John 18:15-27

As we approach Easter, I want us to focus on the passage Graham just read to you, John 18 verses 15 through to 27.

John 18:15

Please do keep your Bible open and look at it with me.

That will help you check that what I'm saying actually is not from me, but ultimately from the Bible, from God.

And it is God speaking to us.

As we pick up here in John chapter 18, Jesus has just been arrested and faces his first trial before the Jewish religious leaders.

John 18 · chapter mention

Meanwhile, Peter, who's out in the courtyard, again he's just sliced the ear off some of it when Jesus was being arrested,

actually faces a rather more informal trial of his own.

And throughout the entire chapter, more than just what we're looking at this lunchtime,

John switches our attention back and forth between Jesus and Peter.

He starts with Jesus, then he goes to Peter, then back to Jesus, then back to Peter, then back to Jesus.

It says John is deliberately putting up these two characters, more than characters of course,

so that we might compare and contrast them together.

And just over the next 20 minutes or so, I just want to look at this little instant as we really begin to remember

the events of Easter over the week and the weekend ahead.

And I want to do that by asking you a particular question this lunchtime.

That question is this one.

Who are you willing to die for?

Who are you willing to die for?

Now I know it's a rather blunt question.

It's perhaps you think it's a very surprising question.

And anybody would ask that question today.

But actually if we were an evening 70 years ago, as the Second World War was coming to an end,

that would not have been a surprising question.

It would have been a question that everybody back then would have had to come to terms with.

Today I suspect it's a question that's rarely asked.

Perhaps only if you're planning to join the army, perhaps.

But that's what we're looking at.

This lunchtime we're going to look at Peter first and then Jesus.

And as we start with Peter, we're really looking at who is Peter willing to die for?

Because the answer actually turns out to be nobody.

Peter turns out to be the faithless disciple who bottled his own witness so that he could save his own skin.

Look with me in verse 15.

Simon, Peter and another disciple.

That's in all likelihood John, our author.

They're following Jesus after he's arrested.

John is somehow known to the high priest.

And so John can get into the courtyard, the high priest's courtyard where Jesus is under trial.

But Peter has to stay outside.

He's obviously not allowed in.

Look again at verse 16.

Look at the second half of verse 16.

So the other disciple who was known to the high priest,

again John chooses to tell us twice.

That the other disciple, that's presumably himself, he's known to the high priest.

The implication I trust is that Peter wasn't.

And that's why John was allowed in.

But Peter wasn't.

And whenever a gospel writer tells us something twice in two verses,

it's always a good idea to ask ourselves why.

Why is that so important?

Which we'll be looking at as well.

Anyway, John comes back and speaks to the girl on duty so that he can bring Peter inside.

She knows that John is one of Jesus' disciples.

And as she observes John's relationship with Peter,

she's putting two and two together and asks Peter that question there in verse 17.

You also are not one of his disciples, are you?

This is Peter's test.

Right here.

Now he may not have been expecting it.

He may have thought he'd been watching somebody else's test and trial.

But this has turned out to be his trial.

But instead of being a faithful witness to his relationship with Jesus,

he bottles it.

There he replies at the end of verse 17.

He said,

I am not.

Now remember, we've just been told that John is known to the high priest.

The girl on the door knows that John is one of Jesus' disciples.

If it's safe for John to be inside and to be known as one of Jesus' disciples,

then I think it's a pretty fair assumption that at this point at least,

it would have been safe for Peter to have actually confessed that he was a disciple of Jesus.

But then, if you've ever been in a similar situation to Peter,

frozen like him as a rabbit, say, caught in the headlights of a car,

then you know as well as I do that rational thinking often gives way to panic

in those situations.

And it's panic that leads us not to being the faithful disciple we should be.

And to missing the opportunities we've given to witness to others about Jesus.

And I don't know about you this lunchtime,

but all too often, for my own liking,

I find myself more or less like Peter here.

Well, John's narrative there at the end of verse 18

leaves Peter warming himself by the open fire.

And John wants to switch her attention to Jesus,

but we're going to stick on with Peter just for another minute or two.

And before, as we jump ahead to verse 25,

and as you see there at the beginning of the verse 25,

John picks up the scene again with Simon Peter still standing there and warming himself.

