PPJ: I am not much in, uh, the way of an art connoisseur.
I, I wish I was.
I, I often think to myself, man, I wish I appreciated art more than I do.
I don't understand a lot of it, and especially modern art.
And now there's this whole new genre, which you're seeing depicted right
here where people paint like this and, and you're looking at these brush
strokes as they're hitting the canvas and you're just thinking to yourself.
I don't, I don't see what he sees.
I don't understand what he's doing.
I don't know why he's painting what he's painting.
It doesn't at all make sense to me.
And a lot of times we can compare that to our own life.
We can think, man, I, I just, I don't get it.
I don't see as the master artist who is God himself is at work in our lives.
I don't really see, I don't understand God, what you're doing in my life.
That is until the painting is turned around.
And we think about our own lives and we think, man, it, it really is chaotic.
I'm not a huge fan of the rock, by the way.
That's just the, the, the shortest video that I could find
there, uh, that made the point.
But, uh, there's a lot of times in our life that that life gets
chaotic and it looks like those chaotic brushstrokes on the canvas.
And we're sitting there thinking to ourselves, God, what are
you doing right now in my life?
Why am I going through this right now?
Why am I going through this trial?
Why am I suffering this way?
Why didn't this come through for me?
Why didn't that happen for me?
Why, why God?
And what we're gonna find in, in the word this morning, in, in what we need
to hold fast to in the midst of those times is the reality that God truly is
the master at work in our lives and, and there will come a day when the painting
of our life is fu and we do get to see what he was doing the whole time.
Uh, there will come that day as John says, in one John, when we see Jesus
and we will be like him because we will see him and, and be with him.
Until that day we find ourselves having to trust the brushstrokes that hurt.
Having to trust the master at work in the lives, uh, when really a lot of times it
just doesn't feel like it adds up to us.
What do we do in the response of that?
What do you do when you can't really fully see the picture
God's painting in your life?
In those moments.
I wanna encourage you this morning that when walking through a trial trial like
that, a childlike faith in God will comfort your soul and give glory to him.
A childlike faith in God will comfort your soul and give glory to him.
As we start a brand new series in John 18, looking at the gathering
storm, that's gonna lead us straight up to the crucifixion on Good Friday.
Uh, we find that we come to a passage that honestly would be
pretty easy to just preach through Indicatives on this passage.
Just statements of facts on this passage.
Something like, you know what?
God is at work in the details.
God's always in control.
God doesn't need your help.
Alright, let's close and, and be done.
I.
Um, but I also want us to think about, and this is why, and, and maybe if you're
with us and you're newer to us and, and this, you know, style of preaching as
it were, you might wonder why are all the, the points always imperatives?
And, and, and usually they they are.
And the reason being is because we believe that God's word is meant to
be taken and applied to our lives.
And in the outline of a sermon 0.1,
0.2,
0.3,
uh, we trust that those are the three things at, at minimum that
you'll remember from a, a given sermon, hopefully, at least.
And if those are the three things that you're gonna take away, we'd like those
three things to be calls to action.
Yes.
In keeping with God's word, what we find in the text.
But that's why we, we look at a narrative text like what we're about to find.
This is a story of what's happening to Jesus historical, but it's a story.
And we say, okay, what difference should this story make to you on Monday morning?
Why does it matter to you tomorrow what we're about to study today?
And if we don't ask that question, then we're really not taking the
word to its fullest point, to its fullest purpose in our lives, which
is to make us more like Jesus.
And I admit freely that that is the work of the spirit, not the work
of a human being, but as we preach, that's what we're after together.
So take your Bibles to John 18 and let's begin in verse one.
John 18 verse one.
It says, when Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his
disciples across the brook cron, where there was a garden, which
he and his disciples entered.
So let's begin.
When he spoke in these words, what were these words?
Well, that's John 13 all the way through John 17.
That's the upper room discourse that ended last week as we looked together
at the conclusion of the high priestly prayer, when Jesus had finished the
upper room discourse, when Jesus had spoken all of these things and
finished praying to the father.
Here it says he went out with his disciples across the brook karon.
Now he went out, went out from where This map may not be the the clearest for you.
I apologize.
Eventually we'll have a big LED screen.
It's gonna be great.
But once we have a, a building and, and we can do all that and
all of these will be much bigger.
But for now, this will have to suffice.
He went out not from the upper room 'cause he'd already left the upper room.
What Jesus went out from, and you can kind of see it with this red line on the
screen, he went out from the city walls.
So he left the city of Jerusalem 'cause the garden of Gethsemane located away
from outside of the city walls there.
And he had to cross the brook ca drone.
You'll see the ca drone valley there right next to that red line.
To get up to the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Kidron Valley is called that because you have Mount Zion on one
side, which is Jerusalem, and you've got the Mount of Olives on the other
side, which is where Gethsemane is.
In between, that valley is marked by a brook called the Kidron brook, and
that is why it's the Kidron Valley.
