3-9-08
Jesus’ Arrest
Jesus’ Last Days  Part 4
1 John 18:1-9     3-9-2008

Summary: Knowledge of God is much more than mere accurate information about God, however it does require accurate information about God. It  also involves believing and delighting in that information, and that is the mark of a Christian. Verse 4 – all knowers are obeyers (cannot separate knowledge and ethics). It works that way because due to God’s nature, happiness is holiness – obedience is always better. Verse 3 – All obeyers are knowers (if you love people out of love for Christ you can have assurance, which God wants you to have). 

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.  2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.  3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.  4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"  5 "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)  6 When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.  7 Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."  8 "I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go."  9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."  10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)  11 Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"  12 Then the detachment of of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish temple police arrested Jesus and tied Him up.

Introduction: Jesus’ authority to lay down His life
I. Sovereign Plan (Trust His Timing) vv.1-3
Going to the garden was a surrender
Crossing the valley
Background: They always wanted to kill Him, but not during the feast
Looking for an opportunity
Went to where He knew Judas would go
II. Spiritual Protection – (Trust His Preservation) vv.4-8
The Approach of the soldiers
A Desperate Situation
The Interrogation
Jesus blows them over
Blocks
The Command
Fulfillment of prophecy
Spiritual preservation through physical protection
Trust in His promises of preservation
What good is a conditional, non-absolute promise?
Conclusion
Don’t give up!
Seek after nearness to Him

Introduction: Jesus’ authority to lay down His life

Jn.10:18 I lay down my life only to take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord.  I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it up again.

We make much of the fact that Jesus had the authority to take His life back up again.  We celebrate the resurrection – especially this time of year.  But what about the fact that Jesus also had the authority to lay down His life?  How much authority does it take to die?
Very often in the days approaching Easter we speak of the crucifixion in dark, sad, tragic terms (Friday may seem hopeless, but Sunday is coming).  Some churches walk out on Good Friday in silence.  And there is nothing wrong with that, but that is not the only way to look at it.  John gives us an account of the crucifixion that shows the glorious side of it.  Starting with ch.18 John gives us a portrait of Christ as the majestic, powerful king, and so he skips a lot of material that is in the other gospels – like the whole account of Jesus sweating drops of blood and agonizing in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. But he does not skip the account of Jesus’ arrest.  John is not about to skip over it because it is a prime opportunity to emphasize Jesus’ power and majesty and authority.
So this morning we are in for a wonderful experience as we sit back in awe and watch the spectacular, awesome Lord Jesus Christ in regal majesty.  But that is not the only purpose of this passage.  There is another theme that is even more important.  And that theme is the main purpose of this section.  And when you understand that purpose, this account of the arrest of Jesus will become a crucially helpful passage for you in your fight against sin and discouragement.  So it is very important that by the end of this sermon you understand the purpose for the account of Jesus’ arrest. But I am not going to tell you just yet what it is.  John waits until the end to reveal it, so that is what I am going to do too.

I. Sovereign Plan (Trust His Timing) vv.1-3
Going to the garden was a surrender 
Crossing the valley

1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. 

Jesus goes down the steep hill on the west side of town, crosses the little brook, and goes back up the other side to the Garden of Gethsemane.  At the time Jesus did this that little brook at the bottom of the valley was flowing with the blood of ¼ million lambs that drained down there from the Temple. (Barclay)  What a striking moment as Jesus steps across, looks down, and sees this blood that is being shed as a picture of His own blood that would flow hours later.

1 …On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

Twice in that verse he emphasizes the fact that the disciples were with Jesus.  Mark that – that is the first clue John gives about the purpose of this passage.
Jesus’ decision to go the garden at this point was a decision to die.  Let me explain why:

Background: They always wanted to kill Him, but not during the feast
When Jesus was a baby, Herod the Great used his military to try to kill Him and failed.  That is amazing because killing people was Herod’s greatest skill.  He killed most of his own family, and everyone else he saw as a potential threat to his throne.  If there was one thing Herod the Great was very, very good at it was killing potential rivals.  But this time he couldn’t pull it off.  A powerful king and his army vs. a baby with two peasant parents and the king loses. 
As an adult, when Jesus preached in his hometown, after the sermon they took him to a cliff to throw him down and kill him.  But Jesus walked away.  In Jn.5:16 the Jewish leaders decided to kill Jesus, but it didn’t happen.  When He claimed to be God they stepped up their efforts but still couldn’t get it done.  The attempts on His life became so obvious, that by Jn.7:25 Jesus’ nickname was “the one they are trying to kill.”  They tried to arrest Him, and failed.  In Jn.8 they tried to kill Him, but Jesus said “My hour has not yet come.  In Jn.10:30  they picked up stones to stone him and failed. In Jn.11:53 the chief priests plotted to take his life.  
Jesus never fought back, never hired bodyguards, never drew a sword, never appealed to Rome for protection like Paul did, He preached in public and showed up very predictably in the Temple; and yet all these conspiracies and murder attempts failed.  And here’s why:

John 8:20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come  

John is very clear about this.  We find that same statement repeated all through the book. (Jn.2:4, 7:6, 7:30, 8:20)  Nothing could happen outside of Jesus perfect timing.
Finally, in Jn.12:23 Jesus said, “The hour has come”, which is amazing because according to Mt.26:2 that was the one time when they didn’t want to kill Jesus.  They were saying, “Definitely not during the Passover week!”  And Jesus said, “It will happen on Passover Day.”

Looking for an opportunity
By this time they had already hired Judas.

Mt.26:16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. 

He was looking for a moment when he could know ahead of time that Jesus would be away from the crowds.  So Judas’ ears really perk up when the next verse comes along.

17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" 

Judas nonchalantly steps over closer to Jesus trying to pretend he is not really listening.  But inside he is thinking, “This is perfect!”  Now listen to Jesus’ answer.

18 He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, `The Teacher says: My appointed time is near."

That sounds like something out of 007 or some spy movie.  “Go to Mr. so and so and tell him “Teacher says time is near.”  And the Jesus gave instructions just to Peter and John about how to spot this “certain man.” (Lk.22:8)
Jesus knew exactly what was going on, and everything would progress on His timetable, not that of Judas or the Chief Priests.  Jesus still wants to transform the Passover to the Lord’s Supper.  And He has a lot of things He still wants to say to the Disciples – the whole Upper Room Discourse in Jn.14-16.  He wants to wash their feet.  He wants to pray the High Priestly prayer in Jn.17.  And He wants to spend some hours in prayer.

Went to where He knew Judas would go
But once Jesus gets all that taken care of, He dismisses Judas, because now the time is right.  And then that is where we pick it up in Jn.18:1.

Jn.18:1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.

Knowing that Judas was looking for an opportunity where Jesus could be arrested alone – away from the crowds –Jesus intentionally goes to His favorite spot where He always went when Judas was with them.  The hour had come, so Jesus goes to the first place Judas would look.  Going to this Garden is Jesus surrendering His life on His timetable, according to His plan.
From the Disciples’ point of view it wouldn’t have seemed like the timing of how events unfolded had anything to do with Jesus.  But we can see that He orchestrated everything exactly right.  I want you to know that you can trust His timing.  The King who is in charge of everything that ever happens to you, and everything that doesn’t happen to you is never early and never late – ever.  How many times are we like the Disciples in the Upper Room- just enjoying a meal with friends thinking everything is wonderful, and we have no idea that there is a deadly threat that would have done us in during that meal, but Jesus Christ didn’t allow it to happen?  And when He does let it happen it is always at just the right time.

II. Spiritual Protection – (Trust His Preservation) vv.4-8
The Approach of the soldiers

3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers

John skips past the whole account of Jesus’ agony and prayer in the Garden, and here comes this detachment of soldiers.  The word for detachment can refer to a group of 1000 soldiers, or (more often) to a group of 600.  In some cases it was used to describe a force of only 200 soldiers.  So we don’t know for sure how many there were, and some commentators assume it was even less than 200 because it seems crazy that there would be that many people coming to arrest 12 men.  But we know from history that Rome was known for sending large numbers of soldiers for an arrest.  In v.12 it says this detachment was led by a commander.  (If it were 100 or less they would be led by a centurion.)  Commander is the same rank as the guy in Acts 23 who was in charge of escorting Paul to Caesarea.  They wanted to ensure safe passage for him, and so…