John's account of Peter's second denial.

He's extremely brief.

But for the second time, Peter replies,

I am not.

When he's asked if he's also one of Jesus' disciples.

But the focus there in verse 26 is to one individual,

in particular to the one guy who challenges Peter for the third time.

John tells us that it's another of the servants of the high priest.

It's a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off

while Jesus was being arrested there in verse 10 earlier on in the chapter.

And what's worse from Peter's perspective

is that this man thinks he saw Peter in the olive grove.

So I think at this time,

it's probably fair to say Peter might well be in genuine trouble.

If I were Peter there and then,

or if you were Peter there now,

we wouldn't be pretty sure to be wondering,

what else did this guy see in that olive grove?

Did he see Peter brandishing the sword?

Did he see the blue?

Did he see the blood and hear the screams of his relative?

As his ear fell off and landed on the ground and the blood spurted out.

What else did this man see?

I'm sure Peter is wondering at this point.

And if Peter was not yet panicking by this stage,

I'm pretty sure he would be right now.

I, speaking here, have a lot of sympathy for Peter.

I suspect if I was in the same situation as he was,

I probably would have denied Jesus just as much as he did.

Nevertheless, he still is a faithless disciple.

He still is a disciple who bottled his witness to save his own skin.

And it's all the more significant because earlier on in the same night,

Peter pledged his life to Jesus.

John recorded it earlier in chapter 13 and verse 37.

There, earlier on in the same night,

Peter insists that he will lay down his life for Jesus.

Jesus, though, was fully aware back then that Peter,

actually this would happen.

Peter would bottle it.

Immediately after Jesus, sorry, Peter,

says that to Jesus, Jesus replies,

and I quote from verse 38 of chapter 13,

just a few pages earlier.

Then Jesus answered,

Will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you,

the cock will not grow till you have denied me three times.

Well, back in chapter 18 and verse 37,

what happens after Peter's third denial?

John records there in verse 27,

Peter again denied it.

And at once, a cock grew.

See, Jesus was right about Peter.

His disciple Peter,

so apparently committed earlier on the same evening,

would later on bottled.

Simply to save each of the skin.

Well, in contrast to Peter,

here is Jesus.

And as we've asked earlier,

who was Peter willing to die for?

And the answer was nobody.

We ask the same question of Jesus.

Who was Jesus

willing to die for?

We're in verses 19 to 24.

The Jewish religious leaders

have put Jesus on trial before him.

And there in verse 19,

they question Jesus

to try and find some secret,

incriminating evidence against him.

But Jesus will have none of it.

His replies to point to his public witness

in the synagogues and in the temple,

rather than some sort of secret conspiracy.

Everybody knows what Jesus has been saying.

Everybody knows

how Jesus has been witnessing to God's truth.

Look with me there at verse 21,

is Jesus' reply.

Why do you ask me?

Ask those who heard me what I said to them.

They know what I said.

Let them see that here in John's

a kind piece,

actually what Jesus did say.

It's about Jesus' faithful witness

to his God.

That actually these religious leaders

are actually far from God.

Jesus' faithful witness

that their religion,

well, it's only for sure.

And Jesus' faithful witness

that unless these religious leaders repent,

they too will face God's judgment

for their own sins.

And that is precisely why

they had Jesus arrested.

It wasn't because he was doing

some sort of secret conspiracy.

It's because he was standing out

in the open,

in the public presses,

telling them that they need to repent

and change their lives.

That's why instead of debating with Jesus,

they resort to violence

as one of them strikes Jesus in the face.

But look with me

at how Jesus challenges them next

in verse 23.

Jesus answered him,

If I said what is wrong,

bear witness about the wrong.

But if what I said is right,

why do you strike me?

See, if they could demonstrate

that Jesus has done something wrong,

this is their opportunity

to justify what they're doing.

But actually,

it's their silence

reveals here that they couldn't.

They couldn't pin anything on Jesus.

Later on,

if we were to continue the story

when Jesus was in front of Pilate,

we see actually three times

Pilate telling people,

I find no basis for a charge

against this guy.

He's innocent.

Yet here he is under trial.

