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Today, our New Testament reading is 2 Timothy chapter 4.
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Now, these are the last words that we have recorded, written by the
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Apostle Paul. He's writing to this young man exhorting Timothy to be faithful in his ministry, and then he gives some personal instructions to Timothy from himself before he closes the epistle with greeting his friends.
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And so, Pastor Jason, if you'll read and then pray for us, please. 2
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Timothy chapter 4. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
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Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
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For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
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As for you, always be sober -minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist.
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Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
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Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.
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And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
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Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me.
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Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
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Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus of Traus, also the books, and above all the parchments.
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Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.
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At my first offense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me, may it not be charged against them.
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But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the
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Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.
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To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of one
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Siphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, and Meletus.
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Do your best and come before winter. Eubulius sends greeting to you, as do
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Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit.
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The grace be with you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this passage of Scripture.
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And Lord, I pray that we would take heed to what it says, that we would proclaim your truth, that we would reprove, that we would rebuke, that we would exhort with complete patience and teaching.
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And Lord, the time has come when people do not want to endure sound doctrine. Lord, false teachers and a false message, a false gospel, has spread through every corner of this world.
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We pray, Lord, that your truth would stand firm, that your truth would go out, and that men and women would proclaim your truth, and that men might be saved.
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Lord, we pray that you would do a great work through this church. We pray that you would be with our messages as they go out, our letters, our notes as they go out, and individually members,
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Lord, as we go out and we impact. We thank you, Lord, that we get to be included in your great work in this.
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And we pray that we would see much fruit. And Lord, bless us now as we go continue our worship and study your word.
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We pray that we would have ears to hear, that you would help us understand. Let's turn to John 11 once again, please.
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And I'm going to move this microphone a little bit, Mark. It's better quality than the one we've had, but it needs one of those puffers on it.
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So I have to raise it a little bit. Hopefully I don't puff too much into it.
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Well, this is the fifth Lord's Day that we are giving our attention to this passage of John 11, in which we read of our
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Lord Jesus and his dealings with his friends, his family of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, in which, of course, he raised
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Lazarus from the dead. And it's our intention to complete today our study of this episode, beginning with verse 45 and concluding with the last verse of the chapter.
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And this is the fourth and final stage of the account. And so this narrative unit, sometimes called a pericope, you'll hear that word, read that word once in a while, encompasses all of John chapter 11.
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And for the purpose of aiding our understanding, let's be reminded that generally a narrative unit within the
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Gospels can be discerned as having four parts, a structure of a narrative unit of a pericope.
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And they're apparent in this episode before us. And so we first consider the introduction or setting of the episode in the first 16 verses of John 11, in which the location, setting of the event is stated, and the people involved are identified.
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And then the second section of the narrative unit sets forth the conflict which the episode centers upon.
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This is found in verses 17 through 37, the largest portion of this pericope.
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And the conflict here in this passage is both the death of Lazarus, obviously, but also the crisis of faith of the two sisters,
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Martha and Mary, as well as some of the other Jews that were present. And then the third stage of the narrative unit is the resolution of the conflict, which we considered last week, which involved
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Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, but also in the conversation that our Lord Jesus had with Martha and Mary.
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And now before us today is the fourth element of this narrative account.
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And so it's the conclusion and the interpretation of the event, the fallout of it, as it were.
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And in these verses, we see two responses to the miracle that Jesus performed.
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One favorable and one suggesting an unfavorable response.
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There were some who believed on Jesus after seeing this sign. There were others, however, who would seem to have refused to believe, and they went to report of Jesus to the religious authorities, particularly to the
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Pharisees, who then convened a council meeting at Sanhedrin. With this entire episode, the manner in which it concludes with the rejection of Jesus, the gospel writer,
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John the Apostle, really establishes the setting and events that come afterward in chapter 12 and following, really chapter 13 and following, with the arrest, trials, and death of Jesus, but also of his resurrection and his exaltation by the
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Father. And so, in some ways, this is a concluding episode of the first half of the gospel, but in another way, it's laying the groundwork in preparation to the major emphasis of the gospel, and that would be the passion of our
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Lord Jesus. And so let's read the passage, and then we'll address it. Here's John 11, 45 through 57, and I'm reading from the
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New King James Version. And many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things
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Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things
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Jesus did. And then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said,
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What shall we do? This man works many signs, and if we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the
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Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. One of them,
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Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish.
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Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
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And then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. And therefore
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Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called
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Ephraim. And there remained with his disciples. And the
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Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the
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Passover to purify themselves. And then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple.
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What do you think? That he will not come to the feast? I don't mention it in my notes, but that's a very strongly worded negative.
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Surely he's not going to be coming to the feast. Everybody knew the danger that he was in.
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And now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was, he should not, that he should report it, that they might seize him.
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As we consider these verses, verses 45 through 57, we might consider the following outline.
