John 18:1-12 - Christ Died Willingly
Main Idea: Jesus chose to die to rescue us.
Jesus chose the place for His arrest.
Jesus chose the person to betray Him.
Jesus chose the time He’d be arrested.
Jesus chose the way He’d be arrested.
Jesus chose the limits of who’d be arrested.
Jesus chose the mercies He’d show to the unworthy.
Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)
John 18 in verse number one says this, after Jesus had said these things, that is everything that we've been setting since March or so, from John 13 through 17.
After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus often met there with his disciples.
So Judas took a company of soldiers, these would be Roman soldiers, a Roman cohort, and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to them, Who is it that you're seeking? Jesus of Nazareth, they answered, I am he, Jesus told them. In the Greek, this is just the Greek word, Amy, I am.
Same type of thing that you would read, God saying to Moses at the burning bush. Who is sending me to go free the Israelites from Egypt? God said, I am.
Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with him. When Jesus told them, I am, they stepped back and fell to the ground. Then he asked them again, who is it that you're seeking?
Jesus of Nazareth, they said, I assume a little bit more timidly than they had said at the time previous. I told you, I am, Jesus replied. So if you're looking for me, let these men go.
This was to fulfill the words he had said. I have not lost one of those you have given me. Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. At that, Jesus said to Peter, put your sword away. Am I not to drink the cup the father has given me?
Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up.
2:20
Voluntary Sacrifice
Would you pray with me at the conclusion of that reading of God's word? We'll dive into our sermon for today. Dear Jesus, we come to these next six to eight weeks with sorrow for our sin.
The fact that we are the ones responsible for the death of the Son of God. But, Lord, we have such joy and hope, knowing that we did not take your life. You laid it down willingly.
And, God, we pray that today, even through this message, that those that feel such guilt and shame for either who they are or who they have been, what they've done, what they've said, God, may they recognize the sacrifice of Jesus was for them.
Lord, for those that wonder about their own state with God, may they recognize that Jesus pursued them, and if he joyfully and eagerly went to the cross, then he is eagerly wanting a relationship with them.
We love you, God, and we ask that you would speak to our hearts today. We love you, and we pray all of this in your precious name. Amen.
Over the next seven weeks, we're going to be looking at John 18 and 19 about Jesus' arrest, his trials, his beatings, and the crucifixion.
I was telling some of the elders over the past couple of days, how many of you in here have either seen like the Passion of the Christ or the Chosen? How many of you guys have seen one of those before? Good, good amount of people in the room.
The emotions that are often tied in with being able to like think about and see vividly in our minds, what Jesus went through over the next seven weeks. That's every single week as I'm preparing my sermons, like I am enveloped in these accounts.
And so, I'm both looking forward to it incredibly.
And I hope that in my life and in your lives, as we look at these passages of scripture, that we would echo the sentiments of the hymn writer, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but lost, and
pour contempt on all my pride. Where the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
And so I would greatly appreciate y'all's prayers, even as we navigate through these. But today, we're going to start off with these verses and look at the truth that Christ died for our sins, but Christ died willingly. Christ died willingly.
Namely, that Jesus chose to die in order to rescue us. Jesus' death was not, as I've seen people online phrase it through the years, Jesus' death was not cosmic child abuse.
Jesus' death was not just what happens when you try and buck the system or go against the ruling powers. Jesus' death was far more meaningful and far more voluntary than all of that. It was intentional.
It was loving. It was sacrificial. It was substitutionary.
And above all, it was voluntary. When Jesus died, as we read through these verses, and we're going to pick out some portions of it to be able to see this truth, the truth is that Jesus did not lose his life to anyone else.
Instead, he laid it down so that you and I would experience forgiveness, a restored relationship with God, and an eternal home with him forever.
6:29
Chosen Location
You might say, okay, how do you get that from this passage? Well, first, I want us to see today that Jesus chose the place for his arrest. I'm going to take just a moment.
That way, I'm not sniffling the whole time through. I'm going to steal this napkin. Great to see you, Wasmers.
Good to see you, Gothamans. Jesus chose the place for his arrest.
We can see this in verses 1 and 2, where it says, after Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. Jesus, the night of his arrest, was not looking for how he could make his life easier.
He was looking for, where does God have me to be so that I can be arrested, and so that I can die, so that Roger and Fern and John and Denise and Marla can experience the forgiveness and love of God for all eternity.
