Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060723.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XLI: Christ's Validity Amidst His Bondage And Peter's Denial
(John 18:12-27)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

As we learned in last week's message in this series out of John's Gospel, secular theories on what (allegedly) "really" happened in the suffering of Jesus present Him as a mere, weak mortal who never arose from the dead, and the Christian faith is thus presumed to be a hoax:

(1) Dan Brown's bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, promotes the belief that Jesus was not even considered to be God as the New Testament claims until the era of Constantine. It is suggested that this Emperor invented the idea of Jesus' divinity to enhance his political power ("It's Time to Seek the Truth," Cedarville University Torch, p. 8). The historical Jesus is presumed to have been a mere mortal who fled to France and lived out a normal life with wife Mary Magdalene and their offspring.

(2) The Da Vinci Code has revived old theories suggesting Jesus was crucified and rescued from the cross, or that He was never crucified, or that He had plotted with others to fake His death by crucifixion to start a (false) religion, etc. Hence, the Christian faith as presented in the New Testament is alleged to be a hoax! (the tabloid, Sun, 9/30/2003 and James Tabor's book, The Jesus Dynasty, etc.)

Well, if EVER the weakness of the Christian faith might be evident in accord with these theories, it should be so in the John 18:12-27 passage we have before us today: in this passage, Jesus was reportedly bound and abusively slapped in the presence of the high priest, Annas, while the disciple Peter was in the process of denying three times that he even knew Jesus! The human frailty of Jesus coupled with the sinful weakness of Peter, the one whom Jesus claimed would gain the "keys of the kingdom" back in Matthew 16:18, could arguably make Christ and the Christian faith appear to be a big hoax!



Thus, one might ask, "From viewing John 18:12-27 that presents a bound and abused Jesus and a sinfully lying Peter, CAN we discern IF Christ and the Christian faith are mere HOAXES? For THAT matter, how can I as a CHRISTIAN have CONFIDENCE in the power and sovereignty of Jesus in my life?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "In light of secular theories on this, how can Jesus be God and the Christian faith true if He was bound and abused while Peter was sinfully denying Him? How may I have confidence in Jesus?!"
  1. Some time BEFORE He was bound and when Peter BEGAN to do so, Jesus EMPHATICALLY PREDICTED PETER would DENY HIM THREE times BEFORE the COCK CROWED, John 13:37-38.
  2. Now, viewing JUST John 18:12-27 in its setting, for this prediction to come true, TWENTY-SEVEN BROAD circumstances OUTSIDE of JESUS' HUMANLY BOUND RESTRAINTS and PETER'S SINFUL FAILURE had to be SUPERNATURALLY ARRANGED:
    1. First, Peter's initial denial came at Jesus' trial before Annas (Jn. 18:13, 17) where his last two denials came at Jesus' trial before Caiaphas (18:24-27); thus, the Jews had to consider both men as high priests to give time for Peter to deny Jesus 3 times and fulfill His prediction!
    2. Second, for both of these men to be viewed as high priests, Rome had to rule Israel to replace one man with the other, for the Jews made the high priest serve in his office for life, Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 335.
    3. Third, however, for Rome to rule Israel at that time, Greece had to have dominated Israel before Rome did in order to fulfill Daniel 2:39b-40; cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftns. to Daniel 2:39 and 2:40.
    4. Fourth, then for Greece to rule Israel before Rome did, Medo-Persia had to rule Israel before Greece did to fulfill Daniel 2:39a, Ibid.
    5. Fifth, then for Medo-Persia to rule Israel before Greece did, Babylon had to rule Israel before Medo-Persia to fulfill Dan. 2:37-38, Ibid., ftn.
    6. Sixth, Roman rulers had to have become convinced in their history that it was wise to avoid letting one native ruler hold an office for a long time lest he gain influence that Rome could not control; thus, the Romans replaced Annas with Caiaphas, Ibid., B.K.C., N. T., p. 335.
    7. Seventh, Annas and Caiaphas had to serve close enough to each other in time so that the Jews would require Jesus to be tried by both men.
    8. Eighth, Annas had to have a daughter so that Caiaphas could wed her, making him Annas' son-in-law so that the secular Romans would view Caiaphas as a reasonable, peaceful replacement for Annas, Jn. 18:13!
    9. Ninth, Caiaphas and Annas' daughter had to want to marry each other!
    10. Tenth, since priests could marry only virgins, and not divorcees or widows (Lev. 21:1, 14), this daughter could not have been divorced.
    11. Eleventh, for the same reason, she could not have been a widow.
    12. Twelfth, for the same reason, she could not have been immoral.
    13. Thirteenth, since Annas was a priest, his wife who in turn gave birth to his daughter who wed Caiaphas could thus not have been divorced!
    14. Fourteenth, she could thus not have been a widow.
    15. Fifteenth, she could thus not have been immoral.
    16. Sixteenth, Annas and his wife would have wanted to wed each other!
    17. Seventeenth, a disciple of Jesus (we think is John) had to know Annas to gain entrance to the court of the high priest's residence, John 18:15.
    18. Eighteenth, John had to speak to the door slave to let Peter enter to bring him close enough so she might identify his face by night, 18:16.
    19. Nineteenth, she had to have seen Peter with Jesus in recognizing his face to mention the fact and lead to Peter's first denial, John 18:17.
    20. Twentieth, the weather had to be cold for there to be a fire needed to produce a setting for Peter's second and third denials, John 18:18a.
    21. Twenty-first, Caiaphas had to have previously predicted the need for Jesus to die to save Israel (Jn. 18:14 with 11:49-53) to create a hostile attitude in his aides for Jesus to influence one of them to slap Jesus before Annas in order to tempt Peter to deny Jesus again, 18:19-23.
    22. Twenty-second, the servants and officers of the high priest had to make a charcoal fire to warm themselves so that little smoke but some light would be emitted by the fire to draw Peter to the fire and have his face clarified so the others could recognize him that night, 18:18b.
    23. Twenty-third, the officers then had to have seen Peter with Jesus to be able to speak about it, leading to Peter's second denial, John 18:25.
    24. Twenty-fourth, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off in Gethsemanee had to be there to take a special interest in Peter, 18:26a.
    25. Twenty-fifth, Peter had to have cut off Malchus' ear in Gethsemanee to make a special impression on this relative of Malchus, John 18:10.
    26. Twenty-sixth, this man's interest in Peter coupled with the past discussion had to spark his motivation to mention again that he felt he had seen Peter, leading to Peter's third denial , John 18:26-27.
    27. Twenty-seventh, then, not before, did the cock have to crow, 18:27!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ for salvation from sin to be saved, Jn. 20:30-31. (2) May we also rest in the VALIDITY of our Christian faith (3) and God's power in Christ toward us today!