Not because he's objectively guilty

of any crime,

not because he's somehow sinful,

but actually because these chief priests

were offended that he would dare

proclaim God's witness against them

as he tells them about what God thinks of them

and God's indictment against them.

I hope you see just briefly

in our time together

that Jesus here is standing

in stark contrast

to Peter.

Jesus' faithful witness to God

actually would cost Jesus his life.

Jesus was willing to die

for his witness to God.

Whereas Peter,

where he bottled his own witness to Jesus

to save his own skin.

As we approach Easter

at the weekend,

we rightly remember

that central gospel truth

that Jesus died to save us

from our sins.

The Savior sweeps

by swapping places with us.

The innocent one,

Jesus,

took the sins and the guilt

of the guilty one

you,

me,

and the like of Peter here.

And what I find striking here,

and I hope you do

as well this lunchtime,

is that Jesus knew

that Peter would fail him

long before he's at rest.

What's striking is

at the very moment

when Peter is failing Jesus,

the faithful Jesus

is going to the cross

to pay for that failure.

And what's striking here

is that

Jesus' faithful witness,

in essence,

he's wiping out

Peter's failure

to witness

as he should here.

I don't know,

I think I only know

one or two of you here

this lunchtime.

Perhaps you're here

this lunchtime

and you're already

a disciple of Jesus.

You know that his death

has purchased

your forgiveness.

And yet perhaps

you're still feeling

guilty

for those times

that you know

you've let Jesus die.

You know that you've

bottled your witness

in the workplace

or with your neighbours

and feel to take

the opportunities

that have come your way

to speak with Jesus.

That's you.

And actually

you're in the same position

as Peter here.

Actually you're in the same position

as probably all of us.

Because we're all like Peter.

As Jesus

is dying here

for Peter,

for Peter's

faithlessness

in witnessing

so is Jesus

dying for our others

as well.

In John

John 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21

we don't have time

to return to it.

Jesus,

the resurrected

Jesus wonderfully

forgives

all of Peter's

faithlessness here.

Wonderfully

recommissions him

for a life

of service.

Wonderfully

tells him

that he's going

to be his witness

to the ends

of the earth.

And it's

these events

as Peter's

denial

as he's

experienced

of the cross

of Jesus

on the cross

as experience

of resurrection

Sunday.

As experience

of being

forgiven

that actually

transforms

Peter.

From being

the guy

who bottled

his witness

to the guy

in the rest

of his life

who would be

a faithful witness

for Jesus.

The guy

who ultimately

church history

for his

paid his own

life

for his

witness

to Jesus.

But actually

as I close

this lunchtime

John chapter

John 18 · chapter mention

18

is not

primarily

about

Peter.

It's

primarily

about

Jesus.

It would

be wrong

if I

were to

leave you

here

this

lunchtime

if you

just thought

about

Peter

and didn't

think even

more

about

Jesus

here.

Because the

most important

question this

passage asks

is not

who are you

willing to

die for

which is

what I

began with

but ultimately

who was

Jesus Christ

willing to

die for.

That's the

question we

need to be

asking

this Easter

time.

Here in

this part of

John chapter

John 18 · chapter mention

18 we

see afresh

Jesus

willing to

die for

his father

God.

To keep

proclaiming

who God

is in

God's

character

to these

religious

leaders.

And here

in this

part of

John 18

we see

afresh

Jesus

willing to

die for

people like

Peter.

His

faithless

disciple

who is

good at

promising

to do

things for

Jesus

but

struggles

to put

them

into

practice.

He was

Jesus

Christ

willing to

die for.

Well it

was for

God

and it

was for

still flawed

disciples

like Peter

those who

have bottled

it in

the past

those who

have been

out to

sea of

their own

skins in

the past

so that

he might

forgive

them and

transform

them and

make them

more like

Jesus here.

This

Easter time

who was

Jesus

willing to

die for?

Can you

put your

name on

in the

answer to

that

question?

For

still

flawed

disciples

maybe

you're

not

even

a

disciple

yet

because

he

came to

die for

you

and for

me

to rescue

us from

our sins

and to

transform

our

witness

for him

so that

we might

live for

him

for the

rest of

our lives

hallelujah

let's

pray

and

him

and

he

he

he

he

!

he

he

he

!