"How to Meet The Enemy" John 18:15-27

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agopic Baptist Church in George South Africa.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've been mourning everyone to be together again this day.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to be looking this morning to John.

[SPEAKER_00]: Chapter 18, if you want to find your place, we're going to read together John chapter 18 and I want to begin in verse 15 and we're continuing in the series and I'm getting a bit of an echo enough you can hear it up there.

John 18 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure while that's doing that, but anyway, you probably familiar with this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw the last time, the high priest and the soldiers all come and take Jesus in this section.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus taken into the high priest for questioning his trial.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'll have false kind of trial.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see Peter denying the Lord Jesus Christ that he knew him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll three of the all four of the gospel's records, the count of the denial of Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so let's read together from verse 15.

[SPEAKER_00]: Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.

[SPEAKER_00]: Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter stood outside at the door, and 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.

[SPEAKER_00]: You also are not one of this men's disciples, are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, I am not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the servant and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they were standing and warming themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter also, with them, standing and warming himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have always taught in the synagogue in the temple where all the Jews come together.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have said nothing in secret.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you ask me as those who have heard what I have said to them?

[SPEAKER_00]: They know what I said.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when he had said these things, one of the officers standing by

[SPEAKER_00]: is that how you answer the high priest.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus answered him, if I say it is wrong, bear witness about the wrong, but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?

[SPEAKER_00]: And as then sent him bound to kifus the high priest and Simon Peter was standing and warming himself so that, so they said to him,

[SPEAKER_00]: And he denied it and said, I am not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man who's here, Peter had cut off, asked, did I not see you in the garden with him?

[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter again denied it in at once, the rooster crowed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our fathers, we come to this passage this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you would just help us as we

[SPEAKER_00]: receive your word this morning and the message I pray that you'd open our hearts and minds to your word and you would accomplish by your spirits working all that you would desire to do in our heart and in our life this morning we ask and pray in Jesus name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: the faithfulness of the Lord as he's been questioned and the failure of Peter as he denies the Lord three times.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it wasn't for the warning that the Lord had given Peter and we were able to read about, we would be surprised that Peter would deny the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet even

[SPEAKER_00]: that it would happen, we are still surprised, that Peter, when it was so close to the Lord, and loved Him, and committed to Him, could deny the Lord and deny that even new Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this morning, I want us to consider what happened to Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: and also what happens to us every time that we also fail the Lord, every time that we yield to temptation in turn away from what we know is the Lord's will.

[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt that any of us have denied the Lord in such an open and direct way as Peter did, but to a degree, all of our sin

[SPEAKER_00]: that we belong to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a failure to stand with him and to stand for him in obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that later Peter does repent and the Lord restores him and recommissions him to

[SPEAKER_00]: a warning, an admonition to us of the danger that we also face.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one Peter in chapter 5 or 6 and 8, he says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be sober-minded, be watchful.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring line seeking someone to devour.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe if Peter were here this morning and we ask him, Peter, what did you learn from your failure?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, based on what we know about Peter and what he writes, I believe he would say some things to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: or things that I believe that Peter would say to us that he learned and they would also serve as a caution to us and as a admonition to us and one of the first things I believe he would say is beware of self-confidence, beware of self-confidence, you know we're all different people and by nature some of us are more self-confident than others

[SPEAKER_00]: But we all have this sinful tendency to want to do things our own way.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are naturally stubborn and we're slow to listen and slow to humble ourselves before the will of the Lord and it is a part of our sinfulness to just be to have let pride get

[SPEAKER_00]: of humbling ourselves before God and serving Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as we think about Peter, to understand how Peter got to this point, I mean, this didn't just happen, it had been building.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a series of things that took place that led up to this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's run a back up a little bit this morning

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter's life.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can go back to Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: This is about a year before this, and Jesus is finishing his Galilean ministry, and he begins, and what's recorded in Matthew 16 from verse 21, to reveal to his disciples.

[SPEAKER_00]: about the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to die and he's going to suffer and he's going to be resurrected.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we read that in Matthew 16 verse 21, he says from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things.