So Jesus leaves, he goes out, he goes across the brook drone
where there was a garden.
A garden.
Now I want us to think about the gardens.
That we come across in the Bible.
There are actually three significant gardens in the Bible.
There's the Garden of Eden.
Think back to Genesis.
Genesis chapter two, the Garden of Eden.
This is where, uh, mankind was first placed by God in the Garden
of Eden to work the garden.
This was the place that God had prepared for Adam and Eve to
live and to be in his presence.
And that was the design until Adam and Eve fell into sin and they had
to be kicked out of the garden.
Uh, the next garden I want you to think about is the garden that's still coming.
The garden of the new Jerusalem, the garden in Revelation 22,
where the tree of life is back.
Remember the Tree of life was guarded, was, was part of what God didn't want
Adam and Eve to eat from after they fell.
And so the tree of life is gonna be back in the garden in Revelation 22,
and it's gonna be by the river of life.
And we're gonna be able to eat from the fruit of the tree of life.
And the leaves are gonna be there to give healing to the nations.
And so that garden is yet future.
And so to get to, from the, the Garden of Eden to the Garden of the
New Jerusalem, we have to go through first the Garden of Gethsemane.
And this is the garden that we find in John 18.
This is the garden that Jesus enters into, and it's in this garden that
Jesus is gonna do what Adam couldn't do.
It's in this garden that Jesus is gonna surrender himself
fully to the will of the Father.
It's in this garden that Jesus is going to submit himself to, the father's will,
even to the point of being arrested.
And it led to his eventual death on the cross.
And so they go out, they go across the brook ca drone, and
they enter into the garden.
It says, now, Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place.
Verse two, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
I dunno what comes to mind for you when you think of a garden, but,
uh, here's some images on the screen here of this area, this region.
The first one on your left as you're looking at the screen, that's
a view from the Mount of Olives back into the city of Jerusalem.
Taken this is 2019.
When, when I was there.
So this is looking back.
In fact, you can see the Golden dome there.
That golden dome is the dome of the rock is it's an Islamic
shrine that is built upon the place where the temple once stood.
So this is from the Mount of Olives.
This is looking back across the Kidron Valley to Jerusalem.
The middle picture, there is an olive tree that is still there today that dates
all the way back to the time of Christ.
And so this olive tree goes all the way back to first century
ad and it's there in the garden.
There's multiple this size that are like this there, but this
is the type of garden it was.
It wasn't like rose bushes and lilies and things like that.
This is an olive garden, and this is where the, the disciples would often go that.
Third picture that looks like a corridor.
And then there's a, an ominous door, uh, that is the place that marks a cave that's
still there today that you can go inside.
Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures inside this cave, but that is the cave
that used to be an olive press there in the Garden of Gethsemane, where they
would bring the olives from the harvest.
They would press the olives, take the oil, and then go to market.
With the oil that cave church tradition holds is the place where Jesus would
often go and meet with his disciples.
And so if you go there today, this sign is the sign that's
right above the door to that cave.
What does it say on the screen there?
It says Gethsemane.
And so when we think about the Garden of Gethsemane, you may think about hanging
out in a garden the way that we think about a garden today, but it's likely
that this is what was was going on here.
And Jesus, it was often believed, would, would go to this garden,
to this cave, to this place, to the, to the, the cave Gethsemane.
And that's where he would even sometimes spend the night with his disciples.
If they did not go all the way back to Bethany to be with Lazarus and to be with
Mary and Martha there, sometimes they would go to the, the Mount of Olives and
they would, they would spend the night in this cave called Gethsemane there.
This is probably the place where even though John's gospel doesn't record this
part, the others do, where Jesus left the disciples and went away with Peter,
James and John to pray and say, father, if it be will, let this cut pass from me.
And so when they go there, that's why the text says in verse two, Judas who
betrayed him, by the way, John was, was really impacted by this obviously, and
we understand why, but almost every time John references Judas, he says the one
who betrayed him, even back in chapter six, when he is first introducing us
to Judas, the one who would betray him.
And so here again, Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place for Jesus
often met there with his disciples.
Question for us this morning, if you knew that somebody was about to betray
you and, and somebody was going to come and, and they were gonna arrest you,
would you go to the very place that your accuser, your betrayer, would know that
you would be, would expect you to be?
No, of course not.
None of us are walking into betrayal and yet when we look at the text,
that's exactly what happens.
'cause Judas knew the place that he was gonna be.
Was Jesus aware that Judas knew this?
Yes.
Was ju Jesus aware that Judas was going there?
Yes.
Verse three.
So Judas having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief
priests and the Pharisees went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
It says they're a band of soldiers.
That band is the same word in the Greek that refers to a cohort.
A cohort with 600 soldiers.
So did Judas go across with 600 soldiers?
It's possible.
We're not entirely sure the number isn't directly given, but it's the same word
that referred to a cohort of soldiers.
A a 600 member band of soldiers going together and notice it says not only
them, but also the chief priests, the officers from the chief priests and the
Pharisees, and then they bring lanterns and torches and weapons, all for Jesus at
this point in time, Judas is a traitor.