He chose to suffer, so that we could experience his goodness. The other thing I noticed here in this passage is, what is this, I'm going to give you a fill in the blank. You didn't realize today was a test day.
Today is a test day. This location is called the Blank of Gethsemane. Can you fill in the blank?
It's the garden. Where does the story of Scripture start off with? With Adam and Eve in the garden.
In the garden, the first Adam was given a choice between following God's definition of good and evil, or choosing to define it on his own terms.
It was either the, if you will, personal autonomy that he got to choose right and wrong, or he could listen to God's definition of right and wrong.
And now here, as Paul would describe Jesus as the second Adam, the one who was the do-over that went through the difficulties that those in the Old Testament had gone through and failed time and time again.
But Jesus went through and he was victorious time and time again. And even as you think about kind of that picture of the Garden of Eden, you can remember that Adam and Eve, they partook of the fruit.
And even as Jesus describes what he would be doing there in verse number 12 to Simon Peter, he says, Am I not to drink from the cup that the Father has given me?
And even next Sunday, as it's the first Sunday of May, we'll be observing the Lord's Supper together. We will taste of this cup.
It's not the cup of judgment because Jesus took all of God's judgments on himself, but we remember what Jesus went through. We remember the blood that was shed.
We remember even in this Garden of Gethsemane, the great drops of blood that Jesus sweat, as we can see in the other parallel passages. So Jesus drinks from the cup.
It would be the cup of, you know, God's justice that very often in the Old Testament prophets is described as like the wine press of God's fury or his justice. So as in the beginning, a fruit was eaten that God said not to consume.
Now the fruit of the vine of God's wrath, Jesus does consume in obedience to the father. Today, God is writing a deliberate story, and he is writing your story as well.
It's no accident that Jesus was in the garden, as well as Adam and Eve were in the garden. And God is doing something deliberate in your story as well.
Do you view your house, your neighborhood, your job, or your church as something that God himself has put in your life, because they are? Here, this place that Jesus was, was no accident. It was intentional.
Where you live, the neighborhood, the city, even the people that you live with, it is not happenstance. You didn't just manage to live on whatever street or in whatever neighborhood that you reside.
Are you using where God has placed you for his purpose? When you're at your job, you are not just there because those were the people that said yes to your resume. You are there because God himself has a purpose for you at this time.
Will you use that time to love others as Christ has loved you? Will you utilize the relationships that you gained there in order to help bring other people to Jesus?
I think even in this room, testimonies that I have heard of people that are here today because of the testimony of a co-worker.
There are people here today because of the testimony of a neighbor that either as a kid, encouraged them to go to church, or maybe there was a neighborhood church that they began attending.
And I want you to know that the places in your life are no accident. If Jesus obediently did what the Father called him to do, where he called him to do it, do you think you can too?
What would it look like for you to use your neighborhood this week for God? Or for you to view yourself as being on a mission for Jesus at your job on a Tuesday afternoon? Your mission is never going to be what Jesus' mission was.
You are never going to have to die for sin. And frankly, if I know most of you, none of you are going to be literally crucified as a result of following God's mission for your life.
So we have it easier than Jesus when we exhibit the same obedience to the place that God has placed us.
12:47
Chosen Betrayer
Secondly, today, Jesus chose the person to betray him.
John, throughout his gospel, in chapter 6, in chapter 11, in chapter 12, in chapter 13, over and over again, John, every time Judas comes up in the narrative, John takes great pains to be like, and Judas, the one who was going to betray him, Judas,
the one that had the bag but was stealing from it because he was a thief and was going to betray Jesus, like all throughout. John, even these decades later, writing about the experiences, you can tell he's still feeling some of that righteous anger
or rage at this one, that though Judas was given the kindness and mission of God, he did not choose the relationship with Jesus. Instead, he chose to go his own way. But Jesus knew it the entire time through.
We read that in chapter 12 and chapter 13. Even as Jesus, knowing that Judas is going to betray him, he sends him out to do so, and the other disciples have no idea.
And Jesus is even like fairly direct, and in retrospect, they go, oh, well, yeah, that's what Judas was doing when Jesus told him to go out.
But the way that Jesus treated Judas over the course of years, knowing what Judas would do to him, Jesus never lashed out. He was not cruel to him. He treated him like he treated the others.