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We have first two reactions to Jesus for having performed this miracle.
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Secondly, we have the prophecy of Caiaphas, the high priest. Thirdly, the
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Jewish leaders were now relentless in plotting the death of Jesus. And then last, we have, of course, the conclusion of this pericope, the approach of the
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Passover. Let's work through each of these four points of this matter.
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So first, the two reactions to Jesus for having performed this miracle.
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We read of two reactions by those who had witnessed Jesus raising
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Lazarus from the dead. One group of many Jews believed in him and the other group reported
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Jesus to their religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees. So let's first consider those who believed.
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And I put believed there in quotation marks for a reason. In verse 45, we read that many of the
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Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. Because these
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Jews had been with Mary in her grief over the death of her brother Lazarus, they were blessed observers of the miracle that Jesus performed when he raised him from the dead.
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So those who had shown mercy to Mary in coming to be with her in her grief received mercy from the
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Lord. And it would seem that these many of the Jews, therefore, experienced the realization of the promise of the
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Lord Jesus, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
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And they did in being able to observe this work of God in raising
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Lazarus from the dead. Notice in verse 45, here John only mentions those who had come to Mary, yet there were two sisters weren't there,
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Mary and Martha. I'm not mentioning Martha here. Perhaps this indicates that Mary was the better known sister of the two, although we've already shown how
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Martha was probably the older sister of the two. But maybe Mary alone was mentioned because she is the person who set forth in quite a significant manner in the next chapter that we'll begin to address next week,
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Lord willing, that of John chapter 12. We read that many of the
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Jews who had seen what had occurred believed in him. Now, when we read of this belief on the part of many of these
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Jews, we might assume that these Jews placed saving faith in Jesus Christ upon having this great sign revealed to him.
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His glory was revealed and so they believed. They were saved, or we might conclude that.
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And the fact that there are many verses, particularly in John's gospel, that state that anyone who believes on him would not perish but have everlasting life, it would be very easy for us to draw that deduction.
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These people were therefore saved. They came to salvation in Christ. But really this would be an unwarranted conclusion.
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Yes, they believed on Jesus, but it may not have been saving faith on their part. In fact, it could probably be said, as J .C.
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Ryle expressed it, I think quite well, whether their belief was faith unto salvation may well be doubted, but at any rate, they ceased to oppose and blaspheme.
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Actually, the word of God addresses rather frequently about ones who believe but do not have salvation.
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This is an important matter for us to understand. Not all faith is saving faith, and not all believing brings salvation.
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This is a major reason that we speak of saving, when we speak of saving faith, we often use the qualifying terms, true faith, saving faith, or truly believe, because we know that there is a faith in Jesus that does not result in salvation.
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James wrote a belief in Jesus that does not save. So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
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In other words, it's not saving in nature. Someone will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith, apart from your works,
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I'll show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well.
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Even the demons believe. Then he adds, they go farther than you, they shudder. You want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
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And so there is a faith that people can have that does not save. In fact, there's probably more people that have that kind of faith than true saving faith, frankly.
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And so here we see that not all faith is saving faith. Saving faith is accompanied by works, as the word of God describes and prescribes those works for the true believer.
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They're not works of our invention, but they're works set forth and defined in the word of God.
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And they must be there as evidence of true saving faith. So it may be that these
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Jews believed in him in the sense that they were convinced Jesus had powerfully raised Lazarus from the dead.
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No doubt they believed that. And perhaps they had even believed that Jesus was the promised
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Messiah. But it's not certain that these had exercised saving faith in the
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Lord Jesus. As one rightly wrote, the narrator explains that many of the Jews believed in him.
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This need not be taken to mean that these Jews had true belief, just as this pericope has shown how much more
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Martha and Mary needed to grasp, still more to grasp about the person and work of Jesus.
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The narrator is showing that the sign was recognized by the Jews and that it in some way tickled their faith.
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And I think that's probably a good description of these people that believed. Now we've spoken about this matter many times because it is so very important that not all faith is saving faith.
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It's important we do so for it's a sad reality that many professing Christians wrongly think that it is so.
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Any faith is saving faith. They may think to themselves they have a saving faith when they do not.
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And if I could just bear my heart for a moment, I would say my main burden in life as a minister of the gospel is to awaken nominal
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Christians to true Christianity, to true salvation. That is what drives my thinking, my heart, my ministry.
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They think others about them have saving faith when they do not. They hold to the false assumption if anyone claims to believe on Jesus Christ alone for his salvation, then he has saving faith.
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But this would be a mistaken conclusion. Not all have faith. That's clear.
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But not all who have faith have saving faith. That is not always clear. Jason spoke last week of the many who will only discover on the day of judgment that their faith was not saving faith.
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They'll profess to Jesus they believe. They'll protest that they were believers but the
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Lord will say to them in his judgment of them, I never knew you depart from me. You who practice lawlessness.
