John 2021

And if you would like to take up your bible and turn with me to the book of John, And to chapter 18, I'm gonna be reading from verse 1 to 14.

When he had finished praying, Jesus let with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side, there was a garden and he and his disciples went into it. Now, Judith, who betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, I am he, Jesus said. And Judas the traitor was standing there with them. When Jesus said, I am he. They drew back and fell to the ground.

Again, he asked them, who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they said, Jesus answered, I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go. This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled. I have not lost 1 of those you gave me.

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword drew it and struck the high priest servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malcus. Jesus commanded Peter, put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me? Then the detachment of soldiers with his commander in the Jewish officials arrested Jesus.

They bound him and brought him first to Annis, who was the father-in-law of QIAfus, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the 1 who advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if 1 man died for the people then. Well, good evening from me. Evening. Hello?

My name is Ben. I'm 1 of the pastors here of the church. What a privilege is by the way, after hearing about Somalia to be able to gather freely as the Lord's people with his word on every table here in our hands and to read the words and hear the word preached. I'm just absolutely certain that a somalian would love to be here amongst us now and would just be filled with joy with the gathered body under the word of God. So word of privilege we have to me.

Let's pray as we start. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We cannot live on bread alone. But from every word that comes from your mouth, and we thank you that this is from your mouth. Please speak to us now.

By your spirit, would you give us hearts that are not like these rattle that come to arrest Jesus? And give us hearts that are not like them, stubborn, hard, unbelieving. Give us hearts of faith, I pray in Jesus' name. On men? On men.

Okay. Number of weeks ago, I was preaching in this series in John chapter 12, And I got to verse 36 in that chapter, which says this. It says when he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. I wonder if you remember me preaching that. I won't be offended if not.

When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. And what I wanted to bring out of that point was it was it was more than just when Jesus had finished speaking. Like more than just he'd just finished that sentence. But it was more when Jesus had finished his public speaking He then left and he hid himself from them because then Jesus stopped his public ministry and then the next chapters 13 14 15 16 17 Jesus is with his disciples basically just ministering to them privately. So when he had finished his public speaking.

Jesus stopped and he left and hid himself from them. Well, here in John 18, I think we have a similar turning point in verse 1. It says, when he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. When he had finished praying. Now again, he has just finished praying in chapter 17, this magnificent prayer.

But there's also a sense in which he's finished praying for his people. If you if you reach up to 17, Let me look at verse 1 of it if you just flick back. It says father the hour has come. So he's in his last hour. It says in verse 4, I have brought you glory on Earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

Verse 6, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. Verse 13, I am coming to you now. Verse 26, I have made you known to them. So there's a sense in which Jesus is wrapping things up here. He's finished praying when he says, amen to this prayer.

Now in the old testament, priests had 3 major duties. 1 was teaching, another was praying, and the third 1 was offering sacrifices. Well, Jesus has finished speaking. Now he's finished praying. And so now he turns to do his last work as a priest.

Which is to offer a sacrifice for sin. And then when he's done that, he's gonna say it is finished. All the work is finished. So that's what he turns to do now. And in this passage, what we see tonight are are 3 things, and these are gonna be my 3 points.

As he turns out to the cross offer sacrifice, we see the arrest, we see the name, and we see the cup. The arrest, the name, and the cup. And those are gonna be the 3 points. So the first 1 the arrest. Take a look at verse 1, chapter 18.

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side, there was a garden and he and his disciples went into it. So here we go. Jesus has finished praying. He's turning his face towards the cross.

And the first thing he does is he crosses over the Kidron Valley into a garden. And this is an important detail. We had told this to kind of illustrate what's about to come. It's sort of a foreshadowed. You see, if I said to you, Imagine an international ocean liner, which was heading towards America, and it set out in the night towards icebergs.

You would know where that story goes. You know what is gonna come next. You're gonna say, I'd like to get off this ocean liner, please. And I would like to go back. In the same way, Jesus crossing the Kidron Valley is like an ominous dark cloud gathering above him.

The storm is building and coming in. Because in the old testament again, King David was chased out of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley by enemies who wanted to kill him. And as he went and as he crossed over the Kidron Valley, there was weeping and tears This journey is a journey of tears. The garden is a garden of tears. And here is the rightful king King David being pursued by enemies who want to kill him.

