TEXT: JOHN 4:43-54 SERMON: “Taking Him at His Word”
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that believing Jesus was the Messiah involved accepting Him as the:
I. Lamb of the Passover Feast vv 43-45
II. Wine of the Wedding Feast v 46
III. Healer of Infirmities v 47-54
The first thing John tells told his first century readers was that believing Jesus was the Messiah involved accepting Him as the Lamb of the Passover Feast (vv 43-45).
Explanation:
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
v 43 After the two days... v 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
v 44 a prophet has no honor...
Matthew 13:54-58
54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Luke 4:23-30
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
v 45 the Galileans welcomed him... really a rejection (welcoming a Messiah who could amaze them, not save them)
v 45 They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival...
John 2:23
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
-they were hoping he would perform miracles in Galilee like he had at the Passover
-disappointed to find he didn't intend to do so only to satisfy their curiosity
Jesus miracles at the Passover feast signified who he was, as John the Baptist said in John 1:29, "the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World", that he was the Lamb of the Passover Feast.
Some seeing the miracles believed that Jesus as the Passover Lamb was the Messiah.
- reasoning that he possessed powers indicating he had the favor of God
John 9:30-33
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing.”
However, as John 2:24 indicates Jesus didn't trust those whose faith was superficial and was based only on his performance of miracles.
John 2:24
24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
Others seeing the miracles believed Jesus was an entertainer, a performer, a magician, an actor!
Illustration:
Siegfried & Roy Magic Trick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IDQUpxRwOc
Application:
I. Bread of our Communion Feast
We just finished celebrating our Passover, Easter.
And over Easter week we spent time remembering Jesus' journey to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.
We remembered his washing his disciples' feet, his eating a Last Supper with them, his betrayal, his death by crucifixion, his burial, and the miracle of his resurrection.
Jesus sacrificed himself for our Sins, giving up His Body for us on the cross.
And in the Last Supper He initiated the sacrament of Holy Communion commemorating this by taking bread, giving thanks, breaking it, and giving it to his disciples saying, "This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me."
Jesus is the Lamb of the Passover Feast and He is the Bread of our Communion Feast.
Believing Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, involves accepting him as the Lamb of God.
It involves accepting him as the Bread of our Communion Feast.
When we "take and eat" are we believing Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ?
When we "take and eat" are we accepting Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World?
When we "take and eat" are we accepting Him as the Bread of our Communion Feast - accepting that his broken body on the cross frees us from our Sin?
And if so, what does this mean?
What does this mean for our lives if we are accepting Him as the Lamb, as the Bread, as the Broken Body on the Cross, as liberated from our Sins?
Does it mean we come to Him like the Galileans asking Him to amaze us?
Does it mean that we come to Jesus expecting him to perform miracles for our satisfaction?
Does it mean we come to Him like the those going to a Siegfried & Row Vegas Show?
Does it mean we come to Him like we would a performer?
The Apostle Paul in:
1 Corinthians 11:26-29
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning (recognizing) the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
Not judgment with a capital J, not eternal judgment, but the disciplinary judgment of sickness and death
Jesus told Nicodemus,
John 3:14-15
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Do we live discerning, recognizing that the Son of Man was lifted up and that by living our lives looking up to Him, looking up to the Cross, we find peace and assurance - not entertainment, not amazement, not performance, not something for our own satisfaction?
Does having "eternal life in Him" bring "peace and assurance" into our lives?
Is there anything else we really need?
Do we really believe the "Bread of Life" will meet all of our needs if we look to Him?
Or, do we believe the "Bread of Life", the Bread of our Communion Feast, can't or won't provide for all of our needs if we keep our eyes focused on Him?
Transition:
let's move on to another thing John told his first century readers about what was involved in believing Jesus was the Messiah.
John told his first century readers that believing Jesus was the Messiah involved accepting Him as the:
II. Wine of the Wedding Feast v 46
Explanation:
46a Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.
Backtrack a little...
Chapter 2: Cana in Galilee, a Wedding Feast, Turning Water into WIne
John 2:11
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Wine - “New Wine” – Gospel, Good News, New Testament, New Covenant
Joel 3:18
18 In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias.
Luke 22:20
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
1 Corinthians 11:25
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Jesus is the best wine, served last
- fulfilling the Law of Moses
- John's seven great "I am's" -bread, light, gate, good shepherd, resurrection, the way, true vine
John 6:53
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Revelation 1:5b-6
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
Jesus shed his blood for our Sin on the cross.
