Undeniable Doctrine

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 10 and hold your place at verse 17. John chapter 10, we're going to be reading verses 17 to 21 today. And the title of today's message is Undeniable Doctrines.

Undeniable Doctrine. And I want to begin with a little question. Doctrines equal. Are all doctrines equal? Some believe that they are. In fact, this is a place where the ultra-fundamentalist and the ultra-liberal actually have some agreement.

Because the ultra-fundamentalist will say all doctrine is essential and you must believe exactly like we believe or you're not saved. So it's not just that there are levels of doctrine, every doctrine is essential.

From the very highest to the very lowest, it doesn't matter, you have to believe everything the way we believe it or you're not saved. And the ultra-liberal has the other issue. And that is, it doesn't matter what you believe, you can still be saved.

So both have an all or nothing mindset. It's either you have to believe everything we believe or it doesn't matter what you believe. And in both cases, you have this extreme ditch on either side where both have the problem of making everything the same.

It's either all essential or it's all unessential. There's an ancient phrase and oftentimes it's attributed to Augustine, even though I don't believe it's actually found in any of his writings, but Augustine is often attributed with the phrase, in essentials, unity.

In non-essentials, charity. I'm sorry, in non-essentials, liberty. And in all things, charity. Let me say that again because I messed it up, forgive me. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty, meaning freedom.

And in all things, charity, meaning love. So we should be united on the things that are essential, we should have freedom on the things that are non-essential, but in everything, we ought to be ones who love one another.

And I think that is a good fundamental place to begin. It is a good thing to recognize that there are, in fact, doctrines that are essential and there are doctrines that are not. A few years ago, a phrase began to become popularized because of Dr. Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, who used the phrase, theological triage.

Now, some of you have heard me mention theological triage before. The word triage is used in hospitals and it's when you go into the hospital, they have to evaluate you based upon your level of severity.

If you walk into the hospital and you have a heart attack, well, you're like level A, that's highly severe. If you walk in and you've broken your arm, that's important, but you'll live. You can go after the guy with the heart attack.

And if you walk in with a sprained ankle, well, that's like a level C issue. And if you all come in at the same time, they're going to take the person who is most priority. And that's what triage is. Triage is prioritizing things.

And we do this same thing with theology. We say there are doctrines that are essential and there are doctrines that are non-essential. There are doctrines that are important, but not essential. And so we would say that there are not one unilateral understanding of doctrine where everything's the same.

We would say that doctrine indeed is not equal. So when we begin to consider the doctrines that are absolutely essential, what must you believe to be a Christian? That question becomes very important.

Years ago, a man named C .S. Lewis wrote a book called Mere Christianity. And his goal was to try to help determine what those things are. What are those things that make up mere Christianity? The things that everyone must believe.

Certainly we must believe in God. If you don't believe in God, you're not a Christian. There's a church out in Texas where the pastor just a few weeks ago was recorded as saying 80 of our church is atheist or agnostic.

I mean, he said, and it was a lady pastor. She said about 80 of our church would identify as atheist or agnostic. Wouldn't you say belief in God is at least essential to being a Christian? That seems like it would be one of the very basic essentials of being a Christian.

Believing in the deity of Christ is essential to be a Christian. If we deny that Jesus Christ is divine, we have denied a very simple and basic truth of Scripture. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word came and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's John 1 and 1, 1 and following. And it reminds us Jesus Christ is not a mere man, but he is in fact divine.

He is the God-man. And if we deny that, we've denied a basic Christian truth, a foundational Christian truth. And there are several things. Justification by grace through faith is a basic Christian truth.

If you believe that your works contribute to your salvation, that you somehow earn your right standing with God, this would be something that would violate a very foundational truth of Scripture and would be a violation of the very gospel that we say that we're saved by.

These are foundational Christian truths. Well, today we come in John 10 to what I would identify as another one of these essential Christian truths. Because in John chapter 10, verse 17, Jesus begins to talk about his own death, burial, and resurrection.

The Resurrection of Christ as an Essential Doctrine

Well, specifically more his death and resurrection. Can I say this to you? Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. The apostle Paul is so clear about this. He says, if Jesus Christ is not raised, we of all men are most to be pitied.

Why is it that we should be pitied if Jesus is not raised? Because we have believed a lie. He says if Jesus is still in the ground, if Jesus is still in the tomb, if in fact he is not raised, then our entire faith is based upon a lie.

Years ago when I was struggling with my faith, I was 19, realized I wasn't a believer. I've told this story before, but I think it's relevant right now, is when I went and talked to a man who really helped me understand the gospel, one of the things he said to me was very helpful.

