Lazarus and the Resurrection

John 11:1-46

Introduction:

This is a rather long chapter, and it has an important central narrative. There are, perhaps, dozens of sermons which could be derived from this passage, but our first priority is to hear and understand the whole story. So: to begin with, this is the story of Jesus’s friend, Lazarus of Bethany: not the “Lazarus” who was the beggar from Luke 16:20. (Same name; different men.)

This Lazarus was a homeowner in Bethany, almost two miles outside Jerusalem. He lived there with his two sisters, Mary and Martha. He was sick, and the sisters sent word to Jesus. Jesus was told, as they hoped, but apparently a little too late to get there in time. (How do we know? Jesus waited two days before responding, but when He arrived, Lazarus had already been in the grave for four days. We can see that even had Jesus left immediately, Lazarus still would have died.)

This is a key testimony to Jesus’s authority over life and death: He restored life to one who had been dead long enough that their corpse was beginning to decay. (That is why He waited.)

So, let’s read through the entire account, in John 11:1-46, and see exactly what happened. Then we will come back and touch on some of the key points we don’t want to miss, in just reading through it. In future messages we will come back again, and dig a little deeper.

Context: Where was Jesus?

Remember the context: In John 10:40, we saw that Jesus had left Jerusalem and had returned to the area where John the Baptist had begun his ministry (About 20 miles or more, east of Jerusalem, by the Jordan River, closer to Jericho.) So, he was probably at least 20 miles away… a long day’s walk, but certainly achievable. With that in mind, let’s read through the story.

John 11:1-46

¹ Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ²(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ³Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

⁴When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. ⁷Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

⁸His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? ⁹Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. ¹⁰But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

¹¹These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. ¹²Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. ¹³Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

¹⁴Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. ¹⁶Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

¹⁷Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. ¹⁸Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: ¹⁹And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. ²¹Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. ²²But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. ²³Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. ²⁴Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? ²⁷She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

²⁸And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. ²⁹As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. ³⁰Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. ³¹The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

³²Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. ³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.³⁴And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

³⁷And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? ³⁸Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

³⁹Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.⁴⁰Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

⁴¹Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. ⁴²And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

⁴³And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. ⁴⁴And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

⁴⁵Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. ⁴⁶But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

Several Points to Consider:

The Time Factor

One, we already noted, was that when Jesus heard the news that Lazarus was sick, it was already too late to just “run over there and heal him.” Jesus was only about 20-30 miles away, and he waited only two days, but when He arrived, Lazarus had already been in the grave for four days.

Perhaps the messengers had searched for Him for some time before they found him. Or… perhaps the terrain is steep enough that such a journey actually took longer than a day. Either way, Jesus delayed only two days, and Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, when Jesus and the disciples arrived. Evidently, had they left immediately, Lazarus still would have died.

The Purpose of Healing

Another important point, is to see that Jesus was not “acting callous” toward the needs of His friends: in the first place, as we already saw, by the time Jesus got the news, it was already too late to physically “get there and heal him.” Could Jesus have healed Lazarus from a distance? Certainly, He could; and in other situations, He did just that, healing one young man from miles away, without ever seeing him. So: why did Jesus wait?

Jesus said He was glad “for the sake of His disciples,” that He was not there to prevent Lazarus’ death. When someone “suddenly gets well,” there are two ways to see it: We can recognize the authority of God, and (at least) recognize that He allowed them to suddenly get well, and we see it as an answer to prayer. The other is to say, “Well, that was serendipitous!” and thus ascribe the healing to blind chance, not giving honor to the Great Physician.

Sometimes such healings are so stupendous that even the surgeons attending a case are amazed and have no explanation for the healing. One of the missionaries we support (Abby Williams) was the recipient of just such a healing, and the surgeons could only say, “This sort of thing just doesn’t happen!” (Well… yes, but it DID!)

So, which way would build a “firmer faith” in the hearts of His disciples? Healing Lazarus from a distance (the only available choice, since he died before they could have arrived anyway, and which could have been seen as “just lucky”) or to let him die, and begin to decay, and then raise him back to full health and a normal life? Jesus chose the way that would have the most effect!

The Objective of Jesus

Jesus did not lose sight of His objective: He came to die, as the propitiation for our sins, yes: but before He died, He had to lay a foundation for faith that would last through the rest of time. He was building disciples who could go on and complete His work.

In case you hadn’t noticed, that is still the job of Jesus’s disciples. In 2^nd Timothy 2:2, we see the command, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.” Jesus never lost sight of His objective, which was to reach the World with the Gospel of God’s Grace; so, the point of this whole “exercise” was to build an unshakeable faith in the lives of the disciples. That is still our objective, here in our church!

It is also interesting to remember that Judas Iscariot was still among Jesus’s disciples at this time, and this obvious miracle did not bring him to faith. Other enemies were there, as well, and the miracle did not change their hearts. But many who witnessed the revival of Lazarus did believe in Jesus as the Messiah because of what they saw. The purpose of the miracle was to build faith.

What is the Difference between Revival and Resurrection?

We tend to lump together all “back from the dead” experiences as “resurrections;” but they are not. Medical staff “reestablishing a pulse” is not “bringing someone back from the dead.” That is a minor revival, at best. Jesus raised those who truly were dead, who had begun to decay. And it was still only a “revival,” not the “Resurrection!” So, what’s the difference?

Revival is Temporary

All the people who Jesus raised from the dead (or who the apostles raised from the dead) subsequently died again, anyway. It was just a temporary reprieve. Now, let’s suppose, for example, that Lazarus managed to stay alive after this event, until after Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection, and His ascension. If Lazarus “re-entered the tomb,” so to speak, sometime after Jesus’s ascension (in Acts 1:9) then his second experience was far different. The first time, he had spent four days in Sheol, the place of the dead, but specifically, in Paradise, “Abraham’s Bosom,” the place of the righteous dead, along with Abraham, and all the other Old Testament Saints.

But the second time (because Jesus literally had “moved Paradise,” he would find himself in the actual presence of God. Jesus had opened the way into the Holy of Holies, through His death at the Cross! That is a huge difference! And …Lazarus will get his resurrected body at the same time we get our resurrected bodies!

Resurrection is Eternal

The coming resurrections of the righteous and unrighteous dead both result in the formerly dead individuals receiving their resurrected, immortal bodies which can no longer die.

The righteous dead will enjoy eternal life with their Savior, in that immortal state…forever.

The unrighteous dead will suffer eternal torment in that never-dying body, eternally separated from God, in the Lake of Fire…forever. I don’t like this fact, and neither does Jesus!

But the Righteousness of God (and His Holiness) will be satisfied, one way or another. In Romans 3:25, we saw that Jesus satisfied the righteousness of God at the Cross, as our propitiation, by God’s Grace, through faith in His blood. But, regarding those who reject His Grace, and do not place their faith in His sacrifice at the Cross? He says “they are already condemned,” because they “have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) While they live, they can change their thinking, and place their faith in Him. If they wait too long, they will miss their chance.

It is Appointed unto Man Once to Die, and after this the Judgment

Hebrews 9:27 makes it clear that we get “one shot at life”—no “do-overs,” no reincarnations, etc. As one modern musical performer put it, “Life is not a rehearsal: Life is the Gig!”

Lazarus was already a believer: he was not “getting a second chance.” His death and burial and revival brought many to faith…but he still died again. He got one actual life, and one actual (permanent) transition out of this life. The Eternal life that Jesus promises begins at the moment of faith, but the resurrected body is yet to come. In general, everyone dies once. There have been very few exceptions and God has had a purpose for each of them.

The Rapture provides a huge “single-event exception,” as 1^st Corinthians 15:51, 52 says… “We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed.” But apart from that hope, every one of us faces physical death. And as believers, every one of us looks forward to the Resurrection.

The Only Hope for the Resurrection

Jesus spoke the simple truth, when He said, “I am the resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

He is the Only Source of life, in every sense of the word. He created physical life…all of it, and He provides spiritual life. And He is the only source. Since our mortal bodies are each destined to die (unless the Rapture comes first) we look forward to the eternal resurrection of these mortal bodies, as immortal bodies. And Jesus is our only hope, either way.

We will expect to come back and dig out other, more specific truths from this chapter in the coming weeks.

Lord Jesus, ignite a fire in the hearts of Your servants, that we might shine in the darkness of this world, and that we might desire above all things to honor You, and to reach others with the Good news of eternal life in Christ.

October 28, 2022November 2, 2022

Safety in Christ: How “Safe” is the Flock of God?

Safety in Christ

How “Safe” is the Flock of Jesus?

John 10:26-30

²⁶But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁸And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

³⁰I and my Father are one.

Introduction:

Over the last twenty verses, Jesus has been teaching regarding the Sheepfold, the Good Shepherd, and the Flock of God. This is not the first time he has addressed the subject of the safety of the flock. In John chapter 5, He affirmed that anyone who believes His promise has eternal life the moment they believed. They will never be condemned, but have crossed over (permanently) from death into life.

In John chapter 6 He stated that anyone who came to Him would never be cast out. He declared that, of all who came to Him, He would lose no one, but that He would raise them all up at the last day. That is very “solid ground” upon which to rest our faith!

Over the years, we have touched on the subject of the security of the believer many times. But, since Jesus is directly addressing it, right here in John chapter 10, it seems good that we address it directly, as well.

What was the “Original Problem?”

Why did Jesus come in the first place? The answer to that question goes all the way back to Genesis 3:7, where Adam fell into sin. In disobeying God, he plunged all of his progeny (including Eve) into spiritual death. That is where all of us start out. As Ephesians 2:3 confirms, we are all born “the children of wrath,” just like everyone else. The whole human race had become spiritually dead. We were disconnected from God, at the moment Adam fell into sin. We all went with him! This is what we call “Original Sin,” and it is definitely the original problem!

What was the Solution?

The plan of God to redeem His lost Creation was actually laid before the human race was created: Revelation 13:8 states that Jesus was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World.” And, in 1^st Peter 2:18-20, we see that we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, who was “foreordained before the foundation of the world.” So, God shed blood, to provide animal skins as a covering for the sins of Adam and Eve. That blood was a picture of the Blood that Jesus would shed at the Cross. According to John 1:29, His Blood would take away the sin of the World.

But in order for that to happen, Jesus had to be born a human (thus inheriting the right to redeem us.) But He had to be born without a sin nature. (That is what the “Seed of the Woman” in Genesis 3:15 and the “virgin birth” in Isaiah 7:14 were all about.) Thus He would have the “price of redemption:” a perfect person.

And then He had to actually live a perfect, sinless life, in keeping with that birth. Finally, He had to be willing to pay that price of redemption: His life. And we saw in the previous verses that He had been given the authority to lay down His life, willingly: No one “took it from Him.” So, Jesus is the solution: the only solution God has ever offered. The Old Testament sacrifices were only pictures of God’s perfect sacrifice. Jesus is the “real thing:” He is our only hope, through His sacrifice.

How “Good” is that Solution?

When we talk about medicine, and diseases, and cures for those diseases, the question often arises, “How effective is that cure?” And the answer is often given in terms of percentages, such as, “If the patient receives this medicine within two weeks of infection, there is a nearly 100% cure rate. After that it drops off very rapidly.” And some “cures” are a bit of a gamble, no matter when they are applied. But what about God’s cure for spiritual death—the cure for our sin?

When we read the Old Testament, we see people who seemed to be believers, but who did bad things: terrible things in some cases. From a human perspective, it seems logical to think that “Well, you see? They fell away and they were lost!” But then in the New Testament, we see some of those same people called out by name as being saved individuals…and as righteous individuals!

What about their Sins and their failures?

For example, we see Lot, whose life did not seem to reflect any of the righteousness of God, and who lost everything in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah…and the last thing we see of him was that (because of their deliberate conspiracy) he drunkenly impregnated both of his daughters. And his progeny, the Moabites and the Ammonites, still live today, as enemies of Israel. But, in 2^nd Peter 2:6-8, we see that God says Lot was a righteous man!

