Classic Christianity – Book of John Part 80 (10-02-19)
Transcript
Let us join Bob now as he gets started with today’s lesson. This morning before we get into the actual teaching in John 18 is to go back and review chronology of what took place in those last days of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In order to do that we need to go back to chapter 13. Jesus Christ was getting ready to meet with his disciples for the last major instruction to them and we have all of that instruction contained in chapter 13, where he taught the disciples of servitude. The washing of the disciples feet was an act of servitude on their behalf.
He then predicted his betrayal, or it is probably better to say he announced his betrayal, and that this was not something that was going to come by accident, but it was something that was known in the heart of God, and he told him about that.
He also at that time predicted to Peter, who basically was I believe as sincere as a heart attack in about everything he did, but he was like a lot of us. He was rambunctious and he always had a deal that “Lord, if everybody else might betray you, but I’ll never betray you. I’ll never deny you.”
The Lord knew our humanity. Many times that is a good thing for us to understand. How easy it is for us to just sit back and to say of other people, “Lord, I would never do that well.” You don’t know what you would do if you were in the same circumstances that they were in and to say that basically smacks a little bit of self righteousness, of saying, “Oh, I would never do that in a million years”, and yet you haven’t been there. Until you walked in the shoes of another person, until you know the background of other people, until you know some of the weaknesses of people as well as the strengths of people, we really are not much qualified, are we, to judge other people.
Peter was certainly in that category of thinking. I think in his own heart, and he thought that with all of his heart, that there’s no way in the world that I would ever deny you. I love you too much to do that and yet when he saw the torture, or rather the beginning of the torture of Christ Jesus, he backed down and denied Jesus three times. In the midst of Peter’s denial, Jesus comforted his disciples.
Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions and I’m going to prepare a place for you so that where I am you may also be.
He clarified to his disciples in that chapter that he was the only way to God, the only truth about God, and the only life from God and he clarified that to them.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This is not a dogmatic statement that my religion is better than your religion. This is a practical aspect that there is no one who could take away the sins of the world except God himself and Jesus was God. There was no one whose blood was of such precious value that it was capable of taking away the the sins of the entire world, back to Adam and forward to eternity. Only that could come from God himself. There was no way that a man could be resurrected from the dead permanently except God himself and all of those elements had to take place in order for you and me to be saved. There was only one reason that Jesus came to this earth and that was to save you and me.
If we are so arrogant to think we do not need to be saved then you do not need a Savior. If I’m so arrogant to think that I’m basically a good person, and you hear that all the time, don’t you, that “I am basically a good person”
Jesus said there is not anybody good except God Himself. Guys, I am going to camp on that side rather than the other side. I mean you can camp on that, that that’s not real positive thinking, but I don’t think God called us to think positive. I think he called us to just think realistically and realistically is saying, “I’m not a good person’. I’d like to be able to say “I’m a good person” but God says, “no you’re not”. So I’m going to go with Him and I think you would be wise to go with Him as well, not because of me but because of you.
The issue is what he said was true, that only God is good and that’s why Jesus said, “why do you call me good unless you want to call me God because only God is good”
Our problem is we compare ourselves to one another. Up next to one another we look pretty good. But that is not the object of comparison. The object of comparison is how you are doing compared to God. So when you match yourself up to God, how many of you can say, “I’m basically a good person, Jesus”?
That is our standard, not each another. So get your eyes off of one another because God says anyone who compares himself by himself is a fool.
He’s going to tell us that he is the only way to God, the only truth about God. You have a lot of people teaching what is truth about God. Jesus said, “no, I am the truth about God and if you want to know about God, you’re going to have to know about me because I am God, the only way to God, and the only life from God”. So he taught us that.
We go on in chapter 14 with this teaching on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This teaching is absolutely dynamic and an absolute necessity for us to get a hold of if we are ever to live the Christian life.
What has happened to people is we’ve come for salvation from the cross alone. It’s not that the cross was not important, but as we will learn in a moment, the cross was preparatory. The cross is not in and of itself salvation. It’s necessary for salvation because it is preparatory for salvation but in and of itself it is not salvation. When we have stopped at the cross instead of going onto the resurrected life we have nothing to live within us. If all I did was get my sins forgiven, then I have no option except to go out and try to grunt and groan out the Christian life in the energy of the flesh. Is that right or wrong? If all I did was to get my sins forgiven and that’s all Bob George is with his sins forgiven, “I’m just an old forgiven sinner” I hear a lot of people say, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace”, and I say, “you look like one” but God did not leave you a sinner saved by grace. He said, “I’m going to come and live in you and because I’m living in you, you can call yourself a saint.” You don’t have to get nominated for that.
God made you a saint. God called you a saint. Did Paul address the people in Colossae, “to all the sinners saved by grace”? No, he called them saints. Why? Because that’s what you are if you are in Christ Jesus. That did not come from getting forgiveness. That came from being indwelt by the saintly one, who is Christ Jesus.
When we exclude the resurrection in salvation we have a half salvation that does not work. What it produces is a person saying, “Praise Jesus I am saved. Show me some things I can do to make people think that I am saved. Show me what I can do to make me think I am saved. Tell me some things I can do to encourage me I am saved?” But they do not know for sure they are saved. Why? You have never been indwelt by the the life that saves you. You just came to get your sins instead of receiving the resurrected life of Christ Jesus our Lord. So we had nothing to guide us. We have no power. We’re just saved blogs.