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They built their house on a foundation of sand that would not withstand the judgment because they heard
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Jesus' words but didn't do them. They ordered their lives according to lawlessness. A true believer orders his life according to the law of God.
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That's his standard of righteousness, the scriptures. And so there's much faith, so called, that's not saving faith even though that faith may show some fruit.
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And this is why sometimes it's so difficult to determine. In the first century, we know that there were some who had faith that brought miracles but they didn't have saving faith.
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First Corinthians 13, Paul speaks of that. There may have even been those who had faith so that they could move mountains.
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That may have been an expression of hyperbole on Paul's part but their faith would not save them.
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There are several kinds of faith in Jesus that are not saving faith and I put it forth in this way just for clarity of understanding and perhaps help us in our recollection of these things.
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There's a phony faith and this is a faith that fails to dictate the way one lives his life.
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This is a faith of the lip but not the life. Doesn't matter what your lips say if your life says something else.
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Saving faith is always seen in the life. Secondly, there's a faulty faith which believes some truths but not all the essential truths of the gospel.
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This falls short of saving faith. This would be the faith of the heretic, by the way.
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There are some things that you must understand and believe in order to have salvation. And then third, there is a fainting faith which only believes for a time.
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Temporary faith is not saving faith. Only continuing faith is saving faith.
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And then fourthly, thankfully, there is full faith which is blessed of God. And this is saving faith which will show itself to be so by certain definite discernible traits.
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True saving faith is evident. And so let's consider in what ways is true saving faith evident.
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How does one know if he has true saving faith or if he has a kind of faith that doesn't save his soul?
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That's an important question to answer, is it not? There are a number of different ways set forth in the scriptures that true faith may be ascertained, but we'll focus on just a couple of evidences all found in 1
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Peter 1, by the way. First, understand saving faith is a continual faith.
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We've already alluded to this. Saving faith is born and sustained by the power of God, even by the grace of God.
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Faith that is not produced by the grace of God will fail because it's not supported by the power of God.
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Faith is born of grace and sustained by grace. That's why it continues.
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We read in 1 Peter that the elect are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed at the last time, future salvation.
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And it's assured to all those who have true faith. God's promise to salvation is only for those who continue to believe.
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Temporary faith is not saving faith. Paul wrote to the believers at Colossae, for example, and you who once were alienated and hostile in your mind, some of us can identify with that, doing evil deeds, he's now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
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And then this condition is given, if indeed you continue in the faith. Continuing faith is saving faith.
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Temporary faith is not saving faith. Stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation.
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The grace of God will see to it that you continue in faith. Cannot do otherwise, God will see to it because his power undergirds true faith.
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And then Hebrews 3, 5 and following, we have the same kind of conditional warning. Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which should be spoken afterward, that Christ is a son over his own house, whose house we are.
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And here you have the conditional sentence, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
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Now this doesn't put our salvation in doubt, but it is describing people that true saving faith continue.
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Hebrews 3, 14 reads, for we have come to share Christ if we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
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And then Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel
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I preached to you which you received and which you stand by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word
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I preached to you unless you believed in vain. And what Paul is speaking about, those who believed in vain, they only believed for a while and they stopped believing.
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You know one concern I have for a lot of evangelicals that are in this age of decisionism is they saw their son or daughter give what appeared to be a very sincere confession of Christ in an evangelistic meeting when they're a teenager and they grew up, moved away from the house and they're no longer walking with the
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Lord. Now it's 10, 20 years later and these parents have this vain hope at least my son or daughter has
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Jesus into his heart. Saving faith is continuing faith. Now true
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Christians can lapse, we could cite individuals here that can testify to that. Any true
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Christian can backslide but all prodigal sons come home. The Lord brings his people back and so a lapse of faith is temporary because saving faith is continual.
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The grace of God sees to it. And what parents need to be awakened to is the fact, know if your son or daughter is not living for Christ and in Christ and has been some period of time.
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Don't assume that son or daughter is a Christian. Assume the other way. This son or daughter needs
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Christ, needs true salvation and pray to that end and work towards that end.
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Now similar to faith, saving faith being a continual faith, secondly, related but different, is that saving faith is a persevering faith.
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You can't beat a Christian off with a stick. I mean they'll stay in a believing condition.
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Faith cannot be extinguished by trials that test our faith or challenges that would extinguish our faith if it were not of a saving nature.
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This is why the trials of our faith are such important and essential aspects of the Christian life. It's through enduring in faith through trials that our faith is proven to be saving faith.
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An untried faith is kind of an uncertain faith. And we read of this in 1
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Peter 1. Peter wrote of Christians who rejoice in their trials. Rejoice in trials, why would they do that?
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For their trials reveal and manifest the genuineness of their faith. As Peter wrote, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while if need be.
