit different than usual. What I'd like to do is just read through the text that we're looking at for that point and then talk about the historical significance, the cultural significance of what's occurring there. And then thirdly is just lay out for us the purpose for us or the what we can walk away with because of what this text is laying before us. How this applies, if you will, to you and I. So look with me, verse 12. We see now that they're in the garden.
[00:09:12] Peter has already cut off a guy's ear. Jesus comes along, he takes the ear and he heals it, and then he gets led away. And so, because we're talking about Jesus being bound, I brought a rope with me and I just wanna leave this here. We'll come back to this, but let's just talk a little bit about what's going on here. They let him down. And who's the first person that they took Jesus to?
[00:09:36] This guy named Annas. So what do we know about this individual? And so here's what we know about Annas. So this right now that's occurring, it's probably in the neighborhood of 80, 30, 33, something like that. This person named Annas used to be the high priest in about 86 to 80, 15. So for a good chunk of time was he the high priest in Jerusalem, where he was the high priest. But what occurred then is the Romans came in and they said, actually we would like somebody else to be high priest and what's unique about this is this for the Romans to come in and say to the Jews, we are gonna put somebody else and make somebody else a high priest. The Jews weren't super pumped about that. In today's language.
[00:10:26] They would have looked on and said, actually, why do you think that you have the authority to make somebody else high priest? Because according to Jewish law, somebody should be high priest for life. They shouldn't just be a high priest for a little while. Like today we have presidents that have terms or senators that have terms for the high priest. They didn't have terms. It was as set forth in the Old Testament, even that was for life. But the Romans came in and they said, we would actually like to have some control. And so they took Annas and they said, actually, you're not going to be high priest anymore. We're going to have somebody else be high priest that really they could control a little bit. Kind of be their puppet, if you will. You know what I'm talking about?
[00:11:06] And so Annas, though, even though he was removed as the official high priest, kind of like presidents today, you still call them, even if they're not actually a sitting president, you still call them president. You see here, he. He's referenced as the high priest, even though he's not the sitting high priest. You're going to see that in just a moment. What the Romans did was they said, all right, Annas, we don't want you to be high priest anymore. We're going to have somebody else be high priest. And actually, four of his sons were high priest for a short period of time. And then after that, Caiaphas, who we see here is his son in.
[00:11:37] His son in law. And so these people are related to Annas. But what we also know about Annas, even from what the Talmud says, which is like rabbinic writings about what was going on there was Annas was not a nice guy. Can you say not a nice guy?
[00:11:52] Not a nice guy. Not only was he not a nice guy, he was.
[00:11:56] One commentator speaking about him references him as a snake who is a thief.
[00:12:03] And you're like, wait a minute, he's the high priest. Remember back when Jesus goes in, it happened a couple times, goes into the temple because of the money changers that are there. And what does he do?
[00:12:14] He flips something upside down. He flips it over. He drives the animals out. What's believed is this, that Annas was actually one of the ones who was probably chiefly profiting from those money changers. He was a major player in the money, the income that took place in the temple. And so then imagine being Annas. All of this money's coming in because Passover's coming. All this money's coming in from all over the place. And then Jesus comes along and he starts flipping tables over and telling people, my father's house should be a house of prayer. So Annas is not really excited about Jesus, would he? Right.
[00:12:51] And so then we also find out about Annas, that because of this power, he probably lives. And this will be important later. He probably lives in what is. We don't know exactly. I said on that timeline, this location is unknown, this first trial, but. But it's probably a pretty big ornate house. We see that he has a courtyard, most likely in front of his house, gated. There's a fire pit there that we're going to come to in a minute. There's probably a big porch there. This is a wealthy individual who has a lot of power in the Jewish time right now in the temple, in Jewish guard and in influence among the Jews. So this is some context. We'll get back to this point here in just a minute.
[00:13:32] So remember, they're at the table.
[00:13:35] We're going backwards in time now. Last Supper is taking place. Judas is sitting next to Jesus, and Jesus tells him that he should leave quickly. Remember that it was some weeks ago. What you must do, go do it quickly. So Judas then gets up and he leaves. Here's what most likely occurred. Judas gets up from the table. This is the Last Supper. And he goes over to the temple, and he says, hey, you paid me to betray Jesus to you. Remember that? They gave him how many pieces of silver?
