TABLE OF CONTENTS

2017, Uncategorized

TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Click a title and link below it.  That sermon should appear on your computer’s screen.)

LAZARUS!  COME FORTH! – John 11:28-44
NO EXCUSE GIVEN – John 11:17-27
THE DEATH OF LAZARUS – John 11:1-17
JESUS THE SON OF GOD – John 10:31-42
SAY IT!  WE DARE YOU! – John 10:22-30
THE GOOD SHEPHERD – John 10:11-21
THE DOOR TO THE SHEEPFOLD – John 10:6-10
THE TRUE SHEPHERD – John 10:1-5                                                      SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND DARKNESS – John 9:35-41
PHARISEES VS. BLIND MAN (Round 3) – John 9:24-34

Continue reading →

A LESSON IN HUMILITY – John 13:1-17

Uncategorized

It was now the night before Jesus’ crucifixion and He was in the upper room celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples.  I can imagine that we have all seen a copy or a photo of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting entitled “The Last Supper.”  It is a beautiful painting but it doesn’t picture what really took place that night.  Jesus and His disciples didn’t sit in chairs, but on couches.  They lay on their left sides, with their right hands available for eating.  Luke 22 tells us that John was on one side of Jesus while Judas was on the other side.  Jesus still has much to say to His disciples before His death.  He is about to teach them an important lesson by His words and, more importantly, by His example.

I.  THE SETTING (verses 1-2)

The chapter begins with a description of Jesus’ attitude toward His disciples.  It’s one of love.  “Jesus loved His own . . . to the end.”  The word “love” now becomes the key word or the rest of John’s Gospel.  He “loved them to the end.”  Jesus not only loved His disciples to the end of His life, but He also loved them to an infinite degree, and he is about to demonstrate it.  We find in verse two that Judas was also included in that love.  Judas had plotted against the Lord long before this, and his greed for money became an opportunity for the devil to influence and use him.

II.  THE WASHING OF THE FEET (verses 3-11)

In verse 3, the apostle John prepares us for the significance of the act that will follow.  The Lord Jesus knows who He is and the authority that He has as the Son of God, and yet He is willing to perform the humble act of service that we read here.  In verses 4 and 5, Jesus gets up from the meal and prepares Himself for what He is about to do.  He removes His outer garments and is left wearing nothing but the loincloth of a slave.  Jesus then gets down on His knees to wash HIs disciples’ feet.  Can you imagine the expressions of shock on their faces when He began to do so?  This is one of those cases where actions speak louder than words.

Why would the Lord Jesus be washing His disciples’ feet?  Two reasons are given in the gospels.  First, their feet were dirty.  That was the obvious reason!  It was a common courtesy in that day for a slave to be provided to wash the feet of guests before they entered a home.  Since there was no slave present in this case, one of the disciples should have volunteered before the meal.  The meal was already in progress, so Jesus got up and performed the service Himself.  Now foot washing was a messy task in those days.  The people either wore sandals or went barefoot and the dust and mud would be caked up on their feet by the end of the day.  It was a humble task, and it’s interesting that the Greek word for “humility” actually means “to stoop low.”  That’s exactly what Jesus was doing as He washed their feet.  The Lord Jesus was a living illustration of humility.  Washing someone else’s feet was a task that was assigned to the lowliest of servants.  Secondly, their hearts were proud.  Any one of the disciples would have been glad to wash Jesus’ feet or do any other service for Him.  But to wash the feet of the other disciples would have been to admit inferiority.  You see, they had just been arguing among themselves over which one of them was the greatest.  That’s what it says in Luke 22:24.  After that dispute, Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.  But you are not to be like that.  Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.  For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one who is at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.”  A conversation among the disciples over who would betray Jesus led to this dispute over who was the greatest.  It’s in this setting that Jesus illustrates what it means to serve by washing their feet.

III.  THE RESPONSE (verses 6-11)

You can imagine that all His disciples were embarrassed and ashamed, but Peter was the one, as usual, to speak out what they all felt.  “Lord, are you washing my feet” or, more accurately, “You aren’t washing my feet, are you?”  In verse 7, Jesus tells Peter that there is a spiritual meaning to what He is doing, and he will understand it later, after Jesus dies and is raised from the dead.  Well, Peter is still ashamed, so he changes his question to a statement when he says, in verse 8, “You shall never wash my feet!”  Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest translated Peter’s words in this way:  “You shall by no means wash my feet, no, never!”  That’s an intensely negative statement by Peter, isn’t it?  Jesus answers, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.”  Notice that Jesus doesn’t say “no part in me”, but “no part with me.”  What He is saying is “Peter, your pride is getting in the way of our relationship.  You must allow me to serve you or you will never understand what true fellowship with me is all about.”  Jesus used the word “part” in Luke 10:42 when He said to Martha:  “Mary has chosen the good part.”  He’s referring to the fact that Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet enjoying His fellowship, while Martha was running around, worrying about things that were less important.

Peter does an about-face in verse 9 when he says, “If washing is a requirement for fellowship with you, then wash me completely – give me a bath.”  Peter said that out of love for the Lord and a desire to please Him.  Now Jesus brings out the spiritual meaning more clearly in verse 10 when He says, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet.”  A believer in Jesus Christ has become a child of God and the penalty for his sins has been completely removed, cancelled by the atoning death of Christ, The “bath” or the cleansing from the penalty of sin, occurs only once, at the time of one’s salvation; but the cleansing from the pollution of sin which comes from contact with the world and yielding to its lusts, is to take place continually.  Let me illustrate this principle in a way that really hits home to me.  Mommy and daddy are sitting in the living room talking when little Johnnie comes running in with muddy shoes and jumps into daddy’s lap to give him a hug and a kiss.  Being a loving parent, daddy would probably enjoy the hug and kiss, and then carry Johnnie outside, clean off his shoes, and carry him back inside saying something like this:  “I love you, Johnnie, but your dirty shoes can mess up my clothes and the furniture.  From now on, let’s try to make sure your shoes are clean before you come inside, and then you can sit in my lap and hug me and talk to me all you want, O.K?”  God is just such a loving Father, and confession of our sins to Him restores that fellowship.  Jesus adds, in verses 10 to 11, that “not all of you are clean.”  Judas has not taken a spiritual bath.  He has no genuine commitment to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

IV.  THE EXPLANATION FOR HIS ACTIONS (verses 12-17)  TO BE CONTINUED.

CONSTRUCTION SITE;  Thank you for visiting.  This construction site, John 13:1-17  is still a work-in-progress.  More will be added to this sermon soon and construction should be completed before the end of the week.  Please come back again soon and visit some of the completed sites here at wisdomfromabove.net.

WHY DON’T PEOPLE BELIEVE? — John 12:37-50

unbelief, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION;

It is now only a few days before the crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 36 tells us that Jesus hid from the multitudes in order to spend some concentrated time with His disciples before His death.  In this passage of Scripture, John 12:37-50, the apostle John gives a summary of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus to the nation of Israel, and then he gives Jesus’ response to the nation.

I.  JOHN’S EVALUATION OF THEIR UNBELIEF (verses 37-41)

John has three things to say about the Jew’s rejection of Jesus.  First, it was illogical, considering all the miracles Jesus had performed to prove He was the Son of God.  There are two aspects of Jesus’ miracles that John emphasizes.  In verse 37, John uses the words “so many miracles”.  Not only were there many miracles but there were also many kinds of miracles, some of which were repeated.  For example, there was the feeding of the 3000 and the feeding of the 5000.  There was also the raising of Jairus’s daughter as well as the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  The large number and the great variety of miracles demonstrated Christ’s power and gave the people many opportunities to observe and examine them.

Jesus performed His miracles “before them”.  Most of His miracles were not done from a distance or in secret, but right in front of their very eyes.  To reject these miracles was to deny the obvious.  The apostle John expresses amazement that, though the Lord Jesus performed so many mighty works, the Jewish people as a nation did not believe in Him.  As John mentioned before, their unbelief was not caused by any lack of evidence.  The people did not want to believe.   They refused to believe.

Secondly, their unbelief was predicted.  In verse 38, John quotes Isaiah 53:1 when he says, “Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  There is a question over who is speaking in this quote:  “who has believed our message?”.  To say that it refers to Isaiah and the other prophets doesn’t fit with verse 2, nor with Isaiah 52:15 or chapter 54 of Isaiah.  I would like to suggest that the speaker in verse 1 is the nation of Israel — the future nation of Israel which will have come to believe in Jesus Christ.  This new Israel that is to come is looking back to the time of Christ and asking, “Who believed the message we received then?  How many recognized the “arm” or the power of God in the miracles of Christ?”  The obvious answer is “not many”, not many at all.  The form of this question is an emphatic way of saying that the message was rejected.

Thirdly, in verses 39-41, John declares that their unbelief was decreed by God.  In verse 39, he says, “For this cause, they could not believe.”  Then John quotes the words of the prophet Isaiah, saying, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart; lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them.”   Let’s not misunderstand the words of John and the prophet Isaiah.  The people are not being condemned against their will, or before they have an opportunity to choose for themselves.  John is writing here about a cause-and-effect relationship and God is not the cause of their spiritual condition.  They are the cause.  What they persist in doing, they will become.  It doesn’t say that they can’t repent or that God won’t forgive them if they do so.   God has not put an obstacle in their path.  They have stubbornly put an obstacle in God’s path and God is allowing them to have their way and experience the consequences of their disobedience.

The word “hardened”, in verse 40, comes from the Greek word for “callus”.  I’m sure we’ve all had calluses on our hands or feet before, haven’t we?  Wherever there is a callus, the skin is not as sensitive to touch or pain because that hard callus covers the nerves underneath it.  That same process can happen spiritually.  The more a person rejects the Gospel message, the harder it becomes for him or her to receive it.

One of the early church fathers, Augustine of Hippo, commented on this passage of Scripture.  He said, “If I be asked why they could not believe, I answer without hesitation, ‘because they would not; because God foresaw their evil will, and he announced it beforehand by the prophet.’ ”

Pastor Ray Stedman used an illustration that brings this principle across clearly by applying it to our human bodies.  Here is his illustration:

“Tie your arm to your body and leave it tied, unmovable, for a week.  When you untie it, you will find that you can hardly move it; it will have lost its ability to function, not because God wants people to lose their arm function.  No, but God determined the law that says, ‘use it or lose it.’ . . . It is also true of one’s moral life.  If you don’t exercise faith when you have the opportunity, you will gradually lose the ability to do so, until there will come a day when you cannot exercise faith.  By the law of nature, then, God has hardened your heart and blinded your eyes.  Having chosen that, that is what you become.  If you refuse to act on truth, you will finally lose the ability to recognize it.  It has been said,

“There is a line by us unseen, that crosses every path,
The hidden boundary between God’s patience and His wrath.”