And then, of course, there is King David, whom God declared to be a “man after His Own heart,” but who later fell into sin, including the sins of adultery and murder, and vicious cruelty toward his enemies. How could he be called righteous?

(Wow! Maybe we need to re-examine what God defines as righteousness. At least, we need to find out on what basis He will declare a human sinner to be righteous.)

Definition of Righteousness

In Genesis 15:6, we see that Abram “believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.” And, as we read through the rest of the Bible, we discover that this is the only means by which any sinner has ever been declared righteous by God! We are declared righteous on the basis of faith in God’s plan of redemption.

Faith and Righteousness

In Adam’s case, he believed God’s promise of the coming Savior, the Seed of the Woman. In Abraham’s case he believed the promise of God regarding the coming offspring, and of the promised land. We discover later that he also believed God regarding the resurrection, but that is more obscure. And, he brought blood sacrifices to God on a regular basis.

The Children of Israel found safety, trusting in the Blood of the Lamb, at the first Passover, when they struck the blood of that lamb on the lintel and the two doorposts. In Romans 3:25, we find confirmation that He, Jesus, became the propitiation (the satisfaction of God’s righteousness) through faith in His Blood!

Safety in His Blood

You see; that specific blood sacrifice, offered by God’s Grace, is God’s only plan for the redemption of the lost Human Race! (Jesus is “Plan A,” and there is no “plan B”) And we lay hold of His plan through faith in His blood. Then, in keeping with his promise, He declares us to be righteous in His sight, on the basis of that faith.

It has absolutely nothing to do with our works, either before or after the fact. And what is the “Cure rate?” 100% of all those who trust in Him for their salvation are eternally saved!

What Does Jesus Say About our Safety in Him?

I think it is important that we see His promises as they were given: In John 1:12, Jesus said that the way to be born into His family is to place our faith in Him…receive Him. Believe on His name. In John 3:14-16, Jesus compared the bronze serpent Moses made and hung up by God’s command, to His own ministry.

¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: ¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Judgment and Faith

You remember, that old bronze serpent was hung up to represent the fact of God’s judgment on the sin of Israel, in the form of thousands of migrating vipers that He sent through their midst. People were being bitten and were dying! He told Moses to make that bronze serpent and hang it up high on a pole, so that whoever looked to God’s solution—the bronze serpent—instead of their own solution, would not die! They still had the bite-marks, the pain and the other symptoms of the bites, but they would not die.

Jesus said that He Himself was to be lifted up in similar fashion, so that whoever believed in Him—as God’s solution for their own sin—would also not die. But in this case, the life they gained was eternal life. We still bear the marks of our old sin nature, but we will not be lost.

A Specific Promise in Three Parts

In John 5:24, Jesus promised that whoever heard His Words, and believed on the God who sent Him,

HAS everlasting life (Present tense: it’s yours today…no waiting to see if you were “good enough!”)
And SHALL NOT come into condemnation (Future tense: it will never happen. God will never again condemn you! Your whole eternity is covered in that promise!)
But IS PASSED from death into life (Past-Perfect tense…it’s a “done deal,” and can’t be reversed! You can’t be “un-born again,” or go back to being “un-redeemed.”)

What Works are Required?

In John 6:28, 29, the people asked Jesus “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” (This tends to be our question, too, as we insist on believing that “There must be something we can do, to make God like us!” …to make ourselves righteous. The fact is, it can’t be done…and there is nothing we can do to change our nature as lost sinners!)

Jesus gave a very clear reply: He said, “This is the Work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” (That’s it! Faith in Jesus, and His finished work!)

How Secure is that Promise?

In John 6:37 Jesus said,^“37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Under no circumstances will Jesus turn away those who have come to Him in faith. Under no circumstances will He subsequently reject them and cast them back out! That is very solid ground! We are not left standing on a “sand foundation!”

Years ago, my younger brother pointed out that most sand is made of tiny fragments of rock…very hard rock, in some cases, such as quartz. But in fragmented form that rock is useless as a foundation. The solid rock we have been given, on which to base our faith, is the Eternal Truth of God’s Word and the Promises of Christ. If we depend upon the fragmented “truths” of the world’s wisdom and human philosophies, we are building upon sand. If we trust the Living God and His Truth, we have built upon the Rock.

No Believers will be Lost

In John 6:39, Jesus made an even more specific promise:“³⁹And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

Do you see why that was “more specific?” He said that, not only will HE not “cast” us out, but that He will lose none of us, regardless of cause. Some argue against this, citing the case of Judas Iscariot: but, in John 13:10, 11 Jesus pointed out that Judas had never been “washed”… he was never cleansed. He was not a believer. Judas never was saved, so he did not “lose his salvation:” he never had it to begin with!

In John 15:3, after Judas left, Jesus confirmed this, telling the remaining disciples, “Now ye (plural) are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you.” Judas had heard all the same words the others had heard. Faith was the difference: they believed, and Judas did not!

Shall Never Perish

But, in our text, here, today, Jesus says perhaps the most powerful of all the promises: He says, “²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁸And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

“I give unto them Eternal Life, and they shall never perish!” How long is never? How secure is that promise? It is exactly as secure as the character of the One who made the promise. He is utterly perfect and He is THE Truth, so we depend on His Promises as being the truths upon which we base our faith.

They Follow Me

Yes, the normal result of our faith is that we follow Jesus. But, as we saw in the lives of Lot, and David (not to mention Balaam and Samson,) once a person has become one of God’s flock, Jesus, the Great Shepherd, will not lose a single one of them.

We are eternally secure in His promise. Salvation is a gift, not a reward. The gift is ours by God’s Grace, through faith. But if we want Eternity to hold rewards for us, beyond that initial gift of eternal life, then we need to learn to follow Him, and serve as His ambassadors: His hands and feet; and the light of His Hope, in this dying world.

How can we see that Security?

It is interesting that He concluded, “²⁹My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and my Father are one.”

If I see the hand of Jesus cupping us from one side and the hand of the Father from the other, and His final word, “The Father and I are one,” then I can understand that we are safe between the two hands of the almighty God who has redeemed us from sin and is calling us to walk with Him in obedience. We are safe in His hands, for eternity!

Lord Jesus, teach us to trust in Your promise, and to follow You in obedience, and to extend that promise of eternal life to all around us, serving as Your ambassadors, and the light of Your Love in this dark world.

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022

The Authority of Jesus

I lay down my life that I might take it again.

John 10:17-21

Introduction:

We need to teach scriptures in the context in which they were given. If we look back to John chapter 8, we see that Jesus had healed a man who was born blind. There was quite a flap over it. Some people condemned Jesus for having healed on the Sabbath. Others pointed out that if God wasn’t backing Him, He couldn’t have done it at all, regardless of the day He chose. The healed man testified to that effect, as well, saying that only a man sent from God could have healed him. All the rest of the things in this context occurred on that same day, as extensions of that specific conversation.

The pharisees followed Jesus to argue with Him at length. They claimed that they had good spiritual vision. But Jesus pointed out that because they claimed to see, their sin remained upon them. They were rejecting His Word, not in ignorance, but in rebellion.

Regarding the Shepherd

Jesus then began teaching about His relationship to Israel as a whole, and to the World as a whole. He explained that He came by way of the “Door into the Sheepfold.” We saw that as a reference to the fact that He fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. In that way, He showed His proper “credentials’, and His “pedigree,” as the Savior of the Human Race: the Messiah, and the Shepherd of Israel.

He taught the difference between the Good Shepherd (Himself) and the false Messiahs throughout the ages. He also pointed out the difference between a good human shepherd and a bad one. The good one protects the flock and cares for the Flock. The bad one protects himself and cares for himself, instead of caring for the Flock of God. And Jesus said that He was the Good Shepherd who would lay down His life for the Flock.

Jesus has Authority over Life and Death

¹⁷Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. ¹⁸No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

We struggle with the teaching in this passage sometimes. In other passages, we see that God the Father raised God the Son from the Dead. But in this passage, we see that Jesus claimed to have the power (authority) to lay down His life, and to take it up again, Himself.

The real struggle we are having there is with the word “power.” The word in this passage translated “power,” in the King James Bible, is one of several New Testament Greek words which can be correctly translated “power.” But this one is not the more common Greek word, “dunamis,” from which we derive words like “Dynamo” and “Dynamic.” This is the Greek word, “exousia,” which simply means “authority.”

He said that He had been given the authority to lay down His life and take it up again… and that it was by the commandment of His Father that He was to do so. What we are about to see, here, is the full agreement of the Trinity. There is no “competition” or “power-struggle” between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are in perfect agreement.

So, when Jesus exercised His authority to lay down His life, and to take it up again, at the commandment of His Father, then the Father would back Him completely.

The Power of God

Please turn in your Bible to Ephesians 1:18- 23

¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, ²⁰Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: ²²And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, ²³Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

There, in verses 19 and 20, we read that God exerted His power to resurrect Jesus. He first says that God has “exceeding greatness” of power toward believers, to bless and to keep us. But it also says that He exercises that power “according to the working of His mighty power, with which He raised Jesus from the dead.” In modern English, that sounds a bit redundant, and an unnecessary repetition of the word “power.”

Different Words for Power

But it turns out that, in that passage, the first word for “power” is the more common Greek word, “dunamis” which speaks of His sheer ability and strength, while the second was the Greek word, “kratos,”which speaks of His dominion over the entire creation: He is the Eternal King. He is the “Most High.” He is God.

Jesus is God the Son, and during His earthly ministry, He temporarily set aside most of His prerogatives as God, and functioned as a human. But he was given the command of God the Father to “lay down” his life, and to “take it again.”

None of us have been given any such command. But Jesus was authorized by His Father to do exactly that. So, Jesus, God the Son, exercised His authority (as commanded by the Father.) God the Father then exercised His unimaginable power and rulership to confirm and support the authority of Jesus.

The Full Authority of Jesus

So, when we see in other places that humans “killed” Jesus, that was completely true from their perspective, and from the perspective of any human. And in terms of guilt, it was certainly true, as well.. But they could not “take His life” against His will: He had absolute authority over His life, (and, ironically, over theirs as well.) He is the Eternal Judge that each of them—and we—will face.

Furthermore, in the remainder of the passage in Ephesians, we notice that it says God the Father has placed Jesus as the Master over all the universe, far above every other ruler, or authority, including all the angelic host. (That is what those names mean, though I can’t tell you the difference between the various levels of authority named there. However, it also includes the fallen angels.)

And, finally, it says, that He is the Head over all things, to the Church, which is His body. (That means us!) This person, of unimaginable authority and power is the Head of the Church…us!

Results of Authority

Here is a side note: when Jesus was about to ascend back to the Father, He addressed His disciples, saying “All power is given unto Me, in Heaven and in Earth…go ye therefore and teach all nations….” The word, “therefore” means, “on the basis of that.” On the basis of what? Was it on the basis of the fact that “Jesus had power?”

It turns out that the Greek word translated “power,” there, is exactly the same as the one we just read, here, in John 10:18. It is the Greek word “exousia.” We can see in John 10:18 that He has authority over life and death, but in Matthew 28:18, we see that He has ALL authority, in Heaven and in Earth! And He gives His commands on the basis of that authority!

Division:

¹⁹There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. ²⁰And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? ²¹Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

There has always been a fairly sharp “division of opinion” regarding Jesus. There are those who see Him for who He is, and choose to worship Him and obey Him, and trust in Him for all things. And there are the “others.”

Circumventing the Judge

Some simply ignore Him, wanting nothing to do with Him, because they do not understand that ignoring Him is not one of the options. Several years ago, I asked an elderly man how he would respond if God were to ask him, “Why should I allow you into Heaven?” He said, “I wouldn’t answer Him at all! I would just go around Him and go my own way!”