[00:14:04] 30 pieces of silver. He's like, I know where Jesus is gonna be. He always goes to this place. I know it's time. Things are dark, things are quiet. People are busy with their families. Passover's coming. And they say, all right. And then what they would have done then is figured out a plan. What if Jesus isn't there? Well, I don't know. We're gonna go about our life. But if he is there, Annas probably says, I would like first dibs at Jesus.
[00:14:27] So they gather together some Roman guards. They gather together some temple guards. This is all taking place while Jesus is praying on the Mount.
[00:14:35] And then what they do is, all right, everybody's here. Are we ready? All right, we're all ready. And they begin the journey, Judas leading the way. Right?
[00:14:42] Begin the journey to the Mount. And then the arrest takes place. Now, remember who called first dibs on Jesus, Annas. He's already upset with Jesus. He knows if this is gonna work out, I would like to. And then if I would like to question him first. And if it does work out, I'll entertain him. I'll hang out with him while we wake up some other people. Because we would like a trial to take place, a trial to condemn Jesus.
[00:15:09] So all that has already taken place.
[00:15:13] And Jesus now, from the time in the garden, they bind him with this rope, that's what we see in this text. And they begin to lead him from the Mount of Olives back to most likely Annas house, bound. And that's what we see here in the text. This is a busy time for the culture. Imagine, kind of Christmas Eve even. Everyone's doing their own thing. But I'd like to lean into this point about Jesus being bound for just a moment before we go to point 2.
[00:15:40] Jesus knows what it's like to be bound, to be held. And from that time, whatever that night was, Thursday night, perhaps, that he is bound. He stayed bound, trapped, held until.
[00:15:57] Well, he goes from there. He goes through the trials, then he's flogged, he's taken to the cross and he stays bound there. They hang him on the cross and then after he dies, he's bound again in grave clothes, right? Jesus stays bound until he rises again on Sunday morning.
[00:16:16] Now, for us today, some here, even today, feel bound. Some of you might feel tied somehow. You feel captive to something.
[00:16:27] You know what I'm talking about. Even though we're Christians, we know that there are some things that bind us. What are some of those things? Some of it might be drugs, Some of it might be alcohol. Some of it might be anxiety. Some of it might. It might be pornography, it might be money, it might be fear, it might be doubt, guilt, shame, anger, lies. The list goes on. The things that we know. Jesus is strong, but yet some of us feel like. I know that that's real, that he loves me and that he cares about me. But I still feel like I'm not who I'm supposed to be. I mean, Jesus came and he said, I've come to set the captives free. But some of us, even as Christians, feel.
[00:17:07] We feel like whatever those things, whatever this rope means to you, you feel like, I feel tied right now and I don't like this. And I know even that Jesus doesn't want this for me. He came to set the captives free, and yet I still feel bound. And here's some encouragement for you and I. Jesus also felt bound For a while, didn't he? But what unbound Jesus was wasn't his own efforts. Though the power and the efforts of Jesus could unbind anything. The thing that unbound Jesus is the same power that rose him from the dead.
[00:17:45] And that same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives where?
[00:17:49] In you and I.
[00:17:50] And so, no matter how long you may have felt bound, the same thing that unbound Jesus is the same not even thing, the same person who unbound you. The power of God inside of him can also bring freedom to you and I. Now, how on earth do we go about doing that? A few things to consider as you think about. All right, I'm feeling bound, but I don't know how to get out of that one. Is this. Maybe write some of these things down. How do I feel unbound? How do I get unbound from the lies that I'm feeling, from the attachment to money, from the shame, from the guilt, from the anger. Firstly, it's this. Confess it as something that you're feeling bound by. Cause some of us, we feel bound. We don't really know what this is. So maybe it's asking God, what is the thing that's binding me? And that's a powerful prayer. God, what is binding me right now? What's holding me from being the person that you've asked me to be? And then secondly, after you ask and identify, that is saying, God, will you help me with this?
[00:18:48] Because I can't do it by myself. And that might be help in the word, that might be help in prayer. That might be help from a friend.
[00:18:54] But it's identifying, here's the bonds that are holding me. And then saying, God, I need help with this because I don't want this to hold on to me any longer. Maybe it's going to a friend and saying, hey, anger has been a problem in my life for a long time. It has been binding me. And I know that Jesus doesn't want this to be binding me. This addiction has been binding me for a long time, and I don't want this to be binding me. Jesus doesn't want this to be binding me. And he says, the power to be free of this lives where inside of us.