And so here is Jesus right on cue crossing the Kidron Valley and the clouds are gathering above him. The rumblings are in the distance. And then the iceberg appears out of the mist in verse 2. Now, Judas who betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus had often met their wish disciples. Jesus isn't running away.

Jesus is actually going to the place he's most expected to be. Where does Judas know I go? The garden on the other side of Kidrong Valley. So I'm going there. Verse 3.

So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees, they were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons. So here come the enemies of jee of Jesus. And Judas is leading them. And there are some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees, so they've been sent on behalf, and there's a detachment of soldiers. Now normally, these groups were not friends with each other.

Normally, they didn't really get on that well. But when they have a common enemy, Jesus, they are united. And we can deduce from verse 12 that this is a pretty sizable company of men. They were coming to get Jesus here. It's pretty sizable.

Verse 12 says then a detachment of soldiers with its commander. This detachment of soldiers has a commander. Now commander, the word for it is Kilyakos. Which is which is Greek. And it literally means leader of a thousand.

Kilyakos, leader of a thousand. And it probably wasn't bringing a thousand men with him. But this term, Kilyakos was a title in the Roman Army at that time. And it was like Centurion, but it was a a layer above. So if you got promoted from Centurion, you became a killer killer cause and you had more men in your command.

You weren't quite in charge of a legion, but you were somewhere in between. And so this is, you know, it's probably more than a hundred men that are coming here. This is a step up from a centurion. Achiliarchus is coming with his men It's not just a squabble of mercenaries or a handful of soldiers. They've actually been dispatched.

They're marching in formation. The word for soldier here is coil. If you coil something up tight, imagine Roman soldiers coiled up tight information marching organized, gathered, compact, ready for war. That is the band of men that are crossing the Kidron Valley. And coming to get Jesus.

And what are they carrying? We're carrying torches and lanterns. Which shows you they're expecting a search. They've got lots of light. It's at night.

So they've got torches and lanterns and they they suspect to look for Jesus. They think he's gone running and hiding. They think he's gonna be in the trees. Maybe under some rocks. Maybe he's made a break for it into the countryside.

They're looking for him with their torches and their lanterns. And they're also carrying weapons, which means they're expecting a fight. They think there's gonna be resistance. They think Jesus is not gonna want this. And his disciples are not gonna want this.

And there's gonna be like an epic last stand in the garden. But actually, what they get is neither of those things. Verse 4 says Jesus knowing all that was gonna happen to him went out and asked them. Who is it you want? Jesus is neither hiding nor fighting.

See, when the crowds earlier in in the book of John, try to force him to be become king, you know, they loved Jesus when he was just healing people and they were bringing people to him and he'd heal them. Jesus was always trying to get away from that because he wanted to preach and teach about the kingdom of God. Yes. You know, I'll fix your gummy leg now, but let me tell you about your spiritual gummy leg, which needs healing. That's more important.

Jesus was always resisting and fleeing. People when they tried to make him king by force. But here, the crowd is coming to arrest him by force. And he goes out to meet them. He steps forward.

And the question he asked is quite interesting, isn't it? It says he knew all that was going to happen to him. So why is he asking them? Who is it you want? Surely, he knows, isn't he?

Of course, he does. I think this is a little bit like God in the Garden of Eden. Asking Adam and Eve. Where are you? No.

God who can see everything and knows everything. He knows exactly where Adam and Eve are. But he wanders in the garden going, where are you? It's not a question for God to get information that he doesn't have. It's a question to make Adamini think.

Where am I? Actually, where am I? What have I done? Why am I here? Why am I hiding?

Why am I not walking with God? Where am I? You also ask children this, don't you? You come in. I will soon find this out.

You you walk in on them drawing something. Actually, we have a cat who does this. You walk into our kitchen. Our cat's not allowed on the counter. And you walk in and she turns around, then her ears do this.

She's like, she knows she shouldn't be doing it. And we say things to catch into children like this, we say, what do you think you're doing? And it's not because we come in and go, what do you think you're doing? I don't wanna know what you're doing. We know what they're doing.