II.  BELIEF IN MIND, NOT IN ACTION (verses 42-43)

As the apostle John continues to evaluate their unbelief, he makes a statement in verses 42 and 43 that could be misinterpreted if it isn’t tied to his previous statement.  John is not saying that many of the authorities became followers of Jesus Christ.  What he appears to be saying is that many of the authorities were entertaining thoughts that Jesus was the Messiah, but there was no evidence of a commitment to follow Christ at that point in time.  True faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is life-changing.  The indwelling Christ overcomes the fear of man and gives the true believer the desire and the power to stand firm in the face of opposition.  There is no such thing as a secret disciple of Christ.

In 373 A.D., a man by the name of John Chrysostom spent some time alone in the mountains of Antioch, seeking to know God better.  He learned from that experience that, with God on His side, he could stand alone against anyone or anything.  That lesson was put to the test later on in his life.  In 389 A.D., he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, where his zeal for reform antagonized Empress Eudoxia, who had him exiled.  Allowed to return after a short time, Chrysostom again infuriated Eudoxia, who sent him away again.  How did Chrysostom respond to such persecution?  With these words:  “What can I fear?  Will it be death?  But you know that Christ is my life and that I shall gain by death.  Will it be exile?  But the earth and all its fullness are the Lord’s.  Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for, and from death, I do not shrink.”

The rulers of the Jews, on the other hand, refused to confess Jesus Christ before men because of their fear of the consequences.  The approval of men was more important than the approval of God.  That attitude ruled out the possibility of any real commitment to Jesus Christ as their Lord.  There were two exceptions.  After the crucifixion and death of Jesus, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea risked their reputations and their lives when they asked Pilate for the body of Jesus Christ so that they could give Him a King’s burial.

III.  THE SERIOUSNESS OF REJECTING CHRIST (verses 44-50)

After finishing his evaluation of that situation, the apostle John now quotes the words Jesus spoke to them at that point in time.  Verse 44 says that Jesus “cried out”  He raised His voice so that everyone could hear what He was about to say.  Here is His first statement:  “He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.  And he who sees me sees him who sent me.”  Jesus is saying that He and the Father are one in essence.  They are both God.  To see Him is to see God because Jesus is God in the flesh.  Jesus’ second statement is:  “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”  C.S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity and many other Christian books, said these words:  “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”  When we become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, we see life from a different perspective, don’t we?  The apostle Peter said it well in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,”  The present and future are much brighter and clearer when we know the Lord, aren’t they?

Now Jesus tells us the other side of the story.  Judgment is for those who refuse to believe in Him, but Jesus is reminding them that His first coming is a time of grace, not of judgment.  He came to earth to save the world, not to judge it.  But He warns them that there will be a last day and that will be a day of judgment and condemnation.  His own words will condemn them if they refuse to believe.  He is giving them a final notice, and He adds that His words are the words that the Father has told Him to say to them.  You can add verse 36 to the end of verse 50.  “When He [Jesus] had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid Himself from them.”

Have you ever received a final notice in the mail?  There was a cartoon in Readers’ Digest Magazine many years ago.  A wife was opening the mail and she said to her husband, “The bank says that this is our last notice.  Isn’t it wonderful that they aren’t going to bother us anymore?”  It’s never wise to ignore final notices, is it?  A man received a “Second Notice” from the IRS that his tax payment was overdue and that unless it was immediately forthcoming, he would face legal action.  He hurried to the IRS office with his payment in hand and said, “I would have paid it sooner but I never received your First Notice.  The clerk replied, “We ran out of ‘First Notices.’  Besides, we discovered that the ‘Second Notices’ are much more effective.”  Jesus’ words here at the end of chapter 12 are God’s Final Notice.  It’s a call to believe in Him for salvation and to live for Him until our last day on this earth.

In the children’s fantasy, Alice in Wonderland, Alice came to a junction in the road that led in different directions, so she asked the Cheshire Cat for advice.

“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

The Cat is right.  It doesn’t matter which way we go if we don’t care where we end up.  But most of us do care where we end up, don’t we?  The decisions we make throughout our lives do matter.  We all come to forks in the road of our lives and make decisions that will impact our future.  If we have Christ in our lives and His Word in our hearts and on our minds, we have all the light we need.  Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  But God’s Word not only lights the way.  It is also used by the Holy Spirit to empower us to obey as we meditate upon it each day.  Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  Will we allow God to be successful in using our lives for His glory today and every day of our lives?    .

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  Completed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLORIFY THY NAME – John 12:27-36

Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION:

When we are facing a difficult and dangerous assignment, what alternatives do we have?  One alternative would be to avoid it, refusing to go through it or running away from it.  The prophet Jonah comes to my mind.  When God told him to go to Nineveh, Jonah ran in the opposite direction.  Another alternative would be to do the parts of the assignment which were less threatening and disregard the rest.  A third alternative would be to do it, regardless of the danger or cost to ourselves.

The Lord Jesus Christ was faced with a dangerous situation.  He knew that very soon He would be arrested and crucified.  John 12:27-36 describes Jesus’ response and His motivation in the face of suffering and death.

I,  JESUS PRAYER CONCERNING HIS COMING CRUCIFIXION (verses 27-28)

Jesus didn’t wait until the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before His death, to begin to pray about it.  In verse 27, He expressed His inner feelings to the Father when He said, “My soul is troubled.”  There was a conflict of emotions.  Jesus asked Himself the question, “What shall I say?” [“What shall I pray?”].  Two alternatives came to His mind and He expressed the first one:  “Shall I say . . . Father, save Me from this hour?”  We see the reaction of Jesus’ human will to the possibility of death.  It was an instinctive reaction to danger, a reaction that we all have as human beings.  Jesus was no actor playing a role.  He was a real person possessing real emotions.  And this hour that He was facing would involve the desertion of His disciples, being bound and led away, being struck on the face, scourged with a whip, crowned with thorns and mocked, followed by crucifixion and death.  Try to imagine facing that situation yourself, knowing what was about to happen to you.

In verse 27, Jesus immediately realized that He could not pray this prayer, “Father, save Me from this hour” because His whole purpose for coming to this earth was to go to the cross.  Jesus was born so that He might die for our sins.  Without Christ’s death, His life would be fruitless.  It would accomplish nothing of eternal value.  So Jesus immediately dismissed that thought and expressed His real desire when He prayed the words:  “Father, glorify Thy name.”  Jesus knew what was in store for Him:  the physical pain, the emotional strain and shame, and the spiritual agony as He would become the object of the Father’s wrath for sin.  Yet His prayer was not for Himself but for the Father’s name to be glorified and His will accomplished.  Jesus was saying, “complete your perfect plan of salvation through Me, even at the cost of My own suffering and death.”  We will see this same attitude again in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).  Then he immediately added, “yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”. 

The Bible doesn’t tell us when God the Father revealed to Jesus that He was going to die for the sins of the world.  We do find, in Luke 2:41-52, that at the age of 12, Jesus was found in the temple listening to the elders and asking them questions.  His response to Mary and Joseph was, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  It’s clear from that passage of Scripture that Jesus already had some understanding of His mission.  We find that, early in His public ministry, Jesus talked about His death.

William Hunt painted a famous picture entitled The Shadow of Death.  The artist portrayed Jesus as a young man in Joseph’s carpenter shop.  It was in the late afternoon and the sun’s rays were coming through the open door.  Jesus had gotten up from His work and was stretching His aching arms.  As he did so, the setting sun casts a shadow on the wall behind Him, creating the appearance of a man on a cross.  That picture dramatizes the truth that Jesus lived with the consciousness that Calvary was God’s will for His life.

In verse 28, Jesus’ prayer was a demonstration of His perfect obedience to the will of the Father.  He also fulfilled, by His example, the prayer He taught His disciples in Matthew 6:9, where He said, “Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ “   Exalting the name of the Father and doing the Father’s will were the chief concerns of His life.

II.  THE FATHER’S RESPONSE (verse 28)

After Jesus prayed those words, “Father, glorify Thy name”, verse 28 tells us there was a voice from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  When did the Father glorify Himself through His Son?  We find the Father’s voice echoing from heaven at Jesus’ baptism.  In Matthew 3:17, God spoke from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The Father was testifying to His Son’s sinlessness and perfect obedience to Him during the silent years before Jesus began His public ministry.

Later the Father’s voice was heard again at the transfiguration of Jesus as Peter, James, and John watched and listened, and as Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus.  God the Father spoke these words from heaven:  “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5).  The Father was expressing His delight in the Son’s ministry –  a ministry that was superior to all the prophets and leaders who came before Him.  When God the Father said, “I will glorify it again”, He was also saying that still greater glory was yet to be brought to Him through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III.  THE CROWD’S REACTION (verse 29)

From the crowd’s reaction, we learn that there were basically two groups of people in that crowd.  The first group said, “It thundered”.  This group of people didn’t believe in anything miraculous.  They were saying, “There is no such thing as a miracle, so there must be a natural explanation for this.  Hmmm . . . It must have been thunder.  That’s the only sensible answer.”

The second group knew it wasn’t thunder.  They admitted that words were spoken, but they couldn’t be the words of God; so their conclusion was:  “An angel has spoken to Him.”  But how could an angel say those words?  The Scriptures tell us that angels don’t marry or have children (Mark 12:25).

I just read a true illustration about a person whose response to his own personal experience is the opposite of these two groups of people.  Near the end of World War 2, members of the allied forces were often found searching farms and houses for snipers.  At one abandoned house, which had been reduced to rubble, searchers found their way into the basement.  There, on a crumbling wall, a victim of the Holocaust had scratched a Star of David.  Beneath it was written the words, “I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine.  I believe in love even when it is not shown.  I believe in God even when He does not speak.”

There was a time when the Jews believed that God spoke audibly to men.  He spoke to Abraham, Samuel, Elijah, and several others. But during the silent years – the 400 or so years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, when God did not speak audibly or through the prophets, many of the Jews were drawn away from that sense of God’s presence and His closeness to them.  Now, when God does speak aloud to them, they act as if they are hard of hearing.  Would you agree that pride can sometimes cause us to be “selective listeners”?  As the saying goes, “In one ear and out the other.”  That seems to be the case in this situation, doesn’t it?

IV.  JESUS RESPONDS TO THE CROWD (verses 30-33)

In His response to the crowd, Jesus begins by saying, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”  Let’s not misunderstand the meaning of His words.  Jesus was not saying that those words from heaven had everything to do with them and nothing to do with Him.   The Father said those words aloud in reply to Jesus and I’m sure they were an encouragement to Him.  What Jesus meant was:  “That voice came more for your sake than for Mine.”