Acts 23:23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 

Rome liked to always outnumber any potential threat with huge numbers.
And from Mk.14:51 we see that they were trying to capture the Disciples as well as Jesus.  So they are thinking in terms of rounding up (or fighting) Jesus and His whole band of followers – however many they might be.  Rome dealt very, very decisively against insurrectionists.  There was no greater threat to them from the Jews then when a Messiah came long.  Rome’s policy was to crush any potential rebellion before it could get off the ground.  So when you understand the historical background, and you remember the enthusiasm of the triumphal entry where the people were using political lingo in referring to Jesus as the Messiah, and you remember also that every other attempt to arrest this man had failed, there is no reason to doubt that this detachment was an actual Roman detachment that included hundreds of soldiers.
And in addition to that…

3…and some officials from the chief priests (the Temple guard – the Jewish police force) and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. 

Mt.26:47 swords and clubs 
The Roman soldiers would have had swords, and the others may have been conscripted at the last minute, so they just grabbed whatever weapon they could find - clubs.
These are the weapons of the day.  The modern equivalent would be “There was a detachment from the military armed with guns, the police were there, plus a bunch of people with baseball bats and tire irons.”  So here they come with all their weapons to arrest the Prince of peace.  They bring torches and lanterns to search out the Light of the world.
A Desperate Situation
So picture this scene.  You are one of the Disciples.  You are asleep while Jesus prays hour after hour.  But now He is waking you up.  One look at him and you know something is very wrong.  His face is covered with blood and sweat.  His clothes are soaked and covered with dirt.
Then you look where He is pointing, and your heart drops into your stomach.  You can’t believe your eyes - hundreds of soldiers and an angry, armed mob.  And you are thinking, “Should I hide?  Or make a run for it?  Or maybe the wise thing would be to just stay with Jesus.  But look at him!  Can He handle this?  I’ve never seen Him like this.  He looks like He can barely stand up.”  It is Christ at His weakest.

The Interrogation 

4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him…

Just in case you haven’t put two and two together yet, John just explicitly states that none of this is taking Jesus by surprise.  And so knowing everything, Jesus went out. 
He does not slink back.  He is not sneaking behind some olive tree – hiding under a rock.  Jesus makes the first move and approaches them.  The first Adam hid himself in the garden because he was guilty.  The last Adam was innocent and perfect, and He steps forward and shows Himself.
And then comes the interrogation.  and (Jesus) asked them, "Who is it you want?"  Jesus is new to this whole process of being arrested.  Usually in an interrogation it is the government official who asks the questions and the prisoner who gives the answers.  But Jesus kicks off this whole arrest scene by walking right up to them and demanding an answer from them.  He seizes control at the very beginning and never gives it up.  He is in absolute command of this whole scene from beginning to end.
Jesus is doing something He has done several times before.  He is setting them up to trap themselves by their own words.

5 "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.  

Jesus blows them over
You kind of step behind Jesus like a little boy running behind his big brother to be safe from a bully.  And then the awesome, authoritative voice of the mighty Christ thundered…

5 …"I am" Jesus said.

Jesus makes Judas’ kiss completely superfluous. 

 (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)

John wants you to know Judas is standing with the enemies.