It was obvious that he wasn’t thinking clearly: one cannot just “go around God, and go one’s own way.” But the reality is that most people are thinking that, though usually not verbalizing it. They assume that if they refuse to address the matter, then, they have not really “rejected” Him, they just circumvented Him. But it is rejection just the same.

Resenting God

There are others who resent His Authority, even if they agree with much of His justice. They want to be their own master…and, as it turns out, that is also “not one of the options.” There is only one true “Master” of all things, because He is the sovereign God over all the Universe.

He is the One from whom all the Universe emanated, in the act of creation. He spoke it all into existence, including all the material and immaterial creation. Bodies, spirits, souls, inanimate objects…all of it. And, as He is the Creator, He is the only Supreme authority. His authority supersedes all other authority. And, as sinners, we resent that, because we don’t want anyone “telling us what to do.”

Hating God

There are also those who allow their resentment to grow into an open hatred for God. In reality, it is only a “full-bloom” version of the general disdain for God that the whole human race tends toward. In Psalm 14, God says that there is no one who seeks after God. That is repeated in Romans 3:9-12. Most people would deny harboring hatred toward God, but the fact is that the lesser forms of rebellion are the same noxious “weed” at an earlier stage of development.

Repentance

The group of people about which we are reading also included those who said, “He can’t be demon-possessed: He doesn’t talk like one possessed of a demon, and besides, we just saw him heal a blind man! A demon couldn’t do that!” Bear in mind that these were part of the same group who had been arguing withJesus. But these were starting to realize that He just might be exactly who He said He was! His words and His actions matched one another. He was acting in a manner consistent with His words.

It seems that they were about to change their mind, regarding Him. We call that “Repentance.” The Greek word usually translated “repent” is “metanoia,” and it literally means, “change your mind.” They were repenting of their earlier opinions about Jesus. That is the beginning of change, the beginning of repentance, that could turn into rebirth!

What about Believers?

Repentance is also needed in believer’s lives. Each of us has areas in our lives that are not in agreement with God. We are saved sinners, and we still have our sin-nature. So, when the Holy Spirit alerts us to behaviors, attitudes, or thought patterns that are dishonoring to God, we have two choices. We can resist, or we can repent. We can change our minds regarding the things God has asked that we abandon. Or, we can attempt to circumvent the Holy Spirit: to ignore His prompting, and just “go our own way.” (Honestly, folks: that really is “not one of the options!”)

What about us?

We have seen His total Authority and His absolute Holiness. We have seen the fact that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are in complete agreement with the commands and teachings of God the Son (Jesus.) So, we simplyneed to drop our resistance, and choose repentance.

We need to change our minds regarding our unbelief and we need to learn to trust Him: We need to change our minds about our resentment and our rebellion, and learn to obey Him. We need to change our minds regarding our self-centeredness, and pride, and learn to walk in humility, as Jesus walked, and reach out to those around us, as the ambassadors of Christ. That is our assigned job, as Christians.

Lord Jesus, work repentance in each of our hearts. Teach us to actively trust You to lead us by Your Word. Teach us to look for Your fingerprints in our lives, and to rejoice at the work You do in our hearts and lives. Lead us as Your flock, and use us as Your ambassadors. Make us the men and women of God You have called us to be.

October 16, 2022October 16, 2022

Jesus said, “I Am the Good Shepherd”

I Am the Good Shepherd

John 10:10-16

Introduction:

Last week we discovered how we are to enter into a relationship with God, “through the door of the sheep.” We noted that it was not the same as the door through which Jesus entered as the Shepherd. He entered by “the door into the sheepfold,” which is the door of fulfilled prophecy. We enter through Him by His Grace, and through Faith. He is the Door of the Sheep.

Jesus said, “I AM the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” And we found that we are to enter through Him by means of Faith in His shed blood.

But we walk with Him, “going in and out, and finding pasture,” living in the world, and finding our sustenance and protection in Him, by means of Faith and Obedience. We sing the hymn, “Trust and Obey,” and as we study our Bibles, we find that that hymn is true! There truly is “…no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey.” So, Who is it that we are to trust and obey? It is Jesus! He is the Good Shepherd.

The people had difficulty with the idea that Jesus entered by the “Door to the sheepfold.” Now they were struggling to understand the idea that they were to enter in “through Him.”

But the next thing Jesus told them, was that He himself is the Good Shepherd. We need to explore what that means.

John 10:10-16

¹⁰The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

¹²But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. ¹³The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. ¹⁵As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

What defines the Good Shepherd?

When asking what defines a good employee, a good job, or a good automobile, we are usually given a fairly vague list of positive characteristics, But, in discussing those ideas, there usually turns out to be a fairly detailed list of things to avoid. There are negative things to look for in a résumé, neagtive things to look for in a company, or in an automobile, all to be avoided if possible.

When we begin to ask, “What makes a good shepherd?” God gives us both the positive list (in detail) and the negative list (also in detail.) We can clearly see not only that He Himself is that Good Shepherd, (the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd,) but also see what constitutes a good human shepherd in the local assemblies. We see bad shepherds in contrast with God, and we see good human shepherds exhorted to “get on with the job” of tending to the flock. And He explains what that means.

Bad Shepherds

Jesus began by listing the motives and behavior of false teachers, false prophets: bad shepherds. He said that the thieves (who did not enter by the “door into the sheepfold,” which is the fulfilled prophecies) came with evil motives: they came to steal, to kill and to destroy. Ironically, they don’t even have to be “bad people,” to have those motives.

Ann and I knew a pastor who outwardly seemed a fine pastor: He was kind, and friendly and hardworking, and very well educated. But it turned out that he did not believe the Bible is the Word of God, and he taught others to doubt it, too. He was stealing the Grace upon which people needed to rest, and killing unbelievers by convincing them there was no real need for a Savior. Finally, he was destroying the faith of weak believers by teaching them that “much of the Bible is simply mythology.” Jesus specifically warned against that kind of man.

The Contrast

He contrasted His own behavior with theirs, saying first that His motive is different: He came “that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” If you want life, Jesus is where to find it. Then He said, “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He said that the hireling, (someone who sees the ministry as “just a job”) is not committed to the flock. If trouble comes, they will not protect the flock, but rather will protect themselves.

We knew a man like that, as well: He had made a serious error on his taxes prior to our ever having known him. But when he got into financial trouble, because of it, he threatened to “Split the church” if we did not bail him out. He had zero commitment to the flock. But Jesus said that He Himself is the ultimate “Committed Shepherd” who lays down His life for the Sheep.

So, short of actually “dying for the flock,” (which is seldom required of pastors,) what else is the human shepherd supposed to be doing? The responsibilities of the human shepherds are laid out most clearly in Ezekiel 34:1-11, where (just as Jesus did) God first shows the behavior of some “bad shepherds,” and then He contrasts it with His Own behavior.

Ezekiel 34

¹And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

³Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. ⁴The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. ⁵And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. ⁷Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; ⁸As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

⁹Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

Seven Responsibilities of The Shepherds

Feed the Flock
Strengthen the diseased
Heal the Sick
Bind up that which is broken
Bring again that which was driven away
Seek the Lost
Protect from predators (implied in verses 5 and 8…but spelled out in Acts 20:27-30)

God goes on, in the rest of Ezekiel 34, to say how He will take over the job of the shepherd and dismiss those shepherds who were failing to attend to the needs of the flock. Notice, too, that the shepherds in question, were the leaders of Israel, but especially the spiritual leaders.

The “healing” involved (v. 4) is not physical healing, as, except the few prophets through whom God chose to show His authority, the civil and religious leaders of Israel never had the authority to heal diseases of any kind. And, the true Shepherd of Israel is God the Son: Jesus, our Great Shepherd.

The Shepherd of Israel

In Psalm 23 we see the LORD described as the Shepherd, and His behavior toward His flock is described: He is said to “lead us by still waters” (safe places to drink water,) and to “make us to lie down in green pastures. (I am told that Sheep usually only lie down after they are done eating.) And; He restores our souls. So, his primary behavior toward the sheep is to see to their sustenance and their safety…and to meet their spiritual need for a Savior and a Shepherd.

Isaiah 40:11 gives a picture of the Shepherd tenderly caring for His Flock. “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead them that are with young.” And Jesus is inviting us to be that flock. We have entered in by faith, but to benefit by the Shepherd, we have to hear Him and follow Him.

What about His Flock?

Looking ahead, in John 10:27, 28, He says, His sheep will be known by Him and will hear His voice and will follow Him. He says, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish!” Thehuman Shepherds should be able to confirm that truth, teaching confidently because of the clear promise of God. If they can’t, then they do not believe His Word.

The more we learn about Jesus and the more we see Jesus in the Old Testament, we begin to see that Jesus was always the “Shepherd of Israel.” (Psalm 80:1) When Isaiah says, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd ….”—it is talking about Jesus! He is the one who cared for them and He is the one who cares for us! In Matthew 23:37-39, we can see that it was always Jesus, down through the ages, sustaining Israel, and grieving over them, as His lost sheep.

So, when Jesus said (John 10:16) “¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd…” we can see that He was referring to the Gentiles: this is the beginning of God’s fulfillment of His promises to the Gentiles! This is where we come into the picture! Not that the Gentiles would become Jews, but that both Jewish and Gentile believers would be joined in one new Creation; the Church: the Bride of Christ.

**What does a Good Human Shepherd Look like?**

A good human Shepherd seeks to feed the flock on God’s Word, as that is what God has defined as good “sheep food.” This is the ground rule: feed the Flock on God’s Word!

He Feeds the Flock on God’s Word (not opinions, politics, or philosophy: the Bible!
He seeks to strengthen the believers who have been weakened, either by neglect or by wrong teaching: how? Again, by the Word of God!
He seeks to correct the spiritual illnesses caused by wrong teaching, wrong thinking, and wrong understanding of the Word of God, through sound teaching.
He helps people overcome the spiritual wounds they have received in life and to grow strong, through faith in God’s promises and His wise counsel.
He understands that wrong social interaction within the flock can drive believers away from a church: so, he seeks to bring back those who were driven away, and to quench the unrest, unkindness, strife or bitterness that drove them away.
He seeks the lost, and offers them the same things Jesus offered: Eternal life, “freely bestowed on all who believe.” Salvation, by Grace, through Faith. He helps the new believers grow by feeding them wisely, so that they are strengthened against the temptations of the World and against the ravages of Satan’s influence. He teaches the whole counsel of God’s Word.
He seeks to thus defend the flock against predators, the false teachers who have plagued the church since the very beginning of the church age. When false teachers attempt to divide and destroy the flock, he is quick to “confront the Wolf,” so as to safeguard the flock. He does not turn a blind eye to predators.

He is in constant fellowship with The Chief Shepherd (Jesus) and with the other human shepherds in the flock, not seeking preeminence for himself. He seeks to raise up faithful men and women to serve God with their lives and to imitate the Great Shepherd in all things.

How do we find such people?

There is no way we could recognize these traits in any person who we don’t know very well. No letter of recommendation, or well-crafted résumé, could ever hope to replace getting to know a person well enough to see all these things in action, as a living reality. That is why we are told to raise up leaders from within the church, not to call for résumés. (2^nd Timothy 2:2; Titus 1:5.)

We see all of these characteristics and behaviors demonstrated flawlessly in Jesus, and the longer each of us knows Him, the more we see the perfection of His character. A human shepherd will never be perfect. Personal humility and a clear recognition of one’s own shortcomings and flaws go a long way toward overcoming those flaws, as the human shepherd, pastor, elder, submits himself to Jesus and allows the Lord to live through him, thus overcoming the natural weaknesses of his own humanity.

How Should We Respond?

On a personal level, as individuals, our primary goal is to develop and maintain a proper relationship with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd. He said, “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me.” That is where we need to start: hear His voice, coming from the written Word of God, and follow Him, in faith and obedience. Then He is free to work in each of our lives, and to build His church as He promised.