Then Jesus made a startling statement when He said, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.”  He’s beginning to describe to them how the Father is going to glorify Himself again through His Son.  Some may have been thinking, “What right does He have to make such a prophetic statement?  Who is this ‘ruler of this world’?”  Actually, many of the Jews of Jesus’ day may have had that understanding of Satan.  The apostle Paul was a Jew and he referred to Satan as “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).  There were also many demon-possessed people in Palestine during the lifetime of Christ, and the Jews had opportunities to observe the power and control that demons could wield in a person’s life.

When Jesus referred to Satan as “the ruler of this world”, He was asserting that Satan was powerful and that he exerted a lot of influence over the people of this world.  But even though Satan’s desire is to control this world, there is One who is more powerful than himself.

During the French Revolution in the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte, with his staff officers around him, once spread a large map of the world on a table before him, put his finger on a kingdom colored red, and said to them, “Messieurs, if it were not for that red spot I could conquer the world.”  That red spot was the British Isles.  In like manner, Satan might place a huge map of the universe before his cohorts, put his finger on a place red with the blood of the Savior, and say to them, “If it were not for that red spot, I could conquer the universe.”  That red spot is the Cross on Golgotha’s Hill where the Lord Jesus died to save sinners from Satan’s power.

Not only would He defeat Satan by His own death on the cross, but Jesus adds in verse 32, “I will draw all men to Myself.”   When Jesus said the words “all men”, He did not mean every individual without exception, but all kinds of people without exclusion.  Jews and Gentiles, regardless of age, gender, color, nationality, or social status would be drawn to Christ and find deliverance from sin and peace with God through the “magnet” of the cross of Christ.  Earlier in His ministry, Jesus said, in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”  When you are drawn, you come.

The apostle John wants his readers to understand the reason why Jesus said the words, “When I am lifted up.”  It was to indicate the kind of death He was to die.  In contrast to Satan [“the ruler of this world”] who is going to be “cast out”, Jesus is going to be “lifted up”.

There is confusion in the minds of the multitude.  They heard Jesus call Himself “the Son of Man” in verse 23 and now He is talking about His death.  That didn’t fit their understanding of the Scriptures so they demand an explanation.  In verse 34, someone in the crowd must have spoken on behalf of the others saying, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever, and how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?  Who is this Son of Man?’ ”  Can you feel the tension?  Just a couple of days earlier, they were shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Now they are questioning whether the Son of Man and the Messiah are the same person.

V.  WALK IN THE LIGHT (verses 35-36)

Jesus doesn’t answer their excuse and their question directly.  Instead, He gives them a warning, a choice, and a promise.  Farmers have a saying that goes like this:  “Make hay while the sun shines.”  It’s an encouragement to make the most of the opportunity.  The weather won’t be favorable for planting or harvesting for much longer.

As Jesus speaks to the multitude, He once again uses the theme of light and darkness.  In verse 35 He says, “For a little while longer the light is among you.”  Jesus” is referring to Himself.  You may have heard the saying, “Opportunity seldom knocks twice.”  In their case, “opportunity” has been knocking for three years and very few have opened the door.  It is now Passover week, and Jesus’ crucifixion and death are just a few days away.

When Jesus said, “The light is among you”, He was bringing to their minds the words of the prophet Isaiah who said, in Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine upon them.”  Jesus is, once again, proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah they are longing for.  He is also giving them a final warning and two final exhortations:  “Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you . . . believe in the light in order that you may become sons of light.”   Can you sense the urgency in His plea to the multitude?  This is His last call to them.  God’s patience with them has reached its limit.  To “walk in the light” and to “believe in the light” are two ways to say the same thing.  Both refer to a commitment to follow Him, the “light of the world” (John 8:12).

They have the privilege of having the light of the world [Jesus Christ] in their presence, and along with that privilege comes an obligation to believe in that light with the result that they will become children of the light.  The warning is that He won’t be around much longer, and they will be stumbling in the darkness.  This was the end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s Gospel.  Verse 36 tells us that after He said these things to them, Jesus “departed and hid Himself from them.” 

CONCLUSION:

Several principles can be drawn from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage of Scripture.  First, God’s glory, not our own comfort and safety, should be the basis for all our decision-making.  After Jesus told the multitude about His coming death, He said, “Father, glorify Thy name.”  Secondly, God is glorified when we are obedient to His Word and are doing His will.  And thirdly:  Now is the time to glorify God in our lives.  Is this a time of decision for you?  The Light of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only to be seen and admired but also to be followed and displayed.  He wants His light to shine in and through your life.  Don’t put off believing in Him and living for Him.  Before the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River to enter the land of Canaan, Joshua said, “Chose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”  He was also quick to add his own personal application saying, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”  (Joshua 24:15)

When the French painter, Auguste Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Henri Matisse was nearly 28 years younger than him.  The two great artists were dear friends and frequent companions.  Matisse visited him daily.  Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities.  He had to hold his brush between his thumb and index finger.  As he painted, students often heard him crying out in pain.  One day, as Matisse watched the elder painter work in his studio, fighting tortuous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”  Renoir said, “The pain passes but the beauty remains.

The pain of Jesus Christ on the cross has passed but the beauty remains.  It’s the beauty of the resurrected Christ.  It’s the beauty of being a new creature in Christ because He suffered and died for us.  It’s the beauty of a new kingdom that has been established in the hearts and lives of His followers.  It’s the beauty of knowing Him and living for Him who died for us.  It’s the beauty of heaven.  Out of our pain and sorrow in this life will come a beauty that will last forever.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Welcome to this construction project:  John 12:27-36.  I hope you will enter into the emotions of Jesus and learn from His response, His Father’s response to Him, and the responses of those who were there, watching, listening, and coming to their own conclusions.

THE PARADOX OF LIFE FROM DEATH – John 12:20-26

Paradox of death and fruitfulness, paradox of life and death, Paradox of life and death, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION:

A paradox is defined as a figure of speech or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains a kernel of truth.  I like pastor Warren Wiersbe’s definition:  “A paradox is a statement that attracts attention because it seems to be contradictory.  This arouses curiosity and we are puzzled.  But as we meditate on the statement, we go deeper into some important facet of life and learn something new.  Paradoxes are marvelous instructors.”

The Bible contains many spiritual paradoxes.  The Lord Jesus sometimes used paradoxes as a means of communicating truth.  He said, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be last of all, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35).  In another situation, Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11).  In the passage of scripture we are now studying, John 12:20-26, Jesus once again uses a paradox to communicate truth.  Before we examine this paradox, let’s look at the circumstances leading up to it.

  1.  THE BACKGROUND AND SETTING (verses 20)

The feast of the Passover, the greatest feast on the Jewish calendar, was near, and verse 20 says that certain Greeks were going to Jerusalem to worship at the feast.  These Greeks were probably proselytes – a term used for those who were not Jews by birth but became converts to the Jewish religion.  Another example of a proselyte was Cornelius, the Roman Centurion in Acts 10 and 11.  These Gentile converts must have found Judaism to be much more meaningful than their pagan religions.  Have you ever studied Greek and Roman mythology?  If you have, as I have, you’ve probably noted that those gods and goddesses were more corrupt and immoral than the people who worshipped them  By contrast, the God of Israel was a God who was holy and worthy of their worship.

II,  THE REQUEST (verse 21)

Notice, in verse 21, that these Greeks approached Philip and said to him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  Why such boldness?  How did they know that Jesus would be interested in talking to them?  We can find the answer to that question in Mark’s Gospel.  Between verse 19 and verse 20 of John 12, a day or two may have elapsed, and Mark 11:15-17 describes what happened:  It says, “And they [Jesus and His disciples] came to Jerusalem.  And He [Jesus] entered the temple and began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.  And He began to teach and say to them, ‘Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?  But you have made it a robbers’ den.’ 

Jesus cast out the traders and the moneychangers from the outer court of the temple to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 56:7, which says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”  This outer court is called “the Court of the Gentiles” because that was the only place in the temple where Gentile converts could come and worship.  Those Greeks may have been in the temple at that time or may have heard about it, and they must have realized that when Jesus cleansed their courtyard, He did it for their benefit, so that they could worship in peace.  Therefore Jesus was interested in them and could be approached confidently.  They wanted to have a conversation with Jesus and get to know Him better.

Henry Bosch shares an illustration that uses this verse of Scripture.  A brilliant young preacher, with several degrees after his name, once accepted a call to pastor a large congregation.  The people were pleased with his oratory and learning, but something seemed to be missing from his sermons.  One day, when entering the pulpit, he saw a note addressed to him, bearing the following words:  “SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS!”  The Holy Spirit spoke to his heart.  Throwing aside his superficiality and his scholarly rhetoric, he became an ambassador for Christ, pleading with the people to be reconciled to God through the blood of Christ.  Those who came to be entertained by his message remained to pray and repent of their sins.  On a later Sunday, the young minister found another note pinned to the pulpit.  On it was written a Scripture that summarized the feelings of his now well-fed congregation.  It read, “THEN WERE THE DISCIPLES GLAD WHEN THEY SAW THE LORD!”.

Going back to John 12, we read in verse 21 that they came to Philip.  Why did they choose Philip?  Possibly it was because of his name.  Philip is a Greek name.  It means “lover of horses”.  Therefore He would probably understand their language and their ways of thinking.  Their choice of Philip was a good one because Philip himself was an inquirer  The first time he is mentioned in the Gospels is in John 1:43-46.  Philip expressed faith in Jesus and then immediately he went out to bring others to Christ.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. . . . Come and see.”

III.  PHILIP’S RESPONSE (verse 22)

John 12:22 says, “Philip came and told Andrew.”   Why did Philip tell Andrew?  Why not take these Greeks directly to Jesus?  He may have been seeking Andrew’s advice.  These Greeks were Gentiles and Philip may not have trusted his own judgment.  So he presents the situation to Andrew to get his reaction.  The result is that both of them come and tell Jesus about the request.

IV.  JESUS’ RESPONSE (verses 23-26)

Jesus’ heart must have been filled with joy as He exclaims, in verse 23, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  Jesus had been rejected, for the most part, by His own people, but now He sees the assurance that He will be received and accepted as Savior and Lord by the Gentile nations.

In verse 24, Jesus states that there is only one way in which He could be glorified: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies . . . ”  Jesus had to die in order to become a source of life to the world.  It’s only when a grain of wheat falls to the ground, is buried, and begins to rot, that new life comes up from it.  The Lord Jesus is applying this illustration to Himself and to all believers.  If Jesus did not die, “He would remain by Himself alone.”  There would be no saved sinners to share His glory.  But Jesus did die, and Ephesians 2:13 says, “But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  The kingdom of heaven is now open to all believers.  In the case of Jesus, He would die and He would produce fruit, but His body would not experience decay, in fulfillment of prophecy (Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:27).  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, we see the tremendous fruitfulness of the Gospel.  In Acts 2, three thousand people were saved and baptized in one day!  Can you imagine that?  Shortly thereafter, 5000 more came to the Lord.  Then addition became multiplication in Acts 9:31 because those who were being saved were also reaching out to others with the Gospel message, and these became followers of Christ also..  The New Testament church was growing by leaps and bounds.