He wanted us to understand the truth of that. Jesus said, “I’m going to send my Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God”. He’s not an it. He is not an influence. He is a person and he comes to live inside of us. The Holy Spirit of God, when he comes to live inside of you, will guide you into how much truth? He will guide you into all truth. Why? Because of the Trinity. The Trinity is one and who is the truth? Jesus.
Who is the Holy Spirit? Truth. Who is God? Truth. We are indwelt by God himself who is Truth and when you know Truth, you can be guided by Truth. If you do not know Truth, you cannot be guided by Truth. Unfortunately, if you do know Truth, you can choose not to be guided by Truth. Those are the options we have. That is why we are instructed to abide in the One who can produce the life inside of you, to produce His life in you and through you.
He gave the most marvelous illustration of this. I am the vine and you are the branch. He who abides in Him, he can bear much fruit but apart from Him, you can produce how much? Nothing. That is zero. Nothing at all.
You can drive a car without Jesus. You can get educated without Jesus. For sure you can you get degrees without Jesus and you can do all of that stuff. But there is no way for you to experience the fruit of the Spirit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and long-suffering apart from Jesus.
That’s why we discount all those things. Don’t talk to me about those things. I can’t do those things. So talk to me about tithing records, church attendance, or talk to me about activities, talk to me about potluck or bingo, but talk to me about anything except love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. I don’t want to talk about those things because I can’t produce those things. Only God can produce those things. That is why you need the life of God in you for He is the only source of eternal life.
Jesus is saying, “If you have any intention at all of living eternally in my presence, you have to be indwelt by me today, not tomorrow, today. But when you are indwelt by me you will be indwelt by the very life of God Himself”. You have the life of God himself living in you that’s your only hope of glory.
He spent lots of time with his disciples and usually with a lot of instructions. All this took place on this Wednesday, and I want to get this straight, Wednesday all day. All day on Wednesday we’re going to go through the chronology of the cross. All day on Wednesday he was teaching his disciples about these things. In chapters 16 and 17 he prayed a priestly prayer.
He prayed for his disciples, and not only for them, but for us as well. So on Wednesday, they had supper together. He met with them on Wednesday. After supper together they moved over to the garden. They went over to the mount of olives, which was about a mile and a half from where they held their last supper together, and where Judas went out to betray Jesus. That was on a Wednesday night. Later that night, at the mount of olives, Judas, through His betrayal, led people with lanterns, it talks about that, which shows you it was in the evening and they came and arrested Jesus, that was afterwards. That was that evening when they arrested Christ.
They took Jesus to the home of the high priest who was Annas. Annas questioned him and I believe there was torture that took place because he was hated by the Jewish leadership. Jesus was a Jew. He was not a Gentile. He never has been a Gentile. He was a Jew.
All of the leadership would be on par with what you would recognize as the Orthodox Jews today. You would see very orthodox Jews. You would have seen them. They would have been wearing the black thing. They are very dedicated. They don’t drive any place on a Sabbath. They honor the Sabbath. If you go over to Israel, you would see those curly cues out on their heads and all that kind of stuff. Very orthodox.
There are other areas of Jewish religion. You got your conservative branch that don’t like the orthodox. You have guides over there in Israel today and they do not like the Orthodox. As we head over there now, it is amazing to me that no one hates the leaders of those things and they were doing nothing different than what Jesus did. He was going up against the orthodox and says they are a bunch of phonies. They are all clean on the outside but are dirty on the inside. You are preaching stuff that you yourself do not even understand or do. You are a phony and there was Jesus, one of their own.
Just like an Orthodox over here today and then a conservative saying you’re a phony. They decided to kill Jesus. They didn’t like their own, a Jew. Why? He got under their skin when they were phony. They do like it when you get under your skin when you are phony. When you’re phony and you should be phony and you don’t want anyone to know you are phony, especially whenever people meet him, he finds out what’s going on underneath the skin. When someone comes along and you don’t like it when he knows me, and knows that I am a phony. Jesus because of that was hated by one of their own. It is not anti-Semitic. He was one of their own.
John 1:11-12
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas. Caiaphas would have been talking to him at night, badgering him and would have placed him in an isolation hole. If you go over to Israel today and you go into the home of Annas or Caiaphas you’ll see that. It is a home that’s about as wide and goes down into the ground 1215 feet and they would take a man and stuff him down into that hole. We could move standing up all night long.
Now is Thursday morning. Early in the morning they took him to Pilates house. There was an insurrection that took place a week or two before. Pilate addressed the Jews:
John 18:39
But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
John 18:40-19:7
They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
Barabbas was a hated insurrectionist and then we don’t like rabbits. They shouted, “We want Jesus crucified. We want Jesus crucified .” You can imagine if you will for a moment Barabas as well as Jesus. Pilate interviewed him and he said I found no fault of this man and why are you bringing him to me. You’re the one who has a problem with Jesus.
You say the reason I bring him to you is because of a matter of your law. You are the one who has a problem with the law. The Jewish leaders then said the reason to bring him to you as a Gentile person is because we just can’t kill a bear. We just want to initiate it but we want you to carry that out. Pilate didn’t want to do that and if your follow along you’ll see in the Gospel of John that he doesn’t. In the end Pilate gave in to the crowds and Jesus was crucified.
Bob shared in the audio more details of the trial, the final days of Jesus as he hung on the cross, the fulfillment of prophecy where none of his bones were broken and his last words spoken. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” and “into my hands I commit my Spirit”. In the scriptures you will read about two thieves hung on a cross next to Jesus. One of them came to his senses at last and said to Jesus, “we have done wrong and deserve to die but you have done nothing wrong. Remember me when you go into your kingdom. ” Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth. Today you will be with me in paradise.”