Matthew 16:21

[SPEAKER_00]: And from the elders and sheep

[SPEAKER_00]: Took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: This shall never happen to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, you are a hindrance to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

[SPEAKER_00]: what happened with Peter and what his thinking was.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is saying that his mind or his thinking is according to man's will, according to man's plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of that of the Lord's.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so instead of submitting to what Jesus is saying and listening,

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter is very confident that there's a different way.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's another way besides of what Jesus is revealing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then just the very day, before earlier in the day, before the denial in Matthew 26, verse 31,

Matthew 26:31

[SPEAKER_00]: He's speaking to all the disciples, and he's this upper room discourse, this fair well discourse that we've looked at in John as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here, recorded in Matthew 26 verse 31, Jesus says you will all fall away because of me this night.

Matthew 26:31

[SPEAKER_00]: Or it is written, I will strike the shepherd in the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will go before you to Galilee, but notice Peter, Peter answers him, though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus said to him, truly, I say to you, this very night before the rooster

[SPEAKER_00]: and Peter says to him, even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all the disciples said the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can notice you can see clearly the self-confidence of Peter, the pride of Peter in particular, that he would deny even what the Lord is saying was going to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because He knows, He has this confidence in Himself that it will not happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And His confidence in Himself is greater than the warning of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Word of God warns us as well as in one Corinthians 10, verse 12, that says,

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is a message to us as well that we must daily be on our guard.

[SPEAKER_00]: We must be on our guard against our own pride, our own self-will, our own self-confidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lest we also fail.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have seen in the Gospel of John as we've worked through

[SPEAKER_00]: the account, the contrast of Jesus and how He has submitted Himself to the will of the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, it is humanity says and records for them in John 5 and verse 19 early in the ministry of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But whatever the Father does, that the Son does like was.

[SPEAKER_00]: In many ways, Jesus has communicated this dependence upon the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not independently acting and doing and saying things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how much more do we need to be connected to the Lord into His Word?

[SPEAKER_00]: the Spirit of God who would lead us and guide us in the Word of God that would instruct us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are in danger when we fail to humble ourselves as Peter would say under the mighty hand of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, a second thing I believe Peter would say and it really is in opposition or stands opposite

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is something that Jesus had taught to He had modeled for the disciples in His humanity as He praised to the Father as we see Him going away by Himself and praying at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see the prayer that it's recorded in John 17, the inner seeding on His own behalf, and also on the behalf of us, the disciples as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see him in the garden, as recorded in the other gospels, how he, in this moment that he's going to face, is praying and it stands in stark contrast to that of the disciples.

[SPEAKER_00]: On two occasions on that night, Jesus comes to the disciples to warn them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And notice his focus on Peter, he's speaking to the others as well,

[SPEAKER_00]: He's speaking directly to Peter and Matthew 26 again in verse 40 and he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is while Jesus has gone away, Father, by himself and prayed and he comes back and he says to Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: So could you and the you there is plural, so it's not just Peter that he's concerned about, but it's particularly Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, could you not watch with me one hour?

[SPEAKER_00]: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

[SPEAKER_00]: Self-confidence and prayer just really don't go together.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you ever thought about that, prayer is a confession that we need help, that we need the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: that we would submit ourselves to do his will and acknowledging that he knows what's best for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Peter, as he reflects back upon what happened to him that night he would have warned us, don't forget to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, a third thing I believe he would say is choose the right weapons for the battle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the dangers that we face is that we don't believe we're in a battle.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't see the danger.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter and the other Sopples didn't really see the danger either.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though Jesus is warning them, he's telling them, but they're not really thinking there's a real danger.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to choose the right weapons.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, in 1 Peter 5, as Peter warns, be sober, minded, be watchful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your adversary, the devil, praises around like the roaring line, seeking someone to devour.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in that night, as the mob comes with their torches and swords and clubs, or whatever they had, Peter's ready to fight.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the flesh, he's ready, but he was not ready for the spiritual battle.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not ready for the real battle that he would face that night.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when the soldiers come, comes to take Jesus,

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter, he's got a sword and he's going to fight against this insurmountable mob that's come.