Hebrews 9:11-15
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Jesus first miracle was in Cana at a wedding feast.
It signified his glory and his disciples believed he was the Messiah.
The miracle of the wine also signified the blood of the new covenant.
Occurring where it did it also signified the Feast of the Lord, the Lord's Supper.
And, it signified the sacrament of Holy Communion the Lord handed down to us as recorded by Luke and Apostle Paul.
Illustration:
Healing - Applying the blood of Christ
Satan our enemy is terrorized by the blood of Christ or the representation of the blood of Christ. Even in the Old Testament, the angel of death avoided the houses where the blood of the Passover feast lamb was painted on the doorframes. Receiving the blood of Christ during communion is a no no to Satan. That is why many congregations use just the bread, which represents the body of Christ and omit the wine (or grape juice), which represents the blood of Christ. The Old Testament of the Bible mandated that the blood of the lamb be applied during the regular Jewish services. The lamb was the symbol of the Jewish Messiah, Christ. The slain lamb symbolized Jesus Christ's crucifixion, His taking onto His own body our diseases and sins and His making Satan impotent.
William M Branham points out in The Revelation of the 7 Seals that the blood of the Old Testament animal sacrifices only covered one's sins, for God refuses to look at sin. It did not wash away one's sins. One's sins did not get erased until the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. www.branham.org
As the blood of the lamb was applied to during Jewish services and to the doorposts of the Jewish homes, so now are we to apply the blood of the lamb when we take communion and when we pray. We are to apply His blood to every evil situation in our lives. When we pray we cover ourselves with the blood of Christ. This is not a literal doing, it is a spiritual doing, a spiritual warfare against a spiritual enemy. We cover our children with the blood of Christ. We cover our sins with the blood of Christ. We cover our emotions with the blood of Christ. We cover our feelings with the blood of Christ. We cover our minds with the blood of Christ. We cover or diseases with the blood of Christ. We do this out loud whenever possible. We do it 3x a day if necessary, for 3 months if necessary.
A door to healing is appropriating the Blood of Jesus. The old testament church applied the blood of a lamb to forgive sins and the blood of a lamb to prevent death. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the old testament requirements. The lamb of the old testament is a symbol of the Messiah, the Lamb of God. In communion we drink His blood and eat His body. When we speak aloud, "Blood of Jesus", both to ourselves and to Satan, we disarm the enemy and empower the angels to assist us. Whether we drink or apply the blood of the Messiah, we tap into His forgiveness, healing and protection…
Corrie Ten Boom in Tramp for the Lord has a chapter on Authority Over Demons. The movie The Hiding Place is her autobiography of her internment during the holocaust. She begins chapter 10 with Mark 16:17 "And these signs shall follow them that believe; in My name shall they cast out devils..." At that time the Communists did not allow people to speak about demons. However, God had told Corrie to use her authority in the Name of Jesus. Corrie was afraid of the authorities but nonetheless willing to obey Mark 16:17. She told the congregation that the servants (demons) of Satan were keeping them in bondage (wanting to receive Christ, but unable). Then she said aloud, "In the Name of Jesus I command all dark powers keeping people from the blessings of God to disappear. Go away! Get out of the hearts of these people. Get out of this church. Go to the place where God sends you." Guess what? The people were free at last to receive Christ into their hearts. Corrie went on to expound on missionaries who have given all but "not taken all the boundless resources of God's promises. Many do not know about 2 precious weapons: the power of the blood of Jesus - and every Christian's legal right to use the wonderful Name of Jesus to cast out demons."
Tommy Tenny www.godchasers.org warns us that each time the Lord intends to use or bless us, often the enemy will come in like a flood. The greater the blessing the Lord intends to give, the greater the oppression. An example of this is the 40 day fast Christ took after His baptism by John the Baptist. Luke 4:1-3 KJV Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (where He) was 40 days tempted of the devil. In those (40) days He ate nothing.
Patricia A McLaughlin in her book Rooted in Jesus: Healing Generational Defects www.queenship.org reminds us when receiving the wine (or grape juice) in communion to put not only our own sins under the the blood of Christ, but also the sins of our relatives and ancestors. This helps to eliminate generational curses that are the cause of so many inherited diseases.