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And by the way this is a conditional clause and in Greek this is what's technically called, you don't need to know this
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I guess, but technically it's a third class conditional clause implying it is necessary.
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If need be and it is necessary is what he's saying. You've been grieved by various trials and then here's the purpose clause, what it's all about.
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So that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation or the second coming of Christ whom having not seen you love.
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And though now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice when the expressible full of glory receiving the end or the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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Again salvation is presented as a certain but future prospect. Speaking about our salvation from damnation on the day of judgment.
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It's a promise. Many times it's an inheritance. That doesn't put it in doubt. It's a certainty.
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And so in Christ trials become our friends helping us in our journey to heaven. This is not to say that our trials in and of themselves are good.
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After all, they're trials. Because they bring pain, sorrow, and weariness.
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In verse six of 1 Peter 1, Peter speaks of being grieved by various trials.
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The Christian life is one characterized by grief. Frankly. Oh yeah, there's times of refreshment.
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You know, the Lord gives springs in the desert, blossoms as a rope, makes our journey pleasant, but it's still desert.
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It's still wilderness. Walking through this world. But in Christ God causes the trials to fall out for our good.
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Through trials God brings his power to bear upon us in order to sanctify us. He uses trials to correct us, instruct us, and purify us.
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Through trials God humbles us. And in trials God shows himself powerful and sufficient for us.
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More specifically, what does Peter say here about trials of the Christian? He said first, we rejoice while even in the midst of our trials.
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He wrote, Martha and Mary, wasn't that a trial when their brother died? Jesus said, you've been here, they wouldn't have died.
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Nevertheless, we know even now, you know, whatever you declare will happen, will occur.
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Well, Peter wrote, in this you greatly rejoice. What does this refer to?
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There are four suggestions by commentators. Some say it refers to God.
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In God you rejoice. Others say it refers to the trials themselves. In the trials you rejoice. Others say it refers to the last time.
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In this you rejoice. And finally, others say it refers back to everything that was said in verses three through five.
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And I think that's probably right. In the light of these things rejoice even during times of your trials because God has had mercy on you having caused you to be born again because of the living hope and an unfading inheritance reserved for you because he's preserving you and you may rejoice in these things even when you're undergoing great trials even as you're grieved by them.
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He's not saying here that we're to rejoice in the trials themselves as though we're to enjoy the trials.
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He wrote that we should rejoice in the benefit that God gives us through these trials.
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And then secondly we see that we're to rejoice in the midst of our trials but secondly we read that trials are temporary.
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Thank God. My old friend Doug Moore is with the Lord. His favorite verse in the Bible and it came to pass.
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I love that. And it came to pass. They're temporary.
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Our trials should be seen in the light of eternity. Now when we talk about temporary it might be from here for the next 50 years until you die but that's temporary.
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It's in the light of eternity compared to eternity. In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you've been grieved by various trials.
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Now the Apostle Paul stated the same truth in 2 Corinthians 4. Therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment the moment was his entire life as an
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Apostle is working for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory.
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You take your afflictions as a Christian and how they seem to be so heavy in reality they're very very light on the scale in comparison to the weight of glory that's going to be conferred upon you at the end of it when you stand before King Jesus is what it's declaring.
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So they're temporary for a little while.
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So in speaking of the Christian trials as light he was not diminishing the intensity of their pain and sorrow.
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He was sending them side by side with eternity in this light they are brief in duration and moreover the benefit that the
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Lord brings to us through them will bring to us a far greater weight of glory even exceeding an eternal weight of glory.
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You can't weigh it than the relatively light affliction that they pose to us in this light.
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And then thirdly Peter wrote that our trials are necessary and therefore we should not be surprised or discouraged when they come.
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Why is all this happening to me God? I thought I was a Christian I thought you loved me. No. Peter wrote in this you greatly rejoice so now for a little while if need be and again the idea yes it is if you need be it is necessary.
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You've been grieved by various trials. Peter implies it is necessary that we encounter and endure various trials and Peter later wrote in his epistle the same truth but love do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you not out of normal for the
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Christian rather rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings that when his glory is revealed you may also be glad and with exceeding joy.
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On that day when we receive glory you know we're going to think back gee I wish I would have suffered greater trials so I'd have greater glory perhaps
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I don't know although we'll be fully satisfied with whatever God gives us I'm sure. The greater the trial the greater the glory.
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If you're a true believer you're either currently enduring a trial or one day you will be facing one it's coming.
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God has ordained that that's the path to glory that he's prescribed for you and it's a path of difficulty.
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Read Pilgrim's Progress. It's a path of difficulty to the celestial city and this is taught throughout scripture and it's the testimony of believers throughout this church age and it's the testimony of our people here.
