JOHN 18:1-11 JESUS SAID TO THEM, ”I AM HE.”

  John 18:1-11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" 5 They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." 8 Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way," 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none." 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

 After Jesus finishes praying, He goes with His disciples to the garden. John leaves out the fact that Jesus prays again and sweats great drops of blood and His disciples sleep when they should have been praying also. John does this because he is focusing us on the greatness and supremacy of Jesus as the God Man. He wants to show us that the Jews have brought anywhere from 200 to 1200 plus people to get one MAN. The MAN that they could not get no matter how hard they have tried in the past to kill him or capture Him. Jesus shows His authority and power by stepping forward and confronting them with the question who do you seek instead of drawing back and running when they come for Him. They tell Him Jesus of Nazareth and He says I AM; I AM God, the self-existent one, YAWEH. They all are knocked down due to the power in that name. He surrenders Himself so that His disciples will not be killed and to fulfill that scripture that He lost none who were given to Him by the Father. Lastly Peter draws a small sword and whacks off Malchus’s ear and Jesus says put up your sword, Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me? In other words shall I not go to the cross and take all humanity’s sin by taking their place and suffering their hell while on the cross. That is why Jesus came and that is why He had to go to the cross. John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Now, you see, Matthew, Mark and Luke had different purposes. Theirs was not so directly to present Christ as God and thus they include the agony in the garden where we see Him breaking down from the sin and the anticipation. They include the anguish and the sorrow and the crying and the sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. And they include all those things that make Jesus so humiliated. They include the things that humiliate Jesus and make Him suffer. And they make much of that because that's important. But John's purpose is to present deity so you don't find the anguish in the garden, you don't find the crying in the garden, you don't find the sweating and the great drops of blood, you don't find anything degrading or debasing or humiliating at all in John's gospel. In fact, it's just the opposite. Everything that goes on at the arrest of Jesus as John points it out glorifies Christ.

Jesus Christ is in control of the context and the setting of all the events that are going to transpire

and it ought to be a source of great comfort for us to be reminded that God is in control, but we seem to want to step in in the middle of all kinds of things and say "Now wait shouldn't we do it this way? Shouldn't it happen this way?" We don't like surrendering control to anyone, even the God of the universe, right?

 And when things seem so clear, Peter's a good illustration of it, he’s going to protect and prevent his Lord from being arrested. How often we go off halfcocked. We just run into a situation. Ready, fire, aim. There's a great tendency for all of us to try and control things and sometimes we just need to take a pause and step back and say, "What does the Sovereign have going on here and how do I respond?"

 The arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is one of those events that if any of us had been there we would have thought, "Oh my, things got terribly out of control."

It is interesting to note that the arrest took place in a garden. Christ, the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), met the enemy in a garden and triumphed, while the first Adam met the enemy in a garden and failed. Adam hid himself, but Christ openly revealed Himself. [i]

1 When Jesus had spoken these words; He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2Sa 15:23; Mt 26:36; Mr 14:32; Lu 22:39

The Kidron Valley formed the eastern boundary of Jerusalem. The Kidron was also a wadi or dry streambed that contained water only when it rained hard. The Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane lay across the Kidron to the east.

The parallels between Jesus' experiences and David's at this point are striking. Both men crossed the Kidron having been rejected by their nation and betrayed by someone very close to them, and hangings followed both incidents

Another thing you don't find the text, but it's fairly good evidence that during Passover they’re going to slaughter 200,000 plus lambs. That's a lot of butchering and in antiquity, to deal with the blood there was one way in the Temple complex, but as they got more and more in production, they believe they actually dealt a ditch or a slew that went from the base of the Temple area into the Kidron. So we can't be sure of this, but there's a pretty good indication that when they're crossing that's a muddy, bloody river bottom. And they go up then to, John says, the garden. There was a garden.

 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Lu 21:37; 22:39

Judas the betrayer is reintroduced to us in this text. Eight times you'll find him mentioned in the Gospel of John. Eight times you'll find the word betrayer. Six times it's attached to the word Judas. The other two times it’s implied. He is known as the one, the son of perdition, who betrays his friend and he's brought back into the storyline.

