John: Unique Insights

Now we'll very quickly make an informal social contract that you will put up with my voice and I will do the very best I can with what's left of my voice. I'm sure Nathan will arrange volume, I'm just not quite sure about the quality so just bear with me if you will. Turn to John's Gospel chapter number 18.

Gospel of John chapter 18, commencing at verse number 1. When Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kedron where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples. Judas also which betrayed him knew the place for Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went forth said to them whom seek ye? They answered him Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them I am he. Judas also which betrayed him stood with them.

As soon then as he had said unto them I am they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again whom seek ye? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered I have told you I am he.

If therefore ye seek me let these go their way that the saying might be fulfilled which he speak of them which thou gavest me have I lost not one. Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it and smote the high priest's servant cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

Then said Jesus unto Peter put up thy sword into the sheath the cup which my father hath given me. Shall I not drink it? Then the band and captain of officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. Down the chapter look at verse number 21.

The Lord Jesus says to the chief priests why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them. Behold thou knowest what I said. When he had thus spoken one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand saying answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him if I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me? Down the chapter verse 37 Pilate therefore said unto him are thou a king then? Jesus answered thou sayest I am a king.

To this end was I born. For this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Pilate said unto him what is truth? When he had said this he went out again unto the Jews and said to them I find in him no fault at all but do you have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover? Were you therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again saying not this man but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Just dip into chapter 19 for one moment.