They're not doing what they should be doing, but they don't know that. And so we say to them, what do you think you're doing? It's for them. It's not for us. Also member of the time who knows at Uni in halls with paper thin walls.

At 3 am in the morning, I was woken up rudely by the sound of a hoover going off in the hallway. And for some reason in halls, everything is so much louder. I don't know why. Was like, man. Like, it's 3 AM.

And I opened the door and there's some guys who've spilled some rice in the hallway 3 AM. Why are they cooking rice at 3 AM? That's what you do when you're in halls, when you're a student. And they're hooering up because they've spilled it in the floor and I I had to go, what? I don't know.

Care. They're like, what? Like, pull the plug out. What do you think you're doing? Well, we're clearing up Yes.

I know you're clearing up rice, but what do you think you're doing? Why are you clearing up rice anyway? In the same way here, it's not a question for Jesus to find out information. Who do you who is it that you want? He's asking for them.

Who is it you want? Who are you after? Do you actually know who it is you're chasing? You know, they chased King David across the Kidron Valley. Yeah.

You're chasing the king of kings. Think about who is it that you want. Verse 5, Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. Now this reveals a lot about who they think Jesus is. Because Nazareth was a town in the region of Galilee and they were both pretty despised places.

So if you imagine Chestington. Beautiful Chestington. What's the more despised place in Chestington? Slough. Slough.

Oh, Slough as the bro. He's not here. Good. I can talk freely about slough. Slough, the slough of this bond.

Yeah. It's a pretty despised place. We have them, you know, you think of Croydon, I think a black pool or black pool. You know, they're these places that are pretty nasty. Well, that's a little bit like Nazareth and Galilee.

In that region because in John chapter 1, Nathaniel finds out where Jesus from and he says Nazareth Nazareth, can anything good to come from there? And then later on, the Pharisees an argument against Jesus. They say they say look into it. You will find that the prophet does not come out of Galilee. So Nazareth, Galilee, whoa.

Blackpool. And so they say, who are we looking for? Jesus of Nazareth. Yeah. Not special.

Not a prophet. Not from god. That's who we're looking for. He's nothing. Second point, the name.

The name. Look at verse 5. I am he. Jesus said. I am he.

What Jesus is doing here is not just letting them know that he's who they're looking for. Oh, you're looking for Jesus now, yes, that's me. He's not doing that. He's actually correcting them here. He's correcting them.

Because what Jesus says here is I am. That's what it is. And that he is just because it's obvious he's connecting. Yeah. Jesus Nazareth.

Yeah. That's me. By the way, I am. That's the covenant name of the living god of Israel, yahweh. That's what Jesus says here.

And I am means I am what I am. I have been what I have been. I will be what I will be. I am. It's just pure self existence.

It's the name above all names. This name. It's the name of the eternal God himself. It's the name he first gave to Moses. To reassure him that he will lead his people out of slavery into the promised land.

I am, has sent you Moses I am. It's the name of salvation. It's the name of hope. It's the name that defeats enemies and accomplishes god's purposes. And it's the promise keeping covenant upholding Zealousy will achieving name.

That's what it is. I am. And Jesus says with that question. I am. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth or here, I And if you want proof that Jesus is not just bluffing here, we'll look at what happens next.

The entire detachment of soldiers get blown backwards. Verse 6. When Jesus said I am he, they drew back and they fell to the ground. An entire detachment of soldiers that whole coiled. And with that word coil, it means compact, it means information, it means battle ready and their commander.

This is a professionally trained army. You know, the Roman soldiers were were were drilled in basically standing their ground. Tilly will tell you lots about this. Battles in those days were mostly 4 shield to shield trying not to fall over. If you fell over, you were dead.

It was a pushing match. And so they were trained to stand and they had spikes in their shoes so they were equipped to stand. It's like studs on a football player's boots to get more grip so that the the spikes would go into the ground to help them stand. There's a commander here as well with all of that going on. He's battle hardened by war.

He's spirits, all of them blown backwards off their feet. I am. In my head, it's like that. I really hope it was. And this expression fell to the ground.