We can even take communion daily in our homes or in a Catholic church. The Catholic priest is not going to walk up and ask us if we are Catholic, Jew or Protestant. It is God to whom we are accountable. However, it is imperative that we confess your sins silently to God in the pew prior to receiving, lest we get sick or die, according to scripture:…
1st Corinthians 11:23-30 (NIV)
It is vital to know/recognize that when God adopts us into His family, we are in the genealogy/blood line of Christ! This is significant. We can do ALL things through Christ Jesus, our blood relative. He now lives in our DNA, in our blood, in our spirit. His blood in us is what operates to do His work in our flesh, NOW. We can do His miracles, signs, and wonders. Actually, it is He Who can do through us His wonders. As in human conception, when sperm unites with egg, His Spirit unites with our spirit to become one spirit. Obviously, we need daily to grow up, mature, but God's side of the equation is 100%, as it was with Jesus. That is why God can always operate in/through our imperfect flesh, as we begin to recognize and obey the voice of Daddy God.
Scripture says there is life in the blood and that both the Old Testament/Torah Jews and the New Testament Jews and converts to Christ are NOT to eat/drink blood of the creatures they killed. Yet in the New Testament, we are commanded to drink His blood (represented by red wine or red juice) and to eat His flesh (represented by unleavened Passover bread/ manna/communion wafers). Thus we see that there is an invisible spiritual life in the blood of Jesus Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth and later slain/manifested on the cross. So when we plead the blood or cover ourselves with the blood of Christ, we are enlisting the invisible spiritual life that was in Him and that rose Him from the dead. We are taught that the human being is a mirror image of the invisible spirit man, not the other way around. The invisible spirit world is more real than the visible world. When we take daily communion [both species/bread+wine], we take a daily spiritual blood transfusion - downloaded directly from heaven. Thus He not we spiritually live and operate in these transient bodies. ANY miracle is of Him and by Him alone.
Remember, there is still slavery in the world today. Sometimes we can actually still purchase back/redeem these slaves with money. Likewise, this will help us to remember that Christ Himself purchased us from Satan, with His own blood, a huge cost to Him. We are so precious and valuable to Him. God sacrificed His Son for us. His Son sacrificed His life blood for us.
Thank You holy Trinity.
©2002-ThroughToday
ELouiseRiceM All rights reserved.
http://www.schizophrenia-info.info/healing_blood%20.htm
Application:
II. Wine of our Communion Feast
So what is John trying to tell us today?
What is he telling us about our belief in the Messiah, our belief in Jesus Christ?
What is he telling us today about accepting Christ as the Wine of the Wedding Feast?
As the one who not only turns water into wine, but whose blood became the wine of our Communion?
The disciples believed in Jesus as Messiah, as the Christ when they witnessed his glory in the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding feast.
Later, they partook in his Last Supper where he initiated the sacrament of Holy Communion with them.
And, they witnessed the pouring out of his blood on the cross for the Sin of the world.
And through the Gospel Writers we witness this as well.
And we eat the bread.
And we drink the cup.
And the questions is are we really accepting it?
Are we really accepting the cup, the wine, his blood?
Is the cup, representing his shed blood on the cross making any difference in our lives?
Does the shed blood of Christ merely cover over our Sin like the blood of goats and calves and bulls did during OT days?
Are we only outwardly clean?
Or has our acceptance of the cup, the wine, his blood, cleansed our consciences?
Has our acceptance of the cup, his blood washed away and freed us from our Sin?
Has the cup, his blood healed us?
And, do we allow the power of the blood of Christ to protect us from evil?
Do we allow it to protect our minds, our bodies, our hearts, our souls?
Do we call on the blood of Christ to protect us from the oppressive effects Satan has on our being and our life?
Do we call on the blood of Christ when we pray?
Transition:
In this passage, John told his first century readers there was one more thing involved with believing Jesus was the Messiah.
John told his first century readers that believing Jesus was the Messiah involved accepting Him as the:
III. Healer of Infirmities v 47-54
Explanation:
46b And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
v 46b royal official - officer in Herod's service, possibly a Gentile
v 47 Capernaum - a distance from Cana
http://www.bible-history.com/maps/galilee_north_palestine.html
v 47 went to him... begged him to come and heal his son who was close to death
v 48 Jesus: "Unless you see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe."
