2006-07-30

Sermon: John 18:4-9

“The Powerful Love of Jesus Christ”

Introduction

            This past week I have been teaching 5^th and 6^th grade VBS.  Our main topic has been “The Greatness of Jesus Christ.”  This is not just an important for children, but one for adults as well.  We call ourselves “Christians” because we follow Christ.  Too often today, we know too little about Jesus Christ.  We either take what we do know too lightly or we do not know all the other details involved in who Jesus is and what He has done.

However, to know about Jesus Christ is therefore the most important thing about the faith.  I know that theme of this church this year is “living out your faith” – let me tell you that it is IMPOSSIBLE to truly live out your faith if you do not deeply know Jesus Christ.  You will not have the motivation or the power to demonstrate Jesus Christ.  In fact, how can you really show people Jesus Christ if you do not know Him very well? 

Perhaps the MOST abused idea about Jesus Christ is that of His great love.  We often view His love as gentle, nice, compassionate.  We see it when He touched the untouchable and gross leper.  We see it when He wanted the children to come to Him.  We see it when He served others with great sacrifice.  While all of those things are true and do show His love, we neglect the true power in His love and that is what I want to talk about today. 

I want us to see 3 ways Christ demonstrates His powerful love for us. 

Jesus Christ…

Stands up for us (verse 4-5)

Subdues our enemies (verse 6)

Secures us (verses 7-9)

Let us read the text.  (???)

Read John 18:1-9.

Context:

            Let me provide you some context before we start talking about the text.  The purpose of the whole book of John is summed up in John 20:31 which says “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

            In other words, the purpose of John’s Gospel is to show that Jesus is God very God and man very man.  The way John does this is to show you the life of Christ so that you will see Jesus is God – no mere man can do what He does but at the same time He is man – He really eats, He really talks, He really walks, He really feels emotions. 

            In doing so, John essentially shows you two parts to Jesus’ ministry.  He talks about His public ministry and His private ministry.  His public ministry actually is described all the way up to John 12 and His private ministry begins in chapter 13 through chapter 18 .  Since our passage today actually is within the “private ministry” of Jesus Christ let’s focus on that section.  Jesus’ private ministry concentrates on His disciples and the main point John wants you to see in Jesus’ interaction with the disciples is found in John 13:1.  “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” 

The reason you know Jesus is the God-Man is because of how He loves His own disciples.  John says that Jesus loved them “to the end.”  The idea of this phrase in the Greek is to the uttermost or to the perfect and most complete degree.  Some have said that this talks about the timing – Jesus loved His own unto eternity or forever.  Others have argued that this talks about the intensity of Jesus’ love – He loved them with the deepest type of love.  In reality, it is all of those ideas combined.  Jesus loved the disciples with a perfect love; a love that no mere human can have.  A love that is complete and full in its duration and its intensity.

How does Jesus show this kind of love to His disciples?  John 13 tells us that Jesus shows that love by being the servant of all; Jesus washes the fit of His disciples.  John 14-16 shows that Jesus loves His disciples to the uttermost because He gives them great comfort.  John 17 shows that Jesus cared for His disciples to the end because He prayed for them in a capacity only He, the Highest Priest, could do.  And this all brings us to John 18 where Jesus’ love for His disciples is shown by His protection of them.

Let us set the scene by quickly walking through John 18:1-3.  Jesus has gone into a familiar resting spot in the Mount of Olives.  Most likely it actually is a cave surrounded by a garden.  Judas knows of this spot and seems to want to trap not just Jesus but also His disciples. Judas takes an entire regiment of Roman soldiers and the temple guard.  They are armed and ready to fight. And so now Jesus and His disciples are surrounded and cornered by His enemies.  And it is in these circumstances that we see Jesus out love protect His disciples.

As I said before, John 18:4-9 tells us that Jesus protects His disciples in three ways.  He stands up for them in verses 4-5, subdues the enemies for them in verse 6, and in verses 7-9 He provides security for His disciples. 

Pt #1:  Jesus stands up for His disciples (verses 4-5)

First we see that Jesus stands up for His disciples in verses 4-5.  Let’s see how He does this.  Notice the first phrase “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him…”  At first glance, we might observe and say “Jesus is omniscient” and then move on.  However, this phrase really sets the scene for all that is about to happen.  The key is to remember what Jesus knew omnisciently.  He knew “all the things that were coming upon Him…” – in the context, all those things are His upcoming sufferings on the cross.  In other words, Jesus fully knew and grasped how He would suffer and die.  Perhaps this may not really be too significant for you but let me give you a quick illustration to show you the weight of this situation.

            In college, I had a friend who came in my room looking very nervous.  He wanted to ask a girl on a date but was too scarred.  He thought she would just say “no” and came to ask my advice.  I didn’t know really what to do and so I just listened to him convince himself to call the girl and ask her on a date.  So he ends up calling the girl from my dorm room phone and since she was not there he left a message on her voice mail.

