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Chapter 14, in which we'll continue to consider these last two paragraphs of this chapter, in which our
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Lord was giving instruction to his disciples, not long, you know, perhaps an hour or so, maybe less, before he would be arrested and taken from them, of course crucified the next day.
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And so here is John 14, 25 through 31, in the
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New King James Version, which you have in front of you in your notes, there's two paragraphs. Some put all of these verses into a single paragraph, that's probably preferable, actually.
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I know that the editors of the Modern Greek Texts put it in one paragraph, but in our
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New King James Version we have two. Jesus said,
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I say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said,
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I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now
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I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.
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But that the world may know that I love the Father, and the Father gave me commandment, so do
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I. Arise, let us go from here. Verses 25 through 27 address the subject of Jesus' promising blessing to his disciples, and we, of course, began to consider this last week.
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He spoke further of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He had mentioned it earlier in verse 16 and 17.
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Here he declares that the Holy Spirit would be another comforter. He is their comforter. He would send another comforter, the
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Holy Spirit, just as he instructed them, the Holy Spirit would instruct them.
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The Holy Spirit would also remind them of everything that they had heard him teach them over the course of his three years' ministry, and cause them to remember the things that he had did as well.
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And so this promise was specifically for the apostles, but clearly the work of the
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Holy Spirit continues throughout this church age. He still teaches us, and he still reminds us, calls to mind the word of God, the scriptures.
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But in addition to the gift of the Holy Spirit, and perhaps due to the
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Holy Spirit being given on Pentecost, he would leave them peace. And as we stated last week, we should understand this peace to be both objective as well as subjective.
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There's two kinds of peace that the Bible speaks about. Objective peace speaks of the legal and blessed standing that disciples have with God due to God having justified us.
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We do not feel this peace, this objective peace. And so there are some people that have this objective peace and they know it.
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There are some people that have this objective peace but may not fully know it. They're troubled needlessly.
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But this is not the kind of peace you feel. This is the kind of peace that describes our standing before God, our state before God as forgiven believers in Jesus Christ.
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And of course our faith in Christ alone for salvation resulted in God having justified us.
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And at that moment of faith in Christ, he not only pardoned our sins, but he also gave us the gift of righteousness, which is really the sum of Jesus' obedience throughout his earthly life, that righteousness is given to us as a gift when we put our faith in him for salvation.
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And so not only is our sins forgiven, but his righteousness is credited to us.
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And so we'll stand before the Lord on the day of judgment not just forgiven of our sins, but we'll actually stand as if we were as righteous as Jesus Christ himself because we're standing in his righteousness.
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That's very important. And so upon our justification, upon our first believing on Jesus, we pass from a state of being at enmity with God, even being at war with God, we with him and he with us, into this state of peace, this objective state of peace.
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And Paul wrote of this in Romans 5 .1, therefore since we've been justified by faith, not through your works, but by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. And that's true of each one of us who believes. We have an equal standing before God in this state of peace.
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It knows no degrees, whether you're new Christian or been in the Lord for 70 years, we're in the same state of peace, we who believe on Jesus.
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And so this is an objective peace, which describes the state of every true believer in Jesus Christ.
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It's the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of all those who are in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and this would be spiritual
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Jerusalem, the city of God, the people of God, cry to her that her warfare is ended, and that her iniquity is pardoned, that she is received from the
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Lord's hand doubled for all her sins. And within the context of Isaiah, that's through the work of the servant of the
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Lord, the Messiah, who brings us into this state of peace. We're no longer at war with God, thank
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God, but rather we are at peace with him through faith in Jesus Christ. But in addition to God's declaration of our objective peace with him through faith in Jesus Christ, the
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Lord promises disciples subjective peace. And this is the peace of God that every true
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Christian may experience, but sadly, not all do and not all do all the time, which is unfortunate.
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The scriptures speak of a peace that Christians may feel. And this subjective peace is not based on the circumstances they are experiencing.
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That's the peace of the world. He has a peace that's not of the world. In other words, rather than this subjective peace that is dependent on what we're experiencing day by day, this subjective peace passes all understanding.
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You have a sense of peace even when it doesn't make sense to have peace when you start considering everything else that's going on in your world.
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Nevertheless, an inward peace that may be experienced and enjoyed even when the
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Christian is enduring the most difficult situation in life. This peace that the world knows nothing about will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, according to the
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Apostle in Philippians 4. And this is the promised blessing of peace that Christians may experience because they're in the kingdom of God, they're citizens of the kingdom of God.
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And peace is one of the blessed benefits or privileges of kingdom citizens.
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As Paul wrote, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the
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Holy Spirit. Now it's important that we understand that our Lord Jesus gave his disciples this promise of peace just as he is about to be arrested and taken away from them.
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The next day he would die upon his cross and it's within this setting that he declares to them that he was going and he was coming back.
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And here we should probably understand his coming back to be speaking about his post -resurrection appearances rather than his second coming.
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He spoke about his second coming earlier in the passage, but here he's probably speaking about his temporary going away and coming back to see them after the resurrection, which would just take place in a couple days' time.
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But he wanted them to have this sense of peace.
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He was going, yes, but he was coming back. And so while he was gone, while they're experiencing and witnessing his arrest and trials and crucifixion, he didn't want them to be overwhelmed with distress.
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Let your hearts not be troubled, but rather be at peace. I leave my peace with you.
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Now we next have a statement that has been rather troublesome for Christians to understand in the light of our biblical belief in the blessed holy trinity.
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Jesus made a statement that's been the center of much air and controversy through the course of church history.
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Jesus declared in John 14, 28b, if you love me, you would rejoice because I said
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I'm going to the father. And here it is, for my father is greater than I. And of course, it's that second portion of that statement that is rather difficult to understand.
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The first portion of the verse is not difficult for us to comprehend or appreciate. If you love me, you'd rejoice because I said
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I'm going to the father, that he would be going to the father would be a great blessing for Jesus Christ himself and his disciples should be happy that he was going to experience this.
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And I suppose if we were always thinking rightly, we would rejoice when any true disciple of Jesus Christ passes this world, because we know that he is going into the presence of the father as well, which is far better as the
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Apostle Paul himself described in Philippians 1. But it is the reason that Jesus gave why his disciples should rejoice that may be difficult to understand and embrace.
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Again Jesus said, if you love me, you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the father.
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And then we have a clause beginning with the word for, which is a conjunction, technically it's an explanatory conjunction.
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So he's now going to give the reason why they should rejoice, because my father is greater than I.
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Now this seems on the surface to contradict our understanding and proclamation of the equal standing of the three persons of the
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Holy Trinity, God the father, his son Jesus Christ, as well as the Holy Spirit.
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In fact our statement of faith in 1689 Baptist Confession makes this assertion of Christ, the son of God, the second person of the
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Holy Trinity being very and eternal God, the brightness of the father's glory of one substance and equal with him.
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And so our understanding, really the understanding of all historical sound
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Christianity, is that the doctrine of the Trinity understands that God the son is just as much
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God as God the father. In the same way as God the
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Holy Spirit, there's one God but three persons. They are one essence and therefore they are equal as far as their nature, the divine essence.
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And each person of the Trinity should be shown high regard, equal regard, not one favored above the other.
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And so how do we deal with our Lord Jesus' statement when he says my father is greater than I? Well this verse has been commonly quoted by heretics through church history who argue that Jesus Christ is not
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God as God the father is God. And they would argue of course Jesus himself declared my father is greater than I and I've had
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Jehovah's Witnesses quote this verse to me probably a handful of times over the years.
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Some would argue that Jesus Christ is God but that he is a lesser God than God the father. Jesus is not therefore to be given honor and glory as to be rendered unto
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God the father. He's a lesser God they would say. And of course this is great error because the
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Holy Scriptures, the word of God declare forthrightly, Jesus said these words, for the father judges no one but he's given all judgment to the son.
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And then we have a purpose clause for what end, for what purpose? That all may honor the son just as they honor the father.
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There's equal honor, equal glory to be rendered to the son as the father. Whosoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him.
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Whoever does not regard the son as the son of God as the eternal son of God, God the son does not honor the father.
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You know all those who teach that Jesus Christ is not God who say he's a lesser
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God say the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. They're not Christian. They are what the
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Bible describes as heretics. Nobody honors the true
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God unless he gives the same honor to the son. Indeed all three persons of the blessed holy trinity are to be given equal honor and esteem for they are one
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God. We don't believe in three gods, one God. This verse was cited in the early
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Christian era as a denial of the equal standing of the son with the father by the heresy of Arianism.
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Arius was a Christian leader in Alexandria, Egypt perhaps born, some say 250, some say
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AD 256. He died in AD 336. He had a very violent sudden death by the way that many thought was just the judgment of God coming upon him.
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Arius denied the deity of Jesus Christ. He taught that the son of God was the first created being of God.
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He taught this based on a wrong understanding of verses like Colossians 115 which says of the son of God he is the image of the invisible
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God, the firstborn of all creation. And of course he interpreted firstborn as Jesus Christ was the first one created by God.
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Of course the correct understanding of Jesus Christ being the firstborn is that he is as the firstborn son in a large family who inherits his father's name, the father's estate.
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He becomes essentially the head of the family in the place of the father. Jesus Christ is the firstborn son of a large family comprised of brothers and sisters in Christ.
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And so firstborn speaks about his status, his stature, not of his essence.
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But Arius also argued based on this verse, John 14, 28. Jesus himself confessed that his father was greater than he.
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Jesus said my father is greater than I. And so Arius taught that Jesus is a creature, yes he created things but after he was created by God the father.
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He said Jesus was a finite created being who had a number of divine attributes.
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Arius taught that there was a time when the son of God did not exist. He's not eternal.
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Arius denied that the son of God was the eternal son of God as the second person of the holy trinity.
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And this teaching of Arianism really permeated throughout the
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Roman Empire toward the end of the third century and into the fourth.
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And so this heretical doctrine spread and it was a problem for the churches. Well when
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Constantine who claimed to have been converted became the Roman emperor in 306, he wanted to consolidate or bring into sharp relief the true
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Christian faith. And so he wanted to deal with this problem of Arianism. And so Constantine himself called the first council calling leaders from all over the
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Roman Empire, church leaders, to come to Nicaea which was a place about 40 or 50 miles southeast of what's
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Istanbul today. Constantinople, of course, is where the capital of the
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Roman Empire was. Constantine moved it from Rome to what is today Istanbul until the
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Muslims, of course, took over and captured that city. And so he called for this council, church -wide council, and it convened and Constantine actually superintended it.
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He convened the council. And he actually was engaged in some of the debate over the issue of the person of Jesus Christ over the course of a number of months.
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Arius attended his council. He had a couple of his close friends there that argued their view of Christ.
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Arius' bishop in Alexandria didn't go himself, but he sent a young man in his place.
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And this young man won the day, frankly.
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He was Athanasius. And over the course of months in this debate, he was the champion of Trinitarian doctrine, theology.
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And over the course of months, clearly Arius and his teaching was repudiated and shown not to be biblical.
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It was false doctrine. And so out of this council of Nicaea came a statement of faith, a doctrine that's called the
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Nicene Creed, which was one of the first statements about the person of Jesus Christ.
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And it was within the context of trying to correct error, Arianism, that really an understanding of what the
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Bible taught came into clarity and was expressed. And so here's the formal statement of the creed.
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You have it in your notes. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things, visible and invisible.
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In one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only begotten, that is of the essence of the
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Father, see one God, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial, and that's an important word, with the
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Father, by whom all things were made, both in heaven and earth, who is for us men and for our salvation, came down as incarnate, was made man, he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven, from whence he shall come to judge the quick, or living, and the dead, and in the
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Holy Ghost. We believe in the Holy Ghost. And yet, in spite of this declaration, and by the way,
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Arius and his two buddies were declared heretics and they were exiled, nevertheless, the doctrine of Arianism has continued throughout much church history, and those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ are spiritual descendants of Arius, and so groups that espouse this heresy today are
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Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, Unitarians, liberal Protestants, who would say that Jesus was a good man but not
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God, that's, by definition, the teaching of Arianism, or a form of it.
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Now let's return to our text and consider what our Lord declared. John 14, 28b,
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Jesus declared these words, if you love me, you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father, and then he said, for my
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Father is greater than I. How do we understand this, then, in the light of our, of the biblical teaching of the blessed
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Holy Trinity? How can the Father and the Son be the same in divine essence, but Jesus could say, my
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Father is greater than I? Well, there are two major ways in which this has been explained by solid expositors of the scriptures, and I'm going to mention some of these and quote them, and you'll recognize probably some of the names,
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I quote them all the time because they're good men, but they would take one of these two approaches.
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First, there are those who say that Jesus was here speaking of his human nature only. Obviously, the
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Father is greater than I, Jesus was speaking about himself as a man. He's the
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God -man, but here he's referring to himself, his human nature, the Father is greater than I.
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And folks would quote, say Hebrews 2, verse 8 and 9, for in that he put all things, put all in subjection under him, that is mankind, he,
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God, left nothing that is not put under him, but now we don't see all things put under man or mankind, but we see
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Jesus, and then it describes him, who is made a little lower than the angels. In other words, he assumed our human nature.
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For what purpose? The suffering of death. We see him now crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
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And so that Jesus was referring to his human nature as lesser and his
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Father to be greater was the opinion that was proposed, for example, by early
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Orthodox theologians in their refuting Arianism. I think that maybe this would be an argument that Athanasius might have made.
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This statement that Arius would bring up, Jesus himself said my Father is greater than I, I could,
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I don't know, I should have researched this, but I suspect Athanasius probably said he was talking about his human nature there.
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This was the position of Leon Morris, who's a South African fellow, a good man, he died not that long ago, the
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Father is greater than I presents difficulties to those who hold a trinitarian faith. The reference, however, is not to Christ's essential being, but rather to his incarnate state, and so Morris says it refers to his humanity, you see.
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The incarnation involved the acceptance of a certain subordination as it is insisted throughout the
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New Testament. The saying must be understood in the light of I and the Father are one, John 10 .30.
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John is not asserting as the Arians maintain that Jesus was a created being, he is talking about his departure of the human
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Jesus from this earth to be with his Father. In the light of this, Jesus sees it as a matter for rejoicing that he returns to the
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Father. True love will recognize this. And so this is a common way that good men explain
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Jesus' statement, the Father is greater than I. J .C. Ryle, whom we are always quoting, was even more direct in his assertion of this understanding.
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What did our Lord mean by saying my Father is greater than I? I answer that the words of the Athanasian Creed contain the best reply.
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Athanasius wrote an extended creed about the nature of God, the
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Trinity, and the person of Christ, and I actually included that extended Athanasian Creed on the last page of your notes.
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Please don't read it now, but it's there for you to read later. It's a wonderful statement written by a relatively young man back in A .D.
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325. And so Ryle appeals to the Athanasian Creed, Christ is no doubt equal to the
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Father as touching his Godhead and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood. This we may freely and fully admit and yet not give up a hair's breadth to Arians or Sosinians who always throw this text in our teeth.
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The enemies of the doctrine of Christ's divinity forget that Trinitarians maintain the humanity of Christ as strongly as his divinity and never shrink from admitting while Christ as God is equal to the
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Father, as man he is inferior to the Father. And it is in this sense that he here says truly my
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Father is greater than I. It was especially spoken at the time of his incarnation and humiliation when the word was made flesh.
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He took on him the form of a servant. This was temporarily, involuntarily assumed inferiority.
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And he references Philippians 2 .7. And then William Hendrickson, a sound reformed commentator of the 20th century also took this position.
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He wrote of our Lord's words, although to be sure as the only begotten Son, he was fully equal to the Father as to his essence, nevertheless as mediator between God and man, himself a man, he was inferior.
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And so that is a very common way that people address this. My Father is greater than I.
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Jesus was speaking about his human nature only. However, there are others who would say that Jesus was also speaking of his subordination to the
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Father as his Son from eternity. In other words, not that the
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Son was less than God the Father, but the Son has always been the
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Son to the Father and the Father has always been the Father to the Son. They've always had this relationship.
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And so just as a father, say, would be greater than a son, you'd honor the father.
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The son had always honored the father. The father is greater than I. Not in quality, not in essence, but in their relationship with one another.
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And so this is the position that some have taken. For example,
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John Calvin himself, no sounder guy than him, rejected the understanding that Jesus was referring only to his human nature when he said the
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Father is greater than I. And so here are Calvin's words. This passage has been tortured in various ways.
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The Arians, in order to prove that Christ is some sort of inferior God, argued that he is less than the
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Father. Now look at this. The orthodox fathers, this would have been Athanasius and the guys repudiating
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Arius, to remove all ground for such a calumny, said that this must have referred to his human nature.
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But as the Arians wickedly abused this testimony, so the reply given by the fathers to their objection was neither correct nor appropriate.
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For Christ does not now speak either of his human nature or of his eternal divinity, but accommodating himself to our weakness, places himself between God and us.
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And indeed, as it has not been granted to us to reach the height of God, Christ descended to us that he might raise us to it.
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And in this way, he says, the Father is greater than I. John Gill, who was a
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Reformed Baptist pastor in the 18th century, pastored the same church a hundred years before Charles Spurgeon in London, he wrote this.
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And John Gill was an expert in Hebrew. He taught himself Hebrew going down to the bookstore, pulling the books off the shelves, and he became an expert in Hebrew and in Hebraic ways.
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But he was long -winded in his sentences. And here we have some of that before us here.
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But he was thorough. If you want a thorough explanation, go to John Gill's Body of Divinity. For my
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Father is greater than I, not with respect to his divine nature, and I emboldened these letters just for clarification here, not with respect to the divine nature, which is common to them both, and in which they are both one, and the
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Son is equal to the Father, having the selfsame essence, perfections, and glory, nor with respect to personality.
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The Son is equally a divine person as the Father is, though the one is usually called the first and the other the second person.
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Yet this priority is not of nature, which is the same in both, nor of time, for the one did not exist before the other, nor of causality, for the
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Father is not the cause of the Son's existence, nor of dignity, for the one has not any excellency, which is wanting or lacking in the other, but of order and manner of operations.
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These words are to be understood either with regard to the human nature, he allows for that, in which he was going to the
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Father, this was prepared for him by the Father, and strengthened and supported by him, and in which he was made a little lower than the angels, and consequently must be in it inferior to his
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Father, or with regard to his office as mediator, in which he was the Father's servant, was set up and sent forth by him, acted under him, and in obedience to him, and was now returning to give an account of his work and service, or rather with regard to his present state, he's talking about his glorified state, which was a state of humiliation, he was attended with many griefs and sorrows, exposed to many enemies, about to undergo an accursed death, whereas his
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Father was in the most perfect happiness and glory, and so in this sense greater, that is more blessed and glorious than he, for this is not a comparison of natures or persons, but of states and conditions, and now he was going to the
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Father to partake of the same happiness and glory with him, to be glorified with himself, with the same glory he had with him before the foundation of the world, almost a direct quote from John 17, and wherefore on this account his disciples ought to have rejoiced, and have not mourned.
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Again he was long -winded, but pretty good detail. Now in reading the various views,
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I would prefer the way Donald Carson explains it, and in all the commentaries
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I have and considered, really his is the best one available in English.
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Everybody quotes him, and refers to him. He's quite good as a commentator, frankly, but he spoke of the incarnation, but also of the eternal subordination of the
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Son to his Father, and we need to understand what this is saying and not saying. It's not saying that the
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Son is less than God in his essence, and that the Father is in that way greater. To teach that would be terrible error, but rather the
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Father is greater than the Son in the sense that God the Father has always been as Father to his
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Son, and God the Son has always been Son to his Father, and here are
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Carson's words. Although the interpretation of verse 28 here turns on the distinction between the
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Father in his glory, and the Son in his incarnation, in other words he allows, certainly the human nature is lesser than God, nevertheless this verse also attests to the pattern of functional subordination of the
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Son to the Father, already alluded to, that extends back to the eternity past.
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The Father is, and he used this Latin phrase meaning the divine fountainhead, in which the being of the
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Son has its source. The Father is God in sending and commanding.
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The Son never sent the Father, the Father sends the Son, you see, and commanding the
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Son of God is sent and obedient, and so again the
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Father sent the Son before the incarnation, and then the Son came into the world in obedience to his
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Father, and so there you see the Father being greater than the Son in the way they relate to one another and manifest themselves in creation.
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That's what he's arguing. John's thought here is focused on the humiliation of the
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Son in his earthly life, a humiliation which now in his death reached its climax and its end.
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And then Beasley Murray, again a South African who died maybe 14, 15 years ago, also rightly stated the issue, the intent of the
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Father is greater than I is clear in the context, but the statement has caused immense discussion through the history of the church, and it played a prominent part in the
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Arian controversy. The problem has been to reconcile the declaration with the intimations in the
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Gospel of Jesus as oneness with the Father and the Godhead, and with the church's creedal affirmations of the co -equality of the
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Father and the Son. Without this doubt, the statement in verse 28 is one with many representations in the fourth
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Gospel as to the obedience of the Son to the Father and his dependence on the Father for every aspect of his ministry, as well as of in the
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Father. It is doubtful therefore, and here it is, it is doubtful therefore if the reference of verse 28 can be limited solely to the conditions of the incarnation as maintained, and he cites early church fathers,
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Cyril of Alexander and even Augustine, but respect must also be had to the relations within the
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Godhead, and this was asserted by Tertullian around 200 A .D. as well.
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Oh, here he's got Athanasius, so Athanasius had this right, okay? But after all that,
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I came across R .C. Sproul, who said the whole thing in about two sentences, all right?
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And so he described it, and he's got a commentary, it's not very extensive, but this is his comment on that verse.
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The Father is greater than the Son, not in substance, but greater in the economy of redemption.
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Sometimes you'll hear about the economic trinity, this is how the trinity functions. Thus, the
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Father sent the Son, not the other way around. Jesus told his disciples they should rejoice because he's going back to his place of glory, his place at the right hand of the
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Father. And so here, R .C. Sproul speaks about his humanity, yes, but also speaking about the fact that his
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Father is greater and that he's always been his Father, and he has always been the
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Son. He's always honored his Father. And in fact, the way they relate, as our
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Confession says, when the Father, the Son, the Son of the Father, really instructs us in this world, his creation, of how we ought to relate to one another, within families, among friends, and with authority, for example.
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The way the Father relates to the Son and the Son relates to the Father is a paradigm, and that's how our relationship should be patterned after, according to Confession, which we would argue is biblical.
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But the point and emphasis of the verse should be stressed. Jesus was telling his disciples that they should not sorrow, but rather rejoice because he was returning to his
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Father. He declared to them, if you love me, you would rejoice because I said
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I'm going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. The Lord had accomplished what his
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Father sent him to do. He was made a little lower than the angels in order to elevate us to a position greater than the angels.
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And now he was returning to his former glory that he had shared with the Father before the world began. And so he was returning to the domain to which he belonged.
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And so in a very short time, there would be many angels around the throne, living creatures and elders.
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The number of them was 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the
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Lamb who was slain to receive power, riches, and wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.
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And Jesus was telling his disciples, you ought to rejoice that I'm about ready to enter into this position and return to my
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Father in this way. I've accomplished what he sent me to do. And now I'm going back to receive the benefits from it and secure the benefits as well as on your behalf.
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Don't be troubled that I'm about to be arrested and crucified. It's all going to work out for good, is basically what he's telling his disciples.
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Well that's half of the difficulty of our passage, all right? We've got another one that we want to deal with just in the time we have remaining.
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And so in verses 28 to 31, Jesus further prepares his disciples for his departure.
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As difficult as his departure and the manner of his departure would be for his disciples, he wanted them to view his departure as necessary, temporary, and even beneficial for them.
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And so we read his words, and now I've told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe.
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I will no longer talk much with you. And here it is, folks, for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me.
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But that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment, so do I. There you have the subordination, as the
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Father gave the commandment, so do I. Arise, let us go from here. And so in verse 29, our
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Lord declared why he'd imparted these matters to his disciples. Now I've told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe.
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It's interesting that John the Gospel writer had recorded our Lord saying almost exactly the same words on another occasion, back in John 13.
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We read Jesus' words, now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am he.
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And in that context, he was talking about Judas Iscariot being the one who would betray him. He told his disciples in advance that when he was removed from them, gone to his father, they might believe that he was truly
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God, that I am he, the promised Messiah. And that he was then in glory and at the right hand of God.
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That's why he told them in advance these things would take place. And just by a quick word of application, you know, there are some matters that our
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Lord would have us hear and learn now, although at the present time, they might appear to be irrelevant to us.
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What's all this got to do with me and how I got to live my life tomorrow? Well, you don't know.
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And the fact is, the Lord might be instructing us today on issues that we might face tomorrow, and we're not, and we're clueless about it.
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We shouldn't measure the value of a sermon or teacher instruction just on how or whether or not we can see a direct benefit to us now.
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And the Lord was teaching these disciples so that when it happened, they would be ready for it. And much of the instruction we receive is preparing us for things we're not even aware of.
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But he's preparing us and equipping us for an eventuality he knows is coming our way.
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And so we should be humble and teachable in this way. But Jesus made this statement in verse 30,
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I will no longer talk much with you. The opportunity for him to teach them was drawn to an end.
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But the reason that he would not speak to them much more is because the ruler of this world is coming.
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And this can bring up all kinds of issues and questions that need to be answered.
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And this is so relevant, one of you, just in the last two weeks, posed several questions of this very nature.
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How is the devil the prince of the power of the air, and yet Jesus Christ is Lord? How does that work out?
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And so there are several issues or questions that we might answer to help clarify our understanding of these matters.
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How is the kingdom of Satan present and in force, and yet the kingdom of God over which
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Jesus Christ rules is over all? How do they interact with one another?
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Well, let's consider some of these. First of all, of course, who is the ruler of the world? Obviously it's the devil. When Jesus was about to be betrayed,
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Luke had written of the devil's involvement. Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was a number of the twelve.
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He went away, conferred with the chief priests and officers, how he might betray him to them. And earlier in John's gospel, when
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Jesus had given the morsel of bread to Judas, John recorded these words. Then after he'd taken the morsel,
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Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you're doing, do quickly. And now
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John declares here in verse 30 or 31, the ruler of this world is coming.
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All of the events of our Lord's arrest, trials, abuse, crucifixion were satanically inspired and executed.
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Evil men with wicked designs conspired to murder Jesus. Satan was behind it all, even though it was in the purpose and plan of God all along.
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The word of God contains a number of names for the devil, and each of these have meaning, of course. Abaddon, Apollyon, Beelzebub, Belial, Angel of the
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Abyss, the Devil, the Enemy, the Serpent, the Evil One, the Father of Lies, the
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Murderer of Men's Souls, the Prince of Demons, the Ruler of this World in this Context, the Prince of the
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Power of the Air, the Tempter, the Accuser of the Brethren in one place. He has all kinds of names that describe him and his maliciousness.
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He has no desire for your good. He hates you because you are in Christ, if you're a
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Christian. And if you're not a Christian, he hates you too, because he hates mankind, and he only wants to produce and spread his misery.
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And so the ruler of this world is the devil. Well, how is the devil the ruler of this world?
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The devil is the king over the domain of darkness, we read in Colossians 1, which is the evil spiritual realm that's contrary and opposed to the will and ways of God.
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God had originally created the devil, of course, as one of his holy angels. When God first created things,
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Genesis 1, all things were good. In heaven above, on earth, everything was good.
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That was before the devil fell into sin, he was an angel. And probably
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Ezekiel 28 speaks of the devil in kind of veiled language in the context of talking about the king of Tyre.
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But this description goes beyond the king of Tyre, it would seem, and describes the devil in his fall into sin.
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The devil had been appointed the anointed sheriff, the overall sheriff, the angel who was given the authority and control over the world and mankind, and it was his responsibility to care for and protect the world on behalf of God.
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Let's just look at this passage in Ezekiel 28, bottom of page 7 on your notes. And here it's addressing the king of Tyre, but again it seems to speak beyond the king of Tyre to the devil, who had inspired him as well.
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You are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. You are in Eden, the garden of God.
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Every precious stone was your covering, the sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, emerald with gold, and the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you in the day you were created.
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You are the anointed sheriff who covers, the idea of protection, it was his responsibility, you know, to protect and provide for the human race on behalf of God the creator.
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You are the anointed sheriff who covers, I established you, God says. You are on the holy mountain of God, you walk back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.
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You are perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you.
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There's his fall. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, you sinned, therefore
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I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, that would be out of the kingdom of God as it were, he no longer had a rightful place in the management and function of God's orderly, righteous rule.
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I destroyed you overcoming sheriff from the midst of the fiery stones. So what happened to the authority of this anointed sheriff after he fell into sin?
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God had originally granted this angel the role of caretaker, protector of mankind, and when he sinned, becoming the devil,
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God did not remove his authority. The devil continued to be the ruler of this world, but due to his corruption and pervasive influence, the world had fallen under the reign of his evil power.
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Adam and Eve chose to make the devil their God rather than the true creator their
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God. Man in his sin has shifted his allegiance from the true God, his creator, to the devil.
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And so we read elsewhere, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. After the fall,
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God continued to be the sovereign king over creation, that wasn't diminished in any way, but the world was in full rebellion against God, even as he still controlled creation.
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Well the mediatorial kingdom of God, which comes within history, throughout biblical history, is basically the work of God taking back his creation, bringing his people, his creation back into willing submission to himself.
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And that's what God is accomplishing throughout history. And so as the kingdom of God, ruled by Jesus Christ, invades this fallen world,
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Christ has taken it back on behalf of his father. And even as Christ's kingdom expands and extends throughout the world, the kingdom of darkness or the domain of the devil suffers defeat and contraction.
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And so how does the devil rule over this fallen world? Here's a good description by Robert Raymond. He wrote a good systematic theology, he's been gone not that long too.
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While he, Satan, does not exercise totally free reign over men because of divinely imposed limitations and restraints, consider
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Job, he had to get permission from God the devil to do his work on Job.
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Satan is said nonetheless to rage against men, to prowl around like a roaring lion looking to devour the sons of men, to work in the sons of disobedience, to blind the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, to turn men away from God to serve him, to take men captive to do his will, to deceive the nations, to sow tears in the field of the world, to obstruct world missions, to masquerade as an angel of light, to make war against the saints, to throw
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Christians into prison, to oppress with physical and mental illness, to lie and murder, and to hold under God, that is, to hold the power of death nevertheless under God, of course.
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And so that's how the devil is the ruler of the world. Well, third, we need to answer this question, we'll close with this, is the devil yet the ruler of this world even after the crucifixion, resurrection, and atonement of Jesus Christ, our
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Lord? And the answer is no, but yes in a degree, to a degree.
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When the Lord Jesus died upon his cross, he defeated the devil in a great spiritual battle, arresting authority from the devil, assuming
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Jesus, assuming for himself authority as the rightful promised King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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Peter wrote very clearly about this victory of Jesus Christ over the devil and his forces, it was through his death and resurrection, is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities, and powers have been made subject to him, and that includes the devil and all of his demons with him.
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Yes, the devil continues to reign over the hearts and minds of the unbelieving world. He is the prince of the power of the air, but he is powerless to stop the successful advance of the kingdom of God led by Jesus Christ.
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And the Lord Jesus is basically, you know, sending us into the world and we are conquering the kingdom of Satan, taking people out of the devil's kingdom and putting them into the kingdom of God under the
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Lordship of Jesus Christ. And so the kingdom of God is advancing us, as the
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Apostle Paul talked about in Colossians, how the Lord has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love.
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He took us out of the kingdom of the devil and he's placed us in the kingdom of God, in whom we have redemption through his blood.
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Does the devil still have power? Yes, but he does not have the power to withstand or defeat the kingdom of God advanced through the gospel.
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He was cast down from his former position of uncontested power, having been defeated and supplanted by the faithful son of God, the son of David.
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And this is very clearly set out in Revelation 12. Please have patience, give us five minutes, but I want to read this passage from Revelation.
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Now Revelation is commonly interpreted from a future's perspective as though this were going to happen in a future tribulation period, but it's describing this church age and what
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Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection. Revelation 12, a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and her head, a garland of 12 stars, that's the
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Israel of God. And then being with child, she cried out in labor, in pain to give birth, the
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Messiah came forth from Israel. Another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads, 10 horns, seven diadems on his head.
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He's powerful and ruthless. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, that would be a third of the angels, became fallen angels, threw them to the earth.
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And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
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King Herod wanted to kill the infant Jesus, the devil was in this. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
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Her child was caught up to heaven and his throne. That speaks about the resurrection, ascension and enthronement of King Jesus.
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Then the woman, this is the people of God, fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God.
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God's protecting his people, that they should feed her there 1 ,260 days through this great period of difficulty.
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And we would say that it's this entire church age. Our study of the book of Revelation, we'll talk about this in detail when we get to it.
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War broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
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So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.
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He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation strengthened the kingdom of our
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God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused him before our
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God day and night has been cast down. He no longer can accuse you justly before God, Jesus Christ has gained our salvation as an enthroned in heaven.
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And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death and therefore rejoice,
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O heavens, you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows he has a short time.
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And now it's going to describe what the devil has been doing for these last 2000 years. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child, the people of God.
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But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place.
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She's preserved by God, protected by God, where she's nourished for a time, times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.
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And so the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
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But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
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And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
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And this is what the devil has been doing for 2000 years. He hates you and me. And because he controls the world, the world hates you and me as Christians.
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Contrary to the popular future spin on this passage, it speaks of a future deliverance of Jews from an end -time political anti -Christ during an end -time tribulation period.
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It speaks of what Christ obtained through his obedience unto his father unto death. And it describes the difficult tribulation that the devil has unleashed on Christians these last 2000 years.
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And this church age is the tribulation period described in the scriptures. And this tribulation will continue for the people of God unto the end of the age when
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Christ will return and judge the world of men and angels. And so how are we to understand the ruler of this age and yet Jesus Christ and Lord of all the earth?
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And we just might provide this simple illustration from the Old Testament of the promised land that God gave to Israel before they were led into Canaan under Joshua.
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God declared to them, I've given you this land. It is yours. Go take it.
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And that's basically what King Jesus has. He is Lord. He owns the world.
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He owns the kingdom of the world. And God the Father has basically told the Lord Jesus, you go take it back.
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And that's what he's doing. He's calling out his people through history, taking them out of the kingdom of the devil, pushing back the kingdom of the devil and bringing them into the kingdom of God.
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And with the conversion of every sinner to faith in Jesus Christ, his kingdom is increasing.
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And one day, of course, it's going to be complete. And so just as Israel was to take possession of the land and settle it because I have given the land for you to possess it,
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King Jesus is taking back this world. And one day he will accomplish it after he had defeated all of his enemies.
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And he will bring back this world wholly reconciled to the Father by setting aside and punishing all who continue in rebellion to the end, but safely bringing his people into their eternal destiny, the fullness of the kingdom of God.
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And the Lord Jesus was about to engage the devil on his cross. I can't say much more to you because the ruler of this world is coming, but he has nothing in me.
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He was about ready to engage the devil through his cross and defeat him and empower him and be exalted above him.
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And that we're enjoying this blessed kingdom now as citizens of his kingdom.
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And we have a blessed part in seeing the advancement of this kingdom onto its final end that God has appointed for us.
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We ought to be an optimistic people, even though we live in a fallen world with a raging devil,
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Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen? Well, let's pray. Thank you,
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Father, for your word and for the promises that we have in Jesus Christ. We believe them to be true.
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And of course, the world would regard us as being mad, absolutely insane for believing the things that we have espoused today.
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And yet the scriptures declare them, and therefore we believe them. Your words are true, and you've demonstrated that they are true in so many different ways.
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Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and our faith is in him.
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And it's our, we count it our privilege as well as responsibility to declare his name and further his kingdom in the world, which you've given into his hands.
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Help us to do so, our God. Help us to be faithful in our calling and our privilege, for we pray in Jesus' name.