Can I ask you, how do you treat others within your life? Hopefully, I don't think any of you are going to be betrayed to death by one of your friends. I, you know, kind of look to my left and my right if I were you.
Just check and make sure. I don't think any of you are going to be betrayed to death by a friend. But Jesus knew for years that that's what Judas was going to do.
And yet, he still loved him and cared for him. How do you treat your enemies? How do you think about other people?
I think about how Jesus knows what people will wrong you and me throughout our lives. Sometimes in little ways, sometimes in really big ways.
Yet, God has those people in our lives not to harm us, but so that we would be able to shine a light for them. Whether or not they receive that light is on them. You're not responsible for transforming or saving or fixing any other person.
But God does want you to be like a Jesus. That on Judgment Day, as Judas stands before the Lord, he's not going to be able to say, well, Jesus treated me so much worse than any of the other apostles.
And Jesus was cruel to me, and he said biting words. Judas can't say any of that. The same light that was shone, shone, shined.
Whatever the verb is there, there's a lot of different versions of that. The light that was shined on Judas is the same light that was shined on the other apostles. Can I ask you, what are you doing with the people in your life that have hurt you?
Maybe that have betrayed you? Do you have the same love for them that even Jesus himself did?
16:22
Chosen Time
Not only did Jesus choose the place for arrest, and Jesus chose the person to betray him, but Jesus chose the time that he would be arrested. We can read this in verse number 4.
It says, Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to them, Who is it that you're seeking? They didn't come upon Jesus. Jesus went out to them.
If you knew, like, this is the moment of my death. I'm going to be put on trial. I'm going to be tied up.
I'm going to have my beard plucked out. For some of you, you're like, that's not a problem. I don't have a beard.
But listen, for him, it was a big deal. His beard plucked out.
The beatings and crucifixion that he was going to endure, I don't think any of us, knowing everything that was about to happen, I don't think a single one of us would have gone out there to the soldiers.
But that's what our God did for you and for me. He chose the time. Now, one thing that's highlighted in some of the other gospel accounts is the amount of time that Jesus was there in the garden.
He is praying for about an hour's worth of time. We read some of the prayer that he prays on the way to the Father in John 17.
But as Jesus is there in the garden, knowing the pain that he would go through, knowing the separation of father and son, like had never happened before in all of eternity, and never would happen again, Jesus prayed to the Father.
He wanted Peter and James and John to pray with him. They didn't do it. I'm sure you guys have been in that boat before, where maybe you want to pray, and you find yourself nodding off a little bit.
This was late at night, so it's not exactly out of the ordinary for these guys to be sleeping.
You can think even of when they were on the sea of Galilee, and they're all awake, and they're freaking out about the storm as fishermen, and Jesus is in the lower part of the boat, and he's sleeping soundly.
Now in a time when there was actual danger, Jesus is awake and praying, and the disciples are asleep. The things that are so concerning to you and me might not be the things that are concerning, if you will, to God.
That God doesn't view as urgent for our lives what we view as urgent. Can I challenge you, maybe even in your prayers, seek the Lord's wisdom on what is actually most important for my soul right now.
Because it might be I'm on a boat, and I feel really, really scared about the storm that's there, but God knows that I'm fine. But it might be that I'm just in the garden late at night, and God knows that that is the time that my soul most needs Him.
Can I ask you, or can I challenge you to seek the timing of God? I also love that Jesus, knowing torture, shame, abuse, and incredible pain and death were in His path, He spent time in prayer to His heavenly Father.
Can I ask you, what does your prayer time look like?
Jesus was going to go through all of these hardships, and instead of being like, okay, well, I'm going to take something to numb the pain, or I'm going to play this game of hide and seek, and I'm going to try and hide from the soldiers as long as I
can to put off this horrible circumstance, He went into prayer. What is your response when there are hard times in your life? Are you seeking the Lord, or are you seeking your own solutions? Jesus, the thing that He needed most was prayer.
I love what we would read. I believe it's in Luke's Gospel, that even as Jesus prays, He is so tense, and knowing the hardship that He would endure. He's sweating great drops of blood.
It's a medical condition that only under severe stress, your pores actually kind of start leaking out some blood along with the sweat. He's under intense duress.
But as Jesus prays, and as He prays to the Father, it says, an angel came and comforted Him, ministered to Him.