            The next day he comes back to my room even more nervous.  I ask him what is wrong and ask if the girl said “no, I won’t date you.”  He told me, “No, she hasn’t called back yet.”  I said, “Well then there shouldn’t be a problem” and I returned to my work.  I thought he would go back to his room.  But he wouldn’t leave the room and after a while I looked up and said, “Well if she hasn’t said no yet, what’s the problem.” And he said, “Abner…I don’t know…I guess the anticipation is killing me!!”

            You see, you can experience some of the pain of what is to come by anticipating how it will be.  Remember “Jesus knew all things that were coming upon Him…” He knew it all, He had full omniscient anticipation and that means He had omniscient anticipatory pain; pain that came from full knowledge and could somewhat experience the suffering that He would physically and spiritually feel on the cross.  If you have ever come close to knowing that kind of agony, you know that it is crippling. And that is the type of suffering our Lord was experiencing at the time – only infinitely more because He was omniscient. 

            But the sentence does not end there.  Jesus “knowing all things that are coming upon Him went forth and said to them, "Whom do you seek?"’  You see, despite the fact that Jesus knew in the most intimate way His future sufferings, despite the fact that such anticipating was so heavy, He went forth and confronted His enemies.  He did not let His own pain prevent Him from defending His disciples in this dangerous situation.  He was selfless and stood up for them.

            However, do not think to yourself that all that is happening is that Jesus is just moving and talking.  That is true but that is not all that happens.  Notice that Jesus “went out” – went out to where?  Where did He go to?  If you look at the first verse of the chapter, Jesus and His disciples went into the garden area.  As I mentioned before, the garden probably refers to an area that is both an olive tree grove and a cave.  Jesus and His disciples would most likely sleep in the cave area and so when Jesus “went out” it is at the very place He “went in” – the entrance to this garden cave. 

            In light of this what you have is the enemies on the outside of the cave, the disciples sleeping on the inside of the garden cave, and Jesus is right in between them.  By going out, Jesus physically communicates to all those soldiers outside that they must go through Him to harm His disciples inside.  In fact, in the bigger picture, Jesus is fulfilling a key role which He talked about a few chapters back in the book of John.  In John 10:7, Jesus says that He is the door.  He is the one who ensures the security of His sheep.  He keeps all the robbers out and all the sheep safe inside.  This is precisely what Jesus was doing when He “went out.” 

            Jesus continues to stand for His disciples by forcing the soldiers to admit that they only can legitimately arrest the Lord Jesus Christ.  He inquires whom they are looking for and they reply “Jesus the Nazarene.”  Notice that they did not say “Jesus the Nazarene and all His disciples.”  What the Lord has done is reminded all of the soldiers of their tasks and then identifies Himself as the One whom they are looking for.  He says “I am.” 

            In these two verses, we see that Jesus acts selflessly.  Despite the fact that He can feel the weight of His future sufferings, He goes ahead and defends His disciples.  He stands for them.  He stands in between the enemies and His disciples and makes sure that the bad guys understand that they are looking for Jesus alone.  He then attracts all their attention to Himself and away from those He loves.  Notice here Jesus is taking the imitative; He is the one who arises to protect His disciples; He is the One who confronts the enemy; He is the barrier to make sure His own are not harmed.  Jesus stands up for His own; He does not flee and He does fall.  Just remember, that the Lord does not wait to help us but rather He always is there to stand up, defend, and shield us from the enemy.

Pt #2: Subdues that Enemy (verse 6)

            However, Jesus does not merely stand up for us against the enemy, but He also subdues that enemy.  This is found in verse 6.  The verse reads “So when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.”  If you think about what is happening here, it actually is quite strange.  Jesus stands up for the disciples and confronts the enemy.  He asks them who they are looking for and they reply, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  He says “I am” and then right after that all of them simultaneously retreat back and fall face to the ground.  This just normally does not happen.  So what did happen?

            Let me quickly provide you some different explanations.  Some argue that when Jesus said “I am,” everyone felt guilty at Jesus’ innocence – so guilty that they all fell down at the same time.  That seems kind of unrealistic.  After all, their guilty feelings didn’t last long, soon after that they arrested Jesus.  Others suggest that when Jesus identified Himself, people were so shocked at His honesty that they fell down.  Once again, people really do not react that way – especially trained Roman soldiers.  The soldiers would have been happy that Jesus identified Himself and immediately seized Him.  Yet still others say that Jesus said the divine name and the people out of reverence fell down.  This is a little closer I think to the right answer but still has some problems.  Why would Roman soldiers fall down at the name of God?  Jews might have had that kind of reverence but why would a pagan soldier do that?  This does not make sense.  All these suggestions do not do justice to dramatic nature of what happened.

            The best and I think the most obvious answer is to understand the term “I am.”  This will take some background information.