Lesson: As Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial came to pass during His bondage and abuse, a fulfillment that involved the alignment of at least twenty-seven wide-ranging circumstances OUTSIDE of His LIMITED HUMAN CONTROL at the TIME, Jesus revealed He was TRULY GOD'S PROPHET, and so verified his claim to be Israel's Messiah and God!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

When we compare the coordination of such wide-ranging circumstances for Jesus' prediction about Peter's denial to occur with another prediction that came true, our faith is edified all the more!

Take the prediction by the Prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 10:1-6:

Samuel had predicted that (1) after Saul had left Samuel's anointing of him to be king, Saul would meet two men (2) by Rachel's tomb, and (3) they would tell him (4) the donkeys Saul sought had been found, (5) but that his father worried about Saul's welfare.

(6) Saul was then to go to the Plain of Tabor (7) where three men would meet him (8) who were going to worship God at Bethel: (9) one would be carrying three young goats, (10) another three loaves of bread and the (11) third a bottle of wine. (12) They would salute him and (13) offer him two loaves of bread (14) which he was to take.

(15) Saul was to continue traveling to the Philistine garrison there (16) to meet a company of prophets (17) coming down from the high place (18) with a psaltery, (19) tabret, (20) pipe (21) and harp, and (22) they would be prophesying.

(23) At that instant, the Spirit of God would come upon Saul and (24) he would prophesy, (25) changing him into another man.

When all these things occurred, Saul was to do what he willed, for God's Spirit would evidently be with him, 1 Samuel 10:7.

Now, these twenty-five elements of Samuel's prediction were fulfilled that same day as Samuel had said, indicating Samuel was God's true prophet and that his anointing of Saul meant Saul would be king of Israel with God's sanction, cf. 1 Samuel 10:1, 9.

Our argument, then is this: if SAUL'S appointment as Israel's KING and SAMUEL'S credibility as God's messenger to anoint him was PROVED by TWENTY-FIVE wide-ranging elements of Samuel's prophecy being aligned unto its fulfillment, SURELY the TWENTY-SEVEN wide-ranging circumstances that needed to be aligned for Jesus' prediction about Peter's denial to come to pass, and THAT when JESUS was HUMANLY LIMITED by being BOUND and ABUSED and PETER was FAILING Him, JESUS is God's TRUE PROPHET!



May we trust in Jesus and His claims, and for what that means of His DIVINE power toward us NOW!