Judas is a mole.
Judas is a double agent.
He's a mercenary.
Judas is at at heart a tool being used by Satan to accomplish what Satan
believed was his will in all of this.
In fact, back in John 1327, it tells us in the text that Satan entered into
Judas when Judas left the upper room.
But at the same time, Judas right now is also an instrument in the
hands of God to accomplish his will.
Acts, chapter two, verse 23 says this, that Jesus was delivered up
to be crucified according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
So that means all of these details, that Jesus was going to the garden
of Gethsemane, that Judas knew that he would be there, that Judas went
there to meet him on that night.
All of this is taking place in perfect accordance with the will of the Father.
I notice it says he, they come with these lanterns and these torches
and these weapons, and you think, man, that seems like overkill.
600 men for just Jesus.
And yet I think that Judas understood exactly who Jesus was.
Remember, Judas watched Jesus walk on water.
Judas watched Jesus calm a storm.
Judas watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus, Judas watched Jesus feed 5,000 people.
Judas knew exactly who Jesus is.
And so I think Judas is wise, at least from a humanly perspective,
to bring as many people as he brings to come to arrest Jesus.
But what I want us to see in this first part here is the
detail that God is at working.
He's going to the garden.
And John notes that Judas knew exactly where he was gonna be.
Why?
Because he had been there many times before, which means every time that
Jesus went to the garden with his disciples and Judas was with them.
Jesus was establishing a pattern that was gonna set up the betrayal
that was about to take place.
See, God was at work in the details.
And when we walk through trials, when we walk through difficulty, when we walk
through seasons of life, when the master's brush strokes don't make sense in our
life, we need to remember just like he was in this circumstance, he is for us.
God is still at work in the details.
So if we're gonna have a childlike faith that comforts our soul and
glorifies God, the first way we do that, point number one is this trust
that God is at work in these details.
Trust that God is at work in the details.
Wherever you're at this morning, whatever suffering you have endured
this morning, trust this morning that they're not random and chaotic details.
It may look like that, but what we know to be true about God is
that God is not a God of accident.
God is not a God of chaos.
God is not a God of of anything that is random, but God is a God of order.
And orchestrates everything in perfect accordance with his will.
Question when you drove to work this or to work this morning?
I, I, that was me.
Um,
when you came to church this morning, which cup holder did you use in your car?
Did you use the blinker on every turn this morning when you walked in the
building, which door, which hand did you grab the door handle with this morning?
Which door did you use when you came in?
Which step did you take when you walked in the the door this morning?
Did you step with your right foot or your left foot when you came
in the the door this morning?
How many rows back are you currently sitting from the front row?
Some of you are very calculated on that, and you know exactly how many
rows back you are from the front.
My guess is at least some of those things you had no clue, right?
Because we do so much in our life, absent mindedly, there are so many details about
our life that we just don't think about.
We just do them right.
God does nothing absent mindedly.
As God ordains and orchestrates our lives, he does nothing absentmindedly.
Everything he does is on purpose.
From the time that Jesus first went to the Garden of Gethsemane with his
disciples, he went there knowing that this was gonna set up Judas Betrayal.
When he left the upper room, just a handful of hours pr prior to this,
he knew that he was walking to the garden that Judas expected him to
be at, and he was gonna be there.
And so were the, the cohort of Roman soldiers and Judas was gonna
betray him, and yet he walked right into it because he trusted that
God was working out the details.
And he's doing the same thing in our lives.
I remember back at our sending church, hearing a story of a man who had a
heart attack in the lobby of a hospital.
He was there visiting somebody else.
And on his way out, he has a heart attack right there in the hospital lobby.
They grab him, they rush him into surgery, they save his life.
And they said afterwards, man, if you hadn't had that heart attack where
you did, you would've been gone.
That's God at work in the details.
Or when I met my wife, I was on my way back up from a, a school
function that I didn't wanna be at.
And a friend said to me, Hey pj, why don't you come meet these people?
And she happened to be one of the people there That's not on accident.
God does nothing absent mindedly.
And so when I was there and I got to meet her, then I, I pursued her.
And by God's grace, she married me.
God does nothing on accident.
He's at work in the details of your life where you are this morning.
So some thoughts for what that means for us right now is, number one,
there's nothing mundane in our life.
If God is at work in everything, in all of the details of our life, there's,
there's nothing mundane in our life.
Theologian, Stephen Schock wrote this.
He said, we owe our being to his power, our wellbeing to his care,
our motion and the exercise of every faculty to his merciful,
providence and concurrence in him.
We live and move and have, are being.
Paul says in Colossians one that in Christ all things hold together.
There's no such thing as the mundane in our life.
Second, what that tells us is this, that your past should encourage
you in the present as your present will encourage you in the future.
They say 2020.
Hindsight is, is 2020.
The spiritual hindsight is also 2020.