- general attitude of Galileans, not the official
- questioning the motives of the official due to being rebuffed in Galilee (Nazareth) before
- desired a belief characterized by dedication rather than amazement
- his aim was to elicit a commitment rather than to just cure the sick son
v 49 come down before my child dies - father desperate!
v 50 Jesus: "Your son will live."
- words of power!
- words of healing, not forecasting a happy ending
- dismisses official with a statement that his son is alive
- creates a dilemma of faith: difficult choice of insisting on evidence (showing disbelief) or exercising faith without any tangible proof to encourage him
- he took Jesus at his word and departed
vv 51-52 while he was still on the way
- miraculous report (his boy is living)...
-man curious to know when he got better (yesterday at 1pm)
v 53 more than coincidence: therefore "believed"
- timing miraculous
- recovery more than circumstantial
THE PURPOSE OF JOHN'S GOSPEL
John 20-30-31
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
v 54 second miraculous sign - second in Galilee (vv 2:23 & 3:2 indicate other miracles)
Illustration:
SESSION 1 DARKNESS
Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Luke 18:42
I was driving fast down a stretch of an interstate highway I frequently drive in consulting to the prison system. I was concerned because my fuel gauge was on empty and I didn’t think I could make it to the next exit.
As I came to a big sweeping curve to the right, simultaneously my engine killed and my headlights went out for some reason. My initial reaction was one of fear—that my momentum would take me off the road and into the ditch since it was pitch black out and I couldn’t see the curve in the road at all.
However, I was amazed that my car lost none of its momentum and it stayed on course as it continued around the curve even though I couldn’t see a thing.
I woke up Anne to tell her my dream – especially my fear that the darkness may have something to do with being eternally separated from God.
The next morning through prayer and meditation I came to two understandings of the dream.
This is one of them.
My racing down the highway to the point of running on empty and eventually out of gas was the depression I was in due to my ongoing attempts to live on my own power and strength. The loss of my head lights was the loss of my reliance on sight as the basis for how I live.
My maintaining momentum represented that I could trust God to be my strength because He was the true source of my strength. It took getting to the point of exhaustion to see this.
My staying on the highway in total darkness represents that only by faith can I remain on the path that God has planned for me. If I continue trying to live based on sight, I will get off course and be out of God’s Will for my life.
The sweeping curve represents the difficulties and challenges that lie around the bend that I need to navigate by faith and through God’s strength, rather than by relying on my own abilities - which will fail me.
Application:
III. Savior of our Souls
What is John communicating to us this morning 2000 years after he wrote these words.
What does he want us to take away this morning from what he has written about this second miracle Jesus performed in Galilee?
Like Galilee, we are surrounded by a culture of doubt.
Like Galilee, we are surrounded by a culture that thrives on entertainment.
We pump ourselves up with entertainment.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) is a book by educator Neil Postman.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/Amusinghkn.jpg
In the introduction to his book Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, than by Orwell's 1984, where they were oppressed by state control...
Drawing an analogy with the latter scenario, Postman sees television's entertainment value as a present-day "soma", by means of which the consumers' rights are exchanged for entertainment...
The essential premise of the book, which Postman extends to the rest of his argument(s), is that "form excludes the content," that is, a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas. Thus Rational argument, integral to print typography, is militated against by the medium of television for the aforesaid reason. Owing to this shortcoming, politics and religion are diluted, and "news of the day" becomes a packaged commodity. Television de-emphasizes the quality of information in favor of satisfying the far-reaching needs of entertainment, by which information is encumbered and to which it is subordinate...
Drawing on the ideas of media scholar Marshall McLuhan — altering McLuhan's aphorism "the medium is the message", to "the medium is the metaphor" — he describes how oral, literate, and televisual cultures radically differ in the processing and prioritization of information; he argues that each medium is appropriate for a different kind of knowledge. The faculties requisite for rational inquiry are simply weakened by televised viewing. Accordingly, reading, a prime example cited by Postman, exacts intense intellectual involvement, at once interactive and dialectical; whereas television only requires passive involvement. Moreover, as television is programmed according to ratings, its content is determined by commercial feasibility, not critical acumen. Television in its present state, he says, does not satisfy the conditions for honest intellectual involvement and rational argument.