[SPEAKER_00]: These soldiers have been detached to go with these Jewish leaders, the guards, soldiers, they're all there in force, and Peter's going to take him home.

[SPEAKER_00]: But for the spiritual battle, he proves to be a coward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians 6 or 11, we're admonished, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the heavenly places, and so he's describing for us the spiritual battle of Satan who leads spiritual forces of demons in this world's system that stands in opposition to God into the will of God and the gospel of God, and because we side with the Lord it stands in opposition to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to be aware of this battle that we are in, the forces that are against us, and if we're going to live for God, we need to be prepared to stand for the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to take up the instruments of battle that are equipped for spiritual battle, not the flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus is taken by the soldiers, the disciples are all scattered and play it.

[SPEAKER_00]: In our text, number 15 says that Peter and another disciple were following as they took Jesus before the high priest.

[SPEAKER_00]: This other disciple, we can't say for sure, but I would say most, believe that's John referring to himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, he writes about himself in a, um, kind of like a third person, that other, the other disciple, in any case, this other disciple, uh, and Peter, follow, and the other gospel says that Peter followed at a distance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, um,

[SPEAKER_00]: This other disciple, if it's John, he was known to the high priest and the servants.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's allowed to go into the courtyard, but Peter is outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so John goes back and speaks to this servant girl and gains entry also for Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: and Peter comes in, and so the stage is set for Peter's denial, and Peter's not ready for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He spiritually not ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is efforts of the flesh of Jesus as stopped, and said, that's not how we're going to fight.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he's not ready for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not ready for this hour, this time of testing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in contrast, Jesus is ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: And John draws our attention back and forth in this scene between Peter and Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is ready because everything that God has been doing has been leading in this direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ has been following this path and moving to this direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: of his entire earthly ministry, life.

[SPEAKER_00]: On other occasions, we would see Jesus as the religious leaders become so angry.

[SPEAKER_00]: They try to take Jesus by force and Jesus evades them or He just disappears out of their presence because His hour had not come.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now in that night, when these soldiers come, the people, these religious leaders, Jesus, mildly, rebukes the mob for how they come to arrest Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Luke 22, in verse 53, we read, while he says to them, while I was with you daily in the temple, you did not stretch out your hand against me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this hour,

[SPEAKER_00]: and the authority of darkness are yours.

[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, God had given them and the forces of the evil, this hour, this authority to come against Christ because it was God's will that had happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus goes willingly with them and he tells Peter to put away his sword,

[SPEAKER_00]: And he tells Peter and Matthew recorded in Matthew 26 and verse 53, do you not think I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legion legions of angels.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's that's in the region of 50,000 50,000 angels.

[SPEAKER_00]: But one would be enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Jesus is just reminding Peter, I don't need your flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need the power of your flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I wanted to fight, I have heaven at my disposal.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we're going to win our spiritual battles that we face, we must go forth every day,

[SPEAKER_00]: and dependents upon the Lord, and equip ourselves with His provision, His spiritual provisions for our battles that we might stand.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of this that we're seeing and thinking about is leading us up to this text and the three denials of Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And note out there's many other things that Peter would say to us,

[SPEAKER_00]: But this last one I believe he would certainly include, and that is, take a stand for the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take a stand for the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians 6, verse 13, again, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

Ephesians 6:13

[SPEAKER_00]: The evil day is the day of our testing, the day of our trouble,

[SPEAKER_00]: of the temptation that would come to go our own way, instead of standing for the Lord and He goes, He continues and says, and having done all to stand firm.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord wants us to be ready in the time of temptation to be able to stand firm for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter in that night, we can clearly see, it was not ready for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was earlier ready and very courageous in the flesh, but when he come to this spiritual testing, he failed miserably, he was cowardly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see that instead of identifying himself with the Lord, he tries to blend in with the crowd.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the fire warming himself, he doesn't want to stand out.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't want to be identified with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: This other disciple, evidently John, he's there also in that situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's also in danger because he's there being identified with Jesus, but John didn't

[SPEAKER_00]: The servants of the High Priest evidently knew John and knew that he was identified with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't question John, but Peter, instead of standing with John in the open as one of the disciples,

[SPEAKER_00]: He comes in just like everyone else, like one of the service that are there warming themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this servant girl comes in questions him, you're not one of them, are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe it took Peter off guard, maybe it surprised him,

[SPEAKER_00]: And he may be brushed it off, I think, well, it's just a servant girl, it doesn't matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is an important key here for us that we must prepare to stand for the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: We must not remain in the shadows.

