Arrest in Gethsemane (Part B)

Peter, unwittingly fighting against our redemption and his own redemption. He did this before, when the Lord said that he was going to the cross and Peter had Caesarea Philippi said, No, be it far from you. And the Lord says, Say, Get behind me, Satan.

Well, this is the second time. Because he doesn't yet understand what's going on. He doesn't understand that Jesus is indeed the sacrificial lamb, not just a philosophy. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his study called Arrest in Gethsemane, as he teaches in Mark Chapter 14. Verse 45. As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him as soon as he had come, wasting no time, supposing himself to be clever at this point, blinded by Satan, unable to see that God was in control, not Judas. And he says, Rabbi, Rabbi, why not Lord, Lord? Satan was now the Lord of Judas, Iscariot. Luke's Gospel Chapter 6, Jesus asked this question, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? And then in John 8 he says, You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. Those two verses Judas was present for. He heard these things.

They did not register with him. He dismissed the word of God from the Son of God. It says here, and he kissed him in verse 45. In the Greek, it's emphatic. It's a demonstrative kiss. It's not a peck. It's a kiss on the cheek, but it's a clear, deliberate sort of a grab the shoulders and kiss the cheek, and everybody knows, you know, probably both sides, both cheeks, everybody knows, okay, that's the one. That's the signal. Again, Luke's Gospel, he adds this, But Jesus said to him, Judas, Are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss? You might say, Seriously? Are you really?

I mean, is that the signal? Of course, Christ is totally aware of what's going on, and he's still giving us lessons from the scriptures. Incidentally, these disciples, though they were very comfortable with the Lord, they were not that chummy with him. He maintained a distance between superior and subordinate, and for example, there's a few of them.

I had to take them out for time's sake, but I'll give one. Luke 9, verse 45, But they did not understand, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. Well, if they were so chummy with him, they would never have been afraid to ask him about this saying, but there was that line there.

You know, we don't want to irritate them. The points that Peter could argue with him to a point, but then there was still that wall, and my reason for saying this is that this was out of character, I think. Judas just strutting up to him, acting like he's just, Oh, my rabbi, and as though the Lord is some sort of dummy that didn't see what was going on. And telling this Peter to Mark, Peter must have felt a surge of disgust towards Judas again that he had to dismiss very quickly or get in the flesh.

Mark, very likely present for all of this, if not some of it at least, he too may have had a surge of that feeling. They loved the Lord so much. This comes out in the story, and we also find out from Matthew that when Judas approached him, Jesus referred to Judas as friend. Matthew 26, verse 50, where Jesus said to him, friend, why have you come?

And then they came and laid hands on him and took him. That Greek word for friend used by Matthew is just that, a friend, comrade, a companion. It was an opportunity for Judas to say, you know what, he is my friend, and repent. Of course, he doesn't take it. But Jesus, of course, treating him with respect up to the last moment, still giving him opportunity.

But Judas blows past the last exit ramp before the toll, and he continues on. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. That is a fundamental, that is a basic teaching from the Bible. Sometimes your friends will say things that are true and necessary, and it is not because they're trying to wound you. You know, the truth hurts. But there are those that are deceitful. They are your enemies, and they flatter. And this is something that I feel, and the Bible does too, this is an important lesson for us to learn, so that we're not too thin-skinned in the face of correction.

This was, for anybody else, it would have hurt. He's calling me a friend, and I'm betraying him. But again, Judas was full-blown. He's gone. He's serving Satan at this point.

That is doable. It is possible to serve Satan. The world, many of them, most of them, don't believe that.

We know it's a fact, and we shouldn't lose sight of it. We are occupied with serving the Lord, but we are also mindful that there are others that serve Satan, even if under the guise of themselves or some other religion. Christianity is supposed to be this powerful truth, because it is powerful, and it is true. And yet many in the world are devout in their approach to their gods.

If you consider some of the people in Hinduism, for example, they're very devout. There's so much hope on their faces when they go to their temples and they offer their food or drink or whatever it is, an incense to their gods. A lot of hope, but there's something missing.

If you've ever seen this, you know there's something that's not the same. They have more questions than they have answers. We have the answers, but we must dig for them.

They're not handed to us on a silver platter. We must work and be diligent to show yourself approved. A worker, a worker does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Henderances to that? You know, pride, self, the flesh, puffing up with knowledge.

You start learning things and you begin to think that you're superior in some form. These things we need to watch out for. You know, what do you have that you've not been given, says the Lord. Verse 46, then they laid their hands on him and took him. Well, the sin that really wrecked Judas, the sin that even grieved the Lord more than this treacherous act of betrayal exhibited with this kiss, the thing that really got to the Lord, and rightfully so, is that Judas failed to come back to give the Lord a chance to forgive him. He never came back to the Lord. He committed the unpardonable sin. Not treachery, not some dark, ghastly crime or act of immorality. The one and unpardonable sin is the refusal to accept the forgiveness that is offered to us with such high cost.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to move in the heart, to point to Jesus Christ as the Savior, to encourage the sinner to repent and to come and to receive mercy and grace and forgiveness. He never did. Peter would be there, not Judas. Had he come back, I have no doubt he would have squeezed through the narrow gate of heaven. In the book of Numbers, when the people were being disciplined by God for their murmuring and unbelief, God told Moses to make a brass serpent because God had released serpents to bite the people. They would die unless they looked at this brass serpent. We pick it up in Numbers 21, verse 9, so Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. So it was, if the serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Jesus said, unless I am lifted up, referencing this very moment, those who want to be forgiven and live eternally must look to me.