Lord Jesus, quicken our hearts to hear Your Voice in the Scriptures, and to Follow the Leading of Your Holy Spirit, so as to learn to walk with You in obedience. Raise each of us up as Your true disciples, and raise up shepherds from within Your flock so that the church will be strong, shining for You in this dark world, offering Life to those who are dying.

October 8, 2022October 8, 2022

“I AM the Door!” The Door of the Sheep:

I am the Door of the Sheep: “I AM the Door!

John 10:6-9

Introduction:

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

⁷Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

⁹I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Jesus had just described himself as the true Shepherd who entered by way of the “Door into the Sheepfold,” presenting Himself to the doorkeeper, “the Porter,” as the true Shepherd, evidenced by the fact that he entered by the correct door.

We saw that the door into the sheepfold represented the fulfillment of prophecy; Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies regarding His genealogy, His place of birth, the nature of His life and ministry, and, eventually, His manner of death and His resurrection, specifically after three days and three nights. We saw, in fact, that the fulfilled prophecies, (in many cases supernaturally fulfilled) collectively, are the Credentials of God, and the Pedigree of the Messiah.

Another Door

Now Jesus says, “I am the Door of the Sheep.” Notice He did not say, I am the “door into the Sheepfold.”

Jesus entered by the “Door into the Sheepfold:” the fulfillment of prophecy…all of it!

But the Sheep do not enter by that “door.” We enter through Jesus. Jesus had a very high “bar” to pass in order to enter as the Shepherd. Ours is easy: Jesus calls and we enter by faith, through Him, as the Door of the Sheep.

The invitation is open: “I am the Door: if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” We are to enter through Jesus, and then walk with Him. Remember, in verses 3 and 4, He said that He leads His sheep out. (Out where? Out into everyday life!) We still have to live in this world: Jesus wants us to walk with Him, and He will lead us to where He wants us, and feed us there.

Jesus said “I am the Door of the Sheep”

Perhaps it is important to note that the invitation is not only “inclusive,” in the sense that “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” But it is also “exclusive,” in the sense that only those who believe in Him, placing their trust in His shed blood, can enter through this Door! And there is no other door.

Please turn in your Bible to Romans 3:25. In Romans 3:25… (Speaking of Jesus, he says,) “²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,”

Paul makes a quiet point, which is echoed all through the scripture, but which is “spelled out” here: Jesus satisfied the Righteousness and Holiness of God (That is what “propitiation” means: “satisfaction of God’s Righteousness”)…But how? It becomes a working reality “through faith in His Blood.”

There is nothing we can “do,” on our own, to seize upon His sacrifice, nor to “earn” God’s Grace. Grace is specifically unearned favor. What Jesus accomplished at the Cross was to open to ALL people, the way into God’s presence. But the way to enter in is by faith in His blood. Not by adherence to His commands, but by faith in His Blood.

Faith is how we enter in, and how we are saved!

Obedience is how we walk in fellowship with the living God.

By a New and Living Way

(Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews chapter ten, verses 19 and 20.)

In Hebrews 10:19, 20 we see this truth laid out in very stark, plain terms.

¹⁹Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Take note of several key words and phrases:

Brethren…enter…into the Holiest…by the blood of Jesus
Through the veil…His flesh.

Remember that the veil in the Temple, which blocked the way to the Holy of Holies, was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died, thus opening the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies. Here in Hebrews 10:20, we see that the veil was a “picture” or a “prefiguring” of Jesus’s physical body: That is, until His body was offered as a sacrifice, and His Blood was shed, the way to approach God was still closed.

At His death, the way to approach God was opened. But we still enter in through that one way: “through the veil…His flesh.” And we enter in by one means: “by the blood of Jesus.”

We are still saved by Grace (it is never something we can earn.) and we are still saved through faith (this is the means by which we lay hold of the promise: we believe it!) But the faith is specifically to be in Jesus’s shed blood, as we saw in Romans 3:25.

**What was “New and Living” about this “Way?”**

We (all of us) enter in often, continually… via a living Savior; whereas, in the Old Covenant, only the High Priest could enter, and only once a year, and always with the blood of a freshly sacrificed lamb. And the sacrifice could not take away sin. Only Jesus can take away sin.

Look at Hebrews 10:4, while we are still in Hebrews: It says that it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Animal sacrifices cannot take away sin: they never could. They provided a temporary covering, through faith, looking forward to the Cross. But when John the Baptist introduced Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sin of the World!” That is new!

How many “doors” are there? Two Gates:

Another word for a “door” is “Gate.” Jesus pointed out two gates, in Matthew 7:13, 14.

Matthew 7:13, 14 “¹³Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

The Narrow Gate

The Narrow gate is Jesus, and His blood sacrifice. It is wide enough to include anyone who is willing to trust in Him for salvation, but it excludes all who try to enter in by some other means.

We can see only one name on this gate: there is only room for one. Acts 4:12 says, “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved.” That was Peter, speaking to the Jews, regarding the Name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10, 11 says that a time is coming when “at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess…to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus: That is the Name on the Narrow Gate.

The Broad Gate

But the Broad Gate has lots of room, and the name of every other “way” is posted there.

Going back to John 10:8, we see that Jesus said all the other “saviors” who parade themselves as the “way” to God, or who claim that “all ways lead to the same God,” are “thieves and robbers.”

Now, that sounds harsh, and judgmental, doesn’t it? But you want to remember that this is Jesus, God in the Flesh, warning us that there are enemies in the world and that the result of following those enemies can be eternal loss.

Theives and Robbers!

There was a fellow named Jim Jones, back in 1974, who claimed to be a savior, but he taught communism, and by 1978, he had moved 900 of his followers to Guyana where he forced them all to commit suicide, and those who resisted were shot to death. They had entered in by the broad gate, following someone who specifically had rejected Christianity: Jim Jones threw his Bible down, publicly saying, “You don’t need the Bible! You need me!” And they all died!

There was another fellow, before him, who called himself “Father Divine” and claimed to be God. There have been hundreds down through the years, who have made similar claims. Some were famous, like Sun Myung Moon, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Others were less famous, like Roy Masters, of Oregon, who claimed he “could do no wrong.” But all of their names comfortably fit on the “Broad Gate.”

Some are not even names of people, but rather, of organizations, churches, creeds, secret societies, clubs, world views, etc. That is really not an important difference: Either you ARE placing your faith in Jesus, and His shed blood; trusting in His completed work at the Cross, or you are not! If you are not, then you are attempting to enter by the “Broad Gate.” And there are countless names there!

But Jesus is the only name on the Narrow Gate…He is the “Door of the Sheep.”

**“Oh, but, that’s Narrowminded!” (But, is it?)**

This is a point of contention to a lot of unbelievers, as they immediately begin to complain that this is an unreasonable restriction; it’s very “narrowminded,” and that “all the millions of other ‘religious people’ can’t all be wrong!”

Unfortunately, truth is not determined by a vote: things either are true, or they are not. As an example: all of us depend on oxygen, every moment we live. No one sees fit to rebel against that, or to complain that they ought to be able to live in a pure helium environment, or any such thing they choose.

Embrace Reality!

We are aware of many things that are “just the way it is,” where arguing doesn’t help. Some such things we cheerfully accept, others regretfully. We appreciate gravity, most of the time, but we don’t like that fact that we all die. Yet both are universally true. We have to embrace reality!

Jesus truly is God’s only provision for the salvation of the Human race. If you think that is a “bad thing,” you can argue with Him about it, if you want. But do bear in mind that He doesn’t “owe” us anything! Throughout our history as a Race, we have consistently rebelled against God, our Creator, at every step of the way. We only get worse, not better, and we still think that though God provides our very lives, and all our sustenance, we don’t need or want Him to have anything to do with directing our lives. We want to be our own boss!

God’s Choice

So, the amazing thing, to me, is that He chose to offer us His Grace at all. It does not surprise me that there isn’t a “grab-bag” of different ways to approach Him, or a “smorgasbord” from which we can select the things we want, and reject the rest. God is Holy! He is the Ruler! There is no other God, and He does not owe us a thing! It is amazing that He offered us anything at all! But it leaves us with a choice.

Our Choices

We can choose to be eternally safe with Him, trusting in His promise, or we can choose to be eternally separated from Him, in our rebellion and unbelief. Those are the choices.

Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

He does not “demand” that you do anything: He only invites you to enter.

In John 14:6, however, Jesus makes a claim, that we must not ignore: Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

So, when you (or anyone you know) is making that choice, it is important to know that Jesus said “no other way will lead you to God.” You can accept that, or reject it: but that is what He said.

Sebsequent Choices

Once you choose to believe, and enter in by the Door of the Sheep (Jesus) you are eternally His, and He invites you to walk with Him, in faith and obedience, reaping the blessing of that ongoing relationship. Sheep need the Shepherd: In the next verses we will see how Jesus presents Himself as that Good Shepherd.

But for today, we will stop with just knowing the choice that must be made. Some of you have sought to share your faith with others. Perhaps these things we have read today will help you to do so.

Lord Jesus, open our hearts and minds to the urgency of the Gospel, so we can see the vital need to make good choices, and to begin by choosing Life in Christ. Then help us to make choices that honor You and that cause us to shine as lights in this dark world. Glorify Yourself through Your Church.

September 24, 2022September 24, 2022

The Shepherd Enters by the Door into the Sheepfold

The Shepherd Enters by the Door

John 10:1-6

Introduction:

John chapter nine ended with a statement of Judgment. John chapter ten offers two of the “I AM” statements. The first two messages go together, but they use the same word in two different ways: In verses 1-6 Jesus said that the true shepherd enters by the “door into the sheepfold,” and He refers to a “porter” who opens the door.

¹ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ²But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. ⁴And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. ⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Differing Terms

But in verses 7-10, Jesus said that He Himself is the “Door of the Sheep.” And in verses 11-18, He affirms that He is the Good Shepherd. So, in order to access the meaning, we have to ask some questions.

Evidently, the “Door into the Sheepfold” is not the same as the “Door of the Sheep.” But perhaps the first question would be “What is the Door into the Sheepfold?” and the second goes right along with it: “Who is the Porter?”

What is the Door into the Sheepfold?

Jesus is about to declare Himself to be the Good Shepherd, in verse eleven…and that means He must have entered by way of the “Door into the Sheepfold.” It also means that there must be another way to come in, declaring oneself to be the Shepherd, and that whoever comes by another means (however many there are) must be identified as a thief and a robber.

How might one declare himself to be the Messiah, the “Shepherd of Israel?”

The few times when someone claimed to be the promised deliverer, they obviously did not measure up: They fell short one way or another. That continues still today. There have been self-anointed “messiahs” of every stripe, every so often, for centuries. I looked online to see how many have made that claim, and found that at least fifty people apart from Jesus Himself, have made such a claim, in the last two thousand years.

Did they Enter by the Door?

One thing these fifty all had in common was the fact that they did not fulfill the prophecies regarding the Messiah. There were many clear (and many rather obscure, but still valid) predictions as to the coming Messiah: And, they all had to be fulfilled in the same person. (I have been told that there are over three hundred such prophecies in the Old Testament.)