In 1881 a Scotchman in Minnesota put those words of Jesus to the test.  He planted one grain of wheat.  This grain produced twenty-two stalks bearing 560 grains of wheat.  In 1882 he planted the 560 grains and received a fifth of a bushel of wheat.  In 1883 the fifth of a bushel produced 17 bushels.  In 1884 the seventeen bushels produced over a hundred bushels, and in 1885 the hundred bushels produced 2,800 bushels or four railroad boxcar loads of wheat.  That’s the principle of multiplication.

After applying His principle of death and fruitfulness to Himself, in verses 23-24, Jesus then applies it to His disciples and to us as well. in verses 25-26.  He begins by saying, “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.”  Only by death to oneself comes new life in Christ and fruitfulness for God.  The Lord Jesus carries that principle a step further when He says, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”  There will be rewards for faithful service and we will cast those crowns of righteousness at our Savior’s feet as an act of worship to Him.  But the greatest joy and honor will be the privilege of enjoying His presence and His fellowship for eternity.

A man by the name of C.T. Studd was such a grain of wheat.  Charles Thomas Studd came from a very wealthy family and was the greatest cricket player in England in the late 1800s.  He was also considered by many to be the greatest cricket player in the world at that time.  Cricket is a game somewhat similar to baseball.  C.T. Studd had a very promising career ahead of him in professional sports.  In 1884 his brother George became seriously ill and Charles was confronted with the question, “What is all this fame and flattery worth when a man comes to face eternity?”  After that experience he said, “I know that cricket would not last, and honor would not last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come.”  He and his wife went first to China, then to India.  In 1913 they were compelled to return to England with broken health.  But the fires of God still burned in his soul.  He was called a fool and a fanatic when he decided to go to Africa with neither health nor money.  His reply was, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”

Studd poured himself out for the Congolese for sixteen years, then went to be with the Lord in 1931  In the fifty years since he went to Africa, the one mission field had grown to forty, and the one missionary had become more than a thousand missionaries working under the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade.  C.T. Studd willingly and joyfully died to himself in order that he might know and do the will of God, and God used him abundantly.  The fruits of his labors are continuing to multiply.

Are you and I such a grain of wheat?  The Lord Jesus Christ is only asking us to do, on a small scale, what He did for us on a grand scale by coming to this earth and paying the penalty that our sins deserved in our place.  Are we willing to follow Him completely and unreservedly?    If we want something bad enough, we are willing to make almost any sacrifice to get it, aren’t we?  Jesus Christ has provided the greatest gift.  He has made the greatest possible sacrifice to order to do so.  The greatest joy in this life comes when we submit our wills to the will of God and become a vessel that is emptied of self, filled and controlled by the Spirit of God, and useful to Him for His honor and glory.

A.W. Tozer, the author of the book, “Knowing God”, once wrote:  “In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne until he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross; he remains on the throne.   At the end of his statement, Tozer said, “We all want to be saved but we insist that Christ does all the dying.”  If you belong to Jesus, every day will have its cross.  Every day will have something you ought to do, but don’t feel like doing.  That is your cross.”  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  Every day we have to die a little, or a lot, in order to live for Jesus.  But that is how His kingdom grows.  That is how the death of one kernel of wheat produces many seeds  Jesus used the symbol of a kernel of wheat not only to refer to Himself but as a symbol of everyone who truly follows Him.  Then others will see Jesus through the daily choices we make to crucify self and live for Him.  That is how His kingdom grows.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

I hope to see you next door as I begin a new construction project at this new address:  John 12:27-36.

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM – JOHN 12:9-19

John 12:9-19, palm branches, Palm Sunday, Palm Sunday message, Palm Sunday sermon, second triumphal entry, Triumphal entry, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION:

You may be familiar with the song, “The King Is Coming”.  We know that the king spoken about in that song is the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you think of Christ as King, what image or picture do you see in your mind.  Do you see Christ seated on a great throne, ruling the universe?  Do you see Him on a white horse, as He is described in the book of Revelation, leading the armies of heaven?  Those are probably the most common mental images.  In this passage of Scripture, John 12:9-19, we find a different description of Jesus Christ as King, but one that is equally true and especially important for us to envision and seek to understand.

I.  THE BACKGROUND AND SETTING (verses 9-11)

Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, was now a walking miracle ever since Jesus raised him from the dead.  In the previous passage of Scripture, we learned that Jesus came out of hiding.  He and His disciples returned to the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in Bethany and were having dinner with them.  After dinner, they must have spent the night there because verse 12 begins with the words, “On the next day”.

Have you ever heard or used the phrase, “He [they] put two and two together?”  It means to figure something out based upon what one has seen or heard.  The Lord Jesus is about to make arrangements and create a scene in the hope that His disciples and the crowds of people in Jerusalem will “put two and two together” by linking the scene with the Scriptures and responding to Him appropriately.  The apostle John doesn’t give the details of Jesus’ plan, so we’ll need to look at the other three Gospels and gather that information.

Meanwhile, there is a commotion along the streets of Jerusalem and around the temple area.  The news of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus is the talk of the town.  It has been the primetime story on the “Word-Of-Mouth News Network” [WOMNN] for several days now.  People are tuned in and listening with interest.  Other people are saying, “Could Jesus be the promised Messiah who will deliver us from the power of Rome?”  There is excitement in the air. and the hearts of people are once again filled with the hope of deliverance.  The stage is set for the arrival of Jesus at the feast.

In Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19, the plan unfolds.  Jesus had already arranged for a donkey to be tied to a tree in the village of Bethphage with its colt beside it.  He sent two of His disciples ahead to get the two animals and told them what to say to the owner of the animals.  When they returned, the disciples put their cloaks on the back of the colt and Jesus sat upon it.  Slowly and humbly He made His way up the road to the city of Jerusalem where thousands of Jews from all over the Roman Empire and beyond were preparing to celebrate the annual Passover feast.

!!.  THE RESPONSE OF THE MULTITUDE (verses 12-15)

Then something amazing happens.  The crowds of people gather on both sides of the road, throwing their cloaks and their palm branches on the road in front of Jesus and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).  They were quoting words from Psalm 118:25-26 and giving Jesus a King’s welcome.  The crowd was “putting two and two together”.  They were reminded of Zechariah’s prophecy and they realized that Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy concerning the Messiah.  Zechariah 9:9 says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and seated on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

I don’t think Zechariah 9:9 was the only scripture passage that came to their minds when they saw Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem on that donkey.  This was not the first time that a king rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  When the crowd saw Jesus coming they were reminded of that previous event because Jesus was coming in the same way, and from the same direction as the previous king.

Let’s examine the words of King David in 1 Kings 1:32-35 and the response in verses 38-40:

“Then David said, ‘Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son the Jeboiada.’  And they came into the king’s presence.  And the king said to them, ‘Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ” . . . So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon.  Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon.  Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ “

Jesus was the second king to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.  The onlookers put the two events together and responded appropriately.  Maybe some of the Scribes and Pharisees who had previously said to Jesus, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you”, still remembered part of His answer:  “Someone greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:38-42).

III.  A CONTRAST:  THE DISCIPLES, THE CROWD, AND THE PHARISEES (verses 16-19)

The apostle John concludes his description of this event by showing us the contrast between the different conclusions that were reached in the minds of Christ’s onlookers.  Verse 16 tells us that Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand the meaning of what just happened, but they did put two and two together after Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead.  Then they worshipped Him as their King (John 20:19-20).

Among the multitude of the pilgrim Jews, there were many who watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.  It doesn’t say, in verses 17 and 18, that they believed in Jesus as their Messiah, but it does indicate that they were eager to meet Him and to learn more about Him.   The Pharisees, on the other hand, were worried.  In verse 19, they were saying to one another, “Look, the world has gone after Him.”  They realized that something had to be done to prevent this from happening, and it had to be done soon.

IV.  THE FINAL INGREDIENT

Before we close the curtain on this Palm Sunday celebration, there is one more ingredient that must be taken into consideration.  Based upon the crowd’s reaction to Jesus, another event must have entered their minds – an event that is not recorded in the Scriptures.  About 200 years earlier, a man by the name of Judas Maccabeus entered the city of Jerusalem as the people waved palm branches and sang hymns.  He and his army then defeated the Syrian army, rid the temple of pagan worshippers, and brought peace and freedom for almost a century.  That’s the kind of Messiah that this crowd was longing for and looking for.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the donkey, the crowd responded in a similar fashion:  bringing palm branches and singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  (Matthew 21:9).  The Jews sang this song each year at the beginning of Passover.  It comes from Psalm 118, which is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament.  The psalmist uses the word “hosanna” which means “save now” or “save us please”.  He also tells us why he chose to use that word.  In verses 10-14, the psalmist describes his situation and how God delivered him from his enemies:

“All nations surrounded me;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
They surrounded me, yes they surrounded me:
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
They surrounded me like bees;
They were extinguished as a fire of thorns;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
You pushed me violently so that I was falling
But the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.” 

As you can sense from his words, the psalmist is speaking of God’s physical deliverance and victory over his physical enemies.  He uses the rest of his psalm to praise God and thank Him for the deliverance and victory that He provided.

If you add up all these historical events and prophecies and combine them with the high expectations that Jesus is the one who will make it happen, then you’ve got a recipe for disappointment.  This Sunday parade and celebration is going to result in the Monday morning blues.  Their expectations are going to come crashing down because the Lord Jesus didn’t return to Jerusalem in order to fulfill their expectations.  He came to meet their deepest needs.

CONCLUSION:

What happens when God doesn’t meet your expectations?  Do you become disappointed?  Do you become angry?  When your hopes come crashing to the ground, are you resentful?  That was the attitude of the majority of that multitude after that Palm Sunday parade was over and they came down from their emotional high.  In just a few days, many of those who shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David”, will change their cry to “Crucify Him!”  “Crucify Him!” 

As we’ve studied this passage of Scripture, have you put two and two together?  Have you added up the fulfilled prophecies and the detailed historical events and come to the conclusion that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the King of kings?  If you are willing to do some more arithmetic, the prophet Daniel even prophecies the date when this event was to happen.  We need to add Daniel 9:25 to Nehemiah 2:1-9.  Daniel 9:25 says, “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.”  That’s seven weeks and sixty-two weeks of years.  7 plus 62 equals 69 weeks of years.  There are seven days in a week, so 69 weeks of years are equivalent to 483 years.  That decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is found in Nehemiah 2.  Verse 1 says, “And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.”  That’s the starting time for Daniel’s Prophecy.  The prophetic clock started ticking on March 14, 445 B.C.  It would seem like the easy answer would be 483 years later but that is not the case.  The ancient Hebrew year consisted of 360 days, not 365.  There is a lot of figuring that needs to be done.  Thankfully, Sir Robert Anderson did the painstaking work of counting up all the days and making the calculations.  The date was April 6, 32 A.D.  That’s the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that donkey, literally fulfilling that prophesy to the very day!  He, and He alone, is the Prince, the Messiah!

