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In Romans 9, the Apostle Paul began to explain what
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God was doing in history and why, if Jesus was a Jewish Messiah, why did not more
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Jews accept him as such? And in Romans 9, he basically declared it was never in God's purpose to save every
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Jew, but he saved his people whom he chose. Romans 10 broadens the scope of salvation, and it shows that God, through the gospel of his
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Son, is saving people from all over the world, whether they're Jewish or Gentile. And Romans 10 sets forth one of the clearest, plainest ways of salvation that you can find in the
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Bible. It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, what you could do, would do, might do, if you call upon the name of the
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Lord, you can be saved. And that calling upon the Lord is not a one -time decision, like at the end of an invitation, but it's a way of life.
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Christians call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord. They believe in their heart that God the
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Father raised him from the dead, and he's their Lord, he's their Savior. And everyone who believes that and lives accordingly is granted free and full forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ in what he did, not what we do.
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Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10.
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Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they be saved.
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For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
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For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
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For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandment shall live by them.
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But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring
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Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.
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But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim.
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Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
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For the scripture says, everyone who believes in himself will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same
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Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the
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Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
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And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
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And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
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But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
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So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard?
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Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
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But I ask, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
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With a foolish nation, I will make you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
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I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
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But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
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Let's pray. Our Father, we rejoice at our great salvation, at our great salvation that was accomplished by Jesus Christ through his work, through his person, who made both groups into one new man by abolishing in his body the enmity.
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We thank you for the reconciliation that is found in Christ Jesus. And we thank you, Lord, that we can call upon you every day in our trials and in our sufferings and in our difficulties.
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We thank you, Lord, that you have brought a people that we're far off near. You have given us hope.
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You have given us everything. And Lord, as we continue in our worship, as we open up your word, we pray that we would be diligent to listen clearly and intently on what is being said.
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Help us, Lord, to hear your truth. Help us to apply it and help us, Lord, to live it out in our lives, even when things get difficult.
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Lord, we rejoice that we are here. We rejoice that we have your word, and we pray that you would help us now.
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Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's turn our
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Bibles to John chapter 13, please. Jason, you and I can take heart that no matter what they say about you or me, you and I have beautiful feet, right, as we preach the gospel or attempt to do so.
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That's a quotation from the Old Testament, of course, and it's the idea of somebody waiting maybe in the capital city worried on the outcome of a battle, and so they sent a runner back with the good news, we won, you know, and there's victory and there's peace.
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And that's the message we proclaim in the gospel, isn't it? And so you welcome that messenger with that kind of good news.
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All right, so we've arrived in our study of the gospel of John to our Lord's words to his disciples, of course, principally his apostles, 11 now in number, and this is
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John 13, 31 through 38. Here we read that our Lord gave a new commandment to his people by which they were to order their lives according to the gospel, and the lives of his people were to be characterized by obeying this commandment, and when they did and to the degree they did, it would identify and distinguish them as true disciples of Jesus Christ.
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This is one of the biblical tests for true Christianity, obeying or conforming one's life to this new commandment that our
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Lord Jesus expresses in this passage. And so this is a sign, it is an indicator, it is the proof that may be displayed before the world and before one another that we are true followers of Jesus Christ, true
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Christians. And so here's the passage we want to consider today, John 13, 31 through 38.
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So when he had gone out, that's a reference to Judas Iscariot, Jesus said, now the
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Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him,
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God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately.
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Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, as I said to the
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Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment
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I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
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And by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
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Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward.
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Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake.
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And Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow.
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Till you have denied me three times. We'll consider this passage to four divisions that you have in your notes.
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We have the immediate glorification of the Son of Man. And then secondly,
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Jesus's announcement of his soon departure from his disciples. Thirdly, Jesus's new commandment to his disciples.
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And then fourthly, we have Peter's inquiry and his expressed willingness to follow the
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Lord. So let's consider first the two verses, first two verses, the glorification of the
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Son of Man. The episode opens with a word regarding the departure of Judas Iscariot, John wrote.
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So when he had gone out. And so after Judas had left in order to execute his plans to betray
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Jesus, our Lord then began to speak with his eleven disciples in detail and clarity that he had not done so previously.