It's actually It's used in other places in the bible pretty much exclusively to describe falling prostrate before god and worshiping him, you know, and often people falling as if dead before him. So and so fell to the ground. As if dead, so and so fell to the ground before god. So and so fell to the ground. And we know from Philippians that at the name of Jesus, I am, every knee should bow.

And that's exactly what happens here. But actually, these knees are not bowing forwards. Bowing backwards. They're not bowing in worship, you know? But they're bowing away from god.

They're brought low. Yes. Every knee is gonna bow low. But they are not bowing forwards. They're bowing backwards.

Now how on earth would you respond in that situation? Yeah? You've been trained to stand your entire life. You've got your studs on. You've got your shield.

You're all coiled up in formation. And suddenly, boom. You get blown backwards. What on earth do you think just happened? Because as these people get up and back into formation, they just you know, off their weapons and they look around.

They must be going, what was that? What was that? What was that? What was that? Was that you?

Was that you? What happened? They actually look for any reason that this just happened except that it was Christ, except that it was him. Except that it was the name of Yahoo! That blew them off their feet.

Their their hearts are so, so, so hard. Even Judas, who was standing among them, who knows all that he knows about Jesus, and he's blown off his feet. Why on Earth does he not Do anything. So they get up. There's the rattle of armor and stuff where they pick up their torches and their lanterns and their sword.

They're dusting themselves off in verse 7. Again, he asks them, who is it you want? To be honest, they should know by now. They've just been blown off their feet. The name of Yahweh, they should have felt the power and authority.

So what's their answer? Are they trembling when they say it this time? Say it as confidently is the first time they said it, I don't know. Verse 7, Jesus of Nazareth. They said.

Doesn't this make you fear a human heart? This makes me really fear the human heart. This band of soldiers has just been blown off their feet all of them backwards away from Jesus. He's just said, I am. Now the servants of the the the Pharisees and chief priest would have known that name at least.

Judas would have known that name. Maybe some of these Roman soldiers would have known that name. They've just been blown off their feet at the sound of God's name and yet they get up and they say Jesus of Nazareth. What Don't you fear the human heart that can be so hard that even when you get blown off your feet, literally blown off your feet back awkward at the name of Jesus. You can still deny his divinity.

And you can still think he's a nothing and an over thing. That's the That's the human heart. That's the heart you have in you. Are you afraid of that? First aid, Jesus answered.

I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go. Is a wonderful 4 taste of what he's about to do on the cross. If you're looking for me, let these men go. Take me.

Let them go. Verse 9, This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled. I have not lost 1 of those you gave me. Then Simon Peter who had a sword Drew it, and struck the high pre servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malcus.

Term's name was Markus. Now that detail of the cutting off of the year, that's actually all 4 of the gospels, which is not that common. There's not not every event is in all 4 gospels, but this 1 is, which means it's here for a reason. All the gospel writers want us to know that Peter chopped this guy's ear off. This is a a key moment.

This is a pivotal moment because Jesus is about to be arrested and he's going to be killed and he knows that. Here's the question. Is he going to resist? Is Jesus going to resist the arrest. Is he going to bring about his kingdom through the sword?

What is Jesus going to do in response? To this act of violence or even protection. We come to my third point, the cup. Verse 11. Jesus commanded Peter, put your sword away.

Put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me? In Luke's gospel, Jesus is recorded as healing the man's ear, which is an amazing miracle. Imagine that these soldiers blasted off their feet get back together. A sword comes out and a guy's ears chopped off.

Blood's spewing out. He's screaming. Oh, there's commotion. Jesus walks up. Touches the man's ear and he's healed.

Did he grow another ear? What happened to that ear? Maybe he was hanging only slightly off and I don't know. But here in John, it's not even mentioned this healing. There's there's no more need for miracles or signs according to John.

Remember, John's given the fullness of signs. There are 7 signs in the book of John, which is 7 complete. The point is well made These people have seen all the signs they could ever see. So John doesn't even bother including that here. Don't even need to include it.

These guys barely bat an eyelid to it anyway. There's no repentance at the name of Jesus. There's no repentance at this miracle. Their hearts are set hard. And so, what does John do?

He moves straight on and he focuses on what Jesus says. Put your sword away. There actually will be a sword given to you, Peter. And with it, you are gonna cut men to the heart. And pentecost, Peter stood up, and he cut men to the heart.