If you add up all these historical and prophetic details, there is no other reasonable or logical response than to worship Jesus Christ as your God and King, by repenting of your sins, yielding your life to His control, and following Him (Luke 9:23-24).  Are you ready to make that commitment or do you want to know more about what it means to follow Christ?  If so, please go to my sermon entitled “What Does it Mean to Receive Christ – John 1:12-13”.  It explains what it means to become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

If you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, does He receive a King’s welcome from you every morning?  I pray that your heart may be filled with peace and gladness as you remind yourself that you are a child of the King.  I also hope that you will ask God each day for the power to act like one before the world around you.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Welcome to this completed sermon.  This is a wonderful passage of Scripture to visualize in our minds as the scenes unfold.

AN OBJECTION IS CORRECTED – John 12:4-8

Gospel of John, John 12:3-8, Judas Iscariot

INTRODUCTION:

Fourteen men are enjoying a meal together, and engaging in conversation with one another, when something unexpected and unusual takes place.  It captures the attention of everyone.  One of the hostesses walks over to Jesus with a beautiful jar in her hands.  She opens the jar, pours a small amount of the strong-smelling perfume on His head, and gently massages it into His hair.  Then she gets down on her knees, unties her hair, pours the rest of the perfume on His feet, and uses her hair as a washcloth and towel.  The eyes of everyone are upon her, and Jesus makes no comment.  There is a beautiful silence as these men watch and try to comprehend this act of devotion.

I.  THE WORDS OF JUDAS  (verses 4-6)

The silence is about to be broken by someone, however, and the apostle John describes that person before he quotes his words.  In verse 4, he says, “But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said . . . “.  John didn’t know that information at the time it was happening, but he wants his readers to know some helpful information about Judas.  He has told us something about Judas that helps explain the words that Judas is about to say.  Judas is the treasurer for the group, appointed to the position by Jesus Himself.  At the moment, Judas is making some financial calculations in his mind:  “Let’s see; that bottle of nard ointment must have cost about 300 denarii.  Based on a six-day workweek and time-off for feast days, that’s a whole year’s wages for a common laborer.  What a waste of money!  Jesus needs to be made aware of this.”

In verse 5, Judas puts his thoughts into words when he says, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?”  I think he said it loudly enough for everyone to hear, and he was expecting to get a response from Jesus and the other disciples, agreeing with him and his objection.

Before we hear from Jesus, the apostle John gives us some additional information about Judas so that we might better understand his motives for asking that question.  Verse 6 reads, “Now he [Judas] said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put in it.”  Nowadays, you would call his tactic a “smokescreen”.  The dictionary defines a smokescreen as something that you do or say that is intended to hide the true activities or motives.  Judas was only concerned about one poor person – himself.  He took advantage of his position as treasurer in order to benefit himself.  Before saying those words to Jesus, he was probably thinking about all the things he could have purchased for himself with all that money.  There was anger in his tone of voice.  Judas could almost feel the added weight, and see the bulge of that money in his bag.

!!.  JESUS’ RESPONSE TO JUDAS (verses 7-8)

In verse 7, Jesus responds by saying, “Let her alone”.  The verb is singular, so Jesus is directing those words to Judas, not to all the disciples.  Jesus may have been saying something like:  “That’s not your business, Judas.  She has the right to do what she wants with what is hers.”  Objection overruled.  Judas must have felt the sting of those words, but the other disciples had no inkling that Judas was a thief.

The Lord Jesus then proceeds to tell Judas why he should leave Mary alone. In verse 8, He says, “You always have the poor with you.”  He’s referring to the words of Moses, who said, “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to the needy and the poor in your land’.” (Deuteronomy 15:11). The word “you” is plural in Deuteronomy, and it is also plural in the Greek text of John 12:8.  Why does Jesus use the plural in His answer to Judas?  There is a good reason, and we find it in Matthew’s Gospel.  Matthew 26:8-9 says, “But His disciples were indignant when they saw this [the pouring of the perfume], and said ‘Why this waste.’  For this perfume might have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”  Judas was saying what all of them were thinking, so they chimed in and agreed with Judas after he said it.   Jesus was making an appeal to the conscience of Judas by reminding him that he hasn’t been giving the money in his purse to benefit the poor but to benefit himself.  His motives are wrong because he has already demonstrated, time and again, that he is a thief.  The Lord Jesus is also conveying to the rest of the disciples that they have made a rash judgment because they have failed to understand Mary’s reasons for her act of worship and humble service.

Secondly, Jesus says, “but you do not always have Me.”  Once again, the word “you” is plural.  Mary understands something that all of them have misunderstood.  She sat at the feet of Jesus many times, listening to His every word and pondering them in her heart.  She heard Jesus say, many times, that He had come to die for the sins of the world and she connected His words to the Old Testament prophecies of the Suffering Messiah.  She also realized that the time of His death was near, and she wanted to express her love for Her Lord in the most sacrificial way.

The Lord Jesus goes on to say, in Matthew 26:13, “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  Those words have been proven to be true.  Many artists have painted that scene and many pastors have preached about it.  Many parents, over the years, have chosen to give the name “Mary” to one of their daughters in memory of the Marys in the Bible.  Yet you won’t find many, if any, who have named one of their sons Judas.  That name has become synonymous with greed and treachery.

Mary’s sacrificial act of love for Jesus was completed.  The head and feet of Jesus, as well as the whole room around Him, were now perfused with the smell of death.  It was the smell that accompanied the burial service for a king.  Only Jesus, Mary, and possibly, Martha and Lazarus, understood the meaning of this sacrificial act of love and service for her King, who was about to die for the sins of the world.

CONCLUSION:

There are many things we can learn and apply from this passage of Scripture.  One of them comes from a comparison between Mary and Judas.  Mary was selfless; Judas was selfish.  Mary worshipped the Lord Jesus; Judas worshipped an idol – the idol of money.  In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).  True devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ is costly.  If others around us examined the way we spent our money and lived our lives, would they come to the conclusion that we must be deeply in love with Jesus Christ and devoted to Him?  If others could read our thoughts and could examine our motives, would they find that the focus of our thoughts and the reasons for our actions are rooted in a growing fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and a desire to please Him in all that we think, say, and do?

A second lesson can be drawn from the timing of Mary’s act of devotion and the response of Jesus to Judas.  Mary performed her act of love and service to Jesus as soon as the opportunity was available to do so because she knew that, very soon, Jesus was going to die.  Jesus commended her for not waiting until His death before showing her devotion.  If she had waited, she would not have been able to use that ointment, for when she arrived at the tomb on Easter morning, it was empty.  If we intend to do an act of kindness for someone, we shouldn’t put it off.  It’s easy to keep postponing an act of kindness until it’s too late.  Do it now, or you may regret that you waited.  There’s a saying that goes like this:  “The devil doesn’t care how much good we do, as long as we don’t do it now.”  Is there someone on your mind right now to whom you want to express your appreciation?  Why not follow Mary’s example.  That person would be pleased and so would the Lord Jesus.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  Completed

Thank you for visiting this construction site:  John 12:4-8.  Please come back and visit again.  There are over 150 completed sermons on this site.  Don’t put it off until it’s too late.  May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be with you always.

MARY ANNOINTS JESUS – John 12:1-3

Christian blog site, extravagant love, John 12:1-3, Mary anoints Jesus' feet, Uncategorized

Have you ever spent your money extravagantly?  Did you do so in order to reward yourself?  Was it done to impress someone else?  Or was it an act of love from your heart?  Did you regret it later or are you glad you did so?

In this passage of Scripture, John 12:1-3, an extravagant act is performed; an act which many might consider to be boastful or wasteful.  The Lord Jesus Christ is on the receiving end of that extravagance.  Let’s take a look at what happened.

I.  THE SETTING (verses 1-2)

Verse 1 tells us that it is now six days before the Passover.  Jesus and His disciples have come out of hiding.  They “came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.”  The Gospel writers, Matthew and Mark, also describe this event, and they tell us that Jesus and His disciples, as well as Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, are at the home of Simon the Leper, and are enjoying a meal together [Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9].  We aren’t told, but it is likely that Simon the Leper was a relative of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  That would help explain verse 2, which says, “So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.”   We see, once again, that Martha loves to serve by preparing the food.  She may also have organized this banquet for Jesus and His disciples as a way of thanking Jesus for bringing her brother, Lazarus, back from the dead.

II.  MARY ANNOINTS JESUS’ FEET (verse 3)

In verse 3, we observe Mary’s devotion to Jesus.  We meet Mary three times in the New Testament scriptures.  On the first occasion, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him (Luke 10:39).  The second time, she fell at Jesus’ feet, seeking help and sympathy after the death of her brother, Lazarus (John 11:32).   Now, in verse 3, she is about to anoint Jesus’ feet.  In each case, Mary is at the feet of Jesus.

Verse 3 tells us that she had, in her hands, “a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard.”  This perfumed oil represented the best that money could buy.  It was a gift fit for a king or queen and was very expensive for two reasons.  First, it was probably imported from India where it was extracted from the roots of the nard plant.  Secondly, nard, or spikenard oil, was sealed in alabaster jars to preserve its fragrance.  That jar was probably worth at least as much as the perfume itself, and it had to be broken in order to get the perfume out of it.  In verse 5, we are given its approximate value:  300 denarii.  That’s a year’s wages for a common laborer!  Let’s put that in today’s terms.  I live in Oregon, and the minimum wage here in Oregon is approximately $12 per hour.  That’s $96 a day for eight hours of work.  If you multiply that daily wage by 300 days, you have a total of $28,800.  That’s almost $30,000 worth of perfume, poured out on the feet of Jesus.  Would you call that extravagant?  I would!

Why does Mary have this expensive bottle of unused perfume in her possession?  The main use of this ointment was that of anointing a dead person’s body in preparation for burial.  It may have originally been purchased for the purpose of embalming her dead brother, but the family waited because they were told that Jesus was coming.  Now that Lazarus is alive again, she decides to lavish that fragrant perfume on Jesus.  Another possibility is that she purchased this perfume after Lazarus came back to life at the command of Jesus.  As we study this passage of Scripture, we will understand why this possibility may be what actually happened. 

This perfumed oil is the most expensive item that Mary possessed.  Martha and Lazarus may have known about her intent and were in wholehearted agreement with her decision.  It’s possible that Jesus may have told them, as He did His disciples, what would soon happen to Him in Jerusalem.  Mary, who always paid close attention to Jesus’ words and His teachings, must have known that His death was soon to occur.  She may also have known the Old Testament prophecies that spoke of it.  It seems that Mary may have sensed that this would be the last time that Jesus would be enjoying a meal with them, so she wanted to express her love and devotion to her Messiah and friend in the most generous and unselfish way.