[00:19:23] So just in those few verses, we see that the tail end of that says it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. That point is just making something clear to us. The trials that took place, they had an agenda. And the agenda wasn't to figure out if Jesus was doing the right thing or what should happen to him. They had already decided we want him dead. They wanted him dead.
[00:19:52] But Jesus is gonna go through this trial anyway. What I wanna do here is move to verse 15 through 18.2 is this. Jesus was not only bound, but he was denied 15 through 18. And then jumping to verses 25 through 27, now here's what occurs. I'll leave this here as we can kinda keep thinking about that. But what occurs now is Jesus then is led boundaries to whose house?
[00:20:18] Whose house?
[00:20:19] Annas house or wherever Annas is at this time. And then this next situation occurs, this next event or scene, if you will, occurs. And it's this, there seems to be a gate that he's led through.
[00:20:31] And then he approaches or he interacts then with Annas. And then let's read on verse 15. Simon Peter follows Jesus as did another disciple. This other disciple is not listed. Most likely it's John is what most believe since that disciple was known to the high priest. He entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. Then Peter stood outside the door. So the other disciple, so the other disciple, who again who do we think that other disciple is?
[00:20:59] Most likely John, who is known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl and lets Peter in. And then we see another denial. So here's kind of the picture that I want you to have in your mind is let's say right here is the gate. Over here is the gate, right in the center there's a little fire pit. And then over here is perhaps a porch that Annas and Jesus and maybe some guards are on right now. And that kind of have that scene in your head.
[00:21:24] And so what occurs is Jesus gets let in. He goes over to where Annas is and then Peter, right, he's the one following and the other disciple is following along.
[00:21:34] Peter then comes to the gate that's now closed. Somehow John has already gotten inside. Because John already knows some of these people. And I always find that interesting, don't you?
[00:21:44] He was known as very close to Jesus, right?
[00:21:48] But also he seems to be really close with these other religious leaders. No one knows exactly why, but some old writings suggest even because John was one of the fishermen that suggest that John and maybe some of John's family members actually provided some fish to or some service with, worked alongside some of the religious leaders at the time. Because what's noted here is they didn't question John. Did you see that? They didn't say, hey, I noticed you came in it could be about midnight, by the way, one o' clock in the morning. You're walking in here with Jesus, who just got arrested. John, why are you out?
[00:22:23] You notice that they didn't ask that question.
[00:22:26] They let him in because he was known, and not just known, but he was trusted by these religious leaders at the time, some of the guards and the girl at the gate. Which tells us that even at one o' clock in the morning, imagine if somebody else came knocking at your door at 1 o' clock in the morning. You'd probably be asking, and why are you here?
[00:22:43] Can I help you? He comes and they let him right in. So we don't know what exactly that relationship looked like, but we know the servant girl trusts him. Verses 17 goes on, and we see that the servant girl says to Peter, so John is already inside. And then the gate's shut. Peter comes to the gate and John sees Peter standing there. You imagining this with me? And sees through the gate. So he comes over and he probably taps the girl and says, hey, it's okay, you can let him in. I know him, he's good.
[00:23:12] So she opens the gate and lets him in. She's probably wondering, now, this guy, I wonder, could he be one of those followers of Jesus? I don't really know him. This is a strange time for him to be coming to hang out with Annas. And so she lets him in. John seems to disappear, go off somewhere else. And they begin to journey, we see from other gospels, back to the fire pit. And the girl turns and looks at Peter and asks, what?
[00:23:37] Aren't you one of the disciples?
[00:23:40] And then Peter's response, what?
[00:23:44] No, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not one of his disciples.
[00:23:49] And probably thinking, and rightfully so, if I say that I am one of his disciples, I could be drugged right up there with Jesus very, very quickly. I mean, without question, they would have said, excuse me, guard, guard. One of his disciples are here. He might be trying to free Jesus right now. You should come over and arrest him as well. So Peter quickly replies, I am not. Now, we don't know if he thought a whole lot about this being denial number one, but perhaps after being confident about this reply to this girl, when he says, no, I am not, we know there's a fire pit right here about right in the center. And he comes back over to this fire pit because it is what? Cause it's cold. It's probably one o' clock or so, two in the morning, maybe time of the Year could be low 50s or so. There's guards, there's some servants around the fire warming their hands. And they're probably standing here like this looking over at Jesus. The guards, Annas, they're probably listening a little bit to some of the questioning that's going on here. And Peter steps back over to the fire and begins to warm his hand. It's dark, but the light from the flames are lighting up the situation a little bit more. And he seems to be somewhat confident that, all right, I think I'm good. I can watch Jesus right now. I can hear what's going on now. Let's jump ahead just a little bit and then we'll get to maybe some real big significant points for us. Verses 25 and following.
