Series: Discovering the Life Changing Gospel
Overcoming Betrayal on the Path to Obedience
John 18:1–11 (HCSB)
1 After Jesus had said these things, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and He and His disciples went into it. 2 Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 So Judas took a company of soldiers and some temple police from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to Him, went out and said to them, “Who is it you’re looking for?” 5 “Jesus the Nazarene,” they answered. “I am He,” Jesus told them. Judas, who betrayed Him, was also standing with them. 6 When He told them, “I am He,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7 Then He asked them again, “Who is it you’re looking for?” “Jesus the Nazarene,” they said. 8 “I told you I am He,” Jesus replied. “So if you’re looking for Me, let these men go.”
9 This was to fulfill the words He had said: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.” 10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. (The slave’s name was Malchus.) 11 At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Sheathe your sword! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
- BETRAYAL FROM A FRIEND HURTS THE MOST
(18:1-2)
- No longer secluded with His disciples, Jesus set in motion the plan of God.
- Jesus was betrayed by a friend who knew His habits.
Matthew 26:14–16 (HCSB)
14 Then one of the Twelve—the man called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” So they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him. 16 And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
- Betrayal at the hands of a friend cuts the deepest.
- GOD’S PLAN OUTMANEUVERS THE WORLD’S TACTICS (18:3-7)
- The world thinks in terms of brute force.
- Rather than being taken by force, Jesus surrendered.
- Embracing God’s plan brings glory to God.
- THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROTECTS HIS SHEEP AT ALL COSTS (18:8-11)
John 10:11 (HCSB)
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
- Jesus demonstrates great concern for the safety of His disciples.
John 17:12 (HCSB)
12 “While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.”
- Centering ourselves in the middle of God’s plan will bring protection.
- Choosing our own plan will bring rebuke.
- The greatest act of protection was taking on the wrath meant for us.
Hebrews 9:28 (HCSB)
28 …so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
Satan thought the betrayal of a friend would stifle the plan of God and end the threat Jesus represented. Instead, it set in motion the events that would allow the Savior to take on the sins of the world.