In Matthew 26 and Mark 14, we find that Mary first poured some of the oil on the head of Jesus.  Then she poured the rest of it on His feet and wiped His feet with her hair.  Just a few days earlier, Mary and Martha were concerned about the stench of their brother’s body when Jesus told them to roll away the stone from his tomb.  Now the house was filled with the sweet smell of the perfume.  Mary used her hair, what the Scriptures say is a woman’s glory and crown, to wash the dirty feet of Jesus.  Bible commentator, William Barclay, tells us about one of the customs in Palestine during the first century AD.  “On the day a girl was married, her hair was bound up, and never again would she be seen in public with her hair unbound.  It was the sign of an immoral woman to appear in public with her hair unbound.”  But Mary wasn’t concerned about what others thought.  Her only desire was to express her love for Jesus

Mary didn’t use water but expensive perfume.  That is the essence of worship.  True worship of Jesus Christ is, first of all, humbling.  It is recognizing that He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  Secondly, true worship is generous and costly, done out of love for the Lord.

CONCLUSION:

Do you and I have a humble and extravagant love for the Lord Jesus Christ?  Is He more valuable to us than everything else we possess?  Are we unashamed to be devoted to Him by putting Him first in our lives?  Are we unashamed to be identified with Him and to proclaim Him to others?

Having observed the selfless devotion and costly generosity of Mary, there is another person in the Scriptures whose gift was infinitely more extravagant at a cost that was beyond measure.  The apostle Paul described that person and His gift in Ephesians 1:7-8.  He said, “In Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.”  I like the word “lavished”!  God loves us so much that He humbled Himself and became a man, in the Person of Jesus Christ, so that He might shed His own blood to pay the penalty for our sins.  Not only that but we are also filled with His grace now and forever. G-R-A-C-E:  “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense”.  Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?  Have you repented of your sins and given your life to Him?  Has your life changed as a result?  If you are unsure, please visit my sermon entitled, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO RECEIVE CHRIST? – John 1:12-13, and respond to God’s leading in your life.

If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, living a changed life because He is living in reigning in you, these words of the apostle Paul will be true of you:  “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of Him in every place.  For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).  I think the fragrance Paul speaks of is the fruit of the Spirit of God (“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”). as it is manifested in us when we yield the control of our lives over to Him from moment to moment (Galatians 5:22-23)  May those around us feel refreshed and attracted to Christ, as we live our lives devoted to Him and His word.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Thank you for visiting this completed, construction site:  John 12:1-3   I hope you enjoyed the fragrance as you imagined yourself in the midst of this dinner party.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH JESUS? — John 11:45-57

john 11:45-57, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION:

You’ve probably heard the saying:  “You can please all of the people some of the time, and you can please some of the people all of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”  As we study this next passage of Scripture, John 11:47-57, we can add another phrase to that saying.  That phrase is:  “You can please some of the people none of the time.”

I.  THE DILEMMA (verses 45-48)

Jesus had just performed His last and greatest public miracle when He raised Lazarus from the dead.  As a result of that miracle, verse 45 says that many of those who were present at the tomb of Lazarus believed in Jesus as their Messiah after they watched Lazarus come out of the tomb at the command of Jesus.  However, some of the observers who were standing there were not happy at all.  In the midst of the joy, amazement, and celebration, there were a few who did not respond appropriately to the miracle and the miracle-worker.  They went and told the Pharisees, who became very angry and very worried.

Verse 47 says, “Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, ‘What are we doing?”  The leaders quickly met as a council.  It was an informal gathering rather than an official meeting of the council.  This council was called the Sanhedrin and was composed of 71 members, including the chief priests, the high priest, the captain of the temple, and members of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  They were all very upset and kept saying among themselves, “What are we doing?” or “What are we going to do?”. 

The term “think tank” was coined during World War 2.  It was used to describe a safe place where wartime plans and strategies could be discussed and implemented.  As we shall see in this passage of Scripture, the term “think tank” fits this occasion very well. The council of the Jews needs a strategy, and it needs one in a hurry.  What is the reason for their frustration and their panic?  The apostle John states it at the end of verse 47 when he quotes their words:  “this man performs many signs.”  Notice that they won’t even refer to Jesus by name.  To them, Jesus is just a common man, but they do ascribe many signs or miracles to Him.  They couldn’t deny the miracles – there were so many of them, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead was performed right before their very eyes.  Yet they stubbornly refused to believe Jesus’ claims and all the undeniable evidence that supported those claims.

Let’s take a close look at their conversation with one another in verse 48.  Their words reveal the major reason for their hatred for Jesus.  Here is what they are saying:  “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in HIm, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  The members of the council are coming to a consensus:  “We need to put a stop to this Man and His miracles as soon as possible.”  They fear what might happen to their way of life if Jesus continues to gain followers.  What is their way of life?  What are these Jewish leaders really afraid of?  I think the answer to those questions is given in verse 48, and they are the ones who are giving us the answer.  The little word “our” is used twice in their conversation.

In the Sanhedrin, there were both Pharisees and Sadducees.  The Pharisees were not a political party.  They were a religious sect within Judaism.  Their sole purpose was to know and practice every little detail of the Law of Moses.  As long as they were free to do so, they weren’t really concerned about the government that was ruling over them.  On the other hand, the Sadducees were a political and religious sect.  They were the wealthy nobility among the Jews.  All the priests were members of the Sadducees.  As commentator William Barclay puts it:  “So long as they were allowed to enjoy and to retain their wealth, their comfort, and their position of authority, they were well content to collaborate with Rome.”

So why were these leaders so upset by the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead that they gathered together for an emergency council meeting?  In verse 48 they describe the potential effects of this miracle and then the potential consequences to themselves.  Let’s look first at the potential effects.  Here are their words:  “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him.”  They are exaggerating but they do have a good point.  Verse 45 said that “many believed in Him [Jesus]” as a result of the resurrection of Lazarus.  They saw the reaction of the people firsthand.  That is unsettling, especially in light of the potential consequences.  In the rest of verse 48, the leaders describe those potential consequences when they say,  “and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  Now we know their reason for going into “panic mode”.  It’s jealousy!

We sometimes use the words “jealousy” and “envy” interchangeably, but there is an important difference between the two words.  To envy is to want something which belongs to another person.  One of the ten commandments is:  “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, his wife or his servant, his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

By contrast, jealousy is the fear that something we possess will be taken away by another person.  What do these Jewish leaders possess that they fear will be taken away from them?  The word “our”, used in their conversation with one another, gives us the answer.  When they say “our place and our nation”, they are claiming that the temple and the nation belong to them. They consider the temple and the nation to be the places where they exercise their authority and bring honor and praise to themselves.  They can’t allow Jesus to take away their social and political power and prestige.  It would destroy their whole way of life as the elite among the Jews.

Maybe you’ve heard this phrase used before:  “That person has a one-track mind.”  What is a one-track mind?  Let me illustrate.  A little boy was asked by his teacher, “Johnny, what is your favorite animal?”  He said, “Fried chicken!”  Being a PETA supporter [People for Ethical Treatment of Animals], she sent him to the principal’s office.  The next day she asked him, “Johnny, what is your favorite living animal?”  He said, “Chicken!”  She said, “Out of all the various kinds of animals, your favorite is a chicken?”  “Why?”  He said, “I see it as a potential fried chicken!”  Off to the principal’s office, he went.  The next day, the teacher asked Johnny, “Who is the famous person you admire the most?”  He replied, “Colonel Sanders!” [Kentucky Fried Chicken].

As you can see from this story, Johnny had a one-track mind.  All he could think about was chicken!  These Jewish leaders also demonstrated that they had one-track minds.  All they could think about was themselves.

II.  CAIAPHAS SPEAKS (verses 49-53)

It’s at this point that Caiaphas, the High Priest, raises his voice and addresses the council.  He begins by criticizing them, saying, “You know nothing at all.”  That statement must have captured the attention of everyone!  He then gives his political opinion about the matter when he says, “it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation shall not perish.”  Caiaphas didn’t realize it but God used his words as a prophecy of Christ’s substitutionary death for the sins of the world (Mark 10:45; John 3:16).  It was an “unconscious prophecy”.  Like Balaam’s donkey [in Numbers 22:27-31], neither Caiaphas nor the donkey had any inkling that God was speaking through them.  The apostle John is writing this Gospel after the death and resurrection of Christ.  Looking back upon that day, he realizes that the statement Caiaphas made to the Sanhedrin was actually prophetic.

His statement is also ironic.  Jesus came to this earth to die, not to save the nation of Israel from physical destruction, but to save the world from eternal destruction through faith in Him.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  The very things that the Jewish leaders wanted to protect themselves against were going to happen beyond their expectations.  In less than 40 years, their temple and their nation would be destroyed, and their people would be scattered.  That was not what Caiaphas had in mind when he spoke those words.

This meeting of the Sanhedrin was the turning point in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Verse 53 says, “So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.”  Jesus was now an outlaw.  A bounty would soon be placed on His head [30 pieces of silver], and a bounty hunter [Judas] would take the money and turn Him in.

III,  A TEMPORARY HIDEOUT (verses 54-57)

It’s at this point in time that Jesus makes His getaway.  Verse 54 says, “Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to a country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there He stayed with His disciples.”  Was Jesus motivated by fear?  Did He flee from the scene and go north to the hill country of Ephraim because He was afraid to die?  No.  He was on His Father’s timetable and this was not the time nor the manner in which He was to die.  It is estimated that He and His disciples were now about 12-15 miles northeast of Jerusalem.

The Roman historian, Tacitus, said these words:  “He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.”  When I was a senior in high school, I took two semesters of classical Greek.  We translated portions of Xenophon’s Anabasis.  One of the memorable events recorded in his book was the retreat of the 10,000 Greeks and Spartans.  These elite soldiers were hired by Prince Cyrus of Persia in 401 BC to join his own troops in his rebellion against his brother, Artaxerxes, for control of the Persian Empire.  When Cyrus was killed and his army defeated at the Battle of Cunaxa, these Greek soldiers were asked to surrender.  They refused.  Instead, they marched out of the land of Persia and back to their native land of Greece.  They returned home so they might fight again at another time.

The Lord Jesus and His disciples also made a tactical retreat, but He would be back soon.  Verse 55 says, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand”,  Verses 56 and 57 tell us that the chief priest and the Pharisees were preparing an ambush in case He showed up at the feast.  They weren’t expecting Him to arrive but they wanted to be ready just in case.  Verse 56 contains a double negative in the Greek text.  What these Jews were saying to one another in the temple was:  “He wouldn’t dare to come to the feast!”  But Jesus would be back in a few weeks, not to do battle with the enemies, but to give His own life to defeat the greatest enemy – sin and its eternal consequences.  He would win the ultimate victory for all who believed in Him.