[SPEAKER_00]: We must not try to hide from our identity in the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is called us to the light.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's called us to be a witness for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: In every time we go into a new situation, or maybe it's around different people, or new people, different setting, we must not shy away from who we are as believers in Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: We must not hide from our identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: with Him, and be ready to stand with Him and for Him, speaking the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we see Peter, one step of cowardice leads to another.

[SPEAKER_00]: One lie leads to another, one denial leads to another, and each time the temptation intensifies,

[SPEAKER_00]: So does his failure intensify.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter finds himself in a place that he never thought he would be.

[SPEAKER_00]: He finds himself denying the one he loves the most.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's heartbroken when he realizes what he's done.

[SPEAKER_00]: When he comes under the conviction of the gaze of the Lord,

[SPEAKER_00]: He realizes, and he's broken-hearted over his sin, and is a denial.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's this admonition to us to take a stand for the Lord, to stand for the Lord means that we stand in the truth, and that we speak the truth and love.

[SPEAKER_00]: fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, as we see him there before the trial and those that would question him, he stands in contrast to Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, Jesus twice, identifies himself with the familiar I am statement, recorded I am he.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when Peter's question, he twice denies the Lord and says, I am not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when the high priest questioned Jesus about his teaching, he says to them in verse 20,

[SPEAKER_00]: I've always taught in the synagogues in the temple where the Jews come together.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have said nothing in secret.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is not a legitimate trial, it's a illegitimate trial.

[SPEAKER_00]: They can place in the night where Jesus is being questioned when according to their own custom

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, this is a injustice, but as Jesus interrogation continues, it continues and intensifies throughout the night and into the next day, as he goes from Jewish court to Roman court, and will culminate in his crucifixion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in all of the injustice and the cruelty and the hatred,

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus remains faithful to do the will of the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: He remains faithful to His divine purpose that He would die for us, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, He who knew no sin, took our sin upon Himself, and He died in our place so that we, who turned to Him in faith,

[SPEAKER_00]: can be forgiven, can have our sins forgiven and take in a way and the righteousness of Christ put to our account so that we can be raised up from spiritual death to stand with the Lord and by His grace live for Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: words of admission.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we think about Peter's failure on that night, it's not recorded for us so that we can just sit back and condemnation of Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's recorded that we might be warned that we might be helped.

[SPEAKER_00]: Less we also fail to stand for the Lord in the day

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to listen and closing this morning again to Peter's words of warning from 1 Peter 5 or 6 through 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, humble yourselves there for under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil purls around like a roaring line

[SPEAKER_00]: resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Peter, he's speaking from experience, isn't he?

[SPEAKER_00]: He knows about failure and he knows about God's grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen to what he says,

[SPEAKER_00]: who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you, to Him be the dominion forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And those are words that Peter would say to us this morning, to warn us, to challenge us, to also go in this grace of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you feel like you've failed the Lord, in such a way that you can't be restored.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter stands, the testimony of God is that God of grace and mercy, and He will forgive those who turn to Him and repent at some faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as children of God, He loves us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He died for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: but coming to Him in repentance, we can be restored.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can be forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the price has already been paid for that forgiveness.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just need to come to Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: humble ourselves and seeking.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is with us and He wants us to go forth in His power for His honor and for His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Father, for your words to us this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your grace to us as you were gracious to Peter for giving and restoring him after such a failure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord help us to see and to learn and to not follow in the same pride, the same self-confidence, but that we might daily depend upon you, we might pray and seek you, that we might go to your Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: and listen, allow your word to change our hearts and change our minds so that we are thinking the thoughts of God instead of man's thinking.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, help us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are weak.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are prone to go our own way.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ask you to forgive us and to help us to live for you today in this week ahead of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ask