Not a Smorgasbord

God’s prophecies did not constitute a “smorgasbord” from which a claimant could “select as many as he could manage,” and thus proclaim himself the “anointed one.” They all had to be true on the same person! Here are just a few:

Place of birth: Bethlehem Ephrata (Micah 5:2)
- But He was also “called out of Egypt” (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15) and called a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:23)
Lineage:
- Descendant of Abraham (Genesis 22:18)
- Descendant of Jacob (Numbers 24:17)
- Descendant of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
- Descendant of David, (2^nd Samuel 7:12-13; Luke 1:32) but
  1. Not of the line of Coniah (“Jehoiachin.” Jeremiah 22:24-30, cp Matthew 1:12)
- Son of God (Luke 1:35)
Virgin Born (Seed of Woman Genesis 3:15, and Isaiah 7:14)
Born into poverty, arrives as the King, riding upon a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
Sinless Life (Isaiah 53:9)
Heals the sick, set free the captives, proclaims the Gospel (Isaiah 61:1, 2; Isaiah 35:4-6)
Healed the Blind, Healed lepers (Psalm 103:3…”all their diseases!”)
Crucified; hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:1-18)
Died with the criminals, (Isaiah 53:9) but
- Buried in the tomb of the rich, (Isaiah 53:9)
Stayed dead for three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:39, 40)
Was resurrected (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10-12)

“Entering by the Door”

Notice that very few of these could be “self-fulfilling prophecies.” No one but God has a choice in their own place of birth, nor the gene pool from which he will spring. But God predicted, thousands of years in advance, the source of the Messiah…and protected his forbears so that the promised Messiah could arrive on time, in the right location, and into the right family.

Seed of the Woman

Clear back in Genesis 3, He predicted the birth of one who would be (specifically) the Seed of Woman (not of Adam, Abraham, or whomever…) and would undo the damage of the Serpent.

Jesus was not only the “Seed of the Woman,” in the sense that it was a truly miraculous birth, without a human father: He was also specifically called out as being God in the Flesh… Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:23)

Place of Birth

A human cannot choose his own place of birth. God predicted Bethlehem Ephrata, in Micah 5:2. But Joseph and Mary did not live in Bethlehem, of Judea. They lived in Nazareth, of Galilee. So, God provided that they should be forced to take a “road-trip” at just the right time so that Mary’s firstborn should be born in Bethlehem. The Caesar decreed that everyone must travel to their ancestral home, to complete a census and pay a tax. So, they got to Bethlehem at just the right time.

Genealogy

The Messiah had to be the Son of David, but could not be the son of Jeconiah… “Coniah”… “Jehoiachin.” If we read the genealogy in Matthew 1, we find that Joseph was of that cursed lineage. Joseph could not be king, and if Jesus was his son, then Jesus could not be king either. But Jesus was Virgin-Born of a woman who was also of David’s lineage, but not that of Coniah. He had the legal tie through Joseph, but the blood tie through his mother, Mary.

Other Circumstances

His parents fled to Egypt to escape Herod. And God called them back after Herod died. So, God had literally “called His Son out of Egypt.” And as they returned, they moved back to Nazareth, where Jesus grew to adulthood, and he was called a Nazarene, thus fulfilling one more prophecy. (How many of these prophecies, so far, look like something a person could “self-fulfill?” Remember; Jesus was still a toddler when all this happened.)

Many later prophecies were fulfilled in a way that might tempt us to say, “Well, see, it says right here, that he did this ‘to fulfill prophecy.’ That means he was fulfilling them on purpose!” (Well, sure; but I could want to fulfill prophecy, and want to heal blind people, or lepers, all my life, but I can’t! I just don’t have the power or authority to do it!) Jesus did so to prove His authority, and His power, and to fulfill prophecy so that no one could say, “Hold it! He is not doing what God said He would do!”

He did exactly what God said He would do! He entered by the Door!

But, Who is the Porter?

I remember being taught that the “Porter” was John The Baptist, because he opened the way before the Lord, and pronounced Him to be the Lamb of God who would take away the Sin of the World. And, in a sense, he did function as the “Porter:” the Forerunner who announced the coming of the Messiah, and “Opened the Door for the King,” saying “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make His paths straight!”

On the other hand, many teachers have (correctly) argued that apart from the Holy Spirit, John could do nothing…so, the Holy Spirit must be the true Porter, not only making the Way, but opening the hearts of many in Israel. I can accept that, but John at least made some official announcements, pointing to Jesus as the True Messiah, and the Shepherd of Israel.

Other possibilities

Some have even suggested that Moses was the Porter, as the prophecies in the Torah all pointed to Jesus, and the Law forced the realization of our need for a Savior. I don’t see that as a logical answer, though. There isn’t a good enough connection. (And some teachers try to say, “…it really doesn’t matter!” But if it was important enough for Jesus to say it, it’s important!)

However, God is clearly the ultimate “Porter,” as He works through people, and manifests Himself by His Holy Spirit. But none of the “Potential Porters” listed above would have opened the door to the “wrong person.” The Door was the prophetic record. Fulfilled prophecies, throughout the Bible, are the Credentials of God. They constitute the Pedigree and the Divine authority of Christ. And whoever we think the “Porter” may be, He only opens to the One who comes via fulfilled Prophecy and comes in the Name of the LORD.

Jesus came, fulfilling those requirements, and He proved who He was throughout His life.

Calling the Sheep

The next verse says that, when the Porter opens to the Shepherd, the Shepherd begins calling out His sheep.

“…and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. ⁴And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. ⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

I can see how the people might not understand this parable. I have a hard time with it myself. Part of the problem, for me, is that I am not a “shepherd in the Middle East.”

Knowing the Sheep

I saw a video about a Palestinian shepherd boy. The interviewer asked (through an interpreter) how many sheep, or goats, perhaps, he actually had. The child cheerfully shrugged and admitted that he didn’t know. (The interpreter explained that he probably did not know how to count.) But the next question was, “If you don’t know how many you have in your flock, how will you be able to tell if one is missing?”

The child responded incredulously, as if the question was ridiculous: “Because I know them all! I would know immediately if one were missing!” He saw that the answer was obvious. We do not see it as obvious, because we can barely tell one sheep from another. We have never learned to know them as individuals and care enough about them as individuals. If we did, then we would know when something is wrong, or when one is missing. But that is how the Shepherd knows us, as His sheep!

The Sheep Follow the Shepherd’s Voice

Two friends of mine, at separate times, told how they had taken a trip to Israel, and each of them had been in a taxi or some other vehicle, waiting while two flocks of sheep crossed their road in opposite directions at an intersection: Both related how they felt dismayed, thinking the two flocks would be mixed so badly that they would be hours getting them separated.

But both watched in amazement as the two shepherds cordially greeted one another, but went about their business, leading their respective flocks through the other flock. They just kept calling, and their sheep knew their respective voices and utterly ignored the voice of the other shepherd. The flocks flowed through one another, with hardly any resistance, and became two separate flocks again, as they parted.

Follow your Shepherd

Jesus calls us, and we are expected to know His voice, and to follow Him. He came by the Authority of His Word. He came by the Door of fulfilled prophecy. We are to listen to His voice, through His Word and in Prayer.

2^nd Peter 1:19 tells us that the Written Word of God is to be our “light” until the Lord returns. God says that is how we learn to “know His voice,” and not be led astray. We want to learn to know His voice to the extent that the voice of a stranger, a false shepherd, would cause us to flee. We must not follow the leading of those who do not “Enter by the Door:” …those who fail to lead by the Word of God.

Human Shepherds Have the Same Responsibility

Notice, too, that, just as Jesus had to fulfill all the prophecies, the human shepherds He sends have to be preaching the whole Word of God. It all has to fit together. As we said, earlier, this is not a “smorgasbord” where we can choose what portions we believe. It either is God’s Word, in its entirety, or it isn’t!

Teach the Whole Counsel of God

In Acts 20:27, speaking to the Ephesian Elders, whom he had trained, Paul pointed out that he had faithfully preached “all the counsel of God.” He had treated all of the Word of God honestly and had not just preached private “hobby-horse” doctrines. He had taught the elders, to whom he was speaking, to see God’s Word as a unit… as a continuum of truth, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation, but with one core theme: the Person of Christ.

As a shepherd, I take this warning very seriously: I do not have the freedom to supplant God’s Word with my own opinions. If I don’t know what His Word means, I say so. If I have ideas about what it might mean, but no real assurance that my interpretation is correct, I say so. But, I do not just “skip” passages, unless there is a specific reason, and I will be coming back to complete what I skipped. I want to faithfully teach the whole counsel of God.

The Flock is to Listen for the Voice of the Shepherd, as Well

So, we see that Jesus has warned us to look carefully at the credentials and behavior of the persons proposing to teach. Are they “entering by the door to the sheepfold?” Or are they coming some other route, that seems attractive, but is not in keeping with the Word of God?

When we first heard His voice (John 10:27, 28) inviting us to faith, and we followed Him in faith, Jesus gave us Eternal Life as a gift—and we can never lose it: He promises that we shall never perish.

Called to Follow

But we are called to follow him in faith as a daily way of life, as well. Our lives are to be transformed by His Word. It says, “he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.”

Each of us, individually, is called to walk with Jesus, reading His Word, praying, learning from our teachers, but always, listening for His Voice.

May the Lord help us to Hear Him clearly!

Lord Jesus, focus our attention on Your Word, by Your Spirit, so that we can follow in Your Steps. Teach us to avoid the teaching and temptations of the World, and to grow in strength as your disciples, to be your hands and feet and voice, shining Your Light, in this dark world.

September 17, 2022September 17, 2022

For Judgment I am come into this World

John 9:39-41

Introduction:

Remember, as we read this passage, that Jesus had just healed a blind man, who had been born blind. He had miraculously given the man his sight. The man had suffered persecution, not because he was healed, but because he credited Jesus with the miracle. And they cast him out of the synagogue….essentially, he was excommunicated for confessing that Jesus had healed him, and for refusing to recant.

When Jesus found him again and introduced Himself as the Son of God, the man spontaneously worshipped Him. We still have people today who resent those who worship Jesus…or anyone who prays to Him. They reveal their hearts by that attitude. They reveal what they think of Jesus. And the next verse is what Jesus said in response:

³⁹And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What a strange thing to say! And: who was He talking to? His disciples were there with him…the healed man was there…and some Pharisees were there. Those are the only ones we know of, for certain.

Consider the overall context: Jesus has been under attack all day and the previous day as well. He dispersed the men who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery. He introduced Himself as the Light of the World. He nearly was stoned by the Jews when He announced His own eternality, and the fact that He preexisted Abraham. Then, immediately after miraculously escaping the mob in the temple, he went out of His way to heal a man who had been born physically blind.

This Blindness was not Judgment

The disciples asked Jesus whether that man or his parents had sinned, to bring this “judgment” of congenital blindness upon the man. Jesus said that neither had sinned…God had prepared this man for the purpose of showing His own mighty works. (Unlike Bartimaeus, this man had not even asked to be healed. He knew nothing about Jesus before this day.)

But this man, once he understood who Jesus really was, fell down and worshipped him! He was not only healed of his physical blindness, but also the spiritual blindness of his soul was taken away. He saw Jesus for who He was!

Jesus is remarking the irony that: His presence gave sight to the blind, but also revealed the blindness of those who rejected His light. Remember John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation; that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The people had an issue with light, there, too.

Blindness Can be Judgment for having Disregarded light

Samson and others ignored the light of God’s direction and His Word, and, in Samson’s case, he was physically blinded by his enemies and enslaved by them.

Romans 11:25 also records that “…blindness in part has happened to Israel.” The majority of the Jews at that time, and ever since that time, have rejected the Gospel of Christ. The few who believed at that time (along with the Jewish proselytes saved at the day of Pentecost,) became the foundation of the church. And they taught the gentile believers who were saved a short time later.

Biblical historians say that the Roman centurion Cornelius (in Acts 10) received the Lord about seven or eight years after the events in Acts 2. I have no scriptural proof of that time passage. All we know is that the church was well established before the Gentiles (as Gentiles, not proselytes), were entering the Body of Christ in any significant numbers. (In Acts 13, we saw the first “mostly Gentile” assembly, and it caused a great deal of controversy, dealt with in Acts 15.)

Blindness happened to Saul

When Saul of Tarsus was confronted by Jesus on the Road to Damascus, two things happened: He was struck to the ground, along with the others in his group, and he was struck blind. Three days later, Jesus sent another disciple, Ananias, to restore his sight… and Saul changed his name to Paul. His physical and spiritual blindness had been healed, and He saw Jesus for who He was.

