John – Believe in Jesus and live!
Part 10
“Have it your way?”
As I was reading and preparing for today’s message
I knew where I wanted to go in scripture
But
I was uncertain as to how to present the material
We have been in the book of John now for 10 weeks
We have covered Jesus’ entire public ministry
And most of his private ministry
Either in our sermons series or in the Round pen bible studies
In the last few weeks we have seen Jesus teach and mentor his boys
We have seen him pour out his love on them
And
Explain to them things that, they at the time could not begin to understand
In today’s study we are going to look at Jesus’ completion of the plan
Before we get into that part
Please open your bibles to John Chapter 18
Let me read verse 10-11 for you
Then we can dig into to our topic
“Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. 11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
In this passage of scripture Jesus was moving toward completion of the purpose for which he came to earth
In the preceding chapters
Judas had betrayed him
He had told the disciples all about how he must die so that they could live
He had explained the coming of the Holy Spirit
And
How that he must leave in order for him to come
He had explained how the world would hate them and us simply because of him
And
He had told them how in spite of the hate
They must share his love
In chapter 17
He had prayed for himself, his disciples and for all the ones to come – that would include us
You see Jesus had spent 3 ½ years training his disciples
First publicly
Healing
Casting out demons
Raising the dead
Miracles that went against the laws of nature
Science
Miracles that went against reason in human terms
And then he taught them privately
One on one
A last bit of intensive training
So today we start out in the garden
Jesus’ is fulfilling prophesy
Fulfilling his mission
His purpose
And
Peter
Knot headed Peter
Decides he has a better plan
This is not a first for Peter
Not a first for Jesus disciples
But in attempting to carry out his own plan
He was trying to change what must happen
Let me read for you the account from God’s word of the events leading up to verse 10
After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. 2 Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples. 3 The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
4 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5 “Jesus the Nazarene,”[a] they replied.
“I AM he,”[b] Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7 Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8 “I told you that I AM he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”
Jesus knew what he must do
He knew that the plan that had been started before creation was nearing completion
But
Then Peter
Unleashes his better plan
Verse 10
“Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave.”
You have to love this disciple named Simon Peter – The rock
He is so much like some of us some time
Reactive
Impulsive
Loyal
Ready – shoot - aim
I think back to the 70’s
There was a commercial on TV
For burger king
Ya’ll are going to say ugly things about your Preacher tonight as you are trying to go to sleep and this song keeps rolling through your brain
“ Hold the pickles
Hold the lettuce
Special orders don’t upset us
Al we ask is that you let us serve it your way
Then
Have it your way
Have it your way
Peter had been told what must happen
Jesus had taught and prepared Peter and the others for this moment
But
Peter wanted it his way
But
Think about this with me
As much as we have to admire Peter for his courage
As much as we must recognize his loyalty
If Peter had of had it his way
There would have been no hope for him
There would have been no hope for us
You see
Jesus had to be rejected
He had to be betryaed
Jesus had to be arrested
He had to be tried
He had to be nailed to a cross
In order to rise from the dead
And in order to save us
Redeem us
He had to die to overcome death
He had to die in order to rise again
And his resurrection was the key to our salvation
To the salvation of mankind
Our only hope
In his resurrection he overcame death
And by doing so
Gave us the ability to overcome death as well
But
Peter tried to have it his way
He had no idea how this would have all turned out if he had of had it his way
But instead of letting Peter take control
Jesus calmly
Coolly
Says
Hang on Peter
Hold up a minuet
Peter you’re getting in the way of the plan
I must do this!!