[00:25:12] Look on now. They're standing there now, Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, this is one of the other servants there. We see from another gospel, you also are not one of the disciples, are you? And what's his reply?
[00:25:27] I am not.
[00:25:28] How many times does he deny Jesus now?
[00:25:31] Twice.
[00:25:32] And we see even from another gospel that quickly thereafter another person steps up. And we don't know if this relative of the guy of Malchus had just walked in or if he's standing there and he's been thinking this whole time, I would remember the guy who cut off my cousin's ear.
[00:25:50] Like that would stick in my. That would stick in my mind.
[00:25:54] And so he speaks up and he says, no, I was there. I remember. Of all the people that I would have remembered, I would definitely remember you. And then Peter then replies and says, no, I did not. And in other gospels, it says he begins to call, begins to curse, actually, and start maybe even becoming louder and louder. No, it's not.
[00:26:15] It definitely is not me. I am not one of those followers of Jesus. And then what happens? Right after he says that?
[00:26:22] The rooster crows.
[00:26:25] Somebody was ready for that.
[00:26:29] They're all around the fire warming themselves.
[00:26:33] And here's what we know happens. The rooster crows.
[00:26:38] And then it hits Peter more so even. Does he pay attention? Not so much does he pay attention to the rooster crowing, saying, morning is coming. But it's like a knife to the heart as he realizes the words of Jesus just came true.
[00:26:55] And we know from other gospels that Peter then does what he looks where?
[00:27:00] Over at Jesus. And Jesus, where does Jesus look?
[00:27:04] Right back at him. And they make eye contact.
[00:27:07] And Peter, imagine what he might be feeling right now.
[00:27:14] He has just. And maybe you haven't thought about this yet. He has just Done what the nine other disciples didn't do. The nine other disciples, they ran away.
[00:27:24] Notice there's only two disciples here. The nine others, Peter thinking, I'm going to follow from behind. I see the crowd going, I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm not abandoning Jesus. I. I'm not abandoning Jesus. I'm not abandoning Jesus. He comes up, he goes, all right, that's where they are. He's over there. He's behind that gate. And then he's bold enough, he's courageous enough to come up to the gate. And the girl sees him and he sees John. And John lets him in. And Peter's thinking, probably to himself, man, I did what nobody else did. The other disciples, they all left, but not me. I am staying with Jesus. I'm not abandoning Jesus. And then the questions start. Don't they? Were you with Jesus? No.
[00:28:00] No, no. And so Peter has this conflicted emotion going on inside of him. The I was so courageous. I did what the other disciples wouldn't do and couldn't do. I'm sticking with Jesus to, oh, my word, I just abandoned Jesus.
[00:28:15] I just denied him. And he heard it. He even told me it was going to happen.
[00:28:21] The heart that Peter must have had, it says in some other gospels. In both Luke and Matthew, it says this that Peter looked at Jesus and then he wept. He went out and wept bitterly.
[00:28:34] He wasn't just going, oh, well, Jesus says things and it's always true.
[00:28:38] That's not what he said. His heart was gripped and he turns and he leaves. Imagine the others around the fire pit when they see this interaction occur and they see Peter leaving. Now what does it say to us?
[00:28:51] This fall of Peter is doubtless intended to be a lesson for all of us here today. It is recorded. This is recorded for our learning, for our growth, for our edification, and for our warning.
[00:29:03] It is a beacon, a merciful beacon set up in scripture to prevent us from becoming too proud or too confident to say, I'm never going to fail in my walk. It shows us the danger of pride and self confidence. If Peter had not been so sure that even though everyone else had denied Jesus that he wouldn't, maybe he would have thought to himself, wait a minute. Jesus did call me when we were in the garden to pray for strength, but I didn't do that. I fell asleep.
[00:29:34] It shows us the danger of laziness.
[00:29:37] If Peter had watched and prayed like the Lord had called him to, maybe he would have been strong enough in this time. And lastly, it shows us the painful Influence of the fear of man.