The rest of Israel remains partially blinded, to this day, and Paul grieved their loss, in Romans 9:1-3. But God promises to restore their sight, as a nation, and they will see Him, physically, and, for the first time recognizing Him for who He is. Zechariah 12:10 says “…They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and be in bitterness for Him as one is that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

For Judgment I am Come

Jesus had earlier said that He had come to save the lost. But, in the same verses (John 3:18, 19) He had said that condemnation was already there in the World. He said, “He that believeth not is condemned already…and this is the condemnation… that light is come into the World, and Men loved darkness rather than light.”

Many people have taught, for years, that “if you don’t stop sinning, you’re going to be condemned!” But the truth is, you can’t stop sinning, and you are already condemned! The whole human race was in this same trap of sin…every single one of us was guilty and lost.

How did we get there?

Romans 1:21, 22, tells us how that happens. “When they (the human race) knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

By choosing darkness, we were filled with darkness, and we perpetuated our role as children of darkness. All we were really doing is confirming what God had said from the beginning. He said “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die!” Adam ate, and all his progeny (including Eve) were instantly plunged into the darkness of sin: spiritual separation from the Light of God.

Jesus is the Light of the World

His presence revealed the hearts of everyone who came in contact with Him. Those who rejected light, rejected Him. Those who yearned toward the light, turned to Him in faith. Even today, the same truth applies. The Light of Christ appears in the World, through his servants, the believers, and the people will either turn toward that light, in faith, or they will reject that light, and even attempt to extinguish it.

The Blindness of “Religion”

Romans 2:19 tells us that the Jews saw themselves as being “…a light of them which are in darkness.” But Judgment was about to fall on them, because in truth, they were the opposite of a “light to those in darkness:” They shrouded the light with their corruption, and their hypocrisy, to the extent that no one could see the Light of God in them at all. And they tried to extinguish the Light of Christ when He was there among them. They revealed who they were!

⁴⁰And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? ⁴¹Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

They were not the Only Ones

It would be easy for us to just sneer at the Pharisees and say, “Yeah, those bad old Pharisees!” But the fact is, we are always in danger of doing something similar! We can become so self-satisfied and smug in our “good doctrine,” or our “healthy church,” that we completely close ourselves off from the unsaved world to whom we are sent as witnesses.

At that point, we are no longer allowing the Holy Spirit to reach out through us to the world around us. At that point we are “just a bunch of religious folk.” That is what had happened to the Pharisees, and to a certain extent, to the entire nation of Israel. They were a “very religious” people, but they denied the reality of the Love and the Power of the God they claimed to serve.

A Modern Example:

I visited a church, a few years ago, that had become so ingrown and exclusive, that, when a shabby-looking stranger arrived at their door, they literally didn’t know what to do. (I was the “stranger,” driving a beat-up old Toyota, and wearing clean, but older, inexpensive clothing.)

The “greeters” looked like “deer in the headlights,” clutching their church bulletins against their suit-clad chests. They stood and stared at me, but they did not greet me at all. They never offered a handshake, or asked my name. Never offered me a bulletin, or asked whether I knew the Lord: they said nothing. As ambassadors, they had become irrelevant. They were probably “nice, God-fearing people,” but they were having zero positive effect on the people around them. No one would come back for another visit, after that sort of reception!

Judicial Blindness

The Pharisees had become blind to the light of God. That was Jesus’s judgment of them: He revealed their true blindness. The church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:19) as a group, had become blind, as well, and Jesus shut them down! On an individual one-on-one basis, He still invited them to fellowship with Him, but as a church, they were completely shut down.

Because the Pharisees still claimed to “see,” and even claimed that they saw better than others, they were under the Judgment of God. In John 5:22, we see that Jesus, as God the Son, is the Judge of all the Earth, and He is the One they were rejecting and slandering!

Coming Judgment

They didn’t know it, but, less than 40 years later, the entire temple and everything they held precious would be destroyed. Through a series of bloody revolts, over a period of 70 years, during which hundreds of thousands were killed, the nation of Israel eventually ceased to be a nation, and was renamed “Palestine” by the Romans, in an effort to exterminate the memory of Judaism. It stayed that way until 74 years ago, when it was reborn as “Israel,” on May 14^th, 1948. But the blindness still remains, today.

The Job of the Church is to Represent Jesus

We are called to be Ambassadors of Christ…we are to represent Him before the World. But, how we apply God’s Word in our daily lives and how we respond to others because of His presence in our lives will determine the result of our service.

We are told to testify to His love and His Grace, and to demonstrate His Love and His Mercy. We are told to become His hands and feet, and to be His voice, speaking His Righteousness and Love into the ears of the lost World.

Communion

When we partake in communion, we testify before one another that His blood was shed for us, and that we are trusting in His Grace, and looking forward to His return. But the result of that Sacred Relationship should be that we willingly, voluntarily reach out to the people around us, too. This isn’t all about us! Jesus’s agenda reaches out to the whole world.

Changed Lives

The result should be that we desire His righteousness and His wisdom. That we want to see our lives transformed, to be like Him. We should be concerned that the light of His presence is not dimmed because of the “grime” of our lives. The sin in our lives should grieve us as deeply as it does Him. We should want what He wants.

As ministers of the light…servants of the light, we need to make certain that the light we shine is clean and clear. We mentioned some time ago that the headlamps of a vehicle can become so encrusted with road-grime that the light burning within seems very dim as seen from the outside.

Clean Lives

We want our lives to be clean enough and clear enough that anyone looking our way will see the light of Jesus. We are supposed to “Glow in the dark.” We are told to “shine as lights in a corrupt nation.” No nation in history has been completely free of corruption, but God’s people are to shine in the midst of that darkness. We are commanded to draw people to Jesus: (not “to church:” to Jesus!)

We are called to “smell like Jesus.” The Fragrance of Christ is to be emanating from our lives at all times. The only way that is going to happen is if we allow Him to live through us, and allow His presence to permeate our lives.

As we celebrate communion together, please be thinking about what that may mean, to allow Jesus to live through you.

Lord Jesus, we know that we are blind to so much of the truth of God. We yearn to experience Your light in such a way that it transforms us into Your likeness. Let us be true children of the light, and not limit Your light in any way.

September 4, 2022September 4, 2022

One Thing I Know: I was Blind. But Now I See!

John 9:1-38

Introduction:

In a way, today’s message could be categorized as “Apologetics”—defending the faith.

Or, it could be called Evangelism, as in giving one’s testimony.

It could be about Persecution, because the fellow in this chapter who gave his testimony was excommunicated from the temple and publicly condemned for the completely factual and honest testimony he offered.

Or, we could simply see it as the history of a man, who was born blind, and who, after many years of blindness, was given his sight. In that case we should ask at least three questions:

What happened, Where did it happen, and Who were the witnesses?

John 9:1-38 (Where did it all happen?)

“¹And as Jesus passed by,…”

(Passed by, where?) In the previous verse, John 8:59, we see that Jesus was just leaving the temple. The Pharisees had attempted to stone Him, but somehow, He walked away without their attacking Him…and it says, He “passed by.” The next verse says, “and as he passed by…” So, wherever he was, it was evidently quite near the temple.

“… he [Jesus] saw a man which was blind from his birth. ²And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Possibly the blind man was begging just outside the temple. That was a common way for a blind or crippled person to seek sustenance, in that time period. (We see it also in Acts 3:1-3.) And, in verse 8, here, it says that had been the practice of this particular blind man. Whether or not he was begging when Jesus and the disciples saw him, is not important.

First Witnesses

So, to begin with, we have at least Jesus and His disciples as witnesses to what happened next. (So far, we can’t count the blind man, as he can’t see them.)

But the disciples asked whose fault it was that he should be born blind. To us, this seems a strange question: But to people who thought that all sickness is a judgment from God, it seemed a logical question.

There are people, still today, who think that “If you are living right, then nothing bad will happen to you.” But Jesus made it clear that bad things can happen to good people (Job was a prime example!) And, in the Psalms it was made clear that good things often happen to bad people. They often get rich by evil means, in fact. (Read Psalm 73) But they will face judgment, the same as everyone else, and God has not forgotten their evil.

Jesus gave a clear answer to His disciples: “Nobody was “at fault!” This was not punishment. In this particular case, God was about to receive great glory by demonstrating His power..

³Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Jesus reminded them that He was the Light of the world: (He had just told them that, earlier the same day.) And He commented that while he was in His earthly ministry, His light was the only obvious source. But, He also said the night was coming.

⁴I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

He was probablywarning that no one continues working after they die. We can only “shine” for the Lord while we live. Every one of us faces the end of our “working day.” We have been given a job to do, and we will run out of time. Jesus knew His time was short: We need to see our lives in that same light. My bestunderstanding is that this is what He meant. So, what did He do?

What Happened?

⁶When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ⁷And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Jesus spit in the dirt, and made “mud,” as we would call it. He made mud, and wiped it all over the man’s eyes. Then He gave three commands:

“Go” and
“Wash”
“In the pool of Siloam,”.

The name “Siloam” means “sent”…was this an admonition that we (also) should go where the Lord sends us, and do what he commands? Or, as some commentators feel, was it a reminder that Jesus was sent from God?

I guess it could be either. But the result was that the man did “go where he was sent,” and he did “obey by faith”…and he came back seeing completely normally. So, now he is a witness, too! He knows what happened, and though he couldn’t point out the Man who healed him, because he had never seen Him, he knew his name. He knew the Name of Jesus! That is worth something all by itself.

More Witnesses!

⁸The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ⁹Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. ¹⁰Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? ¹¹He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. ¹²Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

The neighbors and other people were “witnesses,” too,”but all they saw was the result. They knew he had been blind before. They could see the change in the man’s life, as it was obvious that his eyes were healed. But they could not understand what caused the change. (They knew the “before” and the “after,” but they had no idea what had happened to him.)

They asked him for an explanation, and he told them in very plain language exactly what had happened, from his own perspective. That was his first testimony, and it was perfect!

This is a perfect example of what we are commanded in 1^st Peter 3:15! They asked, he was ready, and he gave a straight answer! There was no “messing about” with human storytelling. Everything he said was the simple truth, without any “embellishment.” And what did the neighbors and other people do? Did they throw a party and celebrate with him and his family? Nope. They dragged him off to the Pharisees, for an investigation!

¹³They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ¹⁴And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

Here is another “sabbath day healing! Jesus seemed to do it on purpose, to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Over and over, Jesus healed on the sabbath, and they were offended every time! But they couldn’t escape that they were now witnesses, too! They saw only the effect…they did not know him before, and they rejected all testimony from others.

¹⁶Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

Even the Pharisees could see there was a problem: The one group said, “He must be a ‘bad guy!’ He’s working on the sabbath!” The other group said, ”How can a ‘bad guy’ heal the blind??” There was a division among them, because the Truth was staring them in the face, and they were rejecting it! So, they went back and began questioning the healed man again.

¹⁷They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

The only possibility the healed man could think of, is that anyone who could heal like that must be a prophet of God. He had just been made the recipient of a first-class, “Old Testament-style” miracle! And the only people who could do such things, according to scripture, were prophets of God!

¹⁸But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. ¹⁹And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

Of course, the next step is to accuse the blind man of lying: that he had not been blind at all! If there were no other witnesses, this would not necessarily be a bad thing to suspect. But all of the neighbors, and other people who brought him in, could testify that they had seen him for years, begging near the Temple…and that he had indeed been blind. But that wasn’t good enough! They dragged his parents into it!

²⁰His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: ²¹But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. ²²These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

So, they called in the man’s parents…how strange! (Now, some commentators suggest that the “man” was simply “over thirteen,” thus, having passed his Bar Mitzvah, he was “legally able to give testimony.” They see that as why he was legally “of age,” but still under his parents’ authority.