He said, there's more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than George Washington crossed the Delaware. He said, there's more evidence that Jesus Christ... More people saw it, more people were affected by it, and it affected more change in the world, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, than George Washington crossing the Delaware.

He says, nobody questions that George Washington crossed the Delaware, but we all wonder, did Jesus really rise from the dead? Yes, he did. In fact, he did. Paul says, but in fact, he has been raised.

This is essential Christian teaching, and it will change your life. It will come upon you with a force like a hurricane when God changes your life, because you will realize that he who raised will also raise you.

He who raised will also raise you. Well, today we're going to look at Jesus's own words in this, what we call the Good Shepherd discourse regarding his resurrection. Let's stand together and read. We're going to read verses 17 to 21.

The words will be on the screen if you would like. Jesus is speaking, and he says, for this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane.

Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I pray even now, Lord, that as your word is taught, that you would keep me from error.

For Lord God, you know that I am a fallible man and capable of preaching error. For the sake of your name, for the sake of your people, for the sake of my conscience, God protect us from that. And I pray, God, for the believers in this room, those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and hearts have been changed.

I pray that you would continue to build them up in this faith and remind them of the truths which they have committed themselves to. And Lord God, as I pray every week for those who are here who have not yet believed on the Lord Jesus, whatever it is this morning that may be holding them back, Lord, I pray that you would open their heart to believe.

Lord, not by the winsomeness of my words, but by the power of your spirit, Lord, would you move on us. And as I said, like a hurricane, Lord, press us, push us, move us by the power of your spirit. In Jesus name, amen.

The Good Shepherd Discourse and Its Six Doctrines

We are in the midst of, as I said before, the Good Shepherd discourse. The Good Shepherd discourse is a series of, well, it's a long discourse of Jesus where he was speaking to the Pharisees primarily because of their mistreatment of the man who was born blind.

There was a man born blind in John chapter 9, Jesus heals him. The Pharisees who hated Jesus wanted to find a way to condemn Jesus, so they brought the man in for a hearing. They began to challenge him, you weren't really born blind, this is all a lie.

So they brought his parents in, his parents confirmed that he was born blind, and then as a result, they brought him back in and finally excommunicated him because he would not reject Jesus. He goes outside, he's now excommunicated.

He meets Jesus. Jesus says, do you believe in the Son of Man? He says, if I knew who he was, I would. Jesus said, I am he, the one who speaks to you am he. So the man falls down, he worships Jesus. But the Pharisees who are witnessing this, who are seeing this, recognize that when Jesus says, this is the reason why I came, that those who are blind may be able to see and those who think they see will become blind.

And they said, are we blind? Is that us? Are we the ones who are blind? Jesus said, if you were blind, you'd have no guilt. But because you say we see, your guilt remains. That's the problem. They thought they knew.

And so Jesus, out of that, flows into this good shepherd discourse where he identifies himself as the door of the sheep. He identifies himself as the one who leads the sheep out into green pastures like Psalm 23 says that he would.

He identifies himself as the good shepherd and the one who comes to lay down his life for the sheep. He identifies the Pharisees as the thieves and the robbers, the wolves and the hirelings. Dangerous men who love not the sheep, who care not for the sheep, but were there only for their own gain and not because of love of God, but love of self.

So this is the context of John chapter 10. And I remind you of this because when we get to verse 17, Jesus has just identified himself as the good shepherd. He says that in verse 11. He says, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And beginning at verse 11, we have six specific doctrines that Jesus teaches us. Six specific things that we learn. And this is an analogy that Jesus is using, but we go from analogy to theology.

The analogy of the shepherd, the sheep, the hirelings, the wolves, all of those things are meant to point us to greater theological truths. And these are the six things that we have been looking at. We've spent one sermon each on the first three.

The first is vicarious atonement. Vicarious means to be in the place of someone else, to be a substitute. Jesus Christ came to lay down his life for the sheep. That's what it means. The vicarious atonement.

He came to die so that he would take our punishment. That's vicarious atonement. The second thing we see is particular redemption. Particular redemption is the idea that Christ did not come simply to offer salvation to some but to actually provide salvation to his people.

It's not done with some form of vain universality, but it's done with specific particularity for his people. I lay down my life for the sheep. And then last week we looked at one of the great blessings for most of us.

And that is Gentile inclusion in the New Testament or the New Covenant. As I said last week, I look around, I don't see too many of us who have a Jewish background or Jewish heritage. Maybe some of you do and I just don't know it.

But the promise of Christ was that he was going to take people not only of the fold of Israel but of the fold of all nations of the world, all people, all tribes, all tongues, all nations and he was going to bring them into one flock with one shepherd.