 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Mt 26:47; Mr 14:43; Lu 22:47; Ac 1:16

Only John mentioned the presence of Roman soldiers. They carried lanterns and torches to find Jesus. Apparently they thought He might try to hide. They also had weapons to restrain anyone who might oppose their plan to arrest Jesus. Judas served as their guide. He had no authority over them.

John alone mentions the torches, the lanterns and the swords, so if you get this valley in mind, this picture in mind, and Passover always took place when the moon was full, and let's just say there are two hundred carrying torches. It would be a pretty eerie parade from the fortress of Antonio, around the city, across the Kidron Valley, into the garden. And you could probably see those torches coming a long way from the garden side of that ravine. I think the irony is touching that they're bringing torches and lanterns at night to apprehend the Light of the World.

Why so many? Well, you got the crowds and you got the press of, "Messiah could be coming." Probably more importantly though, back in John if you remember, they didn't quite get Him. He slipped away and the Jews were going to do all they can with Rome's help to apprehend Him this time, lest they look foolish going out and trying to find Him. It sounds like a problem we're having right now, doesn't it? We want to find him. Let's send out a big detachment to make sure we can get him.

They were armed with torches, swords, and even clubs. (I doubt that the Romans allowed the Jews to bear arms, so it is likely that the club-bearers were Jews.) It would seem they had prepared for the worst. They expected Jesus to attempt to escape, or at least to resist arrest. They came with torches, ready to pursue Him into the darkness if He attempted to evade them.

 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?"

Jesus in John 6:15 is unwilling to let the popular crowd make Him King. He fights that. Now in John eighteen He's willing to be the sacrifice for them. Jesus seems to do things upside down an awful lot. They wanted to make Him King and now they want to crucify Him and He willingly submits to being apprehended. What you're going to look at in this garden, in my estimation, is the most incredible, powerful, dramatic story in the Bible. What's happening here on the edge of the cross is rich, full of irony and drama, of what's going to happen in the lives of His friends and in His own life.

 Jesus came. They were prepared to take Him by force, but they were totally unprepared for what Jesus is going to do because Jesus is going to control even His arrest.

So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth.

 See the words "went forth?" That word "went forth" is a singular verb that is going to have a word play in a minute. It's a third person singular. He went forth. Now drop down to verse six:

 So when He said to them, "I am [He]," they drew back.

 See the word "drew back?" The word "drew back" has the same exact tense and parsing but it's a third person plural. In other words, get the picture here, the grammar tells us a story. They're coming out -plural- to arrest Him. He should do what? He should retreat because He is about to be apprehended. But what John tells us is that Jesus came out -singular- and they drew back. It's a very important part of John's pen. He's in control of the situation. He is not going to let them apprehend Him on their terms. He is in command of this context.

 5 They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.

Both times He answers with the two little words in Greek, "I am." Judas is present. I want you to notice John, the way he crafts this story and Judas is standing with them. If you go back to Psalm 1:1 in your mind:

 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path

 And now we see Judas with the path of those who are going to arrest Christ; the betrayer.

 6 Now when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.

 7 Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

 8 Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,"

 John is fond of double meanings so when we find the word "I am" in the Gospel of John, our mind goes to what? The seven "I am’s." I am the Bread of Life. I am the Light of the World; the Way, Truth, and Life; the Door; the Good Shepherd. All those we've looked at in detail, right? If you were with us in the Gospel of John earlier, we went back to Moses' discussion with God and the burning bush, remember?

 "Who shall I say sent me to Pharaoh?"

 And God says what? "I am." YHWEH.

 So when Jesus uses the words "I am" they call Him a blasphemer because He's made Himself out to be God. Well, He is God. That's the point of the "I am’s" all through the Gospel of John. So on the one hand, Jesus could just be saying, "I'm the guy you're looking for. I'm Him." Or He could be saying, "I'm God. I am." I vote for the latter. You can do what you want, but I like the picture here that He's saying, "Who are you looking for?"

 "Jesus."

 "I'm God. I am."