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It would seem Judas's departure freed Jesus to speak freely.
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This is so much the case that generally our Lord's interaction with the disciples beginning here with John 13, 31 and continuing actually to the end of chapter 16, 13, 14, 15, 16 is regarded as the farewell discourse of Jesus.
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And so it's a major section that we are beginning to consider in this Gospel of John.
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Until Judas had departed from him, Jesus did not disclose himself fully to his disciples as he then proceeded to do so.
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Matthew Henry wrote about this. The presence of wicked people is often a hindrance to good discourse, good discussion.
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And when Judas was gone out, Christ said, now is the Son of Man glorified. Now that Judas is discovered and discarded, it was a spot in their love feast and a scandal to their family, now is the
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Son of Man glorified. And then Matthew Henry drew forth this principle, note, and in his commentary he always draws an application, word of application beginning with the word note,
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N -O -T -E, note, Christ is glorified by the purifying of Christian societies.
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Corruptions in his church are a reproach to him. The purging out of those corruptions rolls away the reproach.
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And we would say amen to that. And we would argue that that underscores our own Baptistic conviction about a regenerate church membership.
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True Christians ought to be part and parcel of a local church.
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And so we have before us this personal intimate disclosure of Jesus as the Son of Man to them that believe on him and follow him in their lives.
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But the word that Judas had gone out also serves as a clear demarcation between the episode of the supper that just ended and the discourse, you might even say monologue, that now begins.
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And so this discourse, of course, is applicable for Jesus' disciples only.
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Didn't apply to Judas, he went out, but his 11 disciples are now with him and he's speaking to them.
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Edward Clank, who is a professor of biblical studies, I believe at Biola University in Southern California, a good commentator, he wrote a literary context of this last discourse of Jesus, again,
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John 13, 14, 15, and 16. And here are his introductory comments on these verses before us.
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This pericope is the first of eight sections of the farewell discourse proper.
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It functions as a prologue, offering an opening announcement about the person and work of Jesus and the expected response of the reader, hearer, and what he always does, and he does so quite rightly, is that when we read the gospel, we immediately put ourselves within the context of the disciples listening to Jesus, but actually we need to see it from the reader's perspective also of the gospel, and that's what he's emphasizing here.
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The farewell discourse was given a complex introduction to which the context for this intimate monologue of Jesus is given.
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At this intimate gathering, after washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus begins to give his final instructions to the children of God, the people of the new covenant.
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In this part of the farewell discourse, Jesus locates his person and work within the glory of God, formally introduces and explains his departure, and gives a new commandment that serves to demarcate the people of the new covenant from the rest of the world.
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The disciples and the readers are exhorted to make a radical commitment to Jesus and to loving one another, something which
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Peter himself is exhorted to see as not only difficult, but as requiring the work that Christ must still finish, in other words, his cross work.
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And then Plank provides the major idea, main idea of our passage, out of Christ's love for Christians, they are given the commandment to love one another.
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Christian discipleship is grounded in the work of God, not one's own work, and is an expression of the nature of God himself.
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And so this is what Christian discipleship is or should be. And so the first statement that Jesus made after Judas had gone out is of his own glorification.
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Jesus declared, now the son of man is glorified. Here the
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Lord Jesus speaks of his glorification, a theme that has been quite prevalent in this gospel and I cited a few verses, we will not rehearse those because of the time, but this matter of him being glorified has been quite pronounced thus far in this gospel and now the occasion for him to be glorified has arrived.
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But there is a sense of completeness and finality about our passage, for the
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Lord explains the nature of his glory and how it is best displayed, and this is in commitment and love.
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That is how he is glorified principally. Jesus first declared, so when he had gone out,
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Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified. Of course this is the way the
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Lord Jesus commonly referred to himself, nobody else called him the son of man, he always called himself the son of man.
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In fact this title son of man is used 71 times in the
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Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, is used 11 times in John's Gospel and if you take the four gospels together, this use of son of man in verse 31 is the last occasion of all these occasions in the four gospels.