But it will be the sword of the spirit. And it's gonna be swung in preaching the gospel, not fighting flesh and blood. So the kingdom of God is not coming with a fight. Jesus is gonna defeat his enemies by dying on a cross. And so he says, shall I not drink the cup the father has given me?

Shall I not drink the cup the father has given me. 3 quick things about the cup here. First of all, This cup that Jesus is talking about is the cup of god's wrath, his wrath, his anger, his judgment, Isaiah 51 says wake wake rise up Jerusalem. You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of his wrath. You who have drained to its drags the gauntlet that makes people stagger.

Jeremiah 25 says this is what the lord the god of Israel said to me take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them. Psalm 75 says in the hand of the Lord is a cup. Full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth, drink it down to its very drags.

That's the cup that Jesus is talking about here. That's the cup that he's gonna drink upon the cross. It's the wine of the fury of god's wrath for the wickedness of the world and for our hard hearts and for the evil. And he's gonna drain it too. It's very drags that picture of getting every drag out of that cup.

Every little drop Jesus is gonna down. Because on the cross as he dies, he becomes what the levitical law calls a sin offering, which is what the priest would offer, and god's judgment through a sin offering is burned against the offering in place of a person. When someone sins in the levitical law, you bring an offering to the to the entrance of the Tabernacle, you give it to the priest. He puts it on the altar and it's burned. And as it burns and shrivels, and dries up and is destroyed, there's a pleasing aroma, which rises to the lord.

It's pleasing aroma, the smell of this sin offering. And why is it pleasing? Because it's a toned for every last drag of his people's sin. Why is the smell good? Does God just like the smell of burnt flesh?

No. Is because the person who gave it at the entrance of the tent has gone away atoned for. Their sins being taken away the anger has been dealt with. He is just and the 1 who justifies. The sacrifice burns in the fire the person walks away alive.

That's why it smells so good to God. And that is the cup that Jesus is going to drink on the cross. He's going to become a sin offering for us. He's going to burn in the fire of God's wrath so that we can walk away free. And the smell of that is good to God.

He's just, he's dealt with sin. His anger is poured out every last drag of god's anger drunk by Jesus. And then we walk away, alive. Forever. That's the first thing.

It's the cup of broth. The second thing, it's that it's the cup, the father has given to him. The cup the father has given to him. It's pretty clear as you read through the gospels, I've already said. Nobody could take Jesus' life away from him.

He says that. He says nobody takes my life from me and you see that. He walks away. He walks through the crowd. He slips away unnoticed.

He hides. You can't take Jesus' life from him. He lays it down for his cheap, but he lays it down because his father sends him. See, the cup of wrath that Jesus is going to drink is not earned or deserved by Jesus. He doesn't deserve it.

It's given to him by his father. And why on earth would a good god do that? Well, there's something else that the father has given us? Sorry? Given his son.

There's another thing he's given his son and that's us. Jesus said in his prayer and to 17, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. The father gave us to him. Jesus says they were yours, you gave them to me and they've obeyed your words. And then he says, father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.

So more than anything. This is what Jesus wants. He wants us who have been given to him to be with him. That's what he wants. Father, give me those.

Who you've given me, may they be with me? That's what Jesus wants more than anything, but there's only 1 way that can happen. There's only 1 way that Arkansas can be a toned for. And so the father gives him our cup to drink the cup that we should have drunk is given to the son by the father so that your sin can be attained for and taken away. So that you can be with Jesus and see his glory forever.

The father gave him your cup. A cup that you should have drunk. The third thing and the final thing is see the resolve Jesus has to drink this cup. See the resolve Jesus has to drink it. You know, because imagine the scene again.

His enemies have just been blasted backwards at the sound of his voice. They're on their backs, you know. They have to scramble to get up again. And he's got this band of followers who have got swords and they're bringing them out and they're swinging them. It must have been pretty tempting for Jesus to have walked away.

And you think? He knows what's gonna happen to him. Well, he's got an opportunity. His enemies are on the floor. He's got a band of men who are gonna die for him by swinging a sword.