He said, "I am." whoosh. "Lest you misunderstand you Jewish, Roman, political, religious officials; lest you misunderstand, I can lay you down. I'm God," Jesus said. "Who are you looking for? I am."

I wonder if the second time they braced themselves, you know? It's the darkest hour in our lens, but He's deity. It looks like the thing is unraveling, but it's according to plan. He knew everything that was about to come upon Him. He is not taken by surprise. 

This is important. John 10:11 says the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. We have the doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement. Sometimes we think doctrine is sort of dry and dusty and for people who live in seminary towers. Doctrine is very important. It's very important. Why we believe what we believe is essential especially when you look at this Book. The Bible teaches Substitutionary Atonement.

• Listen, Jesus didn't just die for them; He dies instead of them. He doesn't just go and take the sting away for a while, sort of at bay when they're going to face their issues. He dies instead of them and He says, "They're going to be protected. I'm going to care for them."

 Here is the God man facing crucifixion and He is concerned about His friends.

 "I'm the one you want. Let them go."

 Who's in control? Jesus Christ.

Jesus could have just thought them away, if He can lay them over with a word.

9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none." John 17:12

This was all for a purpose. By throwing the authorities off balance (pardon the pun), Jesus was now able to make a request that they might not have otherwise granted—the release of His disciples. Think about this for a moment. If one of the charges against Jesus was that He was a revolutionary, then His disciples would have been, in present day terms, terrorists. Do you think that under normal circumstances the authorities would have intended to let Jesus’ disciples just walk away? I don’t think so. But Jesus had them so rattled they didn’t attempt to arrest anyone else. Jesus had twice asked them who they were seeking, and twice they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” It was as if Jesus had asked them if they had an arrest warrant, and if so, whose name was on the warrant. Only His name was on the arrest warrant, as it were. So Jesus reasons that if the warrant is only for His arrest, surely His disciples must be free to leave.[ii] And so they did.

John also tells us it's a fulfillment of Scripture. The word fulfill here rings our ears, just like a prophet spoke and the Word was fulfilled; Jesus speaks and the Word's fulfilled but John the gospel writer is going back to John 6:39 when he says this. So here's an unusual fulfilling. Usually a prophet says something and it comes true at some point in time or maybe in the New Testament it comes true. Jesus says it and a few days later it comes true.

 He is the God man who can speak the Word of God because He is God. No word is ever going to fail that Jesus spoke. I hope as we study more and more about the Christ and the Gospel of John that you and I learn the lesson that Jesus Christ is in control. He is not going to fail.

Nothing He has ever said will fail, men and women. He will never leave you nor for sake you. He will never revoke His promise to hold you eternally secure if you've trusted Him. If you've trusted Christ, you will see him face-to-face; not because of what you do but because of what He's done.

 He will never abandon you. If anything Jesus said could fail, it doesn't matter what He said. Nothing He ever said will fail because He's who He is.

Rome may have required the equivalent of an arrest warrant from the Jewish authorities. Only our Lord seems to have been named. While the Jews would have been tempted to arrest everyone there (especially after Peter’s use of his sword), they felt powerless to do so in the light of their interchange with Jesus, which underscored the fact that they had been authorized to arrest only Jesus.

Jesus controls the context, He controls the setting, He controls His arrest, He's in command of that situation, and lastly He's in control of His suffering. Look again at your text. Let's read verses ten and eleven of John eighteen.

 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Mt 26:51; Mr 14:47; Lu 22:49-50

The small sword (Gr. machaira) that Peter used was probably little more than a dagger. His action was foolish, but it illustrates his courage and commitment to Jesus

In using the sword, Peter was definitely disobeying Christ. Christ does not need our protection; the weapons we are to use to fight Satan are spiritual ones (2 Cor. 10:4–6; Eph. 6). Peter used the wrong weapon, had the wrong motive, acted under the wrong orders, and accomplished the wrong result! How gracious of Jesus to heal Malchus (Luke 22:51) and thus protect Peter from harm. Otherwise there might have been another cross on Calvary, and Peter would have been crucified before God’s time had come[iii]

this is an apostle of Jesus Christ.