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He used it to refer to himself as the Messiah, the promised king of Israel. He wasn't going around trying to declare everybody that he was a man, that's not what the son of man means.
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He was declaring himself to be the promised Jewish Messiah, it's a messianic term.
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But this title enabled him to declare himself the Messiah in a way that his disciples only over time came to understand.
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They didn't immediately infuse in Jesus all these wrong conceptions about the Messiah and the kingdom and so he called himself the son of man and then over the course of his teaching ministry and through his example they came to see what the true kingdom and the true
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Messiah was like. And so the son of man is a messianic title, Jesus calling himself the
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Messiah. And here he was about to enter into the glory that he had with his father even before the creation of all things.
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We'll see that declared in John 17 in his prayer to the father. But we should understand
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Jesus was not simply returning to his former glory but he was being glorified as a man, yes the
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God man, but as Jesus of Nazareth he was about to be glorified and that's important to understand.
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It's wrong to think that the son of God came and assumed a human nature, became a man for his ministry and then when he died he went back to being the son of God full time as he was before he came.
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He came down and his human nature, our human nature was joined to him, he became the
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God man and that man Christ Jesus was crucified and he rose and the man,
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God man, the man Christ Jesus was exalted and enthroned in heaven. There's a man sitting on the throne of God even now.
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That's critically important to understand and to believe. When he was exalted he exalted humanity or those that are in him in ways that we cannot
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I think fully comprehend. Again verse 31 declares that when he had gone out
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Jesus said now the son of man is glorified. The glorification of the son of man was commencing now in his arrest, his trial, sufferings and death upon the cross, his resurrection and glorification.
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The entire passion of Jesus from here to his exaltation to the father is a singular event.
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It speaks of his being glorified and this is made clear in John 12, 23 in the previous chapter when
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Jesus declared the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified. As one wrote, the now is explicitly that of the exaltation.
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The glorification of the son of man takes place in his lifting up on his cross to the throne in heaven and hence the ruler of this world, that would be the devil, is dethroned now and believers are drawn to the exalted savior.
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It's one movement from his arrest, his trials, his crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection, his exaltation is his glorification according to the gospel of John.
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God the father was glorified in his son. God the father was glorified when his son was glorified.
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How was the father glorified in his son? Well his son glorified his father through his faithful obedience to his father even through his terrible suffering and death.
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The father must be worthy of all obedience if Jesus would be faithful and obedient to his father through all of what he endured.
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He glorified his father in this way. The son of man would not reserve his commitment to submit and obey
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God the father regardless of the most horrendous consequences for his refusal to surrender and compromise and so everything that he endured, everything he suffered, he was glorified
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God the father as the one worthy to be obeyed, worthy to maintain one's allegiance and commitment without compromise.
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But not only did Jesus declare that his hour of glorification arrived, he glorified again in his glorification that the father was glorified.
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But God the father is not only glorified through our Lord Jesus' complete surrender and obedience to death on his cross, but the father was also glorified in that all of the father's attributes, indeed all of the attributes of the
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Trinity, of absolute holiness and justice and mercy and goodness and wisdom and love and wrath were in open display of course through the glorification of Jesus Christ.
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In fact it's the death of Jesus Christ, in the death of Jesus Christ where the glory of God is most fully revealed to us.
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This is sermon 1027 since arriving here in 1998 and I have a record of all the sermon titles and I recall, you know, and it was back about 10 or 12 years ago, we did a whole series on where is the glory of God most clearly seen and we emphasized it's in the cross of Christ and we gave a series of about 8 or 10 sermons based on that.
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If you want to see the glory of God you look to Jesus Christ on the cross because there the attributes of God are most clearly and fully revealed to us.
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It's certainly true that his very person is the revelation of God and all that Jesus thought were
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God's thoughts, every word he spoke was the word of God, every act he performed was the father working through him, but it was in the cross of Christ where most fully and clearly the glory of God was made clearly manifest to us.
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The sacrificial death of Jesus that secured the salvation of his people is where the father is most glorified through his son
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Jesus Christ. Now this is set forth in the second to the last chapter of the
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Bible, the book of Revelation, Revelation 21. John's describing the new
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Jerusalem and how there was no temple there, there was no sun there, but there was light there and this light of course is a manifestation of the glory, the light of God and where is this glory of God that's going to illuminate the new heavens and the new earth, where is the glory of God most clearly seen?