CONCLUSION:

This passage of scripture teaches us something about the providence of God.  On the surface, we see confusion and panic.  The Jewish leaders gather for an emergency meeting and Jesus and His disciples make a quick getaway.  It looks like things have gotten out of control but, in actuality, everything is going according to plan – God’s plan.  The events are fitting together in fulfillment of scripture and on God’s timetable.  In the same way, God works in our lives according to His will and in His timing as we yield our lives to Him and His will or us.

There is also a lesson to be learned from the words of Caiaphas, the high priest.  When Caiaphas said, in verse 50, ” . . . it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish”,  he was speaking selfishly, completely unaware that his words were a fulfillment of the Law in Leviticus 16:15-22, as well as the prophecies in Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and elsewhere.  These scripture passages talk about substitution, and substitution is at the very heart of the gospel message.  In love, God the Father substituted His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for us (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18) so that our sins might be forgiven (Ephesians 1:7-8), and so that we might live for Him who died for us (Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:15).  I hope that you are a true child of God and a follower of Jesus Christ, experiencing the peace that comes with forgiveness and the joy that comes from serving Him with all your heart.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Welcome to this completed site:  John 11:47-57.  This passage of Scripture is a turning point in the Gospel narrative.  Jesus’ arrest and death are only a few weeks away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LAZARUS! COME FORTH! — John 11:28-44

John 11:28-44, Lazarus raised from the dead, resurrection of Lazarus, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION:

You may remember that Jesus’ first miracle was the turning of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana.  He told the servants to fill the six stone waterpots with water and take some of it to the head waiter.  When he tasted the water turned to wine, he said to the bridegroom, “You’ve saved the best for last.”  We have a tendency to save the best for last, don’t we?  And we usually have good reasons for doing so.  Why do gymnasts put their most impressive skills at the end of their routines?  Why do fireworks designers put the big burst at the end?  Why do we eat dessert last?  We like a grand finale, don’t we?  We like to expect, or at least hope that the best is yet to come.

TRANSITION:

The Lord Jesus has something really special in store for Martha and Mary, for those who are with them mourning the death of their brother, Lazarus, and especially for Lazarus himself.  Jesus has already had a short conversation with Martha and has told her that He is “the resurrection and the life.”  She responds by saying, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”  She affirms her faith in Him as her Messiah.  The words “I believe” are in the perfect tense meaning, “I have believed and I will continue to believe.”

I.  MARY COMES TO JESUS (verses 28-32)

After saying those words to Jesus, verse 28 says that Martha “went away, and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ ”  Martha may have sat down beside Mary and whispered those words in her ear.  She did this secretly because she wanted her sister to have some uninterrupted time with Jesus before He arrived at their home.  She may also have been concerned about the welfare of Jesus since many of the antagonistic, Jewish leaders were in her home at that moment.  Verse 29 tells us that Mary “rose quickly, and was coming to Him.”  Jesus was still waiting on the outskirts of the village of Cana in Galilee.

Her sudden moves and quick exit did not go unnoticed.  Her friends mistakenly thought that Mary was going to the tomb of Lazarus in order to weep there.  Verse 31 says “they followed her” in order to weep with her there.  This was the customary thing to do.  They were following the Jewish rules of etiquette during the time of mourning.  The Greek word translated as “weep” needs some further explanation.  It means to “wail”.  It is a loud expression of pain and sorrow.

II.  MARY GREETS JESUS (verse 32)

When Mary arrived at the place where Jesus was waiting, verse 32 says, “She saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ”  Mary’s words are filled with emotion and she is weeping and wailing loudly.  She fell at Jesus’ feet as an expression of worship.  Those who followed behind her were weeping and wailing loudly along with her.  There was a lot of noise and a lot of emotion being expressed in the presence of Jesus.

III.  JESUS’ RESPONSE (verses 33-35)

In the midst of all this clamor that is going on around Him, let’s ask ourselves this question:  “What may be going through Jesus’ mind at this moment and how is it affecting His emotions?”  Verse 33 says, “When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled.”  They weren’t shedding tears but were making loud, almost hysterical sounds of mourning, customary for Jewish funerals of that day.

First, Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit”. The Greek word literally means “angered”, so “deeply moved” might convey that Jesus was enraged. Outside the New Testament, this word was often used by the Greeks to refer to the snorting of horses.  The Greek word translated “troubled” means to “shake together”, “stir up”, or “agitate”.  It was used to describe the pool at Bethesda which had an underground spring.  The spring would sometimes send hot water up to the surface and the pool would churn and bubbles would appear.  The two Greek words combine to describe a wave of anger that came over Jesus.

What was the cause of such a strong emotional reaction on the part of Jesus?  Was it seen in His facial expressions and did His body shake with anger?  It doesn’t say in the text but it must have been obvious to the apostle John as he remembers what happened that day and describes what he observed firsthand.

There may have been several reasons for Jesus’ anger in verses 33 and 34.  Let’s explore some reasonable possibilities.  Jesus may have been angry at the fake expressions of grief shown by those who followed Mary as she hurried to meet Him.  Their loud wailing was not a true expression of grief.  They were just following their traditions and competing with one another. They were grieving like the pagans who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Jesus would also have good reason to be angry about sin and its consequences.  Sin, sickness, and death have plagued mankind ever since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17-19).  God has been angry at sin and its effects on mankind ever since that day.

In addition to these reasons, Jesus may have been deeply troubled by the fact that no one believed that He was God.  After all His teaching and the miracles He performed over a period of three years, some were willing to believe that He was the Messiah, but they didn’t equate that with being God.  They still did not understand who He was nor the mission He had come to this earth to fulfill.  Finally, as Jesus was about to perform His greatest miracle before their eyes, He knew that the raising of Lazarus from the dead would set the wheels in motion for His own death just a few days away.  Rather than convincing the Jews to believe in Him, this miracle would convince them to kill Him, and this is in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.  All of these reasons may have played a part in forming Jesus’ emotional state at that moment.

Verse 34 seems like a sharp contrast – a change of mood.  Jesus set those feelings of anger aside in order to minister to the needs of Mary and Martha.  He asks Mary, “Where have you laid him?”  Then, in verse 35, “Jesus wept.”  The Greek word speaks of a quiet shedding of tears, not a loud wailing.  Why would Jesus weep when He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead?  Many reasons have been given.  I prefer to believe that Jesus was revealing His humanity as He entered into the grief of Mary and Martha.  The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).  Jesus demonstrated the love of a true friend by entering into their sorrows.  Mary and Martha would always remember the events of that day, and they would also remember the tears.  As the apostle Paul later said in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” 

IV.  AT THE TOMB (verses 36-42)

On the way to the tomb, verse 38 says, “Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.”  What caused Jesus’ emotions to become stirred up again?  The answer to that question seems to be found in the previous verse.  The Jews said, in verse 37, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have kept this man also from dying?”  After three years of watching Jesus perform miracles that only the Messiah could perform, they still consider Him to be just a man who has some healing abilities.  The hardness of their hearts and their spiritual blindness must have been a source of irritation to Jesus. 

As they stand in front of the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus makes an astonishing request when He says, “Remove the stone”.  Martha, who earlier affirmed that Jesus was the Messiah, is quick to respond, saying, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”  Martha’s faith failed at that moment.  She didn’t want to expose herself and her guests to the ugliness of death.  The King James version says it more bluntly:  “Lord, by now he stinketh.”

I saw an advertisement recently that showed a picture of a huge and beautiful flower.  Out of curiosity, I looked for more information and learned that it is the largest individual flower in the world and it has a strong odor after it blossoms.  Its nickname is “the corpse flower” and it wasn’t given that name because of its outward appearance.  Need I say more?  I wonder if God made that flower really big so that people could enjoy its beauty from a distance!

Getting back to the narrative, I wonder whether some of the mourners stepped back a few feet after Jesus said these words to Martha:  “Did I not say to you, that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  Verse 41 says, “And so they removed the stone.”   They must have done so at Martha’s bidding because I don’t think they would do so otherwise.

This raises a question.  Why didn’t Jesus perform a miracle to remove the stone?  He could have saved time by telling the stone to roll away.  Mary and Martha were hoping for a miracle.  By doing so, He could have shown them that He was capable of performing a miracle on their brother.  Why did He demand that the stone be rolled away by the men who were standing there beside Him?  The Lord Jesus had a reason and a lesson that He wanted to teach them.  The Lord would not do by a miracle what they could do by obedience.  You might call this an “audience participation miracle”, and these men are going to get a whiff of it firsthand!

Once the tomb was open, Jesus “raised His eyes” (verse 41).  He lifts His eyes toward heaven because He wants everyone to know that He is about to pray. He wants them to be quiet and listen.  This is going to be a public prayer.  Jesus will be saying His words loud enough for everyone to hear them.  Public prayers are different from private prayers because people are listening to the words, and Jesus wants them to learn something from it.  Here is His prayer:  “Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.  And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.” 

It’s a very short prayer, and it’s a prayer of thanksgiving even though He hasn’t performed a miracle yet.  I get the impression that Jesus is ending a conversation that He has been having with the Father privately.  He has made a request and He has received the Father’s permission and enabling in order to do what happens next.  He ends His conversation with the Father out loud because He wants everyone to know the closeness of His relationship with the Father and the authority that has been given to Him by the Father.

V.  THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS (verses 43-44)

Then, facing the entrance to the cave, Jesus shouts, with an even louder voice:  Lazarus!  Come forth!  As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is calling His sheep by name.  As he said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Within a few seconds, there were gasps and expressions of joy as Lazarus came hopping out of that cave in the direction of Jesus’ voice.  John describes that moment in verse 44 when He writes, “He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.”  Lazarus couldn’t see, and he could hardly move, but he responded to the voice of his Shepherd.  Wouldn’t it have been interesting to see what was going on inside that cave after Jesus shouted those words?  Lazarus opened his eyes but he couldn’t see.  His hands and feet were tied so he could hardly move.  How he was able to stand up, I don’t know.  But all these things were incidental.  When he heard the voice of Jesus calling his name, he immediately obeyed.

Among all the spectators who were standing beside Jesus, including those Jews who opposed Him, there was no question and no doubt in their minds that Jesus had performed a miracle and brought Lazarus back to life.  In verse 44, Jesus immediately tells them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  The embalming spices, which were wrapped tightly against his body and head using long strips of cloth, not only made it difficult for Lazarus to move but also to breathe.

What a joyous reunion that must have been!  Tears of sorrow had now become tears of joy.  Jesus had saved His best, public miracle for last.  What a display of the power and the glory of God!

In this passage of Scripture, we see clearly the deity of the Lord Jesus.  When He raised Lazarus from the grave, none of His onlookers questioned it, and none could prove otherwise.  If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ there is no reason to fear death because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and He is our pathway from death to eternal life (John 5:24).  There is also every reason to live for Him.