My guess is that for many of you in this room, you can look back at your
life and you can see ways that God cared for you, ways that God was working in
the details of your life spiritually, to bring you to a place or to walk you
through a trial, or to bring you to be more like Jesus as a result of something.
And you look back on that and you're encouraged by that, though in the
moment you couldn't fully understand it.
I wanna encourage you this morning, God's at work in your present in such
a way that maybe you don't understand what you're walking through right
now, but I bet you in the future you're gonna look back at right now
in this season and be like, okay, I see God what you were doing right now.
God's at work in the details.
Third, I I, I think this encourages us to testify to the small things in life.
Uh, a lot of times we hear about the big things and how God responded and worked
out the details of the big things in life.
But how about the small things like maybe you were late to church this
morning and you could not find your keys.
And you stopped and you said, God, please help me find my keys so I
can get to church this morning.
And then you were able to find your keys and give God glory for that with
your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Encourage them by testifying to the small details that God does in our
life to work out his plan for us.
It's not just the small details in, it's not just the good seasons either.
In fact, what we're talking about this morning is the difficult times, aren't we?
And just like he's in the details, in the small things, in the mundane, even
though there is no mundane, 'cause that was a point that I just made.
And maybe the pastor shouldn't undermine the point that he just
made by undermining it, man.
Anyways, even in the small things.
But in the, in those, those times of, of suffering and heartache
and, and sorrow in your life, God's at work there too in the details.
In fact, let's talk about a few of those things.
How about Daniel chapter one?
Uh, then the king commanded Ashkenaz, his chief eunuch to bring some of the
people of Israel, both of the royal family, of the nobility youths without
blemish of good appearance, skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge,
understanding, learning, competent to stand in the king's palace, right?
Look at all of the details that Daniel needed to measure up to in order to be
placed into the palace, into the role that he was gonna be used by God in such
a powerful way in the life of Israel.
See, God was at work in the details of Daniel's life far
before Daniel chapter one.
When Nebuchadnezzar came and laid siege to Jerusalem, when Daniel was
being brought up, even in Daniel's physical appearance, God is at work
in the details because he wanted Daniel where he was gonna put Daniel.
Did Daniel want to be taken to Babylon?
No, he didn't wanna be taken away from home, away from his people.
He didn't want the temple.
To be destroyed.
He didn't want to be going through all of those things.
And yet God wanted him where he wanted him.
And so he worked out the details to get him there.
Or how about Jonah?
God said to Jonah, go to go to, uh, Nineveh and, and preach there.
And Jonah said, no, I'm not going and fled from the Lord.
What did the Lord do?
The Lord hurled a great storm upon the sea.
He was orchestrating the details even of the weather and of the
creation of the fish to get Jonah exactly where Jonah needed to be.
Did Jonah want to go there?
No, he didn't want to go there.
Or in one Samuel chapter 17, think of David and Goliath, the details that God
orchestrated to get David where he was.
The fact that Jesse decided at that moment that David needed to take food
to his brothers on the front lines, and that David happened to go to meet
his brothers on the front lines at just the time that the Goliath is coming
out to challenge Israel and that David happened to listen to Goliath's challenge
and then happened to go to Saul, and Saul happened to agree to send this.
Tiny little shepherd boy out to fight this gigantic human being.
God was orchestrating the details.
Did David want to battle a giant when he woke up that that morning?
No, he didn't know the story of David and Goliath at that point.
Yeah, but God wanted him there and so God was working out the details in his life.
Again, church trust that God is at work in the details in your life.
You've probably already gotten there, I hope and I trust, but if that means
that, that he's, he's worked out the details to get them in situations where
they didn't necessarily want to be.
It means sometimes he also works out the details to put you in situations you
don't necessarily wanna be in either.
And the answer is to trust in there.
There's no random trial or pointless pain in anyone's life.
God may be using it in your life this morning to draw you to himself, to show
you that you can trust in him, and he's the only constant in this world where
everything else seems to be falling apart.
Or if you're here this morning as a believer, God may be using
a trial in your life right now to cause you to depend more upon him.
God may be using a trial in your life right now to kill an idol in your life.
God may be using a trial in your life right now to make you more like Jesus.
God may be using a trial in your life right now to to set you up, to be able
to comfort somebody else who's gonna walk through a similar trial later on, like
Paul says in Second Corinthians chapter one, God is at work in the details and
none of it is on accident, and we can trust them when we have that perspective.
This verse takes on a different meaning for us, doesn't it?
We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose.
So those details that God's working in your life right now,
he's working those for your good.
It's just sometimes that means he's gonna work those and bring you into
the valley, but you can trust him in the midst of that valley with
that childlike faith that comforts your soul and glorifies the father.
Look at verse four as we move on.
It says, then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward
and said to them, whom do you seek?
And so here's Jesus demonstrating his omniscience, right?
So Jesus, in God in the flesh, Philippians chapter two says He emptied himself.
He veiled some of the fullness of his deity.