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Well we read about it in Revelation 21, 22 and 23. John said, I saw no temple in it for the
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Lord God Almighty in the Lamb or its temple. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it, the
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Lamb is its light and the idea of Jesus as the Lamb speaks again about his sacrifice on the cross for sinners.
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It's within his death on the cross that the glory, the light of God is most clearly seen and it'll be the very light that is going to bathe the new
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Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth one day and there'll be no need of sun for the glory of God is going to show forth through the
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Lamb of God. And so one day when we're dwelling together with God in that glorious city he's prepared for us, there will shine about us a great light, even the very glory of God which will continuously enlighten our minds, warm our hearts with the knowledge of our
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God dwelling among us and from where does that glory originate? Christ, the
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Lamb of God provides the light and so where it is the glory, the knowledge of God most clearly and fully manifest in Christ, it's in God sending his son to secure our salvation through his death, his death upon the cross.
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That's the center of history, isn't it? The crucifixion, the glorification of Christ.
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Well we then read that the glory of the son gives to his father is reciprocal for the father in turn glorifies his son.
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Jesus declared in verse 32, if God is glorified in him, this is
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Jesus speaking, if God the father is glorified in the son of man, God, and we can supply the words,
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God the father will also glorify himself, him in himself, that is in the son of man and glorify him immediately.
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And so again here is the idea that the God man, even the son of man is going to be glorified by the father even in himself.
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One sees here an affirmation that God would glorify the son of man by taking up his glorified humanity to fellowship with himself.
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It's always very important that we understand that in the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God taking in union to himself our human nature brought about the glorification of all those that are in him.
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This is set forth in detail in the second chapter of the book of Hebrews. Talks about God, he's not put the world to come, that is eternity, of which we speak in subjection to angels, as glorious as they are, but rather one testified in a certain place, quoting the
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Psalms, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, and here it's not a reference to Jesus but simply humanity, or the son of man that you take care of him.
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You made him a little lower than the angels, you crown him with glory and honor, there it's talking about Christ, and you set him over the works of your hands, you put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him, but now we don't see everything put under him that is under man, but we see
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Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, that you and I as Christians, bringing us to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, for both he who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified, are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
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I'll declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing praise to you, this is
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Jesus, Christ, a prophecy of Jesus, singing to the father in the midst of the assembly of his people, that he's brought into the very presence of the father, and again
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I will put my trust in him, and again, here am I and the children whom God has given me.
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And so for a time, the eternal son of God was made lower than the angels, that is in his incarnation, but the result was him lifting humanity, all those in him, far above the angels in stature and authority.
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Paul wrote, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, we're the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together, consider what is being declared here, for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
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We cannot comprehend the nature and degree of glory that will be conferred on us as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, as adopted sons and daughters of God, it will be to the wonder of all, and probably especially to ourselves, as we're looking at one another, and we consider who we are now, and what we are then,
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I can't help but think of the people that are going to be cast off into hell, seeing the glorification of the sons and the children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ being glorified before them, even being exalted higher than the angels, what they missed out on, which could have been theirs had they believed on Jesus Christ as their
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Lord and Savior. I think one of the greatest punishments in hell is going to be a sense of regret, of forfeited opportunity, and missed blessing that could have been theirs, could be anybody's if they believe on Christ as Lord and Savior.
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Well, we now come to verse 33 in John 13, and here Jesus announces soon departure from them.
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Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer, you will seek me, as I said to the Jews, where I'm going you cannot come, so now
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I say to you. Jesus began this aid by addressing them in affectionate terms, he called them little children.
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This of course was not a patronizing expression, but one of tenderness and concern. It also conveys the idea that he knew of their ignorance and their incapability, incapacity of fully understanding what he's about to declare to them.
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He's speaking to them as simply as he could, so they could at least begin to comprehend a little bit of what he's saying.