And I'm so thankful that the Lord in His goodness, when we pray, He might not change the circumstance that we're walking through, but He will change us so that we're able to go through the circumstance.
That with the ministering and the comforting of that angel to the Son of God, He was able to walk through the difficulty that He was about to endure.
And can I tell you, if Jesus Himself, God the Son, the God incarnate, if even He received ministering and comforting from an angel, we can experience that as well.
And we can know that the same Lord that was in the garden, and knew sin and evil, and what it would do to Him, He knows the hardships that you're walking through, and He will seek to comfort you as well.
21:44
Chosen Arrest Method
Then Jesus chose the way that He would be arrested. I love in verses 4 through 8, Jesus goes out to these Roman soldiers, the Jewish temple officials, and He asked them, Who is it that you're seeking?
Jesus of Nazareth, they answered, I am, Jesus told them. Judas who betrayed them was also standing with them. When Jesus told them, I am, they stepped back and fell to the ground.
Then He asked them again, Who is it that you're seeking? Jesus of Nazareth, they said, I told you, I am. Jesus replied that as Jesus was going to be arrested, He made it very clear to His disciples who recorded this several decades later.
He made it clear to those arresting Him that they were doing so at His will, not at theirs. Jesus would say earlier in His ministry, I'm going to lay down my life. No man takes it from me.
Jesus was totally in control of the situation the entire time.
In one of the other portions of scripture, we would read that in response to Peter's vigilante chopping off the ear of the high priest's servant, Jesus says, do you not know that right now I could call 10,000 angels from my father to rescue me?
He says, but I'm doing this for mankind. He's doing this for our salvation. So Jesus chose the way in which he would be arrested.
He is sovereign and in control. Jesus proclaimed his identity, I am, Yahweh, Jehovah, to those attempting to arrest him, and they physically experienced a minuscule portion of the power that Jesus could have used to prevent his arrest.
Do you realize today that God is able to save and deliver and heal and restore anything that he wants to in your life?
Know that your God is completely capable, powerful enough, of working a miracle, and the only reason that he will not is if it is not the best thing for you and your spiritual health, your soul.
Now, I know, because I've walked with you guys for two and a half years now. The health struggles, the relational difficulties, the family hurts that you guys walk with each and every day. And I don't know why God holds off sometimes.
I don't know why he works miraculously sometimes. All I know is that it is ultimately for our souls good and for his glory. And because this life is not the end.
This is only step one of the program. And as soon as either we pass or he returns, every wrong will be made right for you and for me. That takes a faith in what God has said in his word.
That's not something that you can just guarantee in the here and now.
But I want to encourage you that one day every hardship and struggle and health difficulty and heartache that you have, one day that is coming to an end, and you will never need to worry about it again.
Jesus had the power, but he chose not to use it so he could die for you and for me.
25:30
Chosen Limits Mercy
Next, Jesus chose the limits of who'd be arrested. Now, if you guys remember, how many of Jesus' disciples, like, left, fled, abandoned him at his arrest? All of them.
Now, you have a couple that are, like, you know, kind of sneaky. They're doing, like, a spy thing. They're coming up.
We'll see that even over the next couple of weeks with John and Peter and others kind of following at a distance to be able to see and hear some of what's taking place. But all of them are about to abandon Jesus.
If you remember Peter, what's he going to do? Yep, denying three times. Did they stand by him or did they abandon him?
And yet he protected them. They did not earn this protection and love that Jesus had for them. But out of his desire, out of his goodness, he kept them safe.
We're even told in verse number nine, as Jesus tells those arresting him, so if you're looking for me, let these men go.
And the man that is commanding these soldiers and these temple officials to not arrest or to not take his disciples, he had just made them fall backwards.
And so I think when he says, so if you're looking for me, let these men go, there was a little bit of authority. There is some, if you will, some Holy Spirit protection and power that they knew, all right, this guy can blow us back on our backs.
When he says to let these guys go, we're going to let these men go. I love that Jesus chooses the limits of the hardships that we will walk through.
This would be the darkest couple of days that the disciples would ever have in their lives that all hope would seem to be gone. But Jesus made it so that they were not also arrested and beaten.
He and he alone would go through the punishment for our sin. The disciples didn't need to be punished for that. And can I echo that to you today?