6 When Jesus said, "I am" they drew back and fell to the ground.

You peek around Jesus and all you see is the soles of 1200 standard issue Roman Empire army sandals.  They all fall down backward.  The literal translation of what happened when Jesus spoke is this: “They drew back into the space behind them and fell to the ground.”  What a picturesque way of describing it.  They were suddenly occupying the space that had been right behind them.  So two things happened - they were literally blown back, and then fell to the ground.
What happened?  One commentator suggests they were startled by Jesus’ approach and the ones in front jerked backward, and they were all bunched up too close, and so they just fell like dominos.  What kind of a comic book explanation is that?  This is the greatest, most highly trained fighting force in the world.  They are armed and ready for a battle.  It is not the three stooges.  They are going to be standing in some kind of formation,  Why would they be jammed up one inch away from each other?  Besides, John makes it very clear that it was words Jesus spoke that caused them to fall – not some sudden, jerky movement up front.
So they all go down, including Judas.  He gets to taste a little piece of the omnipotent power of the one he is betraying.  You have to wonder if it was right then, while Judas was laying there in the dirt, that he started having doubts about whether this whole betrayal thing was such a good idea.
When God the Son clothed Himself with human flesh, He appeared to be just like anyone else.  But at any moment in His life if He chose to let loose even the tiniest little pulse of His divine power it was enough to flatten an entire Roman detachment.  This is the mighty Christ, and the military power of Rome and the Jews put together were not even a blip on the screen for Him.
This is a preview of coming attractions.  Someday the mighty, glorified Christ will return from heaven surrounded by millions of angels and glorified saints and will overwhelm all evil men with His glory in an instant.  This is the majestic, awesome King of kings and you can bow your knee or you can be blown onto your back, but when He returns all of us will hit the dirt and every soul in existence will tremble in awe.
Imagine you are one of these soldiers.  Any time you get sent out on an armed mission you know there is some danger involved.  And so you are ready for a fight.  Your adrenaline is pumping.  You arrive on the scene.  You are looking all around – sizing up the situation – checking for any possible threats from the side or behind.  You are ready for anything.  You can feel your training and experience kicking in.
And now… you are looking straight up at the stars.  You are on your back trying to regain your breath, and all your comrades are flat on the ground too.  What would go through your mind?  I guarantee you wouldn’t be thinking, “Oh, someone must have tipped over in front.”
At this point Jesus and the disciples are the only ones standing upright.  Hundreds of men are on their backs.  So Jesus stands there and waits as they scramble around and get back up.  
Can you see why the disciples had to be here – to see this?  If Jesus had been alone at this time the disciples would have just heard a report “Jesus was captured,” they would have seen Him as a victim, and their faith would have likely fizzled.  They need to see this display of power.  This is Jesus at His weakest.  Even on His weakest day He was capable of doing everything the Jews wanted the Messiah to do.  He could flatten Rome with a word.  

Blocks
Once they have a chance to get up and regain their composure, Jesus comes after them again.

Jn.18:7 Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"  And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

Amazing.  What blocks they are!  What blindness!  You would think after what Jesus just did, when He asked a second time “Who is it you want?” they would say, “uh, nobody.  Our mistake.  We are just out for a march… excuse us please…”  The miracle doesn’t even faze them.
That is the way unbelief is.  Show them the awesome display of Jesus’ power and they ignore it and go right on with their business.  The only rational explanation for what is going on around them is an explanation that they refuse to accept.  So they ignore it.  They are just like people today.  If they don’t like where the evidence points, they just pretend the evidence isn’t there.  This is the nature of unbelief – it refuses to believe regardless of the evidence.  Luther: Heaven and earth could be created right before their very eyes, and it wouldn’t affect them.
But before we wear out our fingers pointing at them, ask yourself – how many times has Christ flattened you, and you kept right on going in some sin?  Your sin creates a small disaster in your life that could have been much worse- almost like a shot across the bow – a warning from heaven, and as soon as the smoke clears from that little crisis you are right back into the sin.  We do the same thing.
The Command
OK, so now Jesus has asked them twice whom they were seeking, and twice they have given the answer – Jesus.

Jn.18:8 "I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. 

8 "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." 

Jesus paints them into a corner with their own words.  And then He gives them an order.  This is not a request.  It is not a plea. It is a strongly worded command.  The word “let” is an aorist imperative.  At this arrest Jesus asks the questions, the prisoner interrogate the captors, and now Jesus is giving them orders.  “Who do you want?”  “Jesus?”  “That’s Me.”  “Who do you want?”  “Jesus”  “That’s Me.  So if it’s Me you want – let them go, and by the way Commander – that’s an order.”
That same authoritative voice that so often commanded demons to come out of people, and they instantly obeyed, or in Mt.4:10 when He commanded the Devil himself, and the Satan obeyed, or when He commanded the wind and the waves, and they obeyed Him, or when He commanded death itself to release someone, and that person was restored to life, that voice that spoke and the universe burst into existence - that same voice says “I AM” and everybody collapses in the dirt, and He orders the commander to let the Disciples go and guess how many Disciples were captured – zero.  
Can you imagine the commander of this detachment standing before Pilate, or whatever superior he reported to?  “Where are the rest of them?”  “Well, we didn’t arrest them.”  “Why not?  You had direct orders.  Don’t you know failing to carry out an order like that could cost you your life?  You had 600 troops plus the Jewish Temple Guard!  Why didn’t you arrest the other men?”  “Well, because He said we weren’t allowed.”  This is a mightier king that Caesar. 