But it didn't mean that he ceased to be God in any way.
He's a hundred percent God.
He's fully God, fully man.
And here we see some of his deity in the sense that he was omniscient.
He knew all that was about to take place, all that was about to happen
to him, and instead of retreating from that, Jesus steps into it.
He comes forward and says to them, whom do you seek?
Now John doesn't record something that the synoptic gospels, Matthew, mark, and Luke
do record, and that is when, when Judas came forward to betray him, when Judas
came forward to betray Jesus with a kiss, and Jesus looked at Judas and said, would
you betray the son of man with a kiss?
I think that took place right before this.
I think that takes place and then Jesus kind of sidesteps Judas
at that point and steps forward.
It says, and asks, whom do you seek?
I think this is Jesus taking the moment away from Judas.
I think this is Jesus despising the shame of the arrest by
initiating the conversation.
Think about the times.
Maybe you've watched cops or some show like that and you've
seen an arrest warrant served.
Usually it doesn't go like this.
Usually the person being arrested, they're running, aren't they?
It's not a moment of of, of strength and dignity and courage and bravado for them.
That's not what we find here with Jesus.
We find that it is a moment of strength and courage and dignity and bravado.
Jesus is controlling the circumstances here.
Jesus sidesteps, Juda steps forward and looks at this band of
soldiers and says, who are you?
After they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Verse five.
Jesus said to them, I am he.
And notice John again.
John was not a big Judas fan.
Judas who betrayed him was standing with them.
John wants us to make sure that we know where Judas lies, where
Ju Judas stands right now.
Not just literally, but spiritually.
He's not with Jesus.
He's not with Jesus followers.
He's on the other side.
But they say, we want Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus answers them.
I am he.
This statement that Jesus makes here, uh, resounds in our ears.
If, if you know the Bible with some things from the Old Testament, doesn't it?
Exodus chapter three.
Exodus chapter three, verses 13 through 14.
Uh, then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them,
the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name?
What should I say to them?
God said to Moses, I am who I am in the Hebrew.
It's Yahweh.
Before me.
No, God was formed, or sorry, that's Isaiah 43.
And he said, say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you.
And so when Jesus says, I am he, in fact, there is no He in the Greek.
It's ego a me.
I am in our minds and perhaps for the, the, the Jewish audience
in the moment, it echoed with reverberations of Exodus chapter
three, or Isaiah chapter 43, verse 10.
Where it says that you may know and believe and understand
that I am he before me.
There was no God nor shall there be any after me.
And we look at the response of the crowd where it says they drew
back and they fell to the ground.
And we think to ourselves, well they fell to the ground because surely they
must have gone back to Exodus chapter three or Isaiah 43 and understood
that Jesus was claiming to be on, on par, on level ground with Yahweh.
And I think for those of us that have the rest of the story, we can see that.
But if we put ourselves back in the garden, I don't know that they're
making that connection at this point, especially not all of the Gentile
soldiers that are gathered there.
They wouldn't have known Exodus three, they wouldn't have known Isaiah 43.
So what in the world is happening?
I think this is a moment wherein Jesus's self-disclosure of who he is with the
statement Aigo a me, is so incredibly powerful in that moment that the those
that are present can't help but fall down on the ground in the presence of God.
Again, the strength, the control of the son of God in a situation
where we would expect anything else given where he's about to go, I am
he, and they fall to the ground.
Most of them having no idea why they just fell over other than it was in response
to the words that Jesus just spoke.
And so the crowd, they, they get back up again and they ask Jesus
or Jesus steps forward and ask them again, whom do you seek?
And they said, probably a lot more timidly.
Jesus of Nazareth.
And he says, again, I am he.
So if you seek me, let these men go.
Let these men go.
Uh, John 18 nine says that that was to fulfill the word that he had
spoken of those whom you gave me.
I have not lost one of them.
Uh, hearkens back to the high priestly prayer in John 17.
Jesus said in verse 12, John 1712, while I was with them, I kept them
in your name, which you've given me.
I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost
except the son of destruction.
That's Judas, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And so even here, Jesus is protecting the disciples.
In fact, I think we even see that when he says he came forward, Jesus
puts himself between this band of marauders and his followers.
He steps between the danger and them in a foreshadowing of what he's about to
do in a much greater sense on the cross, where he's gonna step between the, the,
the wrath of God and us, and he's gonna take our place so that we can go free.
And so he looks at the band of soldiers, he looks at the Jews
and he says, whom do you seek?
You want me?
Great.
Here I am.
Let them go.
Jesus is protecting them, knowing that if they were to be wrapped up in this,
if they were to be caught up in this, if they were to be arrested as well, perhaps
even tried and executed, that their faith is not fully baked, they're not ready
yet for martyrdom, though eventually many of them will meet that fate.
But as it is right now, Jesus continues to protect them.
But what I want us to see here in this middle section here is
that Jesus is the one in control of everything going on here.
Jesus takes the initiative.
Jesus asks the questions.