And that's the great blessing of the New Covenant is that we are all made one covenant people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we come to the final three of these six teachings and then there is one additional that I'll get to in the weeks ahead and that is the doctrine of eternal security where Jesus talks about us being in his hand and he in the Father's hand.

And you might wonder why I did not add that to this list. Well we see a small break in the text and I'll talk about that more later. But if you wanted to you could add one more number seven would be the eternal security of the believer which we'll get to in the weeks ahead.

But today we're going to look at the death and resurrection of Christ, the authority of Christ and then the doctrine of the antithesis and that one I'll explain when we get there. But let's look first at the fourth one, the death and resurrection of Christ.

Christ's Death and Resurrection Fulfill the Father's Purpose

We see this in verse 17, excuse me I hit the wrong one. It says Jesus said for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. This may seem like a strange phrase upon first reading and maybe upon second and third reading because Jesus says for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

It seems strange because we would all agree, at least I hope we would all agree, that the Father has loved the Son and the Son has loved the Father in eternity. That the love of the Father and the Son is not based necessarily on the temporal actions of the Son but rather the love of the Father and of the Son is a inter-Trinitarian reality that has always existed.

So when Jesus says for this reason the Father loves me that I lay my life down because I lay my life down, it seems like well this is why God loves me because I do this thing. But that is not what I believe Jesus is saying here.

In fact there is a heretical view that is based somewhat on this passage, it's a view called adoptionism. Adoptionism was one of the early Christological heresies that began to develop in the first few centuries of the church.

These are false teachings about Jesus that arose and they were very quick to arise on the scene of church history. We see things like modalistic monarchism, Sabellianism, Arianism, which of course brought about the Council of Nicaea.

There were all of these false teachings about Jesus that began to well up because of the false teachers who were beginning to grow followers after themselves and this was happening in the first few centuries of the church.

And one of the doctrines that arose was a doctrine called adoptionism. Adoptionism basically says this, that Jesus Christ was a good man who God saw was good and God chose him because he was good, adopted him as his son and made him his son because Jesus was good.

Some people even, some adoptionists would say because Jesus was perfect, because he was sinless. God saw him in his sinlessness and God said that's the one I want because that's the one that's sinless and God chose him.

Anybody see a problem with that? There's a lot of problems with that. The first one is if you believe that, then you believe Jesus was a mere man. Because that's the whole doctrine of adoptionism is that Jesus was a man that God saw was good and God chose him because he was a good man.

There's a Greek word for that. It's baloney. It's not true. It's not right. That idea that Jesus was a mere man is false. But also this indicates something else. That Jesus came into existence in Bethlehem.

That Jesus was born, he lived, but he did not pre-exist Bethlehem. What does the Bible tell us about Jesus? The Bible tells us he actually existed before his birth. The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ was in the beginning.

John 1 .1, I mentioned it earlier, in the beginning was the word. That's talking about Jesus because it says the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. That's who it's talking about.

It's talking about Jesus. It says in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and nothing that has been made was not made by him.

The Bible clearly teaches us that Jesus Christ did not simply come into existence 2 ,000 years ago in a small village outside of Jerusalem. That is not what we know about Jesus. We know that Jesus pre-existed Bethlehem.

And so the doctrine of adoptionism is what we would call a Christological heresy. Heresy meaning it is not only a miscommunication of truth but it is a violation of truth. And so when this text says, for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life.

What we need to recognize is this is not saying simply that the father loved Jesus only because of his obedience. But what we do need to understand is that there is a connection point between Christ's obedience and the love between he and the father.

And what do I mean by that? Well consider this. The father sent the son and the son came to do a specific thing and in doing that specific thing the son pleases the father in his obedience. Let me ask you this.

What was Adam... This is something Brother Mike has mentioned several times in his teachings. So if you've heard it before you heard it from him. But what is the thing that Adam was called to do in the garden?

He was called to trust and obey. That would have been a good song for us to sing today. Remember trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. That was Adam's command.

I mean the command was not to eat of the tree and to be fruitful and multiply, right? Like he had the garden commandments but primarily it was don't do this. Don't eat of the tree. Don't violate the one law that I have given you.

And what did Adam fail to do? Adam failed to trust God. Adam failed to obey God. And in doing so what happened? He created enmity between himself and God. He created a division between himself and God.

He created a divide between himself and God. Remember the first thing Adam felt when he sinned. What was it? What was the first experience of Adam? Shame. What did Adam want to do? The first thing he realized, he realized he was naked so he began to cover himself.