I would remind you that, in Exodus and in Numbers, the people under twenty were considered children, and not old enough to be counted in the census, or to be a part of the collective decision to reject God’s offer of the land. So, everyone over twenty at the time of that rebellion, died in the wilderness during the next forty years, and all those who remained were, after that period of time, “of age.”)

My guess would be that the man was at least 20, and possibly thirty, as there were certain public responsibilities a man could not partake in unless he was at least 30. (That is why Jesus did not begin His public ministry until He was 30.)

God lets us see the “inside story,” here: He tells us why the parents were afraid to back their son in his testimony. They were afraid of being kicked out of the temple! (Besides, they did give honest testimony: “Yes, that is our son! Yes, he was born blind! Beyond that, we have no idea what is going on, here! You will have to ask him!” Yes, they were afraid of the Pharisees, but they also were being completely honest and logical.)

²⁴Then again called they [the Pharisees] the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

They were commanding the healed man to recant, and to agree with their claim that Jesus was not the One who healed him! They accused Jesus of being a sinner!

What was His Defense?

²⁵He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

This is the “bottom line” testimony of every believer. Jesus saved me! Jesus has changed me! (“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see!”)

A personal testimony always has that advantage: it is hard to argue with someone’s personal experience, though it is possible that a person could be mistaken or even lying. In this man’s case, all he could tell them was, “Look, fellows! I was born blind! Today is the first time in my life that I have ever seen anything! You can say what you want about Jesus, but he healed me!”

It seems the man was beginning to catch on, regarding the politics involved, here: From this point forward, his answers begin to take on a different flavor. They have “crossed a line,” in his mind, and he begins to “push back” a little, defending his own testimony: defending his faith!

²⁶Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? ²⁷He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? ²⁸Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

This is another odd line of attack. “We know about Moses (whom we have never seen, but we have read about him in the Torah.) But this man we know nothing about…so he must be bad!”

³⁰The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. ³¹Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. ³²Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. ³³If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

Isn’t it interesting that a formerly blind beggar is given enough wisdom to “walk the Pharisees through” the logic they needed to figure out the Origin of the Power of Jesus!

He offered three points of fact, and a conclusion. The facts::

God doesn’t hear sinners!
If a man is a worshipper of God, and an obedient servant of God, God does hear him.
No one in the history of the World has ever healed the eyes of one born blind.

His Conclusion:

“If the man were not of God, He could do nothing!” (It’s odd: they didn’t respond well to his little “Lesson in Logic!”)

Rejection!

³⁴They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Yeah, proud people don’t like getting “schooled” by people they consider inferior to themselves. They get pretty huffy about such things. And, since they were in a position of power, they “pulled rank” and had him excommunicated from the temple. I’m sure that hurt him, emotionally. He had just received the biggest blessing of his life, and the result was that he was rejected by his community. But he had at least a rudimentary knowledge of Jesus: He had “been through something” with Jesus!

Knowing Jesus

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

This is kind of a touching scene: Jesus went and found the man he had healed. He had never seen Jesus before, and had only once heard his voice. Jesus probably found him feeling pretty discouraged…dejected…depressed, maybe. But he asked whether he “believed on” the Son of God. It means “do you place your faith on the Son of God?”

³⁶He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? ³⁷And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. ³⁸And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

He worshipped Him! Jesus willingly received the worship of this man and others! That only leaves about three possibilities:

He is crazy, and he thinks he is God. Or…
He is an incredibly audacious Liar, and wants other people to think He is God. OR…
He really is God!

This man finally made the connection that this was Jesus: the one who had healed him. And he suddenly knew that there was another possible person who could heal, other than just a “Prophet of God:” (Of course!) GOD can heal a man who was born blind! Jesus had his total respect and gratitude before, when he thought Jesus was “just a Prophet.” Now Jesus has the man’s faith and devotion and love. Now the man knew Jesus was God!

What about Us?

There are all sorts of lessons we can learn here: One is that we need to have our eyes opened by Jesus. Also, we need to know from His Word how we were born again,. We also need to be ready to give an answer and able to say, “He saved me!” Finally, it behooves us to at least be able to offer some defense of our faith. Even if it is just the simple statement that “I believe in ‘the Jesus of the Bible!‘ There is no substitute for Him.”

Lord Jesus, open our eyes, so that we can see as this man did, how you have healed us of the sickness of our souls, and set us free from our slavery to sin. Let us speak to Your glory.

August 27, 2022August 28, 2022

“Before Abraham Was, I AM”

Before Abraham Was, I AM

John 8:51-59

Introduction:

Last week we examined the concept of “finding freedom in Christ:” finding ourselves freed daily from the continuing destructive power of sin in our lives, as well as gaining permanent freedom from the eternal penalty of sin. We were able to determine that only believers were eligible for either of those two aspects of freedom. And it follows that only people who have been freed from the penalty of sin, so that they no longer face condemnation from God, will also find the eternal freedom from the presence of sin, which will be enjoyed by all believers.

Security in Eternal Freedom

So, the eternal freedom from the penalty of sin, which was granted to you the moment you believed, is yours forever. The eternal freedom from the presence of Sin, is also ours, guaranteed, in the presence of the Lord, but we will not experience it in this life: so long as we still possess our sin natures, the presence of sin and the problem of sin will persist.

But the freedom from the power of sin, experienced in our lives today, is what Jesus was inviting the believing Jews (in verse 30) to learn and experience. He told them that if they continued in His Word, they would become His true disciples: He told them that they would experientially know (“ginosko”) the Truth (which turned out to be Himself) and that He would make them free. We saw that concept reiterated in verse 36, where He said that the Son would make them free.

Rejecting Freedom and Dishonoring God

We also saw that, while the believing Jews may have rejoiced in His promise, the Pharisees who were also precent, were offended by His promise of freedom.

Jesus spoke to them, saying that if they had been “of God,” (as they claimed to be) they would have received Him and honored Him, because He was of God. But since they were not of God, they could not receive the words He spoke. And they dishonored Him, in spite of His truth.

**Who do You Honor?**

John 8:48-50

⁴⁸Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? ⁴⁹Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. ⁵⁰And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

One has to consider, even as a believer, whether one’s words and actions honor the Lord. Years ago, a man who professed to be a believer, and even a bible teacher, suggested some rather “Madison-avenue” ways he advocated for the church or for missionaries to raise money for the ministry. I expressed my feeling of repugnance toward such actions, and he replied, “The bottom line, Chet, is that it works!”

What is the “Bottom Line,” for Believers?

I was still uncomfortable with that reply, but, as he was much older, and in a position of some honor, I kept my thoughts to myself, as I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me. Hours later, as his comments echoed in my mind, I realized, that whether something “works” or not should never be the “bottom line” for believers.

The “bottom line,” for believers, has to be the question, “Does it Honor God?!” It has never been the church’s mission to make money, and things that “smell like the World” should be viewed with deep suspicion, and considered very carefully, before engaging in such practices. There are many practices which, while perfectly legal, are still immoral, and never honoring to God.

The people to whom Jesus directed this rebuke were not believers. They claimed to be followers of God: they were the well-respected “pious businessmen” of their day: the “religious professionals,” just short of the priesthood. But they were deliberately dishonoring a man who was honoring God with His life.

That behavior revealed who they really were! We need to carefully avoid doing anything like this, for whatever reason. We don’t want to “trash-talk” other people, whether for political reasons or any other reason. It does not Honor God to do so.

Honoring God through Obedience

Jesus did not seek glory or honor or wealth. He sought to carry out the directives of the Father. Remember John chapter 4: When Jesus entered Samaria, and stopped while the disciples went into the city of Sychar to buy food, he was already on the edge of behavior the Jewish leaders would hate. When He publicly held a conversation with a Samaritan woman, He was crossing the line! Even His disciples were astonished at that behavior! But His motivation became clear, when He said, “My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work!”

Jesus had not been trying to gain social standing, or the favors of the religious authorities. He was not seeking His own honor, either, but rather, that of the Father. And there in John 4:1-42, the immediate result was the salvation of many lost souls in Sychar.

Had the Pharisees realized that Jesus sought no personal honor, but sought only to please and honor God, it should have changed their attitude toward Jesus. But they hated Him and just wanted Him silenced. They were absolutely not interested in what he was teaching, except that they felt it constituted a threat to them.

If a Man Keep My Saying, He shall Never see Death

John 8:51-53

⁵¹Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. ⁵²Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. ⁵³Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

Jesus made the “blanket statement” that whoever kept His word would never die. The Pharisees now seized upon His promise of eternal life, and said again that Jesus must be demon-possessed.

They pointed out that Abraham and all the patriarchs and prophets were dead. Their point was that if all the “greats” of the faith had died, what was He claiming for himself?

How could He promise that if someone kept His Word, they would never die?

The Promise of Eternal Life

Remember, back in John 3:16, Jesus had promised that “whoever believed in Him would not perish but would have eternal life.” Again, in John 5:24, He had said “whoever heard His word and believed on Him who had sent Him, had eternal life immediately.” In John 4:14 and John 7:37, 38, he had promised the indwelling Holy Spirit, who would become a “fountain of living water, springing up within the believers.” So, this was nothing new, really. But they seized upon His Word, and challenged Him again.

⁵⁴Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: ⁵⁵Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

So, Jesus took them back to the issue of Honor: He said, “if I were to honor myself, it would be valueless.” But He said that the Father was honoring Him. He reminded them of what He had told them earlier, that they did not have a relational knowledge of God, but that He Himself did have that personal, relational, and experiential knowledge of God. He concluded that if he were to knuckle under and imply that He was no different than they, not knowing God, personally, then He would make Himself a liar “…like unto you!” (It is starting to get personal, here!)

Before Abraham Was, I AM

Jesus went on to say that the patriarch Abraham had rejoiced to see my day” (the day of Christ.) Abraham was a prophet, and he had seen the coming deliverance. He had rejoiced, to see that day coming. Further, Abraham had seen Jesus, face-to-face! (Remember the meal of beef, bread and butter, and milk?) He had conversed with Him personally, and addressed Him as the Judge of all the Earth! But Jesus only said,

⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Abraham knew Jesus, walked with Him, obeyed Him. and rejoiced in His promises and presence.

⁵⁷Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

Of course, the Jews were incensed by that statement, too, and they derided Jesus, saying, “You aren’t even fifty years old, yet! How can you claim to have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

What did Jesus Mean?

Now, in today’s English, we might have simply thought it was bad grammar, and that Jesus was failing to maintain the correct past-tense in the sentence. He began by saying, “before Abraham was” (which clearly is a past-tense condition) but ended by using a strictly present-tense statement of self-existence. (Did the Jews question His grammar?)

Nope! They took up stones, intending to stone Him to death, for what was clearly blasphemy. They knew Jesus was using the eternal “I AM,” by which the Old Testament God had identified Himself to Moses. They saw that He used it as if He Himself were God! And, the fact is, that is exactly what He was doing! The Pharisees had no question about His intent! They knew that He had just claimed to be the God of Israel!

Seven statements in St. John

When Jesus had earlier claimed to be the Light of the World, they had missed the point: They did not realize that, for Him to be the Light of the World, He had to be the light of the Gentiles as well as the Light of Israel. He had to be far more than just a carpenter and an itinerant street-preacher.

When He had claimed to be the “Bread of Life that came down from Heaven,” they were offended, but still did not make the connection that He was claiming to be not only their sustenance but their sustainer!

This is only the beginning, as there are five more heavy identifiers which He will use in the Gospel of John, regarding Himself. But this one makes His overall intent very clear: He definitely is claiming to be the God of Israel, in the flesh, and is confronting them face-to-face!

And that is how they understood it, too! Couldn’t they have applied Isaiah 7:14, where the prophecy reads that the child born of the virgin shall be called Immanuel? (meaning “God with us!”) But they gave no thought to whether what He said was true: they only wanted to silence Him and to kill Him. That proved all His estimation of “who they were” and “what the intent of their hearts was,” to be clearly the truth!