In some of your translations, when Jesus says “I am” it might read “I am He.”  But in the Greek it really just says “I am.”  Many of you probably know that this is a reference to the very name of God revealed in the Old Testament.  When God tells Moses His name He says, “I am who I am” and tells that Israel is to call the Lord “YHWH.”  In Hebrew, “YHWH” means “He is” or “He will be.”  Notice the difference between what God calls Himself and what Israel is to call God.  God calls Himself “I am” but Israel is to call God “He is” or “YHWH.”  What this shows is that no man can call God by His direct name but only a variation of that name.  In light of this, we say that no one can utter the true divine name. You also need to know that in the Old and New Testament, a name is much more than a title; it is the very essence of a person. 

How does this all fit in?  Why did everyone fall down so suddenly when Jesus said “I am?”  When Jesus said the words “I am”; He uttered the Divine Name that God told Moses long ago and that no man on this earth could every say.  Because a name is not merely a title, when Jesus said those words, it unveiled literally the very essence of God’s glory overwhelming everyone and knocking them down.  What Jesus did by saying the words “I am” was to powerfully display the full power of God and overwhelm His enemies to the ground. 

Do not forget the context.  Jesus went out to confront the enemies in order to protect His disciples.  He stood up for the ones whom He loved.  Here, He unleashes all the power of God contained in the divine name and conquers the enemies.  They are all bowing before Him.  Why did He do all this?  Was this an excessive use of force?  No!  He did this, in context, because He loved His disciples and wanted to protect them.  And if that meant that He had to reveal the full majesty of God in order that the enemies would not touch His loved ones, He did it!  Jesus Christ will do whatever it takes to keep you.  If it means that the omnipotent power of God must be used to do so, He will do it.  Is that not powerful love?

Pt #3:  Secures His Disciples (verses 7-9)

All of this, the fact that Jesus stands up for His disciples and then subdues the enemy, all culminates in providing security for His disciples. This is found in the rest of the passage.  Jesus asks His foes again, “Whom do you seek?”  I think they get the message now, don’t you?  They are after all on the ground totally smashed by God’s power!  They once again reply that they seek Jesus the Nazarene.  Once again, they confirm that they are only seeking one person.  And now in full authority Jesus tells them that “"I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way.”  Jesus reminds them of two important facts.  He reminds them of His power when He says “I am He” and then reminds them of their own mission that they are seeking Jesus.  In light of that, they must let the disciples go.  The phrase “let these go their way” is not just a suggestion or a request but a command.  Jesus commanded the soldiers to let His disciples go free.  In light of all that has happened, Jesus has truly secured the protection of His disciples. 

But notice verse 9.  All this happened “to fulfill the word which He spoke, "Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”  Jesus said this to God the Father in John 17 when He prayed for His disciples.  You see Jesus made a promise to spiritually preserve His disciples till the very end.  He knew at this time, the arrest of His disciples would be too much for their young faith and they would not be able to persevere.  So He protects them physically to protect them spiritually.  He uses all His power to ensure that they will make it through just as He promised. 

This idea is repeated by Paul in Romans 8:37.  In the context of Romans 8, Paul is discussing the Christian’s sufferings and then comments, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer…”  How do we overwhelmingly conquer all our adversity?  “Through Him who loved us.”  God’s love is what gives us security.  Not because it is just a mushy nice kind of love but one that will do whatever it takes to stand up for our defense, subdue the enemies, and provide us eternal security no matter what.

Conclusion

            How powerful is the love of Jesus Christ?  We have seen in this passage that Jesus Christ will do whatever it takes to love you.  He will stand up to defend you, He will conquer the enemies for you, and all that to secure you forever and ever till He presents you blameless in front of God the Father.

            Let me put it this way.  If protecting you in the will of God demands that Jesus Christ must display all the power of God, if preserving you means that Jesus must even utter the unspeakable name of God and unleash the omnipotent might and glory of God, if saving you from harm that God doesn’t want to happen to you requires that God will use all the unlimited strength He possess – IT WILL BE DONE.  That is how much God loves you.  That is the powerful love of Jesus Christ.  It is a love that will never let you go and a love that will never fail you.  It is a love that will do whatever takes to do what God promised you.  Isn’t that a love as John says in John 13:1 “a love to the very end”?

            May I encourage you no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the hardships, no matter the triumphs or tragedies, rest in the love of Jesus Christ.  It is not some weak emotion but a powerful determination to help you.  When Jesus says He cares about you, He is serious about it.  He cares about you more than you will ever know or imagine. 

            But even more than that.  Can I ask you one last question?  Have you ever seen the kind of love Jesus had anywhere else?  Have you seen any person on this planet match the kind of power behind His compassion and care?  I know for a fact there is none because Jesus is God very God.  And for this kind of love we need to exalt Him with our lives.  For this kind of love we need to praise Him more and more and marvel.  He has a love that is beyond any other love in creation and so whenever you hear the name of Jesus Christ, I encourage you to remember the One who loves you beyond all words.  Always think of Jesus Christ as supreme.  Let us pray.