Verse number 14 it was a preparation of the Passover about the sixth hour and he saith unto the Jews behold your king but they cried out away with him away with him shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered we have no king but Caesar. Now we know that God will add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. Of the four gospel records that we have three are referred to as being synoptic Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke and the word synoptic means all of you are familiar with the word synonym things being a similar and optic meaning seeing so the synoptic Gospels see the same things so while not exclusive Matthew Mark and Luke deal with the same events look at them from very similar standpoints and give us similar teaching John's gospel stands apart altogether different distinct and unique we've been looking at the unique invitation found in the gospel of Matthew take my yoke upon you in Mark chapter 10 we notice the unique insertions that Mark gives us in that chapter but when we come to the gospel of John it is almost all unique even the events he records that are recorded by the other Gospels have a unique touch to them as well for example in chapter 1 he brings us to the banks of Jordan but not now for the portrayal of the baptism you don't get the baptism of the Lord Jesus in John what you get is the purpose of the baptism that John might know the Messiah and it is not the voice of heaven you hear in John is the voice of the heralds not now behold my son but now behold the Lamb of God when you come to chapter number five where all four Gospels give us the record of the feeding of the five thousand in John's gospel or Jesus takes the initiative he knew what he was about to do and it's only John that tells us not just that they were five loaves but barley loaves not just fish but small fish as though he's going to emphasize for us the resources so meager and yet in the hands of the Lord Jesus so able to be used for the needs of the people when he comes to John chapter 12 and he will tell us of the anointing he will tell us not that Mary anointed his head but his feet are anointed in John chapter 12 all with in keeping with the purpose of the gospel John chapter 12 when he tells us about the cult it is the Lord Jesus when he found the cult again he's in charge in John's gospel he's in control he is setting the the timeline for the cross he finds the cult doesn't send anyone to find it when you come to chapter 21 and the final appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ it's not now a mountain in Galilee where he is commissioning disciples not now as we have in Mark and Luke the Lord Jesus Christ ascending and his session at God's right hand but in John 21 he speaks about his coming again so that wherever you have similar events John always gives us added information and of course when we come to John 18 and John 19 it is virtually all unique to John's gospel the events that occur so I just want you to think of the some of the things that we can glean from John 18 and 19 in a few moments left of the meeting not now an invitation as was unique to what we had in the gospel of Matthew not now the insertions that were so unique to Mark's account in Mark chapter 10 but now unique insights not now the meekness of the sovereign or the ministry of the servant but we will see something of the majesty of the Sun as we look together at what we have in these chapters I want you to think first of all of the significance of the location only John tells us of the location he crossed over the brook Kidron there was once another king that crossed the brook Kidron he was crossing it in rejection he was crossing it because of rebellion and when he crossed the brook Kidron he was a little foreshadowing of this king who would one day cross the brook Kidron but when David crossed the brook Kidron David found across the brook Kidron the tender faithfulness of Ittai the Gittite he found three men including Barzillia who came to supply needs when the Lord Jesus crossed the brook Kidron his disciples failed so we're reminded of a link with David when you think of him crossing the brook Kidron but another thing about the significance of the location you may challenge me at first about this because you're were so used to thinking of it in a different way but it is only John who tells us Gethsemane was a garden you won't find that in Matthew Mark and Luke you go back and check it it's only John who says that Gethsemane was a garden and to add to it it's only John who tells us in the place he was crucified there was a garden the Lord Jesus Christ crucified if I can express it this way between two gardens not now a link not now an insight into his link with David but an insight into his link in contrast with Adam you say why why the link with Adam what was lost in a garden life is now going to be regained between two gardens not just life but eternal life abundant life by this perfect servant this perfect son many other things will notice as well with his link with with Adam in just a moment but just to get the grasp of the significance of the location John tells us he crossed the brook Kidron where was a garden into which he entered his link with David his link with Adam comparing but yet contrasting as well in so many different ways it's only John that tells us of the frequency of this destination he oft times resorted to there the Lord Jesus was going to a place that he knew Judas was aware of likely when Judas left the upper room that night he rushed off to the chief priests got his quadrant of soldiers rushed back to the upper room and when the Lord Jesus wasn't there he knew exactly where he would be if he's not in the upper room he'll be over the brook Kidron because he oft times resorted thither that's where he would go to pray that's where he would go to be alone that's where we'll find him the frequency of the destination but notice something of the irony of their preparation only John tells us they came with lanterns and torches and weapons you say a minor detail maybe but if this were a Sunday school class I would ask what gospel presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the light of the world they came with their artificial light to search for the ultimate source of light it is John that introduces the Lord Jesus and in chapter 1 as the light of the world and only John tells us they came with their lights humanly speaking likely thinking he would be hiding he would be he would seek to escape and they would need light to flush him out to somehow find him he is the light of the world they came with their lanterns and torches and weapons something of the totality of his appre of his appreciation of his comprehension Jesus knowing all things now those who wish to do it go through the gospel of John virtually in every chapter it speaks of what the Lord Jesus Christ knew you recall how in John chapter 2 he knew all men and needed not that any should testify of man and every chapter will introduce to you something of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and he goes forth knowing all things that should come upon him we were reminded this morning of the only voluntary sacrifice that ever approached an altar but as well he was the only intelligent sacrifice that ever approached an altar it may well be that those animal sacrifices as they neared and smelled the blood and the burning that they became instinctively conscious that they did not want to go there but really when it comes to full intelligence that his rationality is really reserved for human beings and here was the only sacrifice that ever approached an altar that approached it voluntarily and intelligently and could we say also worshipfully as he came to that place the totality of his understanding something of the absence of the need for identification there is no need in John for Judas to identify who the Christ is no kiss no approach he goes forth he self-identifies whom