Fulfillment of prophecy
So what is the purpose of this passage?  We find out in v.9.

9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

The portrait of Christ in this text is not just as a mighty king, but a mighty king protecting His subjects.  He is the shepherd keeping the wolves and lions away from the sheep.
So John 18:9 is a remarkable text because John is referring to his own book as Scripture.  The prophecy that he is talking about being fulfilled is Jn.6:39.

John 6:37-39 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.  38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  39 This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day.

The prophecy came out of Jesus’ mouth and John recorded it in ch.6, and then recorded an example of the fulfillment of it in ch.18.
Spiritual preservation through physical protection
At first it seems like a bit of a tension here, because when Jesus made that prophecy he was talking about spiritual preservation.  And yet the protection Jesus provides in ch.18 is physical protection – He keeps them from being arrested.  And not only that, but even though Jesus prevented them from being arrested at this time, later on they were all captured, and almost all of them were put to death.  So how do we solve this tension?  The solution is simple – Jesus provided physical protection that was needed for spiritual protection.  Jesus knew that if these guys were arrested at this time, it would be too much for them to handle spiritually.  At this moment, in this context, their faith could not have handled being captured, and so Jesus protected them.  Later on their faith could handle it, and so then He allowed them to be captured and killed.  God will protect you from all harm, but God’s idea of harm is a little different from our idea of harm.

Luke 21:16-18 You will even be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will kill some of you. 17 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, 18 but not a hair of your head will be lost.

You might die, but you won’t be harmed.  God will never allow you to go through anything that is too much.  You will be able persevere and remain faithful through anything that God allows into your life.
Trust in His promises of preservation
So what is an application for our lives from this passage?  Trust in His preservation.  When you obey God, believe God, persevere in your faith – those are things that you do, but it is God who brings about your doing them.

2 Cor 1:21 It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 

1 Cor 1:8 He will keep you strong to the end

Jude 24-25 To him who is able to keep you from falling .. be glory, majesty, power and authority

2 Tim 1:12 He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 

1 Thess 5:23-24 May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 

Rom 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 

2 Thess 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 

1 Peter 1:3-5 he has given us new birth into a living hope … 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

God will preserve your faith.  And if that means keeping some trial that you couldn’t handle away from you, He will do that.  If it means putting your through some trial that you can handle He will do that.
God promises to keep you from sin, to preserve your faith, and to keep you to the end.  Are those promises unconditional?  No.  Are they absolute?  No.  Are there exceptions?  Yes.  Jesus even mentions one exception to His promise not to lose any in John 17.

John 17:12 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.