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Becoming a Christian doesn't end your problems many times they just begin. When you become a
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Christian. When Paul wrote to the church at Philippi he informed them that God had ordained that they suffer in this life for unto you it's given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake.
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And we read in the book of Acts Paul taught new believers they would endure trials. When they preached the gospel to that city made many disciples they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
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Why? Because that's where Paul got stoned and they drug him out of the city and left him as dead. He just got all these new converts you know and they're looking at him man this is what it is to be a
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Christian he just got stoned to death. He went back there and told them we must do many tribulations under the kingdom of God.
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What I encountered isn't anything strange you can expect perhaps things similar. And our
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Lord Jesus taught us that we should endure difficulty in this life. These things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer
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I've overcome the world. In this world you and I as Christians will have tribulation.
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He did, we will. Christ has declared that his people will not escape tribulation.
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As long as Christians are in this world they may expect tribulation we should not be surprised by it.
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In this world we may be surprised with prosperity but we need not be surprised with adversity.
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It will most certainly come our way in heaven there will be no trouble but in the earth there's nothing but trouble.
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Heaven will be the place when we enjoy the crown but on earth we continually bear the cross.
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This is the way of the Christian life. But our Lord indicated that we have a Christian duty in our trials.
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Jesus said be of good cheer in your tribulation. And then fourthly
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Peter declared that our trials are many and they come in different forms. And in this you greatly rejoice so now for a little while if need be you've been grieved by various trials not just one but various in number and various in kind.
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So God in his wisdom orders the lives of his people so that we each experience at the precise needful time the exact prescribed trial to accomplish his good designs in us.
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That's why we shouldn't murmur against things. We have a sovereign loving God that's superintending our lives.
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The sickness of Lazarus, John 11 was designed for the glory of God. He told his disciples that at the opening of John chapter 11.
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And so it is Christian whatever trial you are currently enduring has been custom designed by your
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Lord to bring forth glory to God and to fit you and equip you and supply you with a greater weight of glory that will be yours when the
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Lord returns. So our trials are varied in nature and degree. Some endure sickness and physical pain.
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This is common to man. Some endure rejection and suffering by those close to them.
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That's pretty common. Some suffer financial strain. Others struggle with personal loss.
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Others suffer under loneliness. Some suffer persecution. In many places,
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God's people endure the trial of the absence of freedom to worship and meet together as Christians.
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I don't know how many times in the last year I've had pastors writing me from Africa. Can you please provide us with some funds?
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We meet under a tree for church each week and it's the rainy season. They're asking for, you know, some poles and some corrugated steel for a roof.
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Perhaps the greatest trial that believers can face is when they're denied the means of grace, however, that God gives in order to sustain and strengthen his people.
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There's a famine of the word of God described in the scriptures, which is one of the greatest trials that mankind can encounter.
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And so God spoke through Amos, one of the earlier writing prophets. Behold, the days come, says the
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Lord. I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the
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Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, from north even to east. They shall run to and fro, seek the word of the
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Lord, and shall not find it. I think of some of you when I read that passage. Some of you come a long distance.
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And this is increasingly a problem in our nation. Oh, you have much that purports to be Christianity, but there is such shallowness and so much error.
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There seems to be so, to be little desirability, no one distinguishes between truth and error in the churches, amazingly.
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And there are Christians who are willing to travel far and long because they desire to be in a place where the word of God is taught clearly and faithfully.
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And in a land where there's so much Christianity purported to exist, the truth of God's word is not as widely as available, as commonly thought.
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And you can just ask those who truly desire and earnestly search for biblical truth.
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It's not all that common in today's America.
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But the major point we wish to stress is this, true saving faith will manifest itself in that it endures and perseveres through trials.
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And that's one of the ways in which you can assess determine whether one possesses true saving faith.
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No matter what happens, the smoke clears, you're still standing with Christ. You're still there.
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And it's a testimony, your faith is born of grace, not just of yourself.
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Well, let's go back to our passage in John 11, after talking about those many who believed, and let's consider some who reported to the
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Pharisees what Jesus had done in verse 46. Here again we read, but some of them went away to the
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Pharisees and told them things Jesus did. Notice to whom these Jews went.
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They went away to the Pharisees. They did not go directly to the Sanhedrin, the board of 70 elders that oversaw the religious life of Israel.
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They went to the Pharisee. Now, we might tend to have only a negative view of Pharisees, primarily because of their opposition to Jesus, and of course due to his direct denunciation of them and their scribes.
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But to the Jewish people in general, the Pharisees were the most highly regarded and approachable of Jewish leaders.
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They were ones who lived in the communities, and they served in the local synagogues. They were really the pastors of the people, of the
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Jewish people. There is a possibility these Jews came to the Pharisees not with hostility to Jesus in their hearts, but they were simply trying to make it known to others, their religious leaders, especially their pastors, that Jesus performed this mighty miracle.