That wasn't just the physical issues of covering his own naked body but it was covering himself from the gaze of God who was in fact the one who would now look upon him and be displeased with him. Up until that point there had been absolute unfettered access to God.

There had been unbroken relationship with God. There had been perfect joy in God and now that was broken because of sin. He was divided from God because of sin and now there would be shame. The Son comes.

Jesus Christ comes as the new Adam. The Bible calls him the last Adam. And what does he do? He comes to do this. He comes to trust and obey the Father. And in trusting and obeying the Father perfectly from the time he was born to the time of going to the cross and even still today he trusts and obeys and in that trust and obedience he pleases God.

Jesus Christ pleased the Father. Amen? And so Jesus can say for this reason the Father loves me in the sense that not that he began to love me but in this reason I am a joy to the Father. For this reason the Father is loved, I am beloved by the Father because I'm doing what he commanded me to do.

I'm doing what he sent me to do. I'm doing the very thing I have been charged to do. And this pleases the Father. This pleases the one who sent me. I like D .A. Carson on this. D .A. Carson, great New Testament scholar.

He said it is not that the Father withholds his love until Jesus agrees to give up his life on the cross and rise again. Rather the love of the Father for the Son is eternally linked with the unqualified obedience of the Son to the Father.

His utter dependence upon him culminating in the greatest act of obedience now just before him which was the cross. John MacArthur says this. He says two attitudes define the relationship of the incarnate Christ to the Father.

Love and obedience. And these two are inseparably linked. You realize that love and obedience are linked together, right? What does Jesus say? If you love me, you will obey my commandments, you'll keep my commandments, you'll do what I say.

Now why is that? Is that because Jesus is simply wanting to exert his authority or is it because in following his commandments we're actually doing life the very way the creator of life intended and therefore it's best for us too?

See God's commandments, God's rules, God's standards are not meant to beat us into submission but it's to free us to live as we are supposed to live. It's the guardrails of God's commands that keep us joyful and free.

People say, oh I'm free because I don't obey God. You are most intensely fettered by sin and you don't even realize it because sin is like a trap that holds you. God's commands are actually freedom because they bring into us and for us the life that we're intended to live.

You realize in the new heaven and new earth we're not going to sin, right? We're not even going to desire to sin but you're going to be freer there than you ever have been here. You're going to have a freedom there that you've never had here.

That's amazing that we won't sin and yet we will be free. Sin is bondage, Christ is freedom. For this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life, because I'm obedient, because I've been obedient.

So let's look at the second part. Now he says, for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. The phrase lay down my life here is an explicit reference to the impending crucifixion.

But note how he frames this statement. He doesn't say for this reason my life will be taken from me. He doesn't say for this reason my life will be taken from me rather. What does he say? He says for this reason I lay down my life.

Jesus Christ is expressing the fact that his sacrifice is going to be a voluntary action. Jesus Christ went to the cross voluntarily and he gave up his life voluntarily for our sins. Yes he was beaten by vicious men.

Yes he was pierced and pummeled. But in the end we must understand this. Jesus Christ gave up his life. It was not taken from him. In fact, do you realize, and this is such an important truth, do you realize that the cross of Christ was actually in the plan of God from the beginning and that God had determined all of these things before the world existed?

If you say, well I don't know if I believe that, well let me just remind you what the scripture says. In Acts chapter 2, when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, I want you to think about what he says.

Listen to what Peter says to the men of Jerusalem. He says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and mighty wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourself know.

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. What did he say? He said this Jesus, who was delivered up by God's definite plan, you crucified.

You see, what we see there in that one verse is we see the balance between sovereignty and responsibility. Because God was sovereign over every action that happened in the life of Christ, culminating in the crucifixion, but man was also responsible for taking Christ, beating him, and stapling him to a tree and hanging him between heaven and earth.

That is the balance between human responsibility and God's sovereignty. God is working out his plans even though we do what we want. This is the balance that we see here. But the point of it is that this was God's definite plan.

God did not send Jesus, or excuse me, Jesus did not go to the cross unwillingly. Jesus knew this was the plan from the beginning. He has been talking about this. The fact that he is going to be delivered up, the fact that he is going to die, he knew this was coming.

In Acts chapter 4 we also read this. Listen to this. This is important. It says, For truly in this city were gathered together against your servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

There's that dirty word, predestination. Predestination. Nobody likes that word. Everybody wants to argue with that word. That's fine. If you want to argue with it, go talk to somebody else after church.

Yeah, go talk to Brother Mike or Brother Andy. No, it's a word that's in the Bible. But what does it mean? It means God actually determines how things are going to work out in the end. God, in fact, the word, prohorizo is the Greek word for predestined and it comes from our word horizon.