The promise to preserve us and keep us from sin are both conditional and neither is absolute.  When you commit a sin that does not mean God reneged on His promise to preserve you from sin.  And when Judas turned away that was not a failure on Jesus’ part to guard and protect.
So is it still important for us to be on our guard and alert against the enemy lest we be destroyed?  Yes!  Is it still crucial that we put on the full armor of God to avoid being defeated?  Absolutely.  So if that is the case, what comfort is there in the promise that God will keep me from sin and guard my faith? 
What good is a conditional, non-absolute promise?
The first thing we need to understand is that while God does not keep you from every sin, He does keep you from a multitude of sins.  You see, as an unbeliever you did nothing but sin.  You did some nice things, but never for the glory of God, never out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ for your motive, never out of love for Him, and never by faith.  Which means you never did a single righteous thing.  You and I, prior to being born again, were capable of nothing but wickedness.  We only had two gears – mild wickedness and extreme wickedness. 
You can think of apples representing evil and oranges representing righteousness, as an unbeliever you were an apple tree.  While you are an apple tree you can produce apples and only apples.  You might be able to do something that makes the apples a little smaller, or a little less red, but ever single thing you produce is an apple.  As an orange tree you might not be producing as many oranges as you wish, and they might not be as big and as orange as you like.  But you can produce oranges.  You can and will produce righteousness.  (At the same time you still produce apples, so that is were the illustration breaks down.)
So now, with your new nature, every single time you do something righteous it is because God prevented you from the alternative, which would have been sin.  Think of how often that happens.  How often do you do something righteous?  How many times a day do you do something with a godly motive?  How many times a day do you do something out of love for God?  How many times do you look to God as your Provider or Guide or Savior?  How often do you trust in something God promised?  How many times have you accepted God’s Word as true?  All that happens countless times every day in the life of a Christian, and zero times in the life of a non-Christian.  If an unbeliever is walking along next to you each time you do one of those righteous things, they are doing some sinful thing instead.  And you would be doing those sinful things instead if it weren’t for God’s promise to preserve you from sin.  The Lord prevents you from committing hundreds of sins every single day.  And He will do that in your life tomorrow.
When you wake up tomorrow you will wake up to the raging blasts of hot warfare against an enemy who is bent on destroying you.  At the side of your bed will be a vicious, merciless enemy who has successfully destroyed millions and millions who have gone before you.  And one second after you wake up he begins the downward swing of his fatal blow that will send you spiraling into sin and destruction and apostasy and death.  And just before his deadly hand strikes that fatal blow it is stayed by the mighty grip of the great I AM who defeats the devil just as easily as He flattens a Roman cohort.  As you stumble into the kitchen for your morning coffee the enemy is right behind you trying to introduce a thought into your mind that would be too much for you to handle.  It would be a temptation that would overcome you and from which you would be unable to recover.  But once again the blow is absorbed by the One who shed His blood to purify you.  And so a few minutes later, instead of spiraling down into some lethal quicksand of sin, you are on your knees with your Bible open in front of you.  You are doing that because of the mercy of a Savior who purchased your sanctification and who is determined to apply it to your life.
Why doesn’t He apply it more quickly than He does?  Why does He allow as much failure as He does?  He has His perfect reasons.  It is useless to speculate about why God doesn’t do things differently.  The way He does things is the best way to do things – period.  Instead of wondering why a rich king gave you 10 billion dollars instead of 11 billion, a much better use of your thoughts is to wonder why he gave you the 10 billion.

Conclusion
There are a lot of ways we could apply this, but for this morning let me just suggest two things very quickly in closing.
Don’t give up!
First, despair, and don’t give up.  Don’t ever believe the enemy when he tries to tell you that a temptation is just too hard for you to resist or flee from.  Some of you are at wit’s end.  You feel you have no more strength to fight, and you just feel like giving up.  You don’t need to give up.  He will supply you with the strength you need at the right time if you seek it from Him.

Psalm 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea

Even in the face of the most hopeless catastrophe.  The earth giving way and the mountains sliding into the heart of the sea is a metaphor that pictures as extreme a disaster as it is possible to describe in a metaphor.  You might be there in the garden right now surrounded by 1000 armed, angry trials that are ready to devour you.  Don’t despair.  He can and will strengthen you and shelter you and deliver you.
And this principle applies for big despair and small despair.  Big despair is when you are so discouraged that you are thinking about suicide.  Small despair is when you are fighting a specific temptation and you feel like it is just too hard for you to flee from.  No temptation ever confronts you from which God does not provide a way out.  And by “way out” I don’t just mean you are able to resist.  What I mean is you are able not only to resist, but to be happy and satisfied while resisting rather than pining after that forbidden sin that you wish you could have.  Remember – don’t ever be satisfied with mere resisted temptation.  You haven’t won that specific battle until your heart truly prefers God’s river of delights over the superficial satisfaction of that sin.  And that is possible every single time.
So don’t give up.  When you are tempted to throw in the towel remind yourself of this amazing truth: He is far more willing to save us than we are willing to be saved.  He is more willing to give you strength than you are willing to receive strength.  He is more willing to give you joy than you are willing to be joyful.  He is more willing to give you blessing and every good thing that you are willing to receive them.  “How do you know that?  You don’t know how willing I am.”  That’s true, but I know how willing He is.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

 Your desire to be blessed could never possibly match His infinite zeal to bless you.
Seek after nearness to Him
The second point of application is this: Seek hard after nearness to God.  The promise of preservation is conditional and nearness to God is the condition.

Psalm 30:6-7 When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken." 7 O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.