 When he denies Christ, don't say, "What a fool. You know, I'd have never done that." He was an apostle. God picked him as one of the eleven and then later the twelve cornerstones of the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ. Don't make him something he's not but don't minimize who he is. He's an apostle of Christ. You need to give Peter the benefit of the doubt.

 John thirteen and Matthew twenty-six he swore he'd die for Jesus. I think he meant it. I think he really thought in his heart of hearts, "If it came to it Lord, I'll die for You," and although inept, here's a demonstration of it. I don't think he was showing off. I think his instinctive reaction was, "I'm not going to let this happen. I'll stop it."

Luke twenty-two tells us that Jesus touched Malchus and healed him. Now, if I read the text right, the ear has come off. That's sort of gruesome. He does not kneel down and pick up the ear and put it back on Malchus' head. Maybe I'm reading too much into the story. It just says, "He touched him." And He just touches him. I think He created a new ear. The other question I can't wait to see the answer to is, "Do you think Malchus will be in heaven?"

 It would be a neat story to hear if he is, won't it?

 "Yeah I was there that night."  Talk about an eyewitness account.

 11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

Mt 20:22; 26:39,42

 The Gospels, all four, include this story, but only John tells us the name "Peter" and the name "Malchus." It gives us sort of the air of the detail of an eyewitness. Well, Jesus' response is compassion towards His enemy. He knows these poor eleven guys are totally outgunned. There's no way in the world they're going to win. He says, "Put the sword away."

Peter's brave though misdirected act showed that He still failed to realize that Jesus' death was necessary. Zeal without knowledge is dangerous.

Romans 10:2 Paul says: they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

 Peter had zeal for God, but he didn't understand and so Jesus is going to explain it to him. Now, John the gospel writer does not include the Gethsemane agony. We're talking about the agony in the Garden; the agony in Gethsemane. He doesn't include that and many people say, "Why didn't John include that? He left it out."

Can you imagine what the normal reaction would have been, once Peter had his sword out and was lopping off the ear of the man nearest to him? This was like striking a match in a room filled with gasoline fumes. How quickly and easily both Jewish and Roman arms could have been employed, so that the situation would have gotten completely out of control.

But before anything like this happened, Jesus intervened. It looks like Peter got in only one stroke of his sword before Jesus rebuked him. Our Lord’s words stopped Peter in his tracks: “But Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’” (John 18:11).

Jesus is in the middle of securing the release of His disciples when Peter draws his sword. One wonders if any of the Jewish authorities sought to protest the disciples’ release. Someone might have said, “Wait a minute. We can’t let these men go; just a moment ago, one of these Galileans assaulted one of us with his sword. He even cut off this man’s ear.” I can almost hear the Roman commander respond, “Which ear? So far as I can see this man has two ears.” The commander then goes over to Malchus and inspects both of his ears more closely. “I don’t see any missing ear, nor any blood; not even a scar. Let’s turn these men loose and take Jesus into custody. He’s the one we were told to arrest.” I know it was an intense moment, but there must have been some humor in what took place. Few, if any, were laughing at the time, however.

Peter had a sword in his hand, but our Lord had a cup in His hand. Peter was resisting God's will but the Savior was accepting God's will."

 Well I think he does when he says "the cup" that He has to drink. The word "cup" does not mean a literal cup; that He has this chalice that He's going to use and give to Peter and so forth and so on. He doesn't mean that there's some wooden or Gold cup that's going to go through. The figure of speech is called a metonymy. It's the same in the Lord's Supper; this cup. He's not saying we have a cup in the Lord's Supper; it's what in the cup. It's the content of the cup. That's called a figure of speech.

 So when He says "this cup that He has to drink" he's talking about what is in there that He must consume and go through and this is the wrath of God. Jesus Christ says God the Father is going to pour out His wrath against sin, against man's pride, against man's arrogance, against Adam's fall in all humanity. He's going to pour out the wrath of His holy nature that He must justify that wrath and He must unleash it and His Son is the candidate.