Prohorizo is where we get the word horizon and you think of the horizon as the furthest place you can see. If you look out at a distance, you can see the horizon, right? Well when I look out and see the horizon, that's the end.

That's the furthest point. Prohorizo means to determine the end from the beginning. It means to know the end, not just know it, but to determine the end from the beginning. The Old Testament actually says God has determined our days for us even when there wasn't one of them.

Psalm 139 says God has fashioned your days. That God has determined your days when there was not even one of them. And God had determined the days of Jesus Christ. He said there was going to come a day where Jesus Christ would be offered up in the hands of lawless men.

He would be taken by those men, beaten, crucified, stripped naked, and stapled to a tree. And that would be, from the world standpoint, the failure of Christ. From the world standpoint, that was going to be the end of the story.

From the world standpoint, he lost. But then came the morning that sealed the promise. His buried body began to breathe. We sing that song, right? Then came the morning that sealed the promise. His buried body began to breathe.

The roaring lion, I forgot the words, declared the grave has no claim on me. That's what Christ did. He demonstrated in raising up that death did not have the power over him. He submitted himself to death.

He said, I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, what did he say? It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.

And it says, and he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. Jesus Christ did not have his life taken from him, but he laid it down. And he took it up again. He took it up again. Now what do we, what do we, how do we, how do we justify that?

Because doesn't the Bible say the Father raised him from the dead? Doesn't the Bible say the Spirit raised him from the dead? And now it's saying, Jesus saying, I raised myself. There's no conflict here.

Because when we consider that our God is one in essence and three in person, when God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are acting, they're acting in union and unity together. There's no division over this action of the resurrection.

Jesus Christ is as active in his divinity, in his resurrection, as the Father and the Spirit are active. And therefore, the Scripture can say, God raised him up, Acts 2 .32. It can say that the Spirit raised him up, Romans 8 .11.

And it can say here, Jesus can say, I lay down my life, that I may raise it up again, may take it up again. And notice why, verse 18, he says, No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.

I have authority. I have authority. This is the fifth point of our doctrine. Doctrine point number four was the death and resurrection of Christ. But the fifth point is the authority of Christ. We see that here.

The Authority of Christ as King

Jesus Christ has the authority. You realize the Bible says, in him we live and move and have our being. That he is king of all things. He is king of everything. And he demonstrates that authority in laying down his life and then raising to life again.

Because he has the authority to do just that. One of the things I think we struggle with most in Christianity today, is we see Jesus as the humble beggar rather than the conquering king. What do I mean?

We act as if Jesus is just sitting and begging people to come. We sit and act as if Jesus is just, just please come, please give me some attention, please come and love me, please come and see me, please come and worship me, please come and bow down to me.

No, Jesus stands and commands. He has authority. He is the king of kings and the lord of lords. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He doesn't beg, he commands. And you will yield or you will be defeated.

Doesn't sound very loving. It's the most loving thing in the world. If a king who can give you everything beckons you to come to him, and you foolishly choose not to come, who is the one who has made the mistake?

Not the king. And who is the one who has demonstrated that they know not what love is, because the king has held out his hands of love and said, come and I will give you all things. Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Come! But it's not a beggar's come. It's a king's beckoning. Remember the parable? Jesus said that a master, a king, had a feast for his son. And they sent invitations throughout the land to come to the feast.

And over and over, people sent back reasons why they would not come to the feast of the son. Oh, I have business to attend to, or I have to go on a journey. And the king sent his servants to the highways and to the hedges.

And he said, go and compel them to come in that my son's feast, my son's banquet will be filled. That is the Holy Spirit who goes and changes our hearts that we would come into the banquet of the king.

Because the king will ensure that his son's banquet is filled. Jesus has authority in himself as the God-man who laid down his life, who takes it up in accordance with the charge given to him by the father.

The cross was not a backup plan. The cross was not a mistake in the timeline of God. The cross was the plan from the beginning. We who were sinners needed to be reconciled to our God. We stood guilty in the courtroom of God.

We owed God a debt that we could not pay. And we were separated from him because of our sin. But God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he would keep the law in our place, that he would establish righteousness and demonstrate his righteousness through keeping the law.

And when he dies on the cross, our sin is given to him, and his righteousness is given to us. And now we stand with a righteousness not of our own that comes from the law, but a righteousness which comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

This is the simple gospel message, and it was God's plan from the beginning. Christ came on a rescue mission to rescue his people, and he laid down his life that he could take it up again. And now we come to the antithesis.