Jesus demonstrates his power and knocks them all down.
Jesus orders them, let them go.
This is Jesus in full control.
Christian, when we walk through.
The valley when we walk through the trial, as we talked about in point
number one, if God is orchestrating the details, that would imply what we see
here, that that God is in full control of everything going on in our lives.
And if in God is in control, then we can have the freedom to do what
Jesus does and submit ourselves fully to the will of the Father and
complete and perfect obedience to him.
Second point this morning, is this, be an obedient or be
obedient knowing God is in control.
Be obedient, knowing God is in control.
Jesus is able to be perfectly obedient to the Father's will because
he knows that the father's will is what is happening right now.
The difference between us is we're never in control
ultimately of our circumstances.
God is, Jesus was in control of her, his circumstances because he is God.
But we can learn from this and we can say, okay, we can submit ourselves
perfectly to the will of God wherever we find ourselves, whatever's going on
in our lives because God is in control.
The ban of marauders.
They weren't in control.
Judas wasn't in control.
The Jews, they weren't in control.
God was in control the whole time.
Recently, we took my son's car into the mechanic because it wouldn't start.
It's a good reason to take it to the mechanic, especially when you're like
me and you don't know anything about cars except how to fill the tires
with the air and put gas in the tank.
Which by the way, apparently there was no gas in the tank.
The gauge said there was, I'm not that, not that incompetent
when it comes to cars.
Um, but man, before we took it into the mechanic, it was just a guessing
game and I was helpless because I sat there not knowing anything
other than when I pushed the button.
It doesn't go tick, tick, tick.
It just went tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,
tick, tick, tick, and didn't turn over.
I called the AAA guy out there to check the battery.
He listened to it.
He was like, yeah, that's not the battery.
I'm like, well, how am I supposed to know that I went to seminary?
They don't teach car batteries in seminary.
So he is like, that's not the battery.
I was like, well, what is it?
He's like, I don't know.
You need a tow truck?
Great, thanks.
Can you do that note?
You're gonna have to call somebody else.
Great.
Three hours later, tow truck shows up, tows it to the mechanic.
But even though I, I, I dread the mechanic's bill, there's a sense
of comfort knowing that the car's with somebody who's in control of
the situation, there's a sense of comfort knowing the car is with
somebody who knows what they're doing.
If I open that engine and try to do half the things the mechanic had
to do on that car, that car's done.
It's done.
There's no way it's gonna happen.
So there was a sense of peace for me, knowing that I could, I could just
say, okay, I'm gonna sit back and, and I'm gonna let the mechanic do his job.
Now,
what I'm not suggesting for us as Christians, and that's why I worded
the point that I, I, the way I did be obedient, knowing God's in control.
I'm not suggesting that our job is to sit back passively as Christians
and just go, well, God's in control.
I don't have to do anything.
Rather, our job is to be obedient to what he's called us to.
And know that he's the one that's, that's got the, the big picture in control.
He's the one that knows what's going on.
We can just do as he's calling us to do.
And you say, does, does the Bible bear this out?
Is, is this really, but what about suffering?
Is God in control of that?
And I would say yes.
How about job chapter one?
In Job chapter one, Satan comes before the Father.
Satan comes before God, and, and he has to ask permission from God to afflict job.
Verse 11, but stretch out your hand.
This is Satan talking to God.
Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to your face.
And the Lord said to Satan, behold all that he has is in
your hand only against him.
Do not stretch out your hand.
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Question Church.
Who afflicted job, Satan or God?
Yes.
Yes, Satan did, but only in accordance with the permissive will of God.
In fact, so much so that when we get later on and Job after all of this
has come, notice what Job says here.
After all of the suffering, he says, naked, I came from my mother's
womb and naked shall I return.
I wish the Lord could do something, but he's paralyzed.
No, he says this.
He says, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
We sang that this morning.
You give and take away.
You give and take away, but blessed be your name.
Or later on, his wife says, Hey, why don't you just curse God and die?
And Job says this.
He says, you speak as one of the foolish women.
Should we not receive good from God and shall not we receive evil?
And then it says He didn't sin with his lips.
So when Job said the Lord took away, he wasn't sinning in that when Job said that
the evil that has befallen us is from the Lord, he's not sinning in that job
is acknowledging God's sovereign control over our life and, and y'all, I get it.
This is such a hard concept for us.
To understand and and to acknowledge that God is the ultimate shock caller
that Satan does nothing apart from the permissive will of God, apart
from God's ordained will in our life.
But this is not just an Old Testament concept in Ephesians one 11, and
I think this is all encompassing.
Paul says this, that God works all things according to the counsel of his will.
All things.
So the suffering, the trial that you're going through right
now, God is in control of that.
Whatever trial, whatever valley you may be in right now, or whatever
you've come out of, know that God has led you into it and God is the
one who will lead you out of it.
And I just wanna suggest that that should be a comforting thought to you
this morning, because if it wasn't God that led you in, then why would you
believe that God could lead you out?