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Nevertheless, the way in which John describes them, in contrast to the many who believed, it would seem like these ones who went to the
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Pharisees had less than noble desires. That's what it suggests.
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One wrote of them, one might charitably hope that the motive of at least some of them was to win the
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Pharisees to the truth. But the contrast set up between those who believe and those who go to the
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Pharisees suggests their intent was more malicious. And I think that's probably right.
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This was probably their condition. Even though they had personally witnessed this great miracle, they remained unconverted and continued to be opposed by Jesus.
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And so, as J .C. Ryle said, instead of being softened and convinced, they were hardened and enraged.
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You know, this old adage goes, the same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.
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And this is what happened apparently to these. Here we see confirmed what is declared elsewhere by our
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Lord Jesus himself. If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.
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That's his word, of course, through Abraham to the rich man in hell who wanted to send
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Lazarus to tell his brothers so they don't come to this place of torment. And Abraham said,
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Jesus said through Abraham's character, they have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures. No, they won't hear them.
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But if a man comes back from the dead, they'll hear him. Jesus declared in that passage, no, miracles, witnessing miracles does not make
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Christians. The word of God is what makes Christians, is what Jesus was saying.
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And so, Christians are converted, people are converted, they become Christians because of the grace of God that were in them, not before them.
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That's an important principle. You know, we send these notes out every week to a couple hundred people now, and probably 110 of them are pastors, and a lot of them are in Africa.
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And this is their thought. We've got to have Jesus do a great miracle so that people will believe.
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No, you're not going to make believers by doing miracles. You make believers by faithfully preaching the word of God, the gospel, and then the
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Holy Spirit makes believers, as it were. So, much faith throughout the world is assumed to be saving faith, but is based upon someone seeing a miracle so -called may not be saving faith.
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Saving faith is not produced by witnessing Jesus raising someone from physical death. Saving faith is produced by Jesus raising someone from spiritual death onto spiritual life.
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And then it was Ryle who also wrote, There's no greater mistake than to suppose that seeing miracles will necessarily convert souls.
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When I found that quote, I thought, Oh, our brothers in Africa, they need to hear this. Let us beware supposing that miracles alone have any power to convert men's souls and to make them
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Christians. The idea is a complete delusion to fancy as some do. That is, they saw something wonderful done before their eyes in confirmation of the gospel.
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They would once cast off all indecision and serve Christ as a mere idle dream. It is grace of the
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Spirit in our hearts, not miracles that our souls require. That is a good word.
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Well, let's consider now the gathering of the council in verses 47 and 48.
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How did the Pharisees deal with the news that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead? Well, they convened the
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Sanhedrin, the council. To determine how they should react and respond to this news.
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And so verses 47 and 48 read, Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said,
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What shall we do? For this man works many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him and the
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Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. They were alarmed. Of course, the
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Pharisees alone had no authority to deal with the matter judicially. The Sanhedrin was the highest
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Jewish body of the day. They ruled over all the religious affairs and under measure the social issues of the
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Jewish people, even as they ruled under Roman authority. The Sanhedrin was largely comprised of Sadducees, not
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Pharisees, who were also drawn largely from the extended family of the high priest.
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There was a lot of nepotism. The Pharisees were relatively few in number on this council, but they were a vocal minority.
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They had influence. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin. The question was posed,
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What shall we do? And as John recorded, their primary concern was the potential loss of their own authority by the
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Romans. But they also had concern for the well -being of the nation itself, it would seem.
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They knew that their relative independence would be threatened by a large movement of Jews declaring the arrival of a
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Jewish king. They make Jesus a king and we're going to be in trouble. Their chief concern, however, was selfish in nature.
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As D. A. Carson wrote rightly, rather they expressed their fear that popular messianic expectations will be fired to fever pitch and with or without Jesus' sanction set off an uprising that would bring down the full weight of Rome upon their heads.
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They fear such reprisals could end in destruction of our place, almost certainly a reference to the temple and nation.
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Nevertheless, the peculiar way this is worded shows they are above all afraid that the Romans will come and take away from them the temple and nation.
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They are prompted less by dispassionate concern for the well -being of the nation than for their own positions of power and prestige.
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By the way, this is what's commonly evident in political rulers.
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Isn't that what's going on in Washington a lot today? They're concerned about their own power and influence waning.
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But it happens in business and sadly churches too. Paul wrote of a very unique and wonderful quality that characterized
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Timothy. This is a rare thing, by the way. He commanded
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Timothy to the church of Philippi. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you for I have no one,
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I have no one like him who will genuinely, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
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For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Notice the interest of Jesus Christ is for others is what he's saying.
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Well, you know Timothy's proven worth. Thou is a son with a father. He served with me in the gospel. These Jewish leaders were not as Timothy for they all sought primarily their own interests.