You must do this by faith. All those Jews that were bitten by a serpent, all they had to do was look at the bronze serpent. But if they were hard-headed or hard-hearted, if they refused to receive from Christ, or from Yahweh in the wilderness, they would die because of the bite. This is, of course, applicable to Christianity and Jesus is the one that makes it so. He is the one that made that connection between Numbers and his cross.

If I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me. As Moses lifted up, the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus said. Now John also, about this event, he mentions the captain being present, John 18, then the detachment and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. The captain in the Greek is the commander of thousands of centurions, equal to a lieutenant colonel perhaps in our infantry. Either way, the point is that Rome had a military presence there. So when the Pharisees sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus, he sent the Jewish temple guards to arrest him, there was also a Roman presence there. Probably not coming in force, but still there in the background, ready to put down any serious resistance.

The Antonio fortress was not very far from this garden of Gethsemane and it would not have taken much at all to bring in reinforcements. Verse 47, and one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Well, now we're getting back to Peter, which is, and when I read this, we're getting back to me. I see myself in Peter. Once they laid their hands on Jesus, Peter made his move.

He was no coward, as I have been making my position clear on that. Luke says, when they asked for permission, Peter didn't wait. He acted. Luke's Gospel chapter 22 verse 49, when those around him saw what was going to happen, they said to him, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? What do you think Peter did? He didn't wait for the Lord to say yes or no. And it goes on in Luke chapter 22 verse 50, but one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Peter did not.

He would have none of this. Once they put their hands on the Lord, he pounced. My flesh says, go Peter, go.

I'm with you. The swordsman of Gethsemane, we know from John's Gospel. And we know the name of the servant whose ear was cut off. John tells us. John was very much plugged into the temple, likely selling fish to them.

They were customers there. He's the one that gets Peter into the courtyard. Anyway, of course, the Lord restores the ear of Malchus that Peter hacked off. Was Peter more frustrated that he missed the head of Malchus?

No, of course he wasn't. But it is the last miracle that Jesus does before the cross, patching up the blunder of one of his beloved servants. So he heals the ear of Malchus, otherwise Peter may have been arrested as well.

There would have been four crosses up on Calvary. But the Lord, of course, rebuked him. This is not how we do it, Peter. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. That totally disarmed Peter mentally.

He didn't know what to do at that point. 2 Corinthians. I like this verse when things are going my way. I don't like this verse when things are not going my way, as far as what the enemy is doing. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. And, of course, that the weapon of pulling down strongholds is oftentimes enduring persecution, even to the death. So Simon's swing of the sword that just took place far more nobler than the kiss of Judas, is it not?

I would rather swing the sword and be rebuked than give the kiss of a traitor. And yet, I know that in me dwells no good thing. My flesh, in my flesh is no good thing. I'm capable of any sin. But I also know, as Peter tells us, kept by the power of God.

I don't have to rely on my strength. I rely on the Lord. Peter, unwittingly fighting against our redemption and his own redemption. He did this before, when the Lord said that he was going to the cross, and Peter at Caesarea Philippi said, no, be it far from you. And the Lord says, get behind me, Satan.

Well, this is the second time. Because he doesn't yet understand what's going on. He doesn't understand that Jesus is indeed the sacrificial lamb, not just a philosophy. So, instead of me paying the price for my sin, he paid it. Matthew 26, verse 56, all this was done that the scripture of the prophets might be fulfilled. And Jesus is going to say that again. Well, that tells us that this is totally under the control of God.

But back to Peter again. When he denies the Lord, when he flees the garden here, and later denies the Lord, and then he goes out and weeps. It's not because he was a coward. Though he thought it was cowardly of him, it's really just confusion. We've just proven that he's no coward.

He's ready to fight these guys to the death. The fact that they all ask, shall we draw swords, demonstrates that they were prepared to die for him. But it was more important to obey the Lord. Although Jesus had to give Peter a little extra lesson on that. So, his failure in fleeing and not dying there, but still wanting to obey the Lord and receiving the rebuke when the Lord said, this is not how we do it, Peter. So, Matthew chapter 5, Jesus long ago warned, let your yes be yes and your no, no, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. And of course, Peter violated that. All these guys can forsake you.

I'm never going to leave you. And he just should have said, yeah, Lord, I'm going to be there. But he learned. And it was a hard lesson. And it's not sorted out in his head yet. And it won't be sorted out as we pointed out in earlier sessions. It will take three visits from the Lord to put Peter back together. After boasting, he would never run and then running.

Now, we have to point this out. Peter will be there to hear the rooster crow. This is so much about the man. He could have been home shivering under his blanket, but he's still following the Lord. Albeit, he doesn't know what to do. The sword has been taken from him.