[00:29:49] Few of us are aware how much we fear man.
[00:29:55] And oftentimes it's only revealed when we put it side by side to the call of God upon our life. And the fear of man that we have, when it's just, here's the call of God, we're like, yes, I'm going to do it. But as soon as we bring in the fear of man, we realize, oh, my goodness.
[00:30:10] Is the call of God and the fear of man that closely related for me?
[00:30:15] Friends, here's what we see. The call of God should be way up here, shouldn't it? The voice of God in our life and the fear of man down here somewhere. But the reality is the fear of man. For we don't like to admit this. The fear of man is often way up here for us. And maybe even like for Peter, in this time, the fear of man rose above the call of God on his life to stand with Christ.
[00:30:35] We too can fall into this fear of man, can't we?
[00:30:39] We too can step into this place where we think, I'm strong and I got this. But in reality, we step back and we think, I have my own ownership of my life. I need to take care of myself because nobody else will take care of me, so I need to guard and protect myself. Isn't that what Peter did? There he was watching out for himself, not watching out for the call of God upon his life and standing firm in that.
[00:31:07] Now, what's encouragement for us in this is, before we go to point three, it's this.
[00:31:11] Peter didn't abandon Jesus, even though he denied Jesus in that place and time. And here's what that teaches us, is there's gonna be times that you and I, in our walk with God, make mistakes where we fail, where we do things that we know are not right. And we could be, for example, like Judas, who realized his wrong, his error, and never repented, he just fled.
[00:31:36] Or we could be like Peter, who realizes his wrong and then remorse, definite remorse, but then he repents. A little while later, Jesus asks him, peter, do you love me?
[00:31:48] And we see that there is restoration that takes place when we walk with Jesus.
[00:31:54] Shame doesn't have to hold onto us. Bitterness and resentment and anger doesn't have to hold onto us because of our own failures. Jesus says, come back to me.
[00:32:03] Come back to me. I love you. And Peter, we know, is a major figure in the early church.
[00:32:09] Let's look at point three together. In conclusion, this last portion. Jesus is questioned. Jesus is questioned. The high priest Then.
[00:32:18] So there's kind of two scenes going on. We have the scene we just looked at taking place at the fire pit. We have this other scene that's taking place with Annas the guard and Jesus. And that's what we're going to look at here for the next few minutes. Look what it says there. A high priest then is questioning Jesus over here about his disciples and his teaching, or his disciples and his doctrine. Some of your Bibles might say Jesus answered him.
[00:32:38] I have spoken openly to the world.
[00:32:40] I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in what in secret.
[00:32:49] Now you can read the rest of this. I know we've read it before. There's two main types of questions that Annas is asking here. One, he's asking, hey, if you're gone, hypothetically speaking, of course, if you're gone, which one of your disciples is going to be the next one to lead this revolt against us?
[00:33:04] Which one of your disciples might be following, taking up the cloak, if you will, taking up your mantle and leading on? Because they're going to make sure if we get rid of Jesus, we want to make sure that his disciples also don't lead another rebellion. So which one of your disciples? Let's talk about your disciples. The second thing that he's asking is this.
[00:33:21] Can you tell us more about what you believe, about what you're teaching? Is there other things going on that we don't know about in your teaching? Here's what they're trying to do. They're trying to find some grounds for this arrest that already took place.
[00:33:34] It's like if a police officer comes in and says, you're under arrest, they put you in handcuffs and they take you to court. And then the judge says, so tell me what things have you done wrong because we need to charge you with something.
[00:33:46] Is that just.
[00:33:48] You would all feel like. It's definitely not like just if you were in the courtroom, right? I mean, if any of you were standing in a courtroom in handcuffs in front of a judge, and he was saying, what have you done wrong? Tell me what you've done wrong, because we need to put you in jail. You'd be like, no, I'm not going to tell you anything.
[00:34:03] Why did you arrest me? And that's actually what's going on here.
[00:34:08] Jesus is saying, I've said everything in public that I've said in private. Like, there's nothing secretive about this. And then what Jesus does is he does a few things. He Says, actually, it's illegal for you to do what you're doing right now. He doesn't say it in so many words, but this trial is illegal for a few different reasons. One, it's legal because it's happening at night. Trials shouldn't be happening at night. Secondly, it's illegal because there's no witnesses. Do you see that there? There's no witnesses going on. And thirdly, it's legal because there shouldn't be any kind of criminal trial taking place. One, there's the day before the Sabbath. Or two, during a festival. What's going on right now? What festival's happening?
