Jesus Betrayal and Arrest

(John 18:1-12)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning,
We saw Jesus praying in the garden
Praying that He might be sanctified,
That He might set aside His will to survive
And have the strength to go to the cross.
We saw that Jesus was human:
He prayed and asked the Father
That if it was possible
If there was another way
The Father could save His people
To let the cup of suffering
He was about to drink pass.
But the Father showed Him
There was no other way.

Knowing what a struggle this was for His Son,

He sent an angel to strength Him.
And so Jesus continued to pray.

And as He looked forward to the suffering He must endure

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As He looked into the furnace of His Fathers wrath,
He knew He must go through to save His people
He continued to agonize in prayer
To the point where He began to sweat blood.

But we also saw that His wrestling

With His Father in prayer was successful:
He found the strength He needed.
And now He set His face toward the cross.

B. Preview.
This is where what we usually consider
As the sufferings of our Lord begin
His whole life had really been such a life:
From His birth as a man
Into a world of sinful men,
To His ministry in trying to bring the Gospel to them
But here begin the events
That lead to His final sufferings
Here He gives Himself over willingly
Into the hands of His enemies
To suffer and die for us.

This evening,
Lets consider five things:

1. Jesus foreknowledge of His betrayal and arrest.

2. His power to prevent it.
3. His protection of His disciples through it.
4. His correction of Peter who tried to stop it.
5. And His arrest that He submitted to willingly.

II. Sermon.
A. First, we see Jesus foreknowledge: He went to the garden knowing full well what
would happen to Him there.
John writes in verses 1-4, When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with
His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which
He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew
the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having
received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees,
came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the
things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you
seek?

We noted this morning

That Jesus came to Gethsemane
To pray with His disciples,
Because this is where He would go
When He was at or near Jerusalem.

This is how Judas also knew He would be there:

And now that he had the Roman soldiers,
He went to the garden to betray Jesus.

But Jesus already knew

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That Judas would betray Him that night,
In that very garden.
And He knew what was going to happen
Through this betrayal
The very thing He had wrestled over in prayer
And yet He still came to the garden.

Usually, when you know theres danger ahead,

You do everything you can to avoid that danger.
But Jesus, knowing beforehand what was ahead of Him,
Didnt avoid it
He didnt, because He intended
To hand Himself over for us:
If He didnt give Himself up
If He didnt go willingly to the cross
He couldnt have saved us.

B. Second, we see Jesus power to prevent this arrest.

John writes in verses 4-6, So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon
Him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him,
Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, I am He. And Judas also, who was
betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, I am He,
they drew back and fell to the ground.
Notice first, that Jesus didnt try to hide His identity:
He told them plainly who He was,
Because He had come there

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To be betrayed into their hands.

Notice also the way He answered them:

He said, I am.
We saw earlier
That when He said this to the Jews,
They picked up rocks to stone Him
I am is the name of the covenant God of Israel.

The Romans likely didnt understand this,

Nor what happened next
Though the Lord did this to show them.
When Jesus said, I am,
They all drew back and fell to the ground.

What happened? What did Jesus do to them?

Pentecostalism has historically used this verse
To prove that what they call being slain in the Spirit
Is actually a Biblical teaching
The idea that the Lord
Causes you to pass out,
Or to fall over, to indicate
That Hes doing something special in your life.
It is interesting that this happened only twice in the Bible
And each time, Jesus did it to His enemies.

Jesus wasnt laying down here

The basis for a new practice in His church,
He was showing His enemies who He was,
And the power He had at His disposal.

The other example we have is Saul

Who later became Paul the apostle
When Jesus knocked him off his horse
To show Saul who He was
As he was on his way to Damascus
To arrest and imprison all the Christians
He might find there.

Now, there were several things

Jesus could have done
If He had wanted to avoid capture:
He could have knocked them down and left;
He could have walked right through them
As He did on that one occasion
Where the Jews were going to throw Him off a cliff;
He could have made them simply vanish
Hes the One who holds the universe up in existence:
He could have stopped holding them up;

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Or He could have called down twelve legions of angels
To fight for Him to keep Him out of their hands.
But He didnt do any of these things:
He allowed them to arrest Him.

Jesus had the power to prevent this,

But He didnt because He was giving Himself over
So that through His death on the cross,
You and I could go free.