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And if and when you find a man or a woman who naturally or genuinely cares for others' welfare over his own, you found a good man.
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Timothy was a good man. And though he may be young and relatively inexperienced as Timothy, he can be trusted and may be commended to others as a faithful man of God.
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May the Lord so work his grace in our midst that we as a church would be characterized by this spirit.
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May the Lord bless us so that when we gather as believers on the Lord's day, our primary concern is not what am
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I gonna get today out of church, but how can I best serve my brothers and sisters in Christ?
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To give them a word of instruction, a word of encouragement, to show sympathy and concern.
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That's when you have a really dynamic church fellowship taking place, by the way. But this doesn't come naturally.
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It comes supernaturally, doesn't it? May the Lord help us to be of this spirit. Now the
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Jewish leaders knew that if they did nothing, two events would most certainly come to pass. If we let them alone like this, everyone will believe in him and the
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Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. Again, they were motivated primarily out of selfish ends to retain influence and power.
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They believed they had to do something or else everyone would come to believe on him. And they opened their acknowledgement, their meeting with this acknowledgement.
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This is significant. What shall we do for this man works many signs. Earlier in John's gospel, they were trying to deny that he was making signs by his miracles.
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They were trying to deny that miracles were taking place. They couldn't do that anymore. Lazarus is walking around.
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He'd been in the grave four days. He's doing signs. We can't deny this.
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We're gonna have to go to a different tact, a different approach. And then we have this intervention by Caiaphas, the high priest, in verses 49 through 52.
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This is interesting. And really I wanted to get to this point. Now we're running out of time. But this is fascinating.
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One of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish.
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Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only, but also he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
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Now the Sanhedrin comprised of 70 men and then the high priest was the leader that made 71.
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Caiaphas would have been a Sadducee. Caiaphas spoke up and seemed to rebuke the council before him.
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You know nothing at all. And this seemed to be rather typical, by the way, of the attitude of Sadducees, interestingly.
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Josephus described them as characteristically rude and even to one another. You know, you can just see this man kind of standing up and before you, you people know nothing at all.
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This is the issue at hand. Caiaphas, by the way, is described as being high priest that year.
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Some have surmised from this that the high priesthood changed annually from one man to his successor. However, the thrust of this statement is that Caiaphas was high priest in this eventful year.
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He'd actually served over the course of 18 years total as high priest.
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It's true that the previous high priest only served one year each, but he had been office for quite a long period of time.
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The fact is, this was the last year there was a legitimate high priest in Israel. And remember,
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John, the apostle, wrote this gospel 60 years after the fact. Jesus Christ was the high priest over the church, the temple of God.
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This was the high priest in that year, and that was the end of the high priesthood of Israel.
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Caiaphas made the assertion of the expediency of having Jesus die for the people rather than the nation of Israel should perish.
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The gospel writer then indicated that though Caiaphas was unaware of it, actually
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God was speaking prophetically through him. Caiaphas wasn't aware of it, but the very words that came out of Caiaphas's mouth, and unconverted men, was a prophecy from God.
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In fact, Caiaphas was saying things of truth he wasn't even aware of what he was saying.
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And that's what John indicated in verse 51 and 52.
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This he did not say in his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
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So John indicates that God had inspired this man, superintended his words, in order to declare a prophecy of things to come.
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And so there is irony here. We've talked about irony in John's gospel. Here it is once again.
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As one wrote, neither Caiaphas nor the others were basically concerned for abstract right and wrong, nor yet for the nation as a whole, but the position of the privileged class was threatened and its action that would save the privileged class that he advocates.
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That one should die for the people is a simple prophecy of the meaning of the cross, but on Caiaphas's lips, it is sheer cynicism.
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Better that one man, however innocent, should die, than that the nation as a whole should perish is how this worldly wise politician reasons.
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This is, of course, another example of John's irony. The leaders did adopt the course of slaying the innocent, but so far from saving the nation, this, in John's view, initiated the events that would lead to its destruction.
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We could have gone off on that. You know, there's a way that seems right on demand, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
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Well, the Holy Spirit reveals to us through the words of Caiaphas that God was foretelling that Jesus would die as a sacrifice in order to redeem his people, the children of God.
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There's definite atonement there, by the way. He would die for the children of God to redeem them.
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In John's gospel, people become the children of God, of course, through regenerating grace. That results in believing in his name,
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John 1, 12. But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.
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When Caiaphas said that this one man should die for the people, Caiaphas was only thinking of the
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Jewish people. But what God was saying through him was that Jesus would, through his sacrifice, be atoning for the sins of his people scattered abroad.
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In other words, throughout the Gentile world. Caiaphas wasn't thinking about Gentile conversion, but God was, through his words, the children of God scattered abroad.