And yet he doesn't. He stands there and he waits for the soldiers to get back up and get back into formation. He tells Peter to put the sword away. And he says, shall I not drink the cup? That is the father has given me.

Shall I not drink it? Is it conceivable that Jesus would not go through with this? Is it conceivable that he would not obey the father? Is it conceivable that he would not be a sin offering for his people? See, tempting as it might have been for him to avoid the wrath of God, the joy set before him would allow him to endure.

And so he he sets his face like flint to the cross. There's nothing that can separate us from the love of God. That is in Christ Jesus. And so there's nothing that can separate Jesus from his mission. Nothing is gonna stop it.

Not the Romans, not Satan, not Peter. And so he allows himself to be bound and dragged before the high priest. And the last thing that happens here in this passage is it is almost like a little flashback because before the section ends, we we get verse 14, which says qiaphas was the 1 who advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if 1 man died for the people. Creyfus was the 1 who advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if 1 man died for the people. So Creyfus had prophesied that Jesus would die.

He'd actually prophesied that. Sort of a strange thing, isn't it? And he said that in his death, he will unite the scattered people of God. Now he interpreted that as there's a man who's causing us issues. It's better if he dies because then we'll come back together.

He's scattering and dividing us if we kill him, will be fine. That's what he thought. And so they plot to kill him, and that's what reminded of here. But actually, little did he know the prophecy was correct but he had interpreted it incorrectly. So Jesus is gonna die.

Yes? It is good if 1 man dies for the people. Yes. His death will bring god's scattered people together and made 1, yes, but not by plotting him out, but by becoming a sin offering for the people. And drinking the cup that was meant for them.

And so I want to finish by asking you a question. My question is this, what do you think about the death of Jesus? What do you think about the death of Jesus? If you're a Christian, well, I'll ask you when you look at the cross and you see Jesus dying there and drinking that cup, Do you do you see that as a generic cup of sin that Jesus is drinking down through its very drinks? Or do you actually see him drinking your cup?

The 1 with your name on it. The drags of which are your sins. Is he drinking your sin or is he drinking sin generically? See, when Jesus was tempted not to drink your cup. Your cup.

When he was tempted not to drink your cup, he said, shall I not drink this cup? But the father has given me? He drank your cup there upon the cross. Not just generic, your cup, and he knew it as well. So that's a question if you're a Christian.

If you're not a Christian, then actually this cup of wrath that I've talked about is still reserved for you. If you don't believe in Christ. Someone's got to drink this cup. God is just He's not a pushover. He doesn't hide sin.

He doesn't randomly forgive. He deals with sin. So either you will drink this cup. Or Jesus will. The difference is faith in Christ.

And that was the decision that this band of soldiers had and there's the decision that we have. So you've heard him tonight. If you aren't a Christian, you've heard him tonight say who he is. He's I am. He's the living god himself.

And do you know what? If if when I said that, you were blown off your chair backwards. You still wouldn't believe if you have a hard heart. You need the holy spirit to soften your heart and to change you and to give you faith. And so if you're that they're going, I do not believe, to be honest, you could blow me off this chair right now.

And I do not believe, then would you fear your heart? And why not ask God to give you this faith and believe in his son? The 1 he drank the cup for you, if you put your faith and trust in him. Why not ask for that? I'm gonna give Just a few seconds for you to do that in your hearts and respond and then I'll pray and then Rory will Bring us back together.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this word. That we have here recorded for us. Thank you for the words of Jesus that are recorded for us. Father, thank you that when the rabble of men who came to arrest Jesus, Jesus didn't hide. Thank you that he stepped out in front of them and declared to them who he was.

Further, I pray that tonight, you would have declared who you are, who Jesus is to us as well. Thank you that he is I am. Thank you that he is Yahweh. Thank you, father that he is your son, the living God, Oh, father, pray for us that if we believe in him, we would see the cup that he drinks is our cup. That he drank every last dragon of our sin to be a sin offering for us that we would live that we would be with him where he is forever, that we would satisfy him by being with him.

Thank you further. Help us to see that. And I pray lord for those that don't know you please send your spirit, give them eyes to see, hearts that are not hard, so hard that when They're blown over. They stand up harder. Father soften hearts, please.

Send your spirit. And we pray this in Jesus name on men.