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And what did he say? He was breaking the news to them that his remaining time with them, it was just a matter of hours now, I shall be with you a little while longer.
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But then he declared to them something that he had already said on another occasion, but to another group of people, Jews, unbelieving
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Jews. It was on an earlier occasion,
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Jesus made this same announcement to the Jewish leaders who sought to arrest him, John 7, 30 -36.
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We'll not read the whole passage, but Jesus told these unbelieving Jews, I shall be with you a little while longer, and then
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I go to him who sent me, you will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.
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He was talking to unbelieving Jews in that context. And then in John 8, he said something very similar to unbelieving
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Jews who were seeking to arrest him. In verse 21 of John 8,
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I am going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin, where I go you cannot come.
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But now, here it should be John 10, 33 and 34, we read that Jesus declared the same words that he had done earlier, but here to his favored disciples.
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And so again we read, Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to him who sent me, you will seek me and not find me, where I am you cannot go.
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But on this occasion, John chapter 13, he did not include the words, you shall not find me.
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He only stated that they could not come to him where he was going at this time. And later in our passage we read that Jesus told his disciples that they would join him later, but for the time being he would be leaving them.
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And then Jesus gave this new commandment to his disciples in John 13, 34, and the single
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F of course means the one verse following, verses 34 -35. He gave this new commandment, a new commandment
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I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another and by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
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Why is it a new commandment? After all, Jesus the commandment to love one another is found in the
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Old Testament. Leviticus 19, 18 declares you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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I am the Lord. And so what's new about this commandment? And it's the command to love one another that as Christians are to love other
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Christians, but we're to do so in the manner that the Lord Jesus loved his people. That's what's new.
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This standard of the love of Jesus that he manifested his disciples was something new to them.
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This was to be the ground, the basis, the motivation, the instruction, the manner in which we show love to one another in the same way that he showed love to us.
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That's what's new about this new commandment. Leon Morris wrote of this, a new commandment is an emphatic position in the
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Greek and the Greek text. It's important. This is the one place in this gospel where our
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Lord uses the term new. Interesting. The content of the commandment is given very simply that you love one another.
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Jesus is not speaking here of love to all men, but of love within the brotherhood. Love itself is not a new commandment, but an old one.
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He references Leviticus 19, 18. The new thing appears to be the mutual affection that Christians have for one another on account of Christ's great love for them.
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A brotherhood has been created on the basis of Jesus's work for men and women, and there is a new relationship within that brotherhood.
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It was new because the love of Christ's friends for Christ's sake was a new thing in the world. Jesus himself set the example.
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He calls on them now to follow in his steps. He's not asking them to do any more than what he himself has done, and that's what's new about it.
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You love one another as I have loved you is what Jesus said. This is a new commandment.
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And then Jesus made this statement. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you love, if you have love for one another.
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Lord declared that the one way in which all about us will know that we're true disciples of Jesus Christ is if we have love for one another.
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The same kind of love that he had for us, by the way. We always want to keep that qualification in there.
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In fact, we might say that this is the visible sign of true biblical Christianity of those who are in a new covenant relationship with Christ.
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If we had time we could show, and we've done this many times before so we'll not do it, we'll just mention it, that this love for other
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Christians is one of the sure tests of a true Christian. And in two or three places,
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Colossians, Ephesians, I forget elsewhere, Paul wrote of those he had not met yet, since I heard of your faith in the
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Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I cease not to pray for you. Those were the twin evidences of true
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Christianity. When I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints. Love for other
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Christians is true of every true Christian. It's an evidence of salvation.
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It's a sign. It's a sign of the new covenant, we would advocate. Although it's never declared forthrightly it's the sign of the new covenant,
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I want to just make the case that it is. When we consider biblical history,
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I'm at the top of page 7, and we're going to run through this rather in an abbreviated fashion
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I think. When we consider biblical history of the various covenants that God has established with his people we commonly read of a visible physical sign that visibly signifies or manifests that covenant relationship for others.
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Not all biblical covenants have a sign but a number of them do. What is a covenant?
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Well a covenant is basically a guaranteed commitment between two parties. When you have a covenant between two people it's two people on equal grounds enter into a relationship, a covenant relationship.