C. Third, we see Jesus protection of His disciples:

He was giving Himself over, not them.
We read in verses 7-9, Therefore He again asked them, Whom do you seek?
And they said, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus answered, I told you that I am He;
so if you seek Me, let these go their way, to fulfill the word which He spoke,
Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.
Jesus earlier prayed
That the Father would protect those
Whom He had given to Jesus
After He had returned to heaven.
But while He was on earth,
It was still His job to do:
Jesus was intending on handing Himself over,
To save His disciples from hell;
But in so doing,
It wasnt His intention to hand them over as well.

Theres a very moving scene

At the end of an old movie called Spartacus,
Where the slave rebellion is finally put down by Rome
And Spartacus and all his men have been captured.
The Romans, not knowing which one was Spartacus,
Demand from their captives that they expose him.
But by this time,
Their love and admiration for their leader had grown so much
That just as Spartacus begins to open his mouth to protect his men,
Another steps forward and declares that he is Spartacus,
Then another, then another,
Until all of them are crying out
That they are Spartacus,
And as a result, they are all crucified along with him.
They all tried to protect their leader,
And in so doing, they all died with him.

That isnt what happened here.

The disciples loved Jesus,
But Jesus loved them more.
He stepped out right away
And told the soldiers who He was,
Adding, that if He was the One they were after,

They should let these others go

To fulfill what He had prayed
Only a short time ago:
Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one (v. 9).
Except, of course, for the son of perdition
Judas, the one who betrayed Him.

Jesus protected His disciples by standing up for them,

And by handing Himself over
And thats how He protected us:
He handed Himself over to save us;
And now that He has saved us,
He wont allow anything in heaven,
Earth, or under the earth
To harm us or separate us from His love.

D. Fourth, we see Jesus correction of Peter who tried to stop this.

John writes in verses 10-11, Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck
the high priests slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slaves name was
Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which
the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?
Peter wasnt very good with a sword,
Unless, following Jesus instruction
On loving your neighbor as yourself
He intended to cut off an ear

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Rather than to kill the servant as a warning.

But He did have good intentions,

Just as he undoubtedly did at Caesarea Philippi,
When, after Jesus told His disciples
That He must go to Jerusalem
To be betrayed and die,
Peter said, God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You (Matt. 16:22).
Remember what Jesus said to him?
Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting
your mind on Gods interests, but mans (v. 23).

Here, Jesus reproves him again

Because he was again getting in His way
He didnt want Peter or the disciples
To fight for Him
This wasnt the way His kingdom would come
He wanted to die for them
It was through His death and resurrection
That Gods purpose would be fulfilled.

Peter had a different idea

Of what Jesus came to do:
He was thinking as many of the Jews
That Messiah came to deliver the Jews

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From the power of the Romans
And restore the kingdom to Israel.

And so Jesus corrects him:

We read in verse 11, Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has
given Me, shall I not drink it?
Dont fight for Me Peter.
I must go with them to die.

He also undid the injury Peter caused:

We learn in Lukes account
That Jesus healed Malchus ear.

The fact that John is the only Gospel writer

To name this servant
Shows that he had some personal ties
With the priestly court
As well see later.

Again, Jesus did not allow His disciples to defend Him,

But willingly gave Himself up.
He had prayed to His Father earlier
That if it was possible for this cup to pass,
That it would pass
But it wasnt possible,
And Jesus, knowing it wasnt possible

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Was now determined to drink it

That He might save us.

E. Finally, we see Jesus arrest.

We read in verses 12-13, So the Roman cohort and the commander and the
officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first;
for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
Jesus was now in their hands
He had given Himself over
To those who hated Him
That they might kill Him:
That as the Lamb of God
He might be led to the slaughter.

Jesus knew this was His Fathers will

He knew this is what He came into the world to do,
He knew it had to be done to save us,
And that He was the only One who could
And so He willingly gave Himself
Over into their hands,
That they might do to Him
What His Father had planned.

This is simply the first step towards the fiery furnace

That Jesus will endure for us;

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And again it reminds us of the love He has
For all the Father has given Him,
For everyone who belongs to Him.
This is the love Jesus has for you
If you are His this evening
If you have trusted Him,
If you have devoted your life
To Him and to His service.
Jesus said in John 12:25-26, He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his
life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow
Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the
Father will honor him.

This is also the love He offers to you

If you havent yet trusted Him.
Jesus went to the cross to save sinners.
He offers to forgive everyone
Who will receive Him
He offers to forgive you
And to save you from what you deserve.
Let me encourage you again
To take Him up on this offer.
You wont find a better one anywhere.
Jesus suffered His Fathers wrath
So that you wouldnt have to suffer forever,

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If you will only believe and follow Him. Amen.

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