The drinking of a cup is often used in Scripture to illustrate experiencing suffering and sorrow. When Babylon captured Jerusalem, the city had “drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling” (Isa. 51:17). Jeremiah pictured God’s wrath against the nations as the pouring out of a cup (Jer. 25:15–28). There is also a cup of consolation (Jer. 16:7) and the overflowing cup of joy (Ps. 23:5).[iv]

The image was a familiar one to His disciples, and it is not an unfamiliar image today. To “drink the cup” means to go through with a difficult experience; and “not my cup of tea” means saying no to a certain course of action. The fact that some trophies are designed like cups suggests that winners have been through demanding experiences and had to “swallow a lot.”

Jesus was able to accept the cup because it was mixed by the Father and given to Him from the Father’s hand. He did not resist the Father’s will, because He came to do the Father’s will and finish the work the Father gave Him to do. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart” (Ps. 40:8). Since the Father had mixed and measured the contents of the cup, Jesus knew He had nothing to fear.

This is a good lesson to us: we need never fear the cups that the Father hands to us. To begin with, our Savior has already drunk the cup before us, and we are only following in His steps. We need never fear what is in the cup because the Father has prepared it for us in love.[v]

He says, "Don't get in the way of what God the Father's doing. I've got to drink this cup. Don't try to stop it."

 What is John the Gospel writer's picture of glory? Suffering is the way to glory and I think it's ingenious the way the Holy Spirit and the Gospel writer John put it: "I have to drink this cup. I've got to go through this Peter, you don't understand it." We have a zeal, but not for God.

It seems as though Peter can do nothing right. Here he is, trying so hard to prove to Jesus that he will follow Him to the very end, even unto death. And he is right in one sense. He is willing to die. It is he alone who draws the sword and seeks to prevent the arrest of his Master. But in so doing, he is wrong; in fact, he is resisting the plans and purposes of God. His use of his sword would appear to endanger the lives of the Lord and all the disciples. It implied the opposite of what our Lord would later claim before Pilate, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would fight to prevent me being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But now my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Peter endeavors to save the Lord’s life when He is committed to voluntarily giving up His life in order to provide “the way” to the Father. Jesus is about to “drink the cup” which His Father has given Him, and Peter would (so to speak) thrust it out of His hands.

This theme of the deity of Jesus Christ, and of His control over all things, is constantly reiterated and reinforced in John’s Gospel.

Well, three people at least in the text try to control Jesus. Number one we have Judas trying to control the situation. His motivation is to control for money; for monetary benefit. We also have the Jews and the Romans and they're going to control God. They're going to control Jesus as a show of power.

 "We're in control. We're going to bring two -1200 hundred+ out to apprehend this guy. We're in control."

 That's pretty impressive control in my book. Then we have Peter and to a lesser extent the disciples.

 "We're going to control it" and they pull out a sword and whack off a poor guy’s ear.  “We’re going to control it.”

 All three attempts at control failed. Jesus is in control of His own arrest. Jesus knows everything and He's in control. Let me give you four or five lessons here about how you and I can sort of deal with this. I can't help the people in your life and mine who try to control you and me but I can ask us who are control freaks, I can help us a little bit with learning how to deal with that tendency.

• Number one, we need to prayerfully develop a firm resolve to accept what God gives. We need to prayerfully develop an attitude that says, "You know, when this thing comes along and my personality wants to make it happen.  To take charge, to make it work, to right the wrong, to right the injustice.  When that happens, maybe I just need to prayerfully resolve to accept what God's giving.”

 Lack of promotion, unfair treatment with money, some disappointment in life, some injustice. Instead of the love to say, "I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to use the force of my personality to fix this thing."  Maybe the first pause is to prayerfully resolve. "God what am I supposed to accept from Your hand here?"

 I think one of the marks at least in my struggle with the Christian life, and maybe yours, one of the marks of kind of growing up in a Christian life is to realize there are some "why" questions I'm never going to have the answer to.

I think one of the marks at least in my struggle with the Christian life, and maybe yours, one of the marks of kind of growing up in a Christian life is to realize there are some "why" questions I'm never going to have the answer to. Why I can't have children; why I can't find a husband or a wife; why my husband or wife won't be the way I want them to be; why my kids won't follow Christ. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why didn't I get promoted? Why didn't my stocks go right? Why did this injustice happen to me?