The fact that he's the one that is sovereign over our
circumstances gives us hope in the light at the end of the tunnel.
If God was in heaven right now going, I don't know how you got yourself
into the situation you got yourself into, then we would be in trouble.
But rather we have a father in heaven who is saying, I've led you into the
circumstance that you're in right now because I love you, because I'm working
in your life together for your good.
Because I'm sovereign, because I am in control over what's going on in your life.
Your theology church is crucially important to your perspective
in the midst of the trials and suffering that you walk through.
If you're gonna be obedient, knowing God is in control, you're gonna have
to know the word of God so well and know him so well that it gives you
confidence to, to do this because you know you're not alone in this.
Think about the situations that God led his people into in scripture.
The trials that God controlled and led his people into in scripture,
God led Noah into the flood.
God led Moses to Midian.
Where he would spend 40 years in preparation as a shepherd
in the middle of nowhere.
When he had been the the son of Pharaoh by adoption, he led him into Midian to
prepare him for what he was going to do.
God led David to and Getty where he took shelter from Saul because Saul
was on the the hunt to kill him and to take his life, God led Shadrach,
Meshach in Abednego into the furnace.
God led Daniel into the lion's den.
God led Steven and Peter, and Paul, and Matthew and James, and many, many others
to their death, for their faith in Christ.
The more we know the God of the Bible, the more we will be able to
endure in the midst of the trial in the valley that we're in with that
childlike faith that's gonna comfort your soul and give glory to the father.
To know that he's in control.
We read it this morning.
You may be wondering why in the world did they read Genesis 50 this morning?
That this is part of the reason.
This is the main reason why, because I wanted to remind us
of the, the life of Joseph.
Talk about somebody that was led into a circumstance.
And then in the end, what did Joseph say?
He said, but Joseph said to them, do not fear for am I in the place of God?
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
Who sold Joseph to the Midianites?
His brothers are God Yes.
Who betrayed Joseph to Potiphar, Potiphar's wife or God?
Yes.
Who forgot Joseph for three years.
Well, God didn't forget Joseph in in prison for three years, but
who ordained the circumstances?
God did.
God is at work in the midst of our suffering, and that's not unique.
If you're sitting out there today going, man, that's not fair.
Lemme just encourage you.
You're in good company.
You're not the only one that God's put through a season.
In fact, you can talk to anybody else in the room this morning and they
can tell you, myself included, here's seasons that God has led me into of
suffering and trials and pain, and yet I know that he's in control.
And that's what allowed me to continue to endure.
What does this mindset allow us to do?
It allows us to do a handful of things.
Number one, it allows us to be all in where we are.
Whatever suffering you may find yourself in and this mindset saying,
God, you are in full control.
Allows you to be all in where you are confident that this is where God has you.
You don't have to be trying at every turn to get out of where you are.
You can trust that he will do that in his timing.
Along those lines, you can trust that God has you where he wants you.
You don't have to play the what if or if only game,
but you can say, okay Lord, this is where you have me in accordance with your plan.
What do you want me to do here?
The answer to that question.
Our third implication of this is that you can work for the good of those around you.
If, if you're confident in the control of God, that God has you where you
are because of his sovereign control in your life, then that frees you
up to be able to say, okay, then I'm gonna be obedient to the Father.
I'm gonna work for the good of those around me.
In fact, one Peter four 19 says this, therefore, let those of us
who suffer according to God's will.
Entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.
God says that while we suffer, entrust your soul to the faithful
creator to him because he's the one in control while doing good.
It allows you to work for the good of those around you.
And then finally, it allows you to release your thirst for justice
to a God who will see to it.
If you're confident that God is in control of all things, then that
desire for justice, that desire that the wrong should be righted.
It doesn't mean that you have to say, well, we absolve the, the
people that hurt you, the people that, that sinned against you.
But you can trust and know that if God's in control,
he'll take care of the justice.
I think this is Paul and Philippians one.
I don't have time to go there with us, but he's in jail.
He's preaching the gospel while he was in jail.
He's like, Hey, it's, it's known throughout all of Caesar's
Navy seals that, that I'm here for the cause of Christ.
Paul just had this mindset going, I'm here.
'cause God has me here and God has me here to be faithful to him, to be
obedient to him wherever I happen to be.
So when you're in a trial, confidence in God's sovereign control of your situation,
it frees you up to focus your energies on obeying him a childlike faith that
comforts your soul and glorifies God.
Finally, verse 10 says, then Simon Peter having a sword drew
it, instruct the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malki.
Peter has a sword.
Well, back in, in the upper room, John doesn't record this, but
Luke does says, and they said, look, Lord, here's two swords.
And then he said to them, it's enough you.
You've got these swords.
I don't know who decided.
Peter should be the guy with a sword, but somebody did.
Peter probably decided it himself.
He's like, dibs, I got a sword.
Puts it in a sheath.
Goes out here.
Listen, it is a mercy of God that Peter was a horrible shot.