Now, how do I, what's my role here? What do you think would have happened if the Lord said to Jesus in the courtyard, okay, get him? It would have been no hesitation on Peter's part. I like to stand up for these apostles when they are, I think, sometimes wrongfully accused. And of course, Peter being accused of being a coward irritates me because I don't see him that way. I see him as a man who is very courageous in his faith. And it comes out in his life.

Anyway, verse 48, and Jesus answered and said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? Of all the guilty people on earth, of all the robbers on earth, of all the bad people out there that they could be arresting, these boys managed to treat the only innocent one as a criminal. They had a unique genius for spiritual insanity.

And we're seeing it acted out. You would hope that at some point in their life, they would have come to that realization. But we don't know. We know that there were the priests that were saved at Pentecost. How many of these that were hands on in the arrest in Gethsemane that were converted? And then many of them became a problem after they came into Christianity. They wanted to, of course, Judaize it, which would have killed Christianity. And it took an Apostle Paul to stand up to them, a man of his intellectual caliber and phenomenal courage of the Apostle Paul, just traces steps through Turkey and how he ministered to those churches.

I don't know if I could have done that. When he writes in 2 Corinthians in that 11th chapter about all the things he's got to put up with, you know, within the world of robbers, the thieves, the shipwrecks, the pirates. And then he also mentions, not to mention, the things of the church daily. What a hero. Verse 48, when Jesus again is where we are, he asks if you come out as against a robber.

They were ready for violence. They would kill to arrest him, to stop him from doing any more miracles. We don't want you to help people anymore. We want to stop you from telling people what God says about God. We want to stop you from pointing out that our religious hypocrisy is an abomination. John, chapter 7, Jesus speaking to his brothers who didn't get it, that he was Messiah.

And, you know, you look at all these people around Christ and you say, how could they miss the virtuous life if nothing else? How could they not say, there's something about him that's just nothing like us? But, you know, some people just can't give you the satisfaction to being right. And for siblings, that can be very hard. It's not good when siblings compete with each other in a malicious way.

I mean, it's okay at, you know, the checkerboard, but not family versus family who look at me, just have love. But anyway, maybe that got somebody. Maybe there's a lot of things I've said this morning that's gotten somebody.

If it has, it's the power of preaching, it's the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm just a messenger. Don't get me, get the assistant pastor. He's not doing anything right now. Anyway, John 7, the world cannot hate you.

We pause there just at that word. Can the world hate me or am I too chummy with it? The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You know, you can testify against the world without saying a word, just by the way you live. Just by saying, no, I'm not going to do that.

None I think. I disagree. And then when they, of course, they start drilling down on you and say, well, why don't you do this? And you start telling them. These Pharisees and priests and Sadducees at this time, they were making this statement with their behavior. If anyone's going to create religion, it is us. We will not have some Galilean from Nazareth dare tell us about God. In fact, we'd rather kill him than let him be successful with truth. That's how it shakes out. In verse 49, I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me, but the scripture must be fulfilled. In other words, I am right, you are wrong, but there's nothing going to change because of this, because you're that far gone.

And the scripture announced this, that God knew this long before and now it is taking place. How frustrating. I tell you, this Passion Week of Christ, when he enters the city riding on a donkey till the crucifixion, I never like it. It's necessary.

It's impaired. You have to have it. It's our salvation. But who wants to see the Lord suffer? I rejoice that he did.

It doesn't mean I got to like how he did, how he allowed the processes to go. There's no other way. And so even now reading this, I want to rescue him. That's what love does. Love wants to protect the object of their love. And yet, greater love has no man than this, that one would lay down his life for his friend.

And that's where it all becomes an act of faith and not just human reason. He was daily with them. In the temple, he says teaching. As I mentioned earlier, he was always teaching. Because what is the opposite of not being taught? You know, the old expression, you think education is expensive? Try ignorance. Ignorance is very costly. These men refused to be taught. And so they died in their ignorance, willful ignorance.

He never gave up. Even from the cross, he's going to be teaching. He's going to teach us how men ought to die for God. Verse 50, then they all forsook him and fled. Peter is the only one that points out, they all forsook him. Now again, it's Mark's gospel. As I start in the introduction to the study of Mark, it was my position and others that Peter is the one that gave Mark this information. Though Mark was present for some of it himself, all of the indicators go in that direction and that's how I'm approaching it. So, you know, they all forsook him.

It wasn't just me. Zechariah 13.7 is the prophecy that said this would happen. Awake sword against my shepherd, against the man who is my companion. In the Hebrew there is the man who is my equal.

That's what a companion is. The Soviets blew that. Or the Communists, you know, calling everybody comrade while they're killing each other. The communism is madness. And these young, ignorant people walking around with Che Guevara on their shirt do not understand the man was a serial killer and would shoot them as quick as he would light a cigar. And it's just the ignorance that is given or dispensed in institutions that are supposed to be anything but ignorance.

They're supposed to be institutions of learning, truth, anyhow. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross Reference Radio.