 You know men and women, when you hang onto that "why" it'll rot your soul. I'm not saying you don't wrestle with it. I'm not saying you don't pray through it. I'm not saying you don't learn from it. I am saying that there may be a time when you have to set that why question over here and go on with life. I think that's part of growing up in the Christian life. Some whys are never going to find an answer.

• Secondly, how do we deal with being control freaks, I think we need to channel our desire to control other people and channel that control fondness back to our own soul and say, "Father through Your Holy Spirit, can You control me?" So when your Type A boils up and your temperament and your Myers-Briggs justifies your existence on this world and you can be that way because you are an E or whatever, you know? And you've got the power and you've got the money and you've got the experience and you've got the whatever and you say, "I can do this thing." Well, maybe. You need to say, "God, You need to control me because my ego is way out of line here."
• Thirdly, don't try to prove your faith by the sword. I'm not saying we're not going to mess up and fail in the Christian life. I'm saying the tendency is, "I'll pull the sword. I'll play the Trump card. I'll use the force of my position, my rank, and my experience. Because I'm the parent and you're the child I can just bark at you." Don't pull the sword to prove your faith. when you and I pull the sword to prove our faith the Malchus's of life never get their ear back.
• Lastly, true power and true control is when you and I are in submission to the will of God. You want to be in control? Then you submit and obey God. You want to be controlling the power? Then you submit to God's authority for your life. Jesus Christ is the most powerful man who ever lived and He is submitting to a higher authority; He is submitting to His Father and He's going to take the wrath of hell for you and me.

1. Here it is in summary form. I've got to relinquish my control, I need to ask His Spirit to help me be controlled and I need to rest in the outcome no matter what happens because Jesus Christ knows everything and He is in control.
2. You know, if there is an opposite of this control issue, it's got to be contentment. I think of Philippians chapter four where Paul says, "I've learned the secret of being content no matter what my circumstances are. I've learned I don't have to be in control of even my environment. I’ve slept in nice beds and I’m right now in a hole in the ground a grate over the top of me and I'm content in whatever circumstances I find myself."

And you know that word contentment means enough; that you come to a place when you say, "This is enough. I have enough."

 It's a wonderful application of the passage that you and I in the course of our life are going to have all kinds of trauma and trial and things go awry with our kids, with our grandkids and we're going to try and rescue and rush in. Yes, we help. Yes, we come along side, but to take a deep breath and say, "He is in control. I am not. I'm responsible for my response to Him but there's not a lot I can do about many of the trials of life."

And it doesn't mean we won't weep in the midst of times of weeping.

 It just means that we understand that God is in control.

 If your tendency is to draw the knife, just take a breath and wait and see what He will do.

I was looking at a passage in Luke's Gospel recently where Luke talks about Jesus instructing Peter to throw out the net even after Peter's been fishing all night. It doesn't make any sense to Peter to do this and yet he says, "Master, at Your word I'll do it." He does object a little bit. He says, "You know Lord, we finished all my and we didn't catch anything, but at Your word we will do what You say." I think that’s a good word for us.

There are times when we look at what God calls us to and we say, “You know this doesn't make any sense to me," but do we respond with that kind of committed obedience? Do we trust and obey? That's a key theme in John's Gospel.

It is an amazing thing to read the first verses of John 18 and to realize that Jesus made no effort to save Himself, while at the same time He was saving His disciples. He saved their physical lives by His deeds and words in the Garden where He was arrested; He saved their spiritual lives (and ours) by His death at Calvary. Peter momentarily put his trust in his sword, rather than in his Shepherd. Only Jesus can save anyone from their sins, and from divine condemnation. Have you trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins? He is the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep.

May God grant that you are one of His sheep, and that you will rejoice in His salvation, and in His sovereignty. What peace there is in knowing that the Good Shepherd is the Sovereign Son of God, whose promises and purposes always come to pass. In a day when there is much chaos and danger around us, how good it is to know Him Who is in control.

 

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.

 

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32

 

Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 

hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F

https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/110230052184687338/charity/145555

The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions