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New Testament reading.
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And here Paul gives instruction to Timothy on how to pastor certain classes of persons within the church at Ephesus where he was going to serve.
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And he also gives some instruction about elders or pastors and how they warrant support for the ministry.
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And so, Jason, if you'll read this for us and then pray for us, please. 1
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Timothy chapter 5. Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father.
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Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
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Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents.
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For this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow left all alone has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
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But she who is self -indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well so that they may be without reproach.
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But if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
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Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age, having been the wife of one husband and having a reputation for good works.
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If she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted and has devoted herself to every good work.
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But refuse to enroll younger widows for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.
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Besides that, they learn to be idlers going about from house to house and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not.
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So I would have younger widows marry bare children, manage their households and give the adversary no occasion for slander.
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For some have already strayed after Satan. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them.
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Let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
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For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages.
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Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.
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In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.
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Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
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No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
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The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.
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So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.
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Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we read this text and we recognize that there is an order to your body.
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There's an order to the church. And we would do well to pay attention to this order.
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We pray Lord, that in terms of our relationship with each other, that we would not rebuke older men, but we would encourage them as fathers, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters in all purity.
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We pray Lord that this church would truly be a family, that there would be love, that there would be grace, that there would be mercy.
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Even in the midst of disagreements, in the midst of dissension, we pray Lord that grace would abound more and more, that our love for one another would abound more and more.
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We pray Lord that you would protect this church from dissension and disagreements. We pray that our focus would remain on you and on the mission that you've left, which is to proclaim your name.
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Lord, as we now open up the word and as we continue to study in the gospel of John, we pray that the truths that we learn today that we would apply in the power of your
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Spirit to our lives. We pray Lord that this text would just be filling us up.
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Give us a right understanding of who you are and what you have called each one of us to do in light of our study today.
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We pray for grace. We pray for mercy. And we thank you Lord that we are here together. In Jesus' name,
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Amen. Well, let's turn to John 10, please.
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As we continue our study. And we're not quite halfway through the gospel, but we're getting there.
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And this is the 65th Lord's Day we've given to this. By the way, this afternoon,
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Alan and Artie are leaving on a trip to Great Britain. They're going with a group. Ross and Alicia and others from the church in Princeton going to Great Britain, England, London going up.
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I think you hit Wales. Do you go to Wales? No. Going up towards Scotland into Scotland.
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Yeah. And so it should be a good trip. And hopefully our church won't fall apart with Artie not here in the office.
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So obviously we're, you know, if you if you need something, feel free to call me,
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Dave Farrer, you know, one of the elders, Jason, and we'll be on your doorstep. Okay. May the
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Lord give them a safe and enjoyable trip away. You'll be gone, what, two Sundays? One Sunday.
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Okay. All right. John chapter 10. And today we'll give attention to verses 31 to 42.
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After we give somewhat of a lengthy introduction. The last Lord's Day, we began to consider this new episode beginning with John 10 31 in which we read of our
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Lord Jesus interacting with the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem at the
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Feast of Dedication. We spent some time describing that last week. And this takes took place annually in the
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Jewish month that's equivalent overlaps our month of December, early winter.
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And so the Feast of Dedication or more commonly known as the Feast of Lights or Hanukkah commemorated the cleansing and rededication of the
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Jewish temple, which took place in 165
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BC. They actually gained their liberty in 167 BC, but they rededicated the temple, cleansed the temple, rededicated it in 165
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BC after they had been delivered through the
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Maccabean family from the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus Epiphanes IV was the very cruel emperor who kind of prefigured the
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Antichrist in some respects. And so this was a very important event in the life of Israel.
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As one said, it was the last and greatest deliverance of Israel that the Jews had known in their minds.
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It was close to a second exodus. The Jews observed this eight day festival annually and it commenced on the 75th day after Yom Kippur, the
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Day of Atonement, which was back during the Feast of Tabernacles that took place earlier in the autumn.
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And so here at the end of John chapter 10 verse 30 and John 10 31, we see between these two verses a period of several months transpiring.
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You might not easily notice that, but when he mentions the
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Feast of Dedication, he's clearly separating it from the Feast of Tabernacles, which we saw earlier in John 10.
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And yet in spite of this hiatus between these two periods of time, our
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Lord continued to speak of the spiritual reality that he was the true shepherd of the
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Lord's sheep, the elect of God, and that God had sent him as a good shepherd in order to save his sheep from their sins as well as to deliver them from the oppression of their corrupt
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Jewish leaders. And that was an important aspect of our Lord's work.
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He took the authority over the people of God away from the Jewish leaders and he entrusted, in other words, his disciples to the care and well -being of his apostles.
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And so, yes, he delivered his people from their sin. He also delivered his people from corrupt leaders.
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And so even while these people celebrated the historic deliverance from the oppressive Seleucids, they were still in need of the deliverer, even a far greater deliverer than John Maccabeus, who would save them from their sins and from the corrupt
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Jewish leadership of Israel. Now, we considered last week the exchange of words between Jesus and the
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Jewish leaders. For the context, let's read these verses again, John 10, 22 through 30.
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Now, it was a feast of dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch and then the
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Jews surrounded him and said to him, how long do you keep us in doubt?
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If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, you do not believe the works that I do in my
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Father's name. They bear witness of me, but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
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Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my
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Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Now, even as I read this passage,
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I realized I made a mistake in a reference. The change of time was not between verses 30 and 31, but between verses 21 and 22 is when the transition took place several months had transpired.
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Now, this statement that Jesus gave in verse 30, I and my Father are one, is not an easy matter to understand clearly.
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There is a sense in which Jesus was simply saying that he and God the Father were one in purpose and performance.
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That was really the immediate context and Donald Carson expressed the precise nature of his claim.
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Verses 28 and 29 affirm that the Father and the Son are engaged in the perfect preservation of Jesus' sheep.
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Small wonder then that Jesus can say I and my Father are one. The word for one is the neuter.
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One is a pronoun and this is a Greek word for one and it's a
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Greek word hen. Not the masculine he's. Jesus and his
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Father are not one person as the masculine, if it were a masculine pronoun would suggest.
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For then the distinction between Jesus and God already introduced back in John chapter 1 verse 1b would be obliterated and John could not refer to Jesus praying to his
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Father. In other words, if they were one person being commissioned by an obedience to his
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Father and so on. Rather Jesus and his Father are perfectly one in action in what they do.
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What Jesus does the Father does and vice versa. And so the immediate emphasis is there in agreement, one in purpose and one in action.
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And so the Lord in response to the Jewish leaders basically gave a logical argument.
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First, I have the authority to protect my sheep. Secondly, the authority I have has been given to my
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Father and therefore thirdly the Father and I are doing the same work. It was a rational, reasonable, logical declaration and conclusion.
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And so he was declaring that he and his Father were one in purpose and practice.
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Now heretical groups down through history, church history have sought to use this verse in the way we've just described.
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But in doing so, they attempt to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Aryans of the early church and the
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Aryans of today, Jehovah's Witnesses are Aryans, use this verse to argue that Jesus is only in agreement and effort with the
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Father, not one in essence. They deny that Jesus is the second person of the
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Holy Trinity and the ancient error of the Aryans. As one said, this verse, that is chapter 10 verse 30, has generated profound and complex controversies over the question of Jesus' nature.
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Aryans, those who deny that Jesus is truly God, both ancient and modern, have entered the lists, while many scholars of orthodox conviction nevertheless hold that this verse supports only a functional oneness.
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They are functioning together as one. By the way, Jesus used his neuter pronoun, as we mentioned, in order to show forth that he and the
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Father are two distinct persons. And this discredits the teaching known as Sabellianism.
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Sabellianism is the teaching of modalism, and it was formulated by an ancient church leader named
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Sabellius in North Africa. He taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three distinct persons, but merely aspects of one divine person, not three persons in the
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Trinity, but one person. And the most well -known modalist today is
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T .D. Jakes, a very popular television preacher. Modalists teach that God is one person who manifested himself in different ways in history, that in the
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Old Testament, God manifested himself as God the Father. During the days of Jesus on earth,
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God was manifesting himself as the Son. But since Pentecost, the one God, the one person, has been manifesting himself as the
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Holy Spirit. This is non -Trinitarian heresy. T .D.
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Jakes and other oneness Pentecostals, and this is not all Pentecostals, this is oneness
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Pentecostals, particularly in the United Pentecostal denomination, are not
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Christian according to the New Testament. They deny the Trinity. And so this denomination, which was formed in 1916 around this oneness teaching, now claims almost 42 ,000 churches worldwide, 40 ,000 credentialed or ordained ministers, and a total worldwide membership of around 4 .9
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million souls. And I have read several years ago, T .D. Jakes is the most popular, well -liked preacher in America.
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Not the largest ministry, but as far as people enjoying and appreciating and liking the preaching of preachers,
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T .D. Jakes is at the top. And he's a very good speaker, by the way. But he believes this heresy.
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He doesn't believe in the Trinity. Understanding and believing in the Blessed Holy Trinity is an essential matter of faith.
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Understanding and embracing the Bible teaching regarding the Blessed Holy Trinity is necessary in order to be a true
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Christian. If you're not Trinitarian, you're not a Christian. And it doesn't matter whether you claim to believe on Jesus all day long.
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You're not believing in the Jesus of the Bible, because the Bible presents God as one
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God manifesting himself in three persons. God the Father, God the
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Son, God the Holy Spirit. One essence, but three persons in which the one divine essence is manifested.
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And so although Jesus was here declaring that he and God the Father are working toward the same end or goal,
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Jesus was also suggesting his essential oneness with the Father. It's not overt, but it's present.
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In other words, through the pronouns Jesus used, he was asserting that the Father and the Son are two distinct persons, but only one
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God, as one wrote. As Augustine, he would be back in the fourth century
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A .D., and Bengal, he was in after, in the days of the
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Protestant Reformation thereafter, have said the first clause is incompatible with Sabellianism.
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Again, it denies or refutes modalism. And the second clause with Arianism, and that is
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Jesus is more than just a man. He's God. The Lord is conscious of his own personality as distinct from the
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Father. That repudiates modalism. And yet he asserts a fundamental unity.
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Alright, that's the one God. That refutes the idea that Jesus was only a man.
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But what kind of unity is it? Is it a unity of wish, emotion, sentiment only?
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On the contrary, it's a oneness of redemptive power. The divine activity of the
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Father's eternal love did not come to any rest or pause when he gave his sheep to the
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Son, but with irresistible might is present in the hand of Jesus. Or, as another expressed the matter, after all, this book,
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John's Gospel, is a book in which the word is openly declared, that is the word of God openly declared to be
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God, John 1 in verse 18, in which the climatic confession is my
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Lord and my God, reference to Thomas in John 20, 28, in which
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Jesus takes on his own lips the name of God, chapter 8, verse 58, in which numerous
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Old Testament references and especially allusions portray Jesus standing where God alone stands.
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The reader should therefore hesitate before denying that there is any claim to deity whatsoever in these words.
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And so, yes, the primary emphasis that he and the Father were working together, but the implication is they're one
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God, but two persons. It's quite a significant statement regarding the nature of God.
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And by the way, it's quite clear that the Jewish leaders understood Jesus to making a far greater claim than just he and the
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Father were in agreement as to what they were doing. It was much more than they were just simply on the same page, their intention and working for the
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Jews sought to kill him because they accused him of blasphemy. They understood that he was equating himself, making himself to be
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God, even though he was a man. And in your discussion with Jehovah's Witnesses say that they come to your door.
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This is an argument that I don't know how they deal with. Why did the Jews accuse
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Jesus of blasphemy if he was not claiming to be God? And if he wasn't
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God, why didn't he immediately correct them as to their misunderstanding? But Jesus didn't correct them because that's exactly what he was claiming.
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He was claiming to be God incarnate, fully man and fully God. They understood it and the reason they sought to kill him was they perceived his blasphemy.
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And so this brings us now to the passage we want to consider today, which is John 10, 31 through 42, the end of the chapter.
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Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good works
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I have shown you from my father. For which of those works do you stone me? And the
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Jews answered him, say, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself
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God. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law
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I said you are gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said
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I am the son of God? If I do not do the works of my father, do not believe me.
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But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him.
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And therefore they sought again to seize him, but he escaped out of their hand.
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And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed.
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And then many came to him and said, John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true, and many believed in him there.
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Now as we look over these verses we can consider this outline to assist us. First, our
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Lord's method of eliciting the true motive of Jewish violence and anger. Secondly, we have the reply of the
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Jews. Thirdly, our Lord's vindication of his deity. Fourthly, Jesus again calls upon his works as witnesses to his identity.
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He did that earlier in the passage. And then lastly, we read of Jesus departing for Perea, the region of Perea.
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So let's take each of these in turn. First, our Lord's method of eliciting the true motive of Jewish violence and anger.
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And the Jews took up stones again to stone him. And Jesus answered them, many good works
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I've shown you for my father, for which of those works do you stone me? The Lord Jesus had really controlled the interchange between himself and these
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Jewish leaders. There had been hostility and division, of course, between them and the people that heard him and seen him.
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There was difference of opinion as to his ability to perform miracles or not. And we saw back in verses 19 through 21, this division.
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We read, therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, he has a demon and is mad.
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They accused him of blasphemy. They were committing blasphemy, weren't they? They accused him of having a demon and is mad.
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Why do you listen to him? And others said, these are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?
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Now, the Lord had set before the people the certainty of eternal security of his own disciples.
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They enjoyed security and safety, eternal life, the forgiveness of sins.
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Because of their relation to him, they had secure relationship with the Father. But in order to confront these people with the true issue at hand, that is, that they understand and embrace his true identity as the
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Son of God, even God incarnate, he pushed the matter further. And so one described the acceleration of the conflict.
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And remember, Jesus is precipitating this. He's causing it. So we read, the division among men must not be between those who suppose
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Jesus to be mad, in other words insane, and those who accept his ability to genuine miracles.
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That was the cause of division earlier. But between those who clearly perceive in the nature of his claim to authority, either reject it as a supreme blasphemy and proceed actively against him, or accept it as the truth and proceed to faith and active discipleship.
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The Lord was intentionally dividing the people, moving them in different directions, different extremes as it were.
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The evangelist, that would have been John who wrote the gospel, therefore forces the issue with the clearest possible precision and describes in vigorous language the consequent behavior of the
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Jews. I and the Father are one. The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
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For a good work we stone you not, but for blasphemy, because it thou, being a man, makest thyself
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God. Jesus Christ precipitated this hostility and this division between himself and those leading
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Jews and between the other people that were sympathetic toward him. By the way, when
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John wrote in verse 31, the Jews took up stones again to stone him, he uses a different verb than what he used back in John chapter 8 verse 59 which reads, so they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
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They tried to stone him several times. But there's a different verb here and there's a different intention being conveyed.
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The difference in idea is that in John 8, 59, the Jews picked up stones that were lying about them in order to throw them at Jesus.
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But here, however, the idea is that Jews seem to bring these rocks with them. They carried them with them.
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It appears they came to Jesus carrying these stones ready to execute him. As one wrote, it's not the word that's used before, but then he gives the
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Greek word Abastoson Lithos. They carried stones, great stones, stones that were loud,
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I don't know what that means, such as used in stoning male factors. They brought them from some place at a distance as it were preparing things for his execution without any judicial process as if he were convicted of blasphemy upon the notorious evidence of the fact which needed no further trial.
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They weren't open to truth here. And so it was the intention of our Lord Jesus to press these people to the point of decision.
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This distinction between those who believed on him and those who did not could not be more clear and demonstrative before us.
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But this is the ordinary way in which the Lord advances his kingdom through history, through conflict, and through division.
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You find this theme throughout the Bible and you find it through church history. This idea that you have to have a church that everybody thinks well of in order to reach the people out there in the community is not a philosophy of ministry illustrated or prescribed in the
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Bible or in church history. The Lord Jesus precipitated a division. He wanted to separate his sheep from the others.
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He's going to do so on the day of judgment, but he does now in history through his word, through preaching and teaching.
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And so a division, even a hostility, is the normal way in which God furthers his kingdom.
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The idea somehow that you assess whether or not you're being effective for God, if everybody likes you, and unconverted people out there love your church, there's something terribly wrong with that.
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Our Lord himself declared, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
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Coming to salvation in Christ is not commonly done in peace and quiet with little trial or trouble.
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A great spiritual battle is being waged in bringing every soul to salvation, a battle which most do not necessarily perceive.
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But God the Father is snatching his people out of the kingdom of Satan, translating them into the kingdom of his dear son, as the scriptures declare.
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And the devil is not content to sit by idly and watch it happen, even though he has no power to prevent it.
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We recently made reference to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and I thought we could do so here as well.
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Bunyan portrayed Christian in this allegory, of course, leaving the city of destruction, traveling to the celestial city, heaven.
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And he was directed by evangelists to go through first the wicket gate, in other words a gate that was barred and locked, that's what wicket in Old English means, in order to enter a narrow way that would lead him to the celestial city.
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And here we read how Bunyan described Christian coming up to the gate, and this is really the point where he becomes a disciple.
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And so we read, so in the process of time Christian got up to the gate, and now over the gate there was written, knock and it shall be opened unto you,
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Matthew 7, 7. He knocked, and therefore more than once or twice, saying, may I now enter here?
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Will he within open to sorry me, though I have been an undeserving rebel? Then shall
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I not fail to sing his lasting praise on high? And at last there came a grave person, serious person, to the gate named
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Goodwill, who asked who was there, and whence, you know, from where did you come, and what he would have.
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Christian, here is a poor burdened sinner. I come from the city of destruction, but am going to Mount Zion, that I may be delivered from the wrath to come.
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I would therefore, sir, since I am informed that by this gate is the way thither, know if you are willing to let me in.
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I am willing, with all my heart said Goodwill, and with that he opened the gate. Now look at this little description here that I emboldened, italicized.
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So when Christian was stepping in, the other gave him a pull. He jerked him in. Then said
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Christian, what means this? Why did you do that? And the other told him, a little distance from this gate there is erected a strong castle, at which
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Beelzebub is the captain. And from thence both he and them that are with him shoot arrows at those who come up to this gate.
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If happily they may die before they can enter in. And then said
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Christian, I rejoice and tremble. What Bunyan was stressing is that at the time of conversion there is often conflict and resistance by the enemy of our souls to dissuade or discourage us from stepping forward to embrace
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Jesus Christ. These Jewish leaders would do so regarding these people who were hearing
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Jesus. But in order for our Lord to separate his sheep from the wolves, he caused the conflict to increase to a deadly pitch, even to the point that these
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Jews picked up stones to kill him. But again, we would reason, or argue, this is a common way in which the
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Lord advances his kingdom in the world. It's through conflict, even great unreasoned and violent conflict, that his people separate from those who oppose him in order to embrace him as their
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Lord and Savior. One wrote of this incident of great conflict between Jesus and the
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Jews as an emblem of the conflict which the Church of Jesus Christ faces with the world.
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The situation here described is not unique in the fourth gospel, for it is anticipated in the prologue.
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It is repeated with some variation, he mentions a number of verses, and reaches its climax in the narrative of the crucifixion.
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But it is more than this. Everywhere in his gospel, the evangelist is concerned to expose the tension between Jesus and the
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Jews, because that same tension is repeated in the relation between the Church and the world.
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There you have it. Since the faithful disciples of Jesus share in his union with the
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Father, and the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them, that they may be one even as we are.
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And so we should not be surprised when conflict comes.
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That is what is characteristic of a true work of God in expanding his kingdom.
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Just a brief word of application for us. Most Christians today perceive an increasing hostility of the world and the powers of the world toward us as Christians and the faith we espouse.
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And I think everybody sees that quite clearly. We should understand that although times of trouble may come upon us increasingly, and our lives may be inconvenienced and troubled in various ways, the
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Lord will probably use these troublous times to expand his kingdom, and that perhaps to a great degree.
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The old adage, written in 200 A .D. by Tertullian, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
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Church, has been a historical reality, and it's just as true today in our world as it was then.
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But again, on the other hand, if the Church's attempt to accommodate the world and become more like the world in order, wrongly, to think that they're going to win the world, they will find themselves actually opposed to God.
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For it is true, the scriptures say, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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We care for the world, but we're not going to become like the world or reach the world. And that's not how you win people to Christ.
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It's our differences which cause us to stand down, and it's actually our differences that become attractive to those who grow weary with the world and the sin that they've been involved with.
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There's an attraction there in the distinctiveness. And so, the conflict that you may experience with non -Christians, perhaps even in your own family, may not be an indicator that you're doing something wrong.
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In fact, it may suggest you're doing something right before the Lord. Certainly, we're not to be the direct cause of people thinking ill will of us due to a cheerless spirit, harsh words, or inconsiderate behavior on our part, poor attitudes.
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And so, you're not to allow your good to be spoken evil of. But on the other hand, the scriptures say,
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Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
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And our Lord Jesus Himself declared, I came to send fire on the earth, and how
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I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, He's speaking about a crucifixion, and how distressed
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I am till it's accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to bring peace on earth? That's how
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He's often presented, isn't it? I tell you, no, not at all, but rather division. For from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, two against three, father will be divided against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother -in -law against her daughter -in -law, and daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.
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And it was the will of God, the will of Christ, that this division takes place, separating
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His people from all others. So here the Lord spoke about hostility within one's own family.
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Those who would think that they'd be most in favor of us, or at least not opposed to our
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Christianity, becomes perhaps the ones with whom peace becomes most difficult.
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Even to maintain civility is not possible. But again, that may not be a failure on your part, you might be doing something right, because you are testifying of your life in Christ, and that itself is a repudiation to those who don't believe.
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And the reaction, of course, is animosity and hatred, and sometimes conflict, certainly opposition.
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But let us also remember that when these things happen to us, and we encounter this kind of conflict with those that we perhaps are closest to, humanly speaking, that this is in the purposes of our sovereign
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God to bring us as Christians through these experiences. Now why would the
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Lord do that? Well, because the Father is concerned and is working toward you to help you to become more fully a disciple of Christ and become more like Jesus Christ in holy character.
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And so he'll have you experience the kinds of things that Jesus experienced to make you more like Jesus.
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And also that you might grow in your relationship with Jesus, because you encounter the same kinds of things that he encountered.
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And so he would have you, in the course of your Christian life, experience the same kinds of experiences that he had to endure and address during his earthly sojourn.
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The Scriptures speak about a fellowship of his sufferings. We read of this in the
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Apostle Paul's, it was the Apostle's great desire to experience this. I won't read the passage, but Philippians, he desired to experience the fellowship of his sufferings.
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And what that means is that we encounter and experience the same kinds of things that he suffered.
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And it's in order for us to grow in our relationship with him and our concern and awareness of what he endured on our behalf.
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This is the will of God for us. And we would argue that even in the days of the Old Testament writers, they experienced sufferings that anticipated the kind of the sufferings that the
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Lord Jesus himself experienced. And these were sometimes very deep personal sufferings inflicted by those who once were very close to them.
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And in this way, the Old Testament characters became types of Christ, picturing the life and struggles of our
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Savior that he would experience. And in some instances, the personal experience of Old Testament characters or writers were even prophetic of what the
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Lord Jesus would endure. They became examples and illustrations as well as what you and I endure in our relationships as we purpose to live before those people as Christians.
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King David is an example of this. Listen to the way he described the betrayal and difficulty he had encountered from one who had been formerly his very close friend.
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I've encountered this. I imagine a number of you have. It's not an enemy who reproaches me.
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Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me.
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Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man of my equal, my companion and my acquaintance.
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We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in the throng. He's put forth his hands against those who are at peace with him.
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He has broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart.
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His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. This was a former friend.
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You can insert family member as well. Now in our
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Christian reading of this psalm, we see in David's experience, he was experiencing what our Lord experienced through the duplicity, treachery and betrayal of Judas Iscariot.
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The very man he was sharing the plate with at the last supper was the man who had betrayed him, a friend.
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But we could say more. Did our Lord Jesus endure trials with his close relatives?
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Of course he did. Why should you, therefore, his follower, not do so as well?
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We read last week in John 10 that there was a division among those who heard him. Some thought he must be of God, while others thought that he was mad, that he was deranged, that he was demon -possessed.
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We read in John 10, 19, Therefore there was division again among the Jews because of these saints, and many of them said, many of them said,
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He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? But let's remember, members of his own family also thought he was insane.
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We read in Mark chapter 3, The multitude came together again, so that he could not so much as eat bread.
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But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, He's out of his mind.
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His own brothers, half -brothers, didn't believe on him until after the resurrection. And I suspect there are many people about us, including members of our own families, that believe we're somewhat touched because of what we claim to believe.
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Are you crazy? You believe that today? America still is quite a religious country.
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Mark McNamara was telling me about he and Kyle's trip to Ireland a couple weeks ago. And I don't know if you know the account, but they were looking at a place where they thought
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Mark's family originally was from. And Kathy says, well, I'll just go up and knock on that door and see if I can get a little information about the area.
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She knocked on the door. It turned out to be one of Mark's cousins that he'd never known of, never met in his life, and he heard about the family and learned a lot of information about his grandparents, who were brothers,
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I think, or sisters, I don't know which. But anyway, Mark made in passing mention of going to church to this family, and his second cousin was shocked.
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What? People in America go to church? You go every week?
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I mean, Mark said it was just totally out of his experience. And again, are you crazy?
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You go to church? You do that in America? It is so secularized that he couldn't even conceive of people going to church.
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And there are people today, they think we're touched because of what we assert and what we believe, and that we are to be dismissed and disregarded, certainly discredited because of who we are and what we believe.
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Why should we be surprised by that? The Lord Jesus told his disciples in Matthew's Gospel, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
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Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Beware of men.
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They will deliver you to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them, to the
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Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak but the
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Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, father his child.
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Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his writing, The Gulag Archipelago, about the gulags in the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany that was so characterized by the secret state and whatnot, people, even with families, wouldn't speak to one another about what they really believed and thought because of the betrayal that was so commonplace.
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I heard the testimony of a young man who was raised in a concentration camp in North Korea and he had escaped and came to the
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West. He had no concept of a family and he didn't realize afterwards really what a mother and father was and he betrayed his mother in the camp that she was a
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Christian and she suffered terribly because of it and he did so so he could just get a little bit more food.
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And he said, thinking back, I had no concept whatsoever that she was my mother. Betrayal.
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You'll be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end, that is, continues to believe, will be saved.
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A disciple is not above the master, a servant above his master, a disciple above his teacher.
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It's enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, a servant like this matter. If they call the master the house
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Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household? He says it's going to be worse.
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But then he made this word, therefore do not fear them. Christians take heart by this.
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Again, some of us perhaps are very fearful. I think about the future and our world.
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I think about my kids and my grandkids and there's apprehension, you know. But the opportunities for the advancement of the kingdom of God are very great.
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This is how the Lord advances his kingdom. In the midst of, in the presence of, great division and hostility.
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J .C. Ryle wrote regarding this, Our Lord had done the Jews no injury.
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He was no robber, murderer, or rebel against the law of the land. He was one whose whole life was love and who went about doing good.
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There was no false or inconsistency in his character. There was no crime that could be laid to his charge.
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So perfect and spotless a being had never walked on the face of the earth. Yet the
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Jews hated him and thirsted for his blood. How true were the words of scripture they hated him without a cause.
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How just the remark of the old divine, or minister, pastor, unconverted men would kill
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God himself if they could only get at him. The true Christian has surely no right to wonder if he meets with the same kind of treatment as our blessed
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Lord. In fact, the more he is like to our Master and the more holy and spiritual his life, the more probable is it that he will have to endure hatred and persecution.
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Let him not suppose that any degree of consistency will deliver him from his cross. It is not his faults, but his graces which call forth the enmity of men.
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The world hates to see anything of God's image. The children of the world are vexed and pricked in conscience when they see others better than themselves.
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Why did Cain hate his brother Abel and slay him? Because, says St. John, his own works were evil and his brothers righteous.
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Why did the Jews hate Christ? Because he exposed their sin and false doctrines.
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They knew in their own hearts that he was right and they were wrong. The world said, Our Lord hates me because I testify of it that the works are evil.
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Let Christians make up their minds to drink the same cup, and let them drink it patiently and without surprise.
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There is one in heaven who said, If the world hates you, you know it hated me before it hated you.
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Let them remember this and take courage. The time is short. We are traveling on towards a day when all shall be set right and every man shall receive according to his works.
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Notice the calm and courageous spirit that characterized Jesus, even as they apparently had stone in hand and ready to hurl at him.
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He didn't run away. He did not try to qualify his words to pacify their intractable anger toward him.
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As one wrote in the face of stone, he quietly resumed the discussion and pointed out that he had done many good works.
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And notice he added to this, works from my Father is what they were persecuting him for.
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They returned evil for his good. Inwardly our Lord must have felt as the psalmist, they reward me evil for good to the sorrow of my soul.
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Well then we read of the reply of the Jews. In verse 33, The Jews answered him,
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For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself God.
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They knew what he was claiming and they would not have it go unchallenged. Jesus was declaring himself to be
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God. He was claiming to be equal with God. As Augustine said back again in the early 400's
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A .D. Behold, the Jews understood what Arians did not understand. See, the
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Arians said he was only a man. The Jews understood that he was saying he was more than that.
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They were accusing him of blasphemy. The Jewish leaders would stone him openly before the gathered crowd.
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They were bold and shameless in their evil desires and their intentions to put Jesus to death.
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Daring sinners will throw stones at heaven, though they return on their own heads. They throw up and they come down on themselves.
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And will strengthen themselves against the Almighty, though none ever harden themselves against Him and prosper.
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Raymond and I were witness to a lady, a neighbor of ours, some months ago. We thought that she might want to come to church or to the ladies
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Bible study. And she said, I'm angry with God. I'm fighting against Him.
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I said, well, please don't do that. He always wins. And Raymond sat down and wrote her a very nice letter.
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And when Raymond was in my yard the other day, she backed out of her driveway and she thanked Raymond for the letter and said she still thinks about it and our neighbors.
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Well, in verses 34 through 36, we have our Lord's vindication of His deity. Our Lord offers a defense of His use of the
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Son of God respecting Himself. Now this may seem kind of strange when we read this. Why did
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He make this point, argue this point? But let's read it in verses 34 through 36.
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Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods? If He called them gods to whom the
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Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified, sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said
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I am the Son of God? The Lord said to them, Is it not written in your law?
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He wasn't dissing Himself from the law, of course. The law is God's law. The law was His law.
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He spoke to them of your law in order to show them that His claims were substantiated in the
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Word of God that they claim to believe and follow. That was the whole point.
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And by the way, the law here is a reference to all of the Hebrew Scriptures, the entire
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Old Testament in our English Bibles. The Lord quoted Psalm 82, verse 6 from the
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Septuagint Version. And that's the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
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And it reads, I said you are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.
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And Jesus says basically, hey, the Word of God calls these people gods.
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Why should you be upset if I call myself the Son of God? And probably what was happening, they were about ready to stone
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Him. He throws this out at them and it probably stymied them, puzzled them, you know, as they're trying to think and reason through this.
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And then it enabled Him to say another word that substantiated His deity. But this kind of stopped them in their tracks.
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This is basically what happened. Now in the context of this psalm, God was pronouncing
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His judgment upon judges that He had appointed over Israel who had been unjust in their judicial dealings with the people.
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These people should have judged Israel according to God's law, the will of God. God had appointed them positions of authority and responsibility to do just that.
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And because of their authority and privilege, God had given them the exalted title of gods.
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Not that they were deities, but that they had high regarded positions of authority over the people.
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God told Moses, you will be god to your brother Aaron. In other words, you'll have this lofty position.
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Now the psalmist referred to them as gods, but because of their unfaithfulness they would die like ordinary mortals over whom they should have been ruling for their benefit.
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And so the Lord used this verse to prove to these Jews that simply applying the word God to a human being was not itself illegitimate.
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Why then should they object? Because Jesus called Himself the Son of God. It was really quite clever.
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By the way, in the middle of our Lord's statement of verse 35, we have this parenthetical statement regarding the
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Bible. The Scriptures cannot be broken. Jesus believed in the inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of Holy Scripture.
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It cannot fail to be true. All of the Bible is true. The Scripture cannot be broken.
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And so the words the Scripture cannot be broken mean the Scripture cannot be annulled or set aside or prove false.
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It means that the Bible, the Holy Scripture, cannot be shown to be erroneous and that its specifics are to the detail proven true.
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They are indeed true. The Scriptures cannot be broken. Now again, our
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Lord's quotation of this psalm was not a proof that Jesus was the Son of God. He never intended it to be understood that way.
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They were about to stone Him. His quotation of Psalm 86 was sufficient at the moment to cause
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His would -be murderers to pause in their consideration of His words. It was what
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Jesus said afterwards that defended and asserted His deity before them. And so we read in verse 36, if He called them gods to whom the
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Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of Him, referring to Himself, whom the
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Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said, I am the
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Son of God? Jesus referenced His pre -incarnate existence. The Father sent
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Him into the world. He was with God the Father. His Father had sent
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Him. And so here He makes His claim that He is the Son of God and His claim to be the
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Son of God was both rational and substantial. And then in verses 37 -39 we read
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Jesus again called upon His works as a witness. Don't believe my words, believe my works.
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Verse 37. If I do not do the works of my Father, don't believe me.
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But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe the
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Father is in me and I in Him. It was apparent they weren't going to believe
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His verbal claims as to His identity. So once again He calls upon the miracles He had performed as evidence, as a witness, as a witness to them of who
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He was. By the way, here our Lord was urging
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His enemies to believe on Him. They were about ready to stone Him. And yet He gives them this gracious extension to these men to believe on Him that they might be saved.
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And so even in His denunciation of them, He was appealing to them to come to their senses and believe
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Him for who He truly was. By the way, there's a textual issue with this verse.
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The New King James reads, Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. The King James Version reads,
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Believe the works that you may know and believe the Father is in me and I in Him. The ESV, however, reads,
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Believe the works that you may know and understand. And that's probably what was original with John's Gospel.
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We read then of the reaction to Jesus' words in verse 39, Therefore they sought again to seize
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Him, but He escaped out of their hand. John doesn't record how Jesus escaped out of their hands, only that He did so.
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His time was not yet. It was approaching just a few months later at the Passover, but it was not yet.
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And so He escaped to beyond the Jordan, as we read in verses 40 -42.
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He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first. There He stayed. And then many came to Him and said,
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John performed no sign, but all things that John spoke about this man were true, and many believed in Him there.
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His retreat was not a cowardly retreat, but rather He escaped out of their hands.
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It doesn't say how He escaped, simply the fact He did. He went to where John the
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Baptist had formally baptized, that was Salim, on the Jordan River.
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John the Baptist, of course, had already been arrested and killed by Herod. But He went there where John the
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Baptist was, and apparently there were people there that had been influenced by John the Baptist. They saw Jesus coming.
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Jesus had been there too. And they believed on Him. In fact, again, we read, many believed on Him.
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Many came to Him and said, John performed no sign, but all things that John spoke about this man were true.
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I think this, as we close, is one of the most glorious testimonies to a man of God in print.
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John the Baptist did no miracles, but everything he said about Jesus was true. And it is our desire, of course, that that would be people's perception of our church.
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We don't claim to do miracles here, other than see the miracles of the new birth, people becoming
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Christians who are dead in trespasses and sins. But we hope that it could be said that everything we say about this man,
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Jesus, is true. And that the Lord would bless that. And again, we read that many believed on Him there.
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Even as the world opposes us and manifests hostility toward us, may the Lord advance
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His kingdom. And let's take His words to heart. Let's not fear. Alright, we shouldn't be surprised when it happens.
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We shouldn't somehow think that we're failing. In fact, it's an evidence of God working.
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And this is how the Lord furthers His kingdom. And even those who perhaps were most opposed are the ones that come to our surprise and delight.
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1972, there was a mini -revival taking place in our hometown of Fort Bragg, California. And Mary had dragged me to these
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Bible studies. And I didn't want to go. And there were maybe 75 kids.
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An ex -hippie had become a Christian, a good man, leading a Bible study. There was so much enthusiasm and whatnot.
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Man, I was defiant. The least likely among all of them to be a Christian. They all claimed to be Christian. A couple years later,
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I was the only one standing, it would seem. Me and my friend who was there with me and of course the girls, Mary and her sisters, we were the
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Christians. Oftentimes, it's the most defiant, the most rebellious that the
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Lord brings. And sometimes that hostility can become very demonstrative toward us.
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But may we not react, retaliate in anger or harsh words, but be concerned and compassionate for their souls.
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Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, for the example of our
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Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for revealing your ways to us. Help us to be true to you as individual
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Christians and certainly as a church. Help us, our God, to be faithful to you and to the gospel and the world and this region in which you've placed us.
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We pray that you would help those, Lord. We know that there are some among us that are encountering hostility and difficulty within their own families because of the cause of Christ.
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And we just pray that you would be merciful and gracious to those ones and bring them into the kingdom.
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we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.