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A marriage ceremony is the establishing of a covenant relationship between a husband and wife.
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However when we enter into covenant with God it's not two co -equal parties is it? It's God who enters into covenant with us, the greater to the lesser.
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And so when you think of biblical covenants with God we might use the definition that the classic particular
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Baptist, the reformed Baptist in the 17th century, Nehemiah Cox, he defined a biblical covenant more narrowly in this way.
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A biblical covenant is a declaration of God's sovereign pleasure concerning the benefits he'll bestow on man, the communion they will have with him, and the way and the means by which this will be enjoyed by them.
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Others have said a covenant is like God's promises or commitment to his people based on certain conditions.
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And so there are numbers of covenants in the Bible and a number of these covenants had a sign accompanied them which would designate, indicate, validate that a person was in that covenant relationship with God.
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For example God made a covenant with the entire human race when
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Noah came forth from the ark after the flood. You and I are in that covenant relationship with God that he established with Noah.
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And basically that covenant was given to Noah that I will never again in the history of all the world destroy the world again by a worldwide flood.
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And we'll not read the entire passage but in your notes on page 7 we'll just dive right into Genesis 9.
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And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.
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I set my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be a sign, there it is, for the covenant between me and the earth.
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In the last verse that block quote, this is the sign of the covenant which
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I have established between me and all flesh that's on the earth whenever you see a rainbow in the clouds. That is a covenantal sign.
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You may be assured this world is not going to perish by means of another flood. Yeah it's going to perish through fire one day but not a flood of water.
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And God promised that. And that rainbow in the cloud is like a warrior coming home after war has ended, peace has been made and he hangs up his bow over the fireplace.
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The war is over. God hangs his bow, his weaponry in the cloud. No more flood of judgment upon this world.
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The rainbow is a sign of this covenant with all humanity even all of living things.
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What about when God made a covenant with Abraham? He gave Abraham and all his male descendants a visible sign of their covenant relationship.
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It was the covenant sign of circumcision. And on the bottom of page 7 we just dive right into Genesis 17 and God declared
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I will make a covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. This was a promise in one sense to his physical offspring
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Israel. Top of page 8 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a
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God to you and your descendants after you. And then in verse 10 he declares a sign of the covenant.
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This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised.
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You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. It shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me.
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So that was the sign, the indicator. This is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham.
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This is the sign of the covenant. What about the Mosaic covenant?
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Was there a sign that God gave to Israel to distinguish them as a unique nation from all the other nations?
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Yes. And we would argue that that was Sabbath observance in its ceremonial stipulations.
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This was to distinguish them, Israel, from all the nations. Exodus 13, 12 the
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Lord spoke to Moses saying speak also to the children of Israel saying surely my Sabbath you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generation.
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And we're talking about the legal observance of the
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Sabbath day under Israel's theocratic nation. You couldn't gather firewood on the
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Sabbath day could you? Or you would be killed. They had very rigid, rigid observations and prohibitions for Saturday and this was to distinguish
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Israel from all the other nations. The Mosaic covenant had a sign. Now we still have a
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Christian Sabbath but we don't have the rigid requirements that are imposed upon us as ancient
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Israel. But the one day in seven is a creation ordinance and that need for physical and spiritual rest and rejuvenation continues today.
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But thankfully we don't observe that Sabbath as a covenant sign.
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Keeping Sunday as a Christian Sabbath is not the sign of the new covenant. We would argue the sign of the new covenant if you have love for one another all people everywhere will know that you're my disciples.
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That's the sign of the new covenant is what we're arguing. And so again what is the sign of the new covenant?
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God established with disciples of Jesus. Jesus declared here John 13 by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
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I recalled as I was working on this a little tiny book, very thin, very small written by Francis Schaeffer who was quite a leading evangelical back in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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Tim spent time in Switzerland with Francis and Jesus Schaeffer and he was quite a noted evangelical thinker, philosopher and he wrote a little book,
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The Mark of the True Christian. And that mark, he didn't use the word sign but mark of the true
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Christian and he said it was love. He was absolutely right. I remembered that and pulled it off the shelf and found this quote.