Whether you already know the Lord is Savior, or if you've never given your life to Christ, God is not looking for you to be arrested and beaten, tried and crucified with Jesus. Jesus paid it all. So all to Him we owe.
Sin on us had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. And in your trials, day to day, we go through hard times.
I don't think there's a person in this room that would say, yes, this entire past year of my life, I've experienced nothing but good things.
Frankly, I think even over the past four months, the vast majority of our church family would be able to say, no, we've had stuff almost every month or every week, sometimes daily.
I want you to know that God is setting limits on our suffering, like he did with Job, that Satan wanted to harm Job far worse than God allowed him to. And the same is true for you and me.
So as we go through hardships, we can pray, we should seek the Lord, but we can also be grateful for what God has still allowed for us to have.
I know we have people today, even that are watching from home, because they are not able to be out and about, either due to sickness or injury. And I'm thankful that, number one, they're still with us.
For those of you here today, I know we have many struggling with various hardships and illnesses, and yet God allowed you to be able to be here today. Thank the Lord for the limits that he places on the hardships that we endure.
We could even read over in 1st Corinthians 10 and verse 13 that the Apostle Paul says, No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
But with the temptation, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. That in our hardships, our God is still sovereign and in charge, protecting and good.
And here, Jesus actively protected the disciples that would abandon him in keeping with his word and his promise. Can I ask you today, who do you protect with your words and your behavior?
Who is insulted or slandered or trash-talked around you that you choose to defend and protect like Jesus did? Are you the attacker, hopefully just verbally, not physically, are you the verbal attacker or are you a defender like our Savior?
And then last, today, Jesus chose the mercies that he would show to the unworthy. Verses 10 and 11, Simon Peter, he has a sword, and ever the go-getter, Simon cuts off the high priest's servant's right ear.
I love here that this person that could have gone unnamed, he doesn't really add anything to us, that his name is Malchus, but God cares about each and every person. Even the people gathered to arrest him, Jesus still cared for them.
And here for Malchus, Jesus says to Peter, put your sword away, am I not to drink the cup the father has given me? The Christian way is never a way of coercive violence. The way of Christianity is the way of Jesus, who willingly laid down his life.
He protected others, but he willingly laid down his own life. We would read in Luke's account of this same encounter, that Jesus then touches the right ear of Malchus and heals him.
If someone's actively arresting you for, you know, nothing wrong that you have done, is your automatic assumption going to be, how can I make this person's life better? Or how can I heal this person? No.
Sometimes as Christians, we can be like, ah, listen, Sherry looked at me funny, and so now I'm going to hold a grudge for 37 months. Like, we are not like our Savior at all.
Jesus, to those actively seeking his harm, he was actively seeking their benefit and their protection. What is your response to your enemies? And do you realize the love that Jesus has for those against him?
Today, maybe, if you've never turned over your life to Jesus, and Scripture would describe you right now as at enmity with God, that you are an enemy of God by your choice, not wanting to submit to his rule and his reign. God is not angry with you.
He is angry at the sin that wants to destroy you both now and forever. But God is extending his arms to you, even through this message that you would see the love that Jesus has for the imperfect and broken people.
And for all who call on the name of the Lord, they will be saved, not having to earn their way to God, not having to buy their way to God, but simply receiving what Jesus has done on our behalf.
33:00
Live Willingly
There's so much more that we'll look at over the coming weeks. But I want to ask you today, do you realize that Christ died willingly for you? He chose the place, the time, the way.
He chose who'd be arrested. He chose the mercies that he would show to undeserving people. He chose to protect people that would abandon and betray him.
How are you interacting with others? As you look at this story, is your heart filled with gratitude and wonder, bewilderment at this Jesus who laid down his life a ransom for many? Can I challenge you today?
Live in light of this Jesus, the one who said, I'm not going to take the easiest way, I'm not going to take the way that brings me the most joy or comfort. He chose the way that was needed for you and for me.
He chose the way that he and the Father and the Spirit had set out from all eternity past. He is, as John would describe in Revelation, he is the lamb that was slain for the sins of the world before the foundation of the world.
The plan was always for Jesus to come and to die in our place, and he did so willingly. Who will you sacrifice for willingly today? For the Lord, for others in your life?
Will you choose with intentionality, wherever God has placed you, whoever he's placed around you, that you will be God's ambassador, his missionary, to where God has you?