[00:34:45] What festival?
[00:34:47] Passover. So three things that we see at least, that are illegal right now. No witnesses. It's happening at night, and it's happening during the Passover. Does Jesus know this to be the law?
[00:34:56] Yes. Yes, he does. And so he's gracious enough to answer some of those questions. But what he does do is he points out, hey, excuse me, you don't have any witnesses. And notice what the guard does to Jesus. When Jesus points that out, what does he do?
[00:35:12] He slaps him in the face. How dare you talk to the high priest like that? Jesus is simply pointing out the law to the person who's supposed to represent the Jewish law in front of him at that time.
[00:35:25] And so we see here that Annas begins to get more and more frustrated by what is taking place and. And realizes that he's not getting anywhere with Jesus right now. Now, what's the point for us?
[00:35:39] What do we take away from this? So because Annas realizes this is going nowhere, he's like, all right, I'm gonna send you to Caiaphas now. Caiaphas is, how is Caiaphas related to him?
[00:35:48] Son in law. So. And he's the actual sitting high priest. So most likely what has occurred. Annas has hung out with Jesus for a while. They've got together some other scribes, some other Pharisees. Annas is getting. Caiaphas is getting ready elsewhere for this. We're going to see that later on.
[00:36:05] And there's going to be a second trial that takes place. Unofficial or more official than this, but another trial that takes place. Was there anything wrong with asking Jesus questions?
[00:36:17] Is there anything wrong with asking Jesus questions? No. What was wrong with this trial?
[00:36:24] Their heart was already positioned in such a way that they didn't care what Jesus said.
[00:36:30] They asked questions, which is not wrong even in Christianity today. It's not bad. It's not wrong to ask questions. The problem that we find here is that Jesus wasn't questioned. So they can learn things. They had already made up their minds about what they wanted to do with Jesus. Remember that at the beginning, Caiaphas said, it's expedient that one man should die for the people. They'd already decided, we want Jesus to die.
[00:36:55] Asking questions in Christianity as Christians is good. And even at times, friends, it's this doubt as Christians is normal.
[00:37:07] Many of you, myself included, there are times when I'm like, is this right? Is certain things about this right? Is everything? Is it true? Some might ask, is everything in the Bible, is it really true?
[00:37:19] Is God actually real? Or is this just a picture? Is this just kind of part of my imagination? Is heaven real? If I believe in Jesus, is it true that I actually will go there? Is hell real? Like, I know the Bible talks about it and I know people teach about it, but is it real?
[00:37:37] Is Christianity right? Does God actually love me? I mean, I know the Bible says that, but I don't know if I feel that. Is that right?
[00:37:44] Is that true, God? Do you actually have grace for me? I've messed up so many people. Any of you messed up before.
[00:37:51] And we, you and I then have to believe somewhere in that that God has grace for us and wants to restore us. But you and I know that there are doubts in our life. Sometimes we ask, is this real? Do you actually have the power, God, to help me out of the struggle that I'm in, out of the bondage that I'm in, out of the grief that I'm sitting in, out of the anxiety or the depression or the anger, the fear? Do you actually have the power to do it? Maybe you do for other people, but do you have that power for me? Is that true for me?
[00:38:21] Doubt is real. And asking God those kinds of questions is okay. Is real. And honestly, it's more okay than we will ever talk about.
[00:38:30] It is so real in our lives. How do we combat that? How do we combat that? Or how do we engage with that? Actually is a better question, how do we engage with the doubts that we have? Three things I want you to consider as you think about doubts that you might have or questions that you might want to ask about your faith or about God, about heaven, about hell, about Christianity.
[00:38:49] Firstly, this dig.
[00:38:52] Just dig. Do research.
[00:38:56] Not just into your own feelings on the subject, but do actual practical research.
[00:39:02] What is out there? Christianity can hold up under scrutiny. So firstly, dig. It's okay to dig. It's not like the more you dig into Christianity, the More, you're going to find that it's a straw man, not the case.
[00:39:13] So dig, dig, dig and dig. Read, study, listen, ask questions, dig into the practical realities that Christianity declares, that Jesus declares in the Word. Secondly, it's okay to talk to other people about the doubts that you have about the questions that you have.