The preservation from sin happens when you are favored by God, and it is reduced when He hides His face from you.  So seek His face.  And if you don’t know what it means to seek His face and seek hard after His presence (relational closeness to Him and the experience of His attributes) then listen through the Ps.63 series on loving God.  Because absolutely nothing is more important for you as a Christian than knowing how to seek after God – nothing!

Benediction: Jude 24,25  To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Appendix 

Whenever we consider God’s role in matters that involve human free will and responsibility, the question that always comes up, “How do the two fit together?”  And, “Are these promises absolute, unconditional, and automatic, or are there conditions or exceptions?”  I am not going to be able to give you a fully satisfactory answer to that because the way divine sovereignty and human free will work together is a mystery that I believe is beyond human comprehension.  However while we cannot understand it totally, we can say some true things about it from Scripture.  And from Scripture I would suggest that the promises that God will keep us from sin and preserve our faith and sanctify us and make us holy and keep us strong all the way to the end are obviously conditional promises that are not absolute.  God promises to keep me from sin, but when I do sin that does not mean God has reneged on His promise. There are certain things I am required to do in order to take advantage of what He offers.  If I seek hard after God and immerse myself in His Word and follow the guidance of Scripture, I will have more success against sin than if I don’t do those things, true?  And on any given occasion, even though God has promised to sanctify me and preserve me from sin, it is still possible for me to fall.  But thanks to His preservation it is also possible for me not to fall.  And if it weren’t for His preservation that would not be a possibility. 
Everyone agrees that God’s promises to protect us from sin are conditional and non-absolute.  However some people insist that His promises to preserve our faith all the way to the end and keep us from apostasy are unconditional and absolute.  But the very words of Jesus Himself should show us that He didn’t mean them that way.  He mentions this promise to preserve the twelve Disciples in John 17, where He explicitly mentions an exception.

John 17:12 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.

You might read that and say, “If there can be an ‘except’ what good is the promise?”  It is a flawed assumption to think that unless a promise is absolute and unconditional it is worthless.  If you think that way, stop thinking that way because it is not biblical.  If you think that a certain threat or danger has to be an absolute impossibility, otherwise being protected from it is meaningless – you are wrong.  That is just not the logic of Scripture.
Find a way to take delight in conditional, non-absolute promises.  If you don’t, you will find yourself ignoring half of what Scripture says.  Because on the one hand you have all those promises I read a moment ago that promise protection.  But on the other hand you have strident warnings that tell us we are facing real, actual dangers that will indeed overtake us if we do not heed the warnings.

Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Does that not imply that if we fail to watch and pray we may indeed fall into temptation?

1 Peter 5:8-9  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith

Fail to resist, fail to be alert – get devoured.  If getting devoured were impossible the warning would be a farce. 

1 Thessalonians 5:6 Let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 
 
Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Put on the armor and stand, or fail to put it on and fall.

Mark 13:33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come

1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

2 Peter 3:17 Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.

Some people camp on those kinds of passages and they fail to take the preservation promises seriously.  They act like God just made some kind of general provision for all men, and just leaves it entirely up to you from there.  Like He just gave you some swimming instructions, threw you in the water and said, “Sink or swim.”  People like that give lip service to trusting in the promises, but in reality they feel the whole weight on their own shoulders.  And it is really hard for them to understand how God gets the credit when they obey.  Because when they have success against sin, and they guy next to them fails – it just seems to them like the only relevant explanation is this: “I did well. That guy didn’t.”  And they mouth words about God deserving the glory, but in their hearts it really seems to them that when they obey, they obeyed.  And it happened because of all their hard work, and will power and spiritual strength.  And the Bible says God deserves the glory so they accept that, but it’s a mystery to them.
On the other side are those folks who want to camp on those preservation promises and fail to take the human responsibility passages seriously.  They turn all the promises into absolute, unconditional statements, so that all the dangers and threats become the plastic monsters on a Disneyland ride that have sharp, scary teeth, but who can’t quite reach the track they are on.  And those people love the Bible too, and so they read the warnings and accept them.  And they admit – yes, we need to be alert and watch out lest we fall, but in their heart those passages are a mystery.  God warns us to watch out against the impossible, so I’ll watch out - but why I need to do so is a mystery.”