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And I found out he was actually expounding, the entire little book is expounding the very passage we're looking at,
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John 13, 31 -38 and here is words. Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are
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Christians. They've worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.
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Of course there's nothing wrong with any of this if one feels it's his calling. I don't know that I would say that.
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But there is much, a much better sign, a mark that's not been thought up just as a matter of expediency for use on some special occasion or in some specific era.
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It's a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church until Jesus comes back.
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What is this mark? I would just replace the word mark with sign. At the close of his ministry
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Jesus looks forward to his death on the cross, the open tomb and the ascension. Knowing that he's about to leave,
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Jesus prepares his disciples for what is to come. It's here he makes clear what will be the distinguishing mark of the
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Christian. And then he quotes John 13, 33 -35.
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By this all men shall know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another. This passage reveals that mark that Jesus gives to label a
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Christian not just in one era or in one locality but at all times and all places until Jesus returns.
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Now again there are many ways in which we can make known to the world that we're Christians and many make different efforts to do so.
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They bear bumper stickers on their car, fish symbols, they tattoo their bodies, hang crosses around their necks.
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Christians claim verbally before others they're Christians, they go to rallies, conferences, reveal to others their
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Christian convictions. But the one sign that the Lord will bless in such a way that all will know that we are
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Christians is if and when we possess and manifest love for one another. That's what
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Jesus is declaring here. This is the sign, this is the indication you have found a true disciple if he loves other disciples in the same way that Jesus loved his disciples.
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Again Francis Schaeffer wrote of our need to manifest this sign. Notice that what Jesus says here is not a description of a fact, it's a command which includes a condition.
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A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I love you so you love one another that all men may know that you're my disciple if you have love for one another.
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An if is involved. If you obey you'll wear the badge that Christ gave but since this is a command it can be violated.
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The point is that it's possible to be a Christian without showing the mark but if we expect non -Christians to know that we're
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Christians we must show the mark. This is the most powerful evidence to an unbelieving world that our
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Christianity is valid, is real in how we live and how we love one another as Christians.
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I just love anybody and everybody indiscriminately but we love Christians because they're
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Christian and so as one wrote,
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Matthew Henry wrote this, note brotherly love is the badge of Christ's disciples by this he knows them, by this they may know themselves and by this others may know them.
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This is the livery, in other words the badge of his family, the distinguishing character of his disciples.
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This he would have them noted for as that wherein they excelled all others, their loving one another.
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This was what their master was famous for. All that ever heard of him have heard of his love, his great love and therefore if you see any people more affectionate one to another than what is common say certainly these are the followers of Christ, they have been with Jesus.
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Again just a couple matters of clarification, qualification this sign again is present to a degree in every true
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Christian because it's a product of the grace of God. The grace of God when he brings salvation infuses within you so I love
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Christians. I was converted in the second week, this is the second week isn't it of January 1972 so what is that 48 years or getting there and I remember there was no church in my town that had young people in it.
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There was Calvary Baptist Church, it was all old people, I mean really old people. I was 19 but I found myself loving these people which was crazy and I remember old
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Charlie Spencer helping him drain out the, you know underneath it had a weird heating system where it had vents but the entire underneath of the floor was just a crawl space and they heated the crawl space and so the humidity would just cloud up the windows and it got water under there and I was helping him drain it was raining like crazy.
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Charlie said what are you doing here, why aren't you out with your friends and I remember answering him you know that I just had this affection for these people.
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It was strange you know you just don't have that naturally. It's a supernatural love that God infuses in your soul.
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It's an evidence of Christian life. In fact when Paul was writing to the
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Thessalonian Christians about love he says I don't have to teach you to love one another.
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Concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.
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It's a part of becoming a Christian. Somebody who says he loves God but doesn't love the
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Christian brethren he's a liar according to the Apostle John. If he doesn't have this love for other
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Christians because they're Christians there's something defective in their claim to be a true
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Christian. Now none of us have this love to the degree we should have and so Paul afterwards said nevertheless we urge you brethren you increase more and more in this love.
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But every true Christian is there. It just has to be stirred up a little bit and directed perhaps and shaped and informed.