[00:39:32] That's a good thing. To invite other people into that isolation in the midst of doubting is dangerous.
[00:39:39] When I say, I just am gonna figure it out all by myself, I'm not gonna ask anybody else. That can be, I. I should say very dangerous because your emotions can lead you all sorts of places.
[00:39:48] So you might ask, invite somebody else, hey, I'm asking these questions. Is this okay? Can you help me navigate and find answers for this? So dig, ask other people, ask questions. And then lastly, don't let shame rule.
[00:40:05] Because sometimes in the midst of us asking questions, we feel shameful, guilty for asking these questions. I should have more faith than this.
[00:40:12] I should have more faith in this. And so it's when we come before the Lord and like that one Father who says to Jesus, lord, I want, like, help my unbelief. There's a part of me, like, I want to believe, but there's these questions that I have. God help me in this.
[00:40:28] And Jesus says, and maybe if somebody else shares some doubts that they have, some questions they have, don't heap shame upon them. Be like our Father in heaven who says, come closer, come closer. Let's just conclude three things, because there's three points if you're writing things down. Maybe some takeaways here as we consider the gospel story in this particular text. One, Jesus, what's your first point on your outline?
[00:40:53] Jesus is bound. Jesus bound. Here's the thing for you and I, if you're feeling stuck in some way, if you're feeling in some way, shape or form in your life, you're like, all right, this is real. Like, I have a name for this rope.
[00:41:07] I know what it is in my life, and I'm feeling that right now. Jesus promises that the power that he can offer is stronger than whatever rope this is, whatever this thing is. And he says, I love you and I care, but I see you in bondage and I want to set you free.
[00:41:26] He says, trust me, trust me. Ask me to help, and I will give you freedom. So Jesus was bound. He knows that you and I can be bound with all sorts of things, and he promises freedom if we depend on him. Secondly, what's the second point in your outline? Jesus denied you and I have denied Jesus at times in our life, you and I, you know that we have not lived up to the calling of God on our life because the fear of man has risen at times in our life.
[00:41:55] Here's what you and I must believe today.
[00:41:58] There is grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ when we fail and he is calling us back up. He's saying, don't sit in your shame, don't sit in your failure. Get back up because I still want to use you.
[00:42:14] Don't let your past sins, your past mistakes dictate who you are today and how you live your life. Restoration is what Jesus wants for you and I, just as he did with Peter who denied him. Thirdly, what was the last thing Jesus? What?
[00:42:29] If you are asking questions about your faith, know that you are not alone in that.
[00:42:34] If you're asking questions about Christianity, you are not alone in that. Jesus can handle your honest questions and Christianity can hold up to you digging and digging and digging and digging. What's key here is this, is that you're willing to ask in humility, not in arrogance. The problem with those who are asking Jesus these questions, when was the arrogant heart that they had? But Jesus says this. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble friends. Let's approach him with grace. Let's approach him with humility, I should say, knowing that he will offer us grace as we ask questions, let's pray together.
[00:43:13] Lord Jesus, we are grateful for your great love for us, that no matter what is going on in our life, you have not abandoned us and you will not abandon us even when we walk away and do our own things. At times you say, I am a good, kind, loving father who wants to draw us back into restoration, into wholeness.
[00:43:34] For those here today, maybe who are struggling with some type of bondage, some type of captivity that they've been walking through and struggling with. Lord, I pray that you would show them that you are strong enough to bring freedom.
[00:43:47] The power that you have put inside of us as we walk with you, your spirit inside of us, you have promised we freedom as we trust in you.
[00:43:56] For those here today, Lord, maybe we're dealing with past mistakes, past shame, shameful things that they have done, failures. Lord, I pray that today you would lift us up and remind us of your great love for us and that you still want to use us in great ways, that we shouldn't sit in our shame and in our bitterness, but rather that we should trust in you.
[00:44:21] And maybe here today, there's those who have never trusted in you, who are still asking questions.
[00:44:26] I pray that you would open their eyes, the eyes of their hearts, to your great love for you, for them.
[00:44:32] That you would help them to see the authenticity of your word.
[00:44:38] And Lord, today as a church, that we would submit to your lordship over all things in our lives.
[00:44:46] We are your children here today asking that you change us and shape us to look more like you. In Jesus name, amen.