seeki I am here is one who is not reluctant there is no hesitation there is no cringing at the thought of what lies ahead he goes forth and there is the absence of any need for identification in the gospel of John but you'll notice as well the foreshadowing of a future prostration he goes forth whom seeki I am and they went backward and fell to the ground let me ask you a question in Matthew Mark and Luke when you're in Gethsemane who's on the ground one gospel says he kneeled another gospel says he fell another gospel says he fell upon his face in Matthew Mark and Luke it's the Savior on the ground the gospel of John it's the soldiers on the ground at the mention of I am now some some translators would say that they went backward and fell upon their faces made themselves prostrate just just at the utterance of that August title of deity I am you're all familiar with the seven I am's of John's gospel I am the bread I am the life I am the way there's also seven times in John's gospel where the Lord Jesus Christ simply says I am I am before Abraham was I am here in the garden I am and what will one day mark every sinner as they bow the knee and own who he is here was a here's a glimpse of the future when men in his presence at the display a momentary display of his deity bow in prostration it reminds us of a coming day when all every knee will bow every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father there is the contrast in his presentation he goes forth whom seek he I mentioned earlier the the contrast with Adam when the voice of the Lord God came walking in the garden of the cool of the day Adam and his wife hid themselves the Lord Jesus Christ goes forth when God spoke to Adam Adam in effect said it's her fault take her the Lord Jesus Christ said let these go their way take me now if you want additional links with Adam chapter 19 speaks about and only John again sorry for coming back to this only John tells us it was a seamless robe you say what's the link Adam and his wife sewed fig leaves together they had garments of many seams his was a seamless robe no patching together of anything in his life his life was one complete consistent whole and of course when you're thinking of Adam you think of a side that was touched and a rib taken and a bride formed and it's in John's gospel that we're told the soldier with a spear pierced his side forthwith came the route blood and water so there are links contrasts and comparisons with Adam so we see him linked with Adam we see him linked with David we want to think for just a moment as well of his affirmation the cup now if you're in Matthew the scriptures of the bus must the scriptures the prophets be fulfilled in Mark thus it must be in Luke this is your hour in the power of darkness but in John the cup the father hath given me shall I not drink it can you remember centuries earlier where the cup was found in the sack of an innocent son beloved by his father their lives so bound up together that if anything had happened to Benjamin Jacob would have felt his own life snuffed out a father who loved his son and in the sack of that innocent son the only innocent one of the eleven there was a cup in Gethsemane the only innocent one the only one exempt from guilt of sin had a cup loved by his father and he will take it and then we have him bound and you cannot read that without thinking of another son loved by his father who was bound upon an altar as an active worship so as we go through this the links the insights David Adam Benjamin Isaac the Lord Jesus Christ the son of the father's love seen in all of this let me mention one contrast as well a contrast in a confrontation John tells us about this confrontation in the high priest's palace when the Lord Jesus Christ says to the chief priests and they're interrogating him they wanted to know about his disciples and about his doctrine the Lord Jesus Christ never mentions his disciples he then deals with his doctrine we would call it for one of a better way of expressing it taking a Fifth Amendment pleading the Fifth Amendment you don't have to ask me everything I have said has been public I have never preached anything in secret you can ask everyone what I have said and when he says that a soldier we've read together in chapter number 18 a soldier struck him with the palm of his hand maybe my imagination is too vivid I have wondered what angels as they stood on the battlements of heaven must have thought there was a day when a man with good intentions put forth his hand and touched the ark God smote him wonder if angels went back in their minds surely surely if God smote a man who touched the ark God is going to judge that man who just smote his son heaven is silent the Savior is silent and puny man thinks that somehow he has asserted power against the Lord Jesus we didn't read it again it's one of those amazing ironic contrasts Pilate tells the Lord Jesus don't you know I have authority to crucify you and to release you John is the only gospel that reminds us time and again of the authority of Christ the Father has given all authority into his hand has authority to judge all men has authority to lay down his life and to take it again John is the gospel asserting the authority of Christ yet Pilate says don't you know who I am don't you know my authority and the Lord Jesus Christ is silent the beauty of this Savior as we see him here the only time the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his ministry ever refers to his birth here in John chapter 18 to this end was I born for this cause came I into the world you say what's significant about that he mentions his birth and the assertion of his birth and its purpose are going to guarantee his death one other thing to mention the guilt in their declaration now just come back with me in a moment John chapter 12 John is the only writer who tells us that Judas was a thief and took what was in the bag all along Judas was pilfering off from the bag and I would gather from Acts chapter 1 he was buying a field buying a farm but John tells us Judas was a thief only John tells us that Barabbas was a robber we read at the end of chapter 18 now Barabbas was a robber only John tells us they choose the stranger we have no king but Caesar the thief the robber the stranger now if your mind isn't going to John chapter 10 let me jog it a bit and take you there because in John chapter 10 we're reminded about a shepherd who is not a stranger who is not a thief who is not a robber but who gives his life the people chose the thief the robber the stranger and rejected the shepherd Pilate as well made a decision I should have read it I failed to if you let this man go you are not Caesars friend now whether that is a special titled privilege we would use in our culture speaking about people who are friends of the court people who are privileged to appear in the court they're friends of the court whether that was a privileged title that a man had as a friend of Caesar or whether it was just the idea of being on good terms with Caesar doesn't really matter because John's gospel is the gospel that presents Christ telling his disciples you are my friends it's the gospel that tells us about John the Baptist being a friend of the bridegroom it's the gospel that tells us about our friend Lazarus so pilot would you rather be a friend of Caesar or a friend of Christ Pilate made the fatal decision the gospel that tells us of a wonderful privilege of being a friend of Christ reminds us of a man who said Amicus Caesar instead of Amicus Christ he chose the tremendous guilt in their declaration they didn't choose the shepherd they chose the thief the robber the stranger they didn't choose the friend they chose Caesar instead the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ linking himself in contrast and comparison Adam David Isaac Benjamin all of these individuals pale in their suffering and their significance before the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