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That's amazing. Caiaphas, therefore, was unwittingly proclaiming the universal church, the
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Israel of God, throughout the world. He was giving forth a prophecy of Jesus dying in order to bring
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Gentiles to salvation through faith in him. And so not only would Jesus die for the nation, spiritual
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Israel, but his death would gather together the children of God scattered abroad, that is, Gentiles.
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Most of us are Gentiles who come to believe on Jesus. His death has resulted in us being gathered, who have been scattered throughout the world.
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And God used Caiaphas to give forth a prophecy of Jesus' death, saving us children of God scattered throughout the world.
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And so in John's Gospel, once again, the Gentile mission is foreshadowed.
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And we've seen that several times in John's Gospel. The death of Jesus is set forth as a sacrifice on behalf of others.
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His death was a death for others, not a death for himself. We should not overlook the fact that this way of putting it means a definitely substitutionary death.
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Either the nation dies or Jesus dies. But if he dies, the nation lives.
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It is his life instead of theirs. And John sees a wider purpose in the death of Jesus and the salvation of the
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Jewish nation. This death would be the means of gathering together the children of God wherever they might be scattered.
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Caiaphas' words are not big enough. John has a worldwide vision. And those who are gathered are gathered into a unity, into one.
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Sin scatters men, but salvation in Christ brings them together. The New Testament always thinks of a very real unity as linking all who are truly
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Christ's. The children of God that are scattered abroad would normally be taken on the lips of a
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Jew to mean the Jews of the dispersion. But here they'll point to Gentile Christians.
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That's quite a significant understanding and an accurate one as well.
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And by the way, they're called the children of God even before they were gathered. They were children of God scattered, and then they were gathered.
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They were children of God and the purpose of God in eternity in his decree of adoption.
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And he purposed to save his children and bring them on to himself. The language, by the way, here is set forth
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Jesus as a shepherd going out and getting his scattered sheep. He gathers them as a shepherd gathers his sheep.
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And so basically this statement of Caiaphas is the same statement Jesus himself made in a previous chapter, chapter 10.
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He declared, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold.
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See, those are the ones that are scattered. And I must bring them also. And they will listen to my voice.
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And there will be one flock, one shepherd. And Caiaphas, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declares that there's going to be this gathering of the children of God in one, as it were.
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There's one people of God, the redeemed of Jesus Christ. Well, we've got to wrap this up.
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Page 10, Roman numeral 3, the Jewish leaders become relentless in plotting the death of Jesus.
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They were resolved to do it. He gives a summary statement of their intention. Then from that day on they plotted to put him to death.
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Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews but went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called
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Ephraim. And there he remained with his disciples. This was an obscure town,
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Ephraim. Now, Ephraim was the second son of Joseph. Manasseh was the older son.
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And Ephraim was the second born son, born in Egypt to Joseph. And then they became part of the 12 tribes, of course.
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And so Ephraim became one of the tribes and received a large tract of land when the land was divided up.
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And that was up in the north primarily with the Mediterranean Sea as its western border.
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And then because of that, Ephraim at times became another word for the northern kingdom of Israel, Israel Ephraim.
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Another word is Samaria. But this Ephraim was a little town and it was just about 12 miles or so,
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I'm guessing, 13 miles north of Jerusalem, a little northeast of the town of Bethel.
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And so they were not far from Jerusalem, but they were far enough away from the danger that would have opposed to them.
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But we read lastly, nevertheless, the Passover was at hand. And so Jesus and his disciples would not be away from Jerusalem very long.
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They would be going to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. And of course, that's what we have recorded for us in the rest of John's gospel during this
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Passover season, that our Lord Jesus was arrested, tried, crucified, and then rose again.
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And so we have kind of a conclusion here that is setting the stage for the
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Passion narrative that we'll be getting into into some detail. But first, next week, we'll consider
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Mary anointing Jesus with view to his death.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for the wonderful detail that we have in so many ways.
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Lord, revealing your ways to us, our God, that were so clear and apparent, and yet you make it known to your people and hide it from those who are strangers to your grace.
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We thank you, God, you've been merciful to us and revealed to us the glory of Jesus Christ, that you've not just done miracles that we can see or read about, but you've done a miracle in our own soul,
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Lord, bringing us to an understanding of our sin and our need of a savior. And then you revealed to us the glory of Jesus Christ, the
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Son of God, whom you sent into the world to redeem us from our sin. And we thank you,
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Father, for the death of his cross our sins have been atoned for. And we thank you, our
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Father, that death could not hold him and therefore you caused him to be raised. You sent it into heaven and you enthroned him.
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And now, our Father, we confess him as our Lord, our Savior. Help us, our
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Lord, to continue to believe on him, to persevere through all trials. Thank you for the promise that this will take place,
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Lord, through your grace. And help us, our God, to be faithful witnesses for this wonderful, glorious gospel to the world in which you've placed us.
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We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.