We have also gained insight into the humanity of Jesus Christ.  He displayed human emotions when He trembled with anger and rage at sin, its consequences, and the failure of people to come to an understanding that He is the God-man – deity in bodily form.  In John 11:35, Jesus expressed His emotions in tears as He entered into the grief of Martha and Mary and released His own pent-up emotions.  Then He performed His last and greatest public miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead.

APPLICATION:

As you consider your own life today, would you say that you are completely satisfied, or do you feel that there is something missing in your life?  Do you feel that you already have the best that this life has to offer or is there an empty place that you haven’t been able to fill?  Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  He is the One who resurrects people from the dead, both physically and spiritually.  He is the One who gives abundant life now and eternal life with Himself.  In John 10:27, the Lord Jesus was referring to Himself as the good Shepherd, and He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life.”  He is the very best that this life has to offer, and offers the brightest future to all those who choose to turn from sin’s control over their lives in order to follow Him as their Lord and Savior.  He alone has the power to change your life and give you eternal life with Him.

If you are a genuine disciple of Christ, do you share in Jesus’ hatred for sin and grieve over sin’s effects on the people around you?  Are you burdened by the realization that, for many people in this world today, the worst is yet to come?  Hell is a real place and it’s a place of permanent residency.  Are you ready to write down people’s names on a list and pray for them daily?  If you haven’t done so already, are you willing to write a brief personal testimony of your journey to personal faith in Christ, memorize it, and learn a gospel presentation using the Scriptures?

God wants to use us to resurrect the spiritually dead in sin and bring new life through faith in Jesus Christ.  He also desires to use us to help new believers to grow.  As we pursue these goals and priorities in our lives and draw closer to Him as we spend daily time with Him in His Word and in prayer, we will experience the very best that God has for us in this life

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

 

NO EXCUSE GIVEN — John 11:17-27

john 11:17-32, Uncategorized

What do you say if you are late for the funeral of a friend?  What do you say if the family of the deceased person asks you why you are late?  What do you say if you miss the funeral altogether?  You’d better have a really good excuse, right?  The funeral and burial of Lazarus occurred four days earlier and Jesus wasn’t present.  He and His disciples have been walking all day in the direction of the town of Bethany, and the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus is now in sight.  Does He have a good excuse ready?  As we study this next passage of Scripture, John 11:17-27, we are going to find that Jesus is too late to heal and too late for the funeral.  However, He does not give an excuse, nor is He asked to give one.

I.  THE SCENE AT BETHANY (verses 17-19)

Verse 17 says, “So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.”  That verse seems to imply that Jesus did not know that information since He found that to be the case after He arrived.  Once again, we are reminded that Jesus Christ was not all-knowing while He was on this earth.  His Heavenly Father told Jesus that Lazarus had died, but apparently didn’t tell Jesus on what day he died.  There is now no question in anyone’s mind that Lazarus was dead.  Jesus may have been given that information from someone they met as they approached Bethany.  It’s implied that Jesus did not know this information when He left for Bethany earlier that same day.

John gives us a brief geography lesson in verse 18 in order to help explain what follows.  The town of Bethany is located very close to the city of Jerusalem.  It’s just under two miles away.  The reason for verse 18 is found in verse 19, which says, “and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.”  The distance between Bethany and Jerusalem was short enough that many of their friends and acquaintances must have decided to come to the funeral.  In first-century Palestine, the Jewish time of mourning was divided into three parts.  The first three days were days of weeping.  The next four days were days of heavy mourning.  Then there was lighter mourning for the rest of the thirty-day mourning period.  During the first week, visitors constantly came to their house to console the family.  Even though many of these Jews were hostile toward Jesus and His followers, there were those who showed the courtesy of paying a visit and offering comfort.  Jesus and His disciples would be coming to a house filled with sympathizers that day.

II.  MARTHA’S CONVERSATION WITH JESUS (verses 20-27)

Verse 20 tells us, “So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary remained sitting in the house.”   From what the Bible says about Martha here and in Luke 10:38-42, she is a take-action person and a take-charge person.  She likes to be busy, making sure that everything and everyone is taken care of properly.  Someone must have told her or made an announcement that Jesus had arrived in Bethany and was headed in the direction of their home.  Martha was quick to her feet and on her way to meet Jesus.

Meanwhile, on the road to Bethany, Jesus and His disciples see a small cloud of dust in the distance.  It’s a woman . . . it’s Martha . . . she’s coming in a hurry!  If I were in that situation, my first thought would be, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”, and then, “What am I going to say and do if it does happen?”  Can you feel the tension?  Have you been in a situation like this before?  Were you on the giving end or the receiving end?

In verse 21, Martha’s first recorded words to Jesus are. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Does that sound like one of those greetings where the person pauses afterward, waiting for you to give your excuse?  Did you have one ready in your “bag of excuses” or was there a moment of silence . . . an apology . . . shame?

Martha may have rehearsed those words with her sister because Mary later says the very same words.  There may also have been a sense of regret in her words.  “If only you had been here, this tragedy would not have occurred.”  Martha knew that Jesus could and did heal sick people and wondered why He didn’t arrive in time to heal Lazarus.  You might think that Martha considered her brother Lazarus to be beyond hope now that it was four days after his death.

There was no long pause after Martha’s greeting.  Immediately after saying those words, we find that Martha makes a profession of faith and hope in Jesus.  Despite the “irreversible” condition of her brother in the minds of the people and their leaders, Martha makes a statement of faith in Jesus when she says, “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (verse 22).  Even in her desperation, there is a step of faith and there is a ray of hope.  After looking into Jesus’ eyes and seeing the humility, gentleness, and love mirrored there, how could Martha keep from growing in faith and from experiencing a greater sense of hope and peace?  The saying has been around for a long time and seems so appropriate for this moment:  “I can see it in your eyes”.

When Martha made her second statement, she was turning the focus of her attention away from the situation and placing it upon Jesus.  Even though she did not yet believe that Jesus was God, she did believe that there was a close relationship between Him and God, so close that God would answer any request Jesus might ask of Him.  She was now seeing this situation from a different perspective.  I recently read an illustration of another woman whose perspective was changed because of a dramatic incident in her life.  Many years ago the inhabitants of a small village were startled by a sudden earthquake.  The people were trembling with fear but were surprised at the calmness and apparent joy of an old woman whom they all knew.  Finally, one of them addressed the old woman and said, “Mother, are you not afraid?”  “No”, said the woman.  “I rejoice to know that I have a God who can shake the world!”  Has Martha come to the realization that she has a God who could raise the dead, even her own brother, Lazarus?    

Jesus encourages her faith and seeks to build upon that faith when He says to her, in verse 23, “Your brother shall rise again.”  Those words may have been a common phrase that was used during the mourning period to comfort and encourage the family during the mourning period.  However, Martha could tell from Jesus’ tone of voice that He was making her a promise.  He’s applying her words of faith to her brother’s condition.  Now we see that Martha’s words to Jesus, “I know that whatever you ask of God, He will give you”, were not meant to be applied to her brother’s situation.  God had never raised a person who had already been dead for four days.  The spirit of her brother had already left and his body was decaying.  It was too late for a healing miracle.

In an effort to understand Jesus’ words and agree with Him, Martha says, in verse 24, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  That’s what she had been taught from her Jewish upbringing.  She believed in a future resurrection of the dead.  Her hope for her brother Lazarus was now tied to the future, not to the present.

Do the Old Testament scriptures talk about a bodily resurrection?  Yes, they do, in several places.  The prophet Daniel said, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2).  The prophet Isaiah said, “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise.  You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy” (Isaiah 26:19).  There are also many references to the resurrection in the Psalms.  Martha’s response to Jesus’ comment was true, but she didn’t understand how He could be referring to the present situation. 

With the exception of the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, most Jews during that period of time believed in a resurrection of the dead on the last day.  Jesus already said, in John 5:21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it.”  Now Jesus makes it clearer and more emphatic when He says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).  Once again, Jesus uses God’s special name:  “I am.”  He’s telling Martha that the resurrection isn’t just a doctrine.  It’s a Person, and He is that Person.  There is no resurrection and there is no life apart from Him.  Jesus is also saying that eternal life begins at the moment when a person believes in Him and follows Him [he who believes in me shall live even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die”]. Physical death has no effect on the life that Jesus gives.  Those words of Jesus must have been an encouragement to Martha.  He brought her personal understanding of the resurrection out of the future and into the present.  He told her that people are saved, not by words written in a book (the Torah), but by Jesus Himself, “the resurrection and the life.”

A nineteenth-century missionary to the South Seas by the name of John G. Paton met opposition to leaving his home in Scotland and going to preach to the cannibalistic peoples of the New Hebrides Islands.  A well-meaning church member said to him, “The cannibals, the cannibals!  You will be eaten by the cannibals!”  Without hesitation, Paton replied, “I confess to you that if I can live and die serving the Lord Jesus Christ, it makes no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; for in that Great Day of Resurrection, my body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer!”  The hope of the resurrection removed Paton’s fears and strengthened his commitment to serve the Lord.

Martha’s response to the claims of Jesus was also based upon genuine faith in Him.  In her answer to Jesus’ question, “Do you believe this?”, Martha said “Yes” and used three titles to refer to Him:  “Lord”, “the Christ”, and “the Son of God.”

CONCLUSION:

You may remember the famous words of the apostle Peter in Matthew 16:16, where he said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Let’s also remember the words of Martha, who said to Jesus, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  They both came to the same conclusion and were encouraged and comforted by that knowledge.

Pastor and evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, told the story of a soldier at the Battle of Inkerman [November 5, 1854] who was just able to crawl to his tent after he was struck down.  When found, he was lying upon his face, his open Bible before him, his hand glued fast to one of the pages by his lifeblood which covered it.  When his hand was lifted, the letters of the printed page were clearly traced upon it.  And such words they were that they decided not to wash them from his palm when they laid him in a soldier’s grave.  The promise etched in blood was this:  “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”  Then Moody said, “I want a religion like that which can comfort even in death, that can unite me with my loved ones.  What a gloom and darkness would settle upon this world were it not for the glorious doctrine of the resurrection.”

Do you believe in the resurrection?  Do you believe in the One who said, “I am the resurrection and the life?”  The Lord Jesus Christ is the only true source of hope, peace, and joy in this life and the next.  Don’t let human reasoning keep you from knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Take that step of faith by choosing to repent of your sins, believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and follow Him in obedience to His word.

If you have already made that decision, then live in such a way that you never have to give an excuse for your actions but rather, a reason and a motivation.  As the apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 3:15-16, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Thank you for visiting this site.  In this passage of Scripture, we are taking a closer look at Martha and her understanding of who Jesus is and what He can do.  We will be studying a demonstration of Jesus’ claims in the next passage of scripture.