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Paul wrote to the Colossians about the need to have love and wisdom. We need to have wisdom in the way we understand love.
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Secondly this love that we have for other Christians is because we know or believe they're true Christians and they're born of God just like we're born of God.
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And John wrote of this everyone who loves the father loves whoever is born of him. We're the same family.
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You've got the same life I've got because God the father caused you to be born again.
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And so we love one another and thirdly the love that we have or showed toward one another is to be according to the manner in which
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Jesus Christ has loved us. This is what he said as I have loved you. Well what is this?
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We genuinely have concerns for the benefit. We have desires for beneficial life and concern for other
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Christians. We want what's best for them. We truly do. We may have our difficulties and our disagreements and we may and sometimes we have our fights but what's really at the bottom of our soul
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I really want what's best for you as Christ loved us.
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And again this is a basis of assurance of salvation. The test of fellowship. If you love one another this is a sign not only to the world but it's a sign to you that you know
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Jesus Christ that he is your Lord and that you are his disciple among other disciples.
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We are to be willing to lay down our lives for the well -being of our brothers as the Lord was willing to lay down his life.
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Whatever we have to do to help you and to serve you that's our desire within our capability, our capacity and opportunity and ability.
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That's our desire, our true desire and that's true of every Christian. I know that's the case with each and every one of you who know the
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Lord because this is something that is given to us by the grace of God in the new birth.
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And so we are to pray for one another. We are to forgive one another as he's always been forgiving us.
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How can we harbor resentment and a refusal to forgive another when the Lord is so freely and fully forgiven us?
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It's inconsistent. It's illogical. It doesn't follow if we're thinking rightly, obviously, thinking through.
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We have to close but just lastly we have Peter's inquiry and his expressed willingness to follow the
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Lord. The Lord told his disciples I'm only going to be with you a little while longer and then it was due to this statement
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Peter responded where are you going? Where I'm going you cannot follow but you shall follow me afterward.
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That's the distinctive word different when he was speaking to the unbelieving Jews earlier. He said you can't follow me.
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He tells his disciples you're going to follow me but later. Why can't
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I follow you now? Peter said I'll lay down my life for you. Will you Peter? No.
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Most assuredly that's another maybe I don't know one of the last truly truly most assuredly barely barely
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I say to you Peter you the rooster shall not crow till you've denied me three times but Jesus told them that one day they would join him in glory and in the very next chapter maybe next week
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I don't know John 14 Jesus will tell his disciples let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you
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I go to prepare a place for you and he's not saying I'm going to build a mansion for you he's saying the mansions are there
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I'm going to go and make available room for you. I'm going to allow you the right of passage to enter there is what he's talking about and so then he said
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I will come again receive you to myself so that where I am you may be also.
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Here's Peter's perception of himself to be far greater than they were in reality Peter seemed to have this aspect of his personality that lead him to be impulsive and self confident and the
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Lord would of course cut this out of him through this event and then
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Peter became a pillar of the church because his pride was the
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Lord Jesus cleaned him of that through this defection. In another place
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Jesus told Peter you know Satan has desired to sift you his wheat but Peter you're going to last
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I prayed for you that your faith fail not and so what the devil intended to destroy
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Peter the Lord turned about and used it actually to fully equip Peter for his apostolic task and leadership in the coming church.
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May the Lord help us each to be faithful in bearing this sign not just in what we feel but what we do and how we manifest that toward one another praying for one another being concerned for one another considerate of one another forgiving one another may the
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Lord help us to love one another as Jesus has loved us amen and when we do the world is going to stand back there's something real about these people they're
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Christians this is the sign and even the unbelieving world will recognize it when it's there according to what the
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Lord Jesus declared. Father help us to conform our thinking and our living according to this new commandment that the
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Lord Jesus gave to his disciples and we pray our God as we manifest this love for one another particularly among ourselves as we interact with one another that we would be able to give ample clear testimony to the world that we're disciples of Jesus Christ and we pray
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Lord that this would make our profession and our life attractive and even desirable to those that are strangers to Jesus Christ and we'll thank you