⁵⁹Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

They still were not able to carry out their murderous intent. He was still the One in control, and His time had not yet come.

Who are We dealing with, here?

I think we tend to forget who Jesus really is, ourselves. Though we never slander Him, we seldom think of Him as being identical to the God who parted the Red Sea and drowned the entire Egyptian Army. We seldom see Jesus as the One who spoke the World into existence, and who created everything in it, completely by His own authority, and from His own, limitless imagination.

And, even when we briefly consider these things, we may momentarily rejoice at His creativity and power, but we still feel free to “go do our own thing,” whenever the notion hits. Somehow we still feel that we are “free moral agents,” and that we are under no absolute obligation to follow the will of our Creator, Savior, and God. (But we are under just that obligation!)

What Manner of Man?

When Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples in the boat had feared for their lives before He acted, but they were more afraid, afterward: They asked, “what manner of man is He, that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”

And yet, after He had stated His will for their lives, and after His death, burial and resurrection, most of them (in John 21) had decided to go back to commercial fishing. Jesus called them away from the fish for the last time, and redirected their thoughts to His command.

After they received the Holy Spirit, in Acts chapter 2, they seem to never have lost sight of the objective anymore. They all seem to have faithfully walked with Him after that.

So, What about Us?

Each of us already has been born again. Each of us already has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit: So, why are we still so easily distracted? Why do the things of the world so easily entangle us?

In Hebrews 12:1, 2, the writer begs us to consider all those that have gone before us, and take their example:

Hebrews 12:1, 2,

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The great cloud of witnesses he mentions are the whole group named, or alluded to, in the previous chapter. It was not that they are “watching us”, as “witnesses” of our behavior, but rather, that they have all testified to us. They testify as witnesses of what God can do in the lives of believers who are committed to His will. And, on the basis of their testimonies, he commands us to “lay aside every weight.”—”Get rid of anything holding you back, just as a competitive runner would lay aside any heavy clothing or baggage, in order to run well.”

What is Holding You Back?

But he also calls us to lay aside the “sin that so easily besets us.” What is there in our lives that regularly trips us up? What passions do we regularly obey, that are detrimental to our obedience to Christ? These are questions for self-examination. I point no finger at anyone, except myself. And yet, the command is there for us all to see.

Finally, He commands us to “Look to Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith.” Take Him for our example of commitment and obedience. He says that it was “for the Joy that was set before Him” that he “endured the Cross, despising the shame” of that Cross, and, as the eternal champion, He has “sat down on the right hand of the throne of God” the Father.

Get in the Race!

He calls us to emulate His example: not just sit on the sidelines, and wave flags and cheer. We are to enter the race ourselves and run!

The Pharisees to whom He spoke were his enemies. Most of them would never believe in Him. But there were believers in the group, and those were the ones to whom He extended the invitation to walk with him and learn from Him, and be set free from their sins by His power in their lives.

That invitation has been extended to us, as well. We need to answer that invitation daily, follow Him, and reap the benefits He promised.

Lord Jesus, stir our hearts to follow You, and to follow Your example. Teach us to look for Your will, and listen for Your voice, Teach us to read Your Word, seeing Your face in the pages, and obey Your commands faithfully. Make us the Men and Women of God You have called us to be.

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022

Finding Freedom in Christ

John 8:33-47

Introduction:

We addressed the issue of discipleship last week, but only the fact that Jesus wants us to transition from just being His offspring, having been born again into His family. He asks that we grow up, into full-grown mature sons, who can actively follow Him in true discipleship.

He concluded by saying that they would know (experiential knowledge—”gnosko“) the Truth, and the Truth would make them free. We determined that, since the word He used for “know” was the experiential “gnosko,” as opposed to just knowing a fact, that He was inviting them to learn to know Him, through an ongoing, permanent relationship, and that that relationship would set them free. But, the Pharisees found this promise offensive. They said that they were already free, and always had been!

Freedom From What?

³³They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Now, they were talking utter nonsense! It was denial of the silliest kind: Why? Because, as they spoke, they were currently a slave-state to Rome, and they had been enslaved to other enemies, listed in scripture, at numerous times throughout their history! But Jesus did not address their political history. Jesus addressed the real issue: their Spiritual Slavery.

What Does His Name Mean?

Go back and see why Jesus was named “Jesus,” in the first place: in Matthew 1:21, the Angel of the Lord commanded Joseph that he would “…call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their Sins.” (This promise adressed the reality of original Sin! It was a more precious promise than the promise of the land, or the promise of the kingdom!)

Save His people from what? The Roman government? Some “internal political danger?” No, it was far more basic and powerful than that: the entire Human race has been enslaved to Sin, and, through sin, we are also enslaved to the fear of death, ever since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The Law of Sin and Death has shown every single one of us to be enslaved to sin, in all ages, through every culture.

Who are His People?

He came to save His people from that slavery! So, who are His people? We can pretty much guarantee that those who originally heard that promise would have assumed He meant them: the Jews! (“Well, obviously, WE are the people of God!”)

But; remember the earlier chapters of John: who did we see Him claim as “His people?” He claimed the believers, not only there, but throughout all History! Before the Jews existed, He claimed the believers! In every country, He chose believers! Naaman, the Syrian, became a believer, and God accepted him. The thief on the Cross became a believer, and Jesus accepted him. Abraham, who lived three or more generations before the name “Jews” was ever used, believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.

And, yet, as we read those histories, we see that those individuals were not “free from sin.” They still sinned. Some of them sinned a great deal!

What does Jesus mean, then?

“Positional truth versus Conditional truth” may be part of the answer: God said that in the believer’s case, He would no longer remember their sin. That is true, but it isn’t very satisfying, by itself: we want a practical freedom from sin.

³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Conditional Slavery

So, here, Jesus begins to answer that question: He said whoever “practices sin” is a slave to sin. The King James Version translates that word as “commits”…we use the word “commit,” to indicate any single offense. (Either I have or I have not “committed” a crime.) But that word “poiōn” is almost always (353 times) translated “do”, and only nine times is translated “commit.” And, in this particular passage, it is a present tense, active verb: it is someone practicing sin in the “continuous, present-tense” sense of the word.

So, while positionally, I am no longer a slave to sin, the warning is, that when I exercise my will to practice sin, then I have placed myself back under the authority of my old sin nature, and I have again become currently enslaved to it. My condition is terrible at that point, but my position is still unchanged.

Positional Freedom

The people to whom Jesus actually was speaking were positionally free already, because they had already believed in Him (see verse 30.) The Pharisees who were rebelling against His words were positionally enslaved: they had never laid claim to Jesus as their Savior: they did not believe in Him.

He offered that practical freedom only to those who believed, according to verses 31 and 32…He tells us, as believers,that we can walk in holiness and obedience. How? By immersing ourselves in Him! By continually building that relationship, and with it, the relational, experiential knowledge of the God we serve, we allow the Son to make us Free! That is what sets us free! An unbeliever can’t walk with Him at all! That offer can’t even be made to them, except in the smallest sense. If they chose to know Him as their Messiah—their Savior—then they would have been positionally clean; Positionally free.

Spiritually Enslaved

But the unbelievers were not qualified to even begin that journey! They were truly enslaved to Sin. They proved it by their response to the Light that He was shining into their lives. Jesus had already warned them that unless something changed, they were going to die in their sins. He went on to address the Pharisees as a group:

Who is your Father?

³⁷I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. ³⁸I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

Jesus said that He, Himself, was imitating His father: and that they were failing to do so, because they were imitating their spiritual father, whom He has not yet identified.

³⁹They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

The Jews claim Abraham as their father…so do the Arabs! And both are technically correct, in terms of physical genealogies! Abraham was the father of Ishmael, through Hagar, and he was the father of Isaac, through Sarah. And, relationally, it wasn’t doing either group a bit of good! Neither group is emulating their physical forefather, Abraham.

You are acting like your Father!

Jesus pointed out that they were not acting like Abraham’s children. Abraham demonstrated real faith in his life, and, when confronted with Melchizedek, he accepted Him for who He was, and he brought an offering. Jesus revealed that they were not acting like that, thus they must have a different father than whom they claimed.

⁴¹Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

Now they increased the stakes, and claimed God as their Father! So, what is wrong with that? I have lost count of the number of times I have had someone tell me, with great piety and dignity, that “Everyone is a Child of God!” (Well, we are about to discover that it is simply not true!)

Physical Behavior reveals Spiritual Parentage

⁴²Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Response to the Light reveals Character

⁴³Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

You are probably getting tired of hearing me repeat J. Vernon McGee’s story about the animals’ responses to his lantern, in the barn: they reacted differently to the light, because they were different inside. The rats fled from the light because they were rats, creatures of the night, and they saw the young man with the light as their mortal enemy. The birds in the rafters sang when they saw the light, because they were creatures of the day; creatures of the light, and they thought the lantern was sunrise!

Spiritual Heritage

Jesus said that His detractors were behaving just like their spiritual father.

⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

He said their spiritual father was Satan, and that their incompatibility with truth (and therefore light) as well as their insatiable desire to kill anyone who called them on their sin, were the evidence that proved their parentage. They were at that moment (and repeatedly) showing themselves to be liars and murderers. I remember the first time I read this, thinking, “But Satan never killed anyone!” Then I realized that when he convinced Adam to sin, he killed the entire human race! Yes, Satan was a murderer from the beginning! The question is, what are we going to do about our spiritual heritage?

Why Did they Not Believe?

⁴⁵And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. ⁴⁶Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

When the woman caught in adultery was accused, in verses 1-11, Jesus dismissed the accusers by suggesting that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. Here, He did no such thing: He simply challenged them to make the accusation. (“What sin am I accused of? Which of you can rightfully accuse me?”) Then He pressed it further, saying, “and if I have been telling the truth all along, why have you not believed Me?

We are uncomfortable with this exchange, because it accuses us as well. (If I know that God’s Word is true, then why do I still rebel against it? Why do I not agree with it across the board?) The problem is that I still sin: I still have a sin nature, and I am prone to deciding, “Well, this is ok! This is small! I can do what I want, here! I’m the one in charge right now!”

Who is in Charge?

But that sort of thinking has no real stopping point: once I decide that I can rebel against the truth, there is no logical stopping point. I declare myself to be the Sovereign in my little sphere, and I effectively attempt to “evict God”…or, at least, “dethrone” Him!” At that point I am as surely enslaved to sin as if I had never been saved!

The only saving Grace is exactly that: Saving Grace. I have peace with God, in the sense that He will never again treat me as His enemy. But I do not have the Peace of God! I am not experiencing that love-relationship that He promised would free me from my sin. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said,

⁴⁷He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

The Pharisees were proving their parentage. We, as believers, need to carefully consider what we are demonstrating: In our lives, every day, we have choices to make. How we make those choices at least shows “who is on the throne” in our lives. Our old Sin nature is still there, and it will still “take charge” if we allow it. It will then manifest itself in our resulting behavior. We will behave in a self-centered manner, thinking primarily of how things affect us, rather than how we can affect others for good.

How I respond to God’s truth, as a believer, demonstrates my condition: am I in fellowship with God, or am I just living the self-willed life?

Peace and Freedom are for Believers!

Jesus spoke to the believers when He made the promise of Freedom! Peace with God can only come to those who have received Gods Grace. The Peace of God can only come to believers who are in fellowship with Him and are living in His Grace.

You have to decide. I have to decide, moment-by-moment and day-by-day, “Will I choose to experience His Peace, and His Freedom from the tyranny of Sin in my life?” The Freedom He promised only comes as we walk with Jesus in faith and obedience. Yes; as born again believers, we belong to Him. But we still need to live as His disciples, by Faith and Obedience..

Lord Jesus, we desire to be free from our slavery to sin. We desire to experience your Peace and Your Freedom. Free us from our sins and teach us to walk with You by Faith. Teach us to Obey by faith. Teach us to Love by Faith. Make us your disciples in Truth.