Peter's not going for the ear.
We get that right.
Peter is thinking, this ain't going down on my watch and this has already happened.
Remember when he pulled Jesus aside and he rebuked him?
He said, what's all this death talk?
Stop that.
Jesus.
So Peter's see sitting here looking at maybe 600 guys going, we could do this.
Draws his sword swings at Malki, gets his ear, which is again, as I think a part
of God's working in the details there.
'cause if Peter kills Malki, it's go.
It's over for everybody else on that mountain.
And Jesus intervenes and, and says, Hey, we're not doing it this way.
He says to Peter, put your sword in your sheath.
Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me?
Should I not drink the cup the father has given me?
This would've called back, uh, that prayer of Jesus when he fell on his faith.
Matthew records it for us and says, my father in the same garden, if it'd
be possible, let this cup pass for me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
In attempting to help Jesus, Peter found himself working
against the father's will Church.
There are times in the midst of our suffering, in the midst of the difficult
seasons of life that we find ourselves in, where we try to help God and
find ourselves working against God.
Our third and final point this morning, along those lines is this,
beware of working against God's will
beware of working against God's will.
Contrast Jesus and Peter in this scene.
Man, if, if Jesus wanted to, he could have disintegrated everybody on the
face of that mountain with a blink.
But Jesus surrendered himself completely to the will of the Father.
And then you have Peter who's armed himself instead in opposition
to that will albeit unwittingly.
So the question I want us to ponder, and this final point this morning is
this, how can we make sure we're not being like Peter while we're walking
through our own trials and suffering?
How can we make sure that we're not working against God's will
in our own periods of suffering and trials and heartache?
First thing I wanna suggest to us this morning is this, we need to be aware
of manipulating our circumstances, be aware of manipulating our circumstances.
And what I mean by that is you're facing a trial and, and you're sitting there
going, okay, I think I could control this and get myself out of this if, and maybe
that's a forced conversation with someone.
Uh, maybe that's making a, a hasty decision, an impulse decision.
Maybe it's seeking an alternate route after the first route has, has failed
men.
I think we're especially prone to this one, trying to force a resolution
to our suffering rather than to be patiently considerate of what God might
be doing in the midst of our suffering.
So we can try to manipulate our circumstances, try to control
things ourselves, take the reins ourselves to get ourselves outta the
suffering that God has led us into.
Sometimes we can find that we are working against God's
will in a situation like that.
Second thing we need to to do is we need to realize that good intentions
don't always align with God's will.
Peter had good intentions here.
Murder aside, he wanted to defend Jesus.
He thought Jesus is the Messiah.
He thought Jesus needed to reign on the throne.
And so Peter's intentions are good intentions.
They're just not God's intentions.
So in the midst of your suffering, you may have good intentions for
why you think you need to get out of this suffering, and yet your good
intentions may not align with God's will, and we need to be okay with that.
I remember as a young man, I, I struggled with this even as
a young man in, in ministry.
I left a church in Missouri and took a job in Arizona, and I, I, I think
I had good intentions there, but I, I think I made a hasty decision in doing
that without fully seeking God's will.
I think God was in control of that, but I would still say, man, if I had
to do that over and over again, I don't know that I made the best and
most wise decision in the moment.
Third thing that we need to do is we need to ensure that our passion
is surrendered to God's will.
Peter was passionate for the defense of Jesus here, and he
thought his passion meant zeal.
That was righteous zeal, and yet Peter's passion was anything but
that it led to an outburst that ended up being something that, that Jesus
says, no, this is not okay with.
So we need to make sure that our, our passion for what we think is
right is ultimately surrendered to the will of God because what we think
is right may not align with what he deems is right in the moment.
And then finally, we need to submit our standard of justice to
God's perfect standard of justice.
We need to submit our standard of justice to God's perfect standard of justice,
rolling over the wrongs, committed against you to the Lord as hard.
But you also need to know God has not asked you or tasked you with
securing justice for yourself.
Vengeance his mind says the Lord.
So we need to make sure that in our thirst for justice, we don't find
ourselves working against God's will
when we're in a trial or season of suffering.
We have to be careful that we're not so focused on finding the way out,
that we're working against what God is trying to do while we're in the trial.
We can't miss the purpose for the trial because we're so focused on saying,
God, how can I just make this stop?
And we do that and we can get there that, that mentality, 'cause that's super hard.
None of us like to suffer, but we can get there and we can be willing to suffer if
we understand those first two points, that God's in control of the details because
he's in control of our entire lives.
If we can get there, then we can be patient with the Lord and we can have
that childlike faith that will comfort our souls and give glory to God.
Listen, y'all, one day God will turn the painting around in your life in eternity.
Maybe, maybe before eternity in some regards, but certainly in eternity.
God's gonna turn the painting around and you're gonna see how you look more
like Jesus because of all the brush strokes that hurt throughout your life
because the way the master's been at work and will continue to be at work from
here until the time he calls you home.
Will you stand with me as we pray?