Then
He undoes what Peter had done
He restores the ear of Malchus
I can just see Jesus
Bending over and picking up the guys ear
Malchus must have been in shock
He is standing there blood pouring from where his ear used to be
And Jesus – fixes it
He put his ear back on
This is a true miracle guys
Jesus heals a man who is trying to kill him
Now that is love—pure love
And then
He
Gives himself up to the Romans
And
Begins the final scene of his life here on earth
There is so much that I could preach in Chapters 16-17-18
We covered a lot of this in our Bible study this morning
But I want
To move past Jesus’ arrest
I want to move past his trials
I want to move past his rejection
I want to move past his betrayal
And
Look at the crucifixion
His terrible death on the cross
We often would prefer to have it our own way
In our minds
In a perfect world
Jesus would not have been tortured
He would not endure the pain or suffering
If we had our way
No one would have spit in the face of Jesus
Plucked out his beard
If we had our way
Jesus would not have carried his own cross
No one would have mocked him
He would not have been beaten into someone who was unrecognizable
If we had it our way
Jesus Christ Our Lord would not have hung there on that cross
The life slowly leaving his body
But
If he had not
If Peter had it his way
If we had it our way
Well
I don’t even want to think about how messed up we would be
Jesus’ death
His horrible death
Was necessary for life
And as we have said many times over the last few weeks in this series
It is belief in Jesus that gives us this life
In order to have this life we must do it his way
Not our way
There is on old song
Tom T. Hall was the first to sing it
Several have done it since
It is called “Me and Jesus”
Me and Jesus got our own thing going
Me and Jesus got it all worked out
Don’t need anybody to tell us what it is all about
I really hate that song
The intent of the song is good
But
The outcome is not
How many people in the world do you know that say
Me and Jesus got our own thing going
While living in sin
What they are saying is
I got my own thing going
And I expect Jesus to be alright with it
They are saying
I believe in Jesus – But
What they are doing is justifying their sin
Justifying their lack of obedience
Justifying their lack of understanding
Living life – their way
Expecting Jesus just look the other way
Or worse yet to accept and bless their sin
He won’t do it guys
In this precious book are written the rules we must live by if we want to live a righteous life
In this book is the key to life
Eternal life
Life to the full
You see Jesus Christ did it his way—not our way- not Peters’ way
He did it his way
He left heaven- paradise to come to this wicked earth
He endured the same temptations that we endure
He knows our pain because he felt intense pain
He suffered and was killed for us—you and I
Willingly for us
Please close your eyes for just a second
Let me describe the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross
Our Lord and Savior
God in the flesh
Was whipped to within a inch of his life with a leather whip tipped with lead
The flesh on his back was stripped off on lash at a time
The pain he must have felt
The agony
A crown of thorns was placed on his head to mock him
And he was hit on the head with a stick over and over again
Driving those thorns deeper and deeper into his skin
To add to his pain
He was required to carry his own cross
His tried beaten body failing under its weight
The crowds that once cried Hosanna and threw their coats at his feet
Now cursed him, mocked him
Spit on him
Threw trash at him
They watched as he struggled with the weight of his own cross and his own weakness
Finally he received a bit of relief
Someone from the crowd was forced to carry the cross for him
Staggering from the beating
He continued on
To the hill called Golgotha- the skull the also call it
Once there his torment increased
He was laid on the cross
I use the word laid but I suspect it was more like thrown on the cross
The soldiers stretched out his arms – as far as they would go- some claim they dislocated his shoulders
And
Then
Placed nails
Huge nails
Through his hands or wrists
Into the wood
The pounding of the hammer ringing
With each blow
Pain shooting through his body
Then onto the feet
The placed his feet together
Bent his bents and drove another spike through this feet
Then the cross was raised to position
The weight of his own body worked against his lungs
In order to get a breath
Just a small painful breath
He had to push himself up
Placing his full weight on the nail in his feet
For hours this went on
Push up
Get a small breath
Then fall
Back against his outstretched arms
Arms already aching
Arms already exhausted
The full weight of his body
Carried by the nails in his hands
He was offered gall and myrth –sedative
But he refused
Instead choosing to take the pain
Then finally
It was over
He cried out
“It is finished “
And he closed his eyes in death He was placed in a tomb
Where he lay for 3 days
And we know that on the third day he came out of the grave
A few weeks later we know he left earth to go back to the father and we know that h e is waiting patiently for his time to come back for us
We typically preach about the crucifixion around Easter
Actually for some Christians this is the only time they give any thought to Jesus’ death at all
So you may be asking
Preacher why did you preach an Easter message today
It’s January
And what does
Have it your way
And
Me and Jesus got our own thing going have to do with any of this?
To tie all of this together
I want to tell you
You can’t have it your way
I order to receive life
Eternal life we must have it his way
Only through belief in Jesus Christ
Only by believing and accepting that he willingly laid down his life for YOU
Only by believing His way
The way
That he is the way
Can we experience Life
There is no other way
Just his way
When we try and do it our way what we are saying is
You did not need to die Jesus
You did not need to suffer for us
But he did
He did need to
Because it was the way to our redemption
Sin requires payment
And he through his death paid that debt
And then this is often how we thank him
Me and Jesus got our own thing going
We ignore the word
We choose sin over forgiveness
We choose turmoil over peace
The junk of this life over the glory that waits
I will agree
Guys’ salvation is a personal thing
One on one
You and Jesus
But once the gift is ours
Nothing to do with being a Christian is private
We are to show the light of Jesus
Be the light of Jesus
And Share the good news of Jesus
Without his death
There would be no Good news
With the spreading of the good news
There would be no hope
Close from the heart
Pray