So in this multimedia culture that is becoming devoid of the printed word are we more like the Galileans or more like the Capernaum official?
Do we come to Jesus to be entertained, expecting him to amaze us?
Or do we come to him in desperation, begging him to help us?
Do we come to Jesus because we are fascinated by what he can do?
Or do we come to Jesus imploring him to come and heal us or someone we love?
Do we come to Jesus because he is he is a Superstar?
Or do we come to Jesus with a dedicated and committed heart?
And do we take Jesus at his word?
When he told the royal official, "Go, your son will live," he didn't question Jesus, he left.
Jesus tells us in John seven times who he is - the seven I am's.
Jesus tells us in John he has gone to prepare a place for us.
And in Romans (8:39), Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And in Hebrews (13:5), it tells us that God has said, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."
Do we take Jesus at his word?
Do we believe he is the way, the truth and the life?
Do we believe that through Him nothing can separate us from the love of God?
Do we believe that he will never leave us or forsake us?
Like the royal official do we believe him when he tells us these things?
And can we move on with our lives no matter what our situation is, no matter what are circumstances are, no matter how little we can see of how he will fulfill what he says to us in these words?
For when he says these things to us it creates a crisis of faith for us and like the royal official we face the dilemma where we either choose to question Jesus' words or we choose to take him at his word, believe what he says and keep moving forward in life.
Transition:
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that believing Jesus was the Messiah involved accepting Him as the:
I. Lamb of the Passover Feast vv 43-45
II. Wine of the Wedding Feast v 46
III. Healer of the Infirmities v 47-54
Conclusion:
In this passage, John tells us today that believing Jesus is the Messiah Involves accepting Him as the:
I. Bread of our Communion Feast
II. Wine of our Communion Feast
III. Savior of our Souls
The royal official took Jesus at his word and experienced the miraculous timing and non-coincidental healing of his son.
Belief in His Body and His Blood brings miraculous timing and healing into our lives.
Will we move forward and experience it?
Are we willing to move forward in our lives no matter how many curves lie ahead in the road Taking Him At His Word?
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
WTTW HIS WORD "BREAKING BARRIERS 2 GOD"
TEXT: JOHN 4:1-42 SERMON: “Breaking Barriers 2 God”
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that in telling a Samaritan woman he is the Messiah, Jesus broke down several barriers to God.
This morning we’ll be looking at the barriers to God Jesus broke down by:
I. Going through Samaria
II. Talking with a Samaritan Woman
III. Staying with Her People
The first thing John tells us about Jesus breaking down barriers to God is that
A. He went through Samaria vv 1-6
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
Explanation:
v 4 "had to go" - Jesus' mission, not geography - Savior of all Humanity!
Jews often avoided Samaria by crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side
biblical map of Israel
http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/samaria.html
Jews would become ceremonially unclean/defiled if they came in contact with Samaritans
Luke 9:52-54
52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
Samaritans - the mixed population of the former territory of the Northern Kingdom; people of mixed ancestry (half Jew/half non-Jew-Assyrian); OT - idolatry of polytheistic origins; NT - followed the teachings of Moses
Samaritan Bible - Pentateuch: Samaritans replace Israelites in text
Mt. Gerizem - Worship Center for the Samaritans
Luke 10:33 "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him."
Luke 17:16 He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan.
SCENE:
v 5 Sychar - small village near Shechem (Jacob bought land he gave to Joseph)
v 6 Jacob's well - half mile from Sychar; at the foot of Mt. Gerizem
noon - unusual time of day to be at the well - shunned due to her character?
Illustration:
A Mighty Evangel
Ravi Zacharius
Years ago, I read a definition of worship that to this day rings with clear and magnificent terms.(1) The definition comes from the famed archbishop William Temple: "Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."
The more I have thought of that definition, the more I am convinced that if worship is practiced with integrity in the community of God's people, potentially, worship may be the most powerful evangel for this postmodern culture of ours. It is imperative in planning the worship services that church leaders give careful attention to every element and make sure that the worship retains both integrity and purpose. People come to church generally "beaten down" by the world of deceit, distraction, and demand. There is an extraction of emotional and spiritual energy that brings them on "empty" into the community. The church's task is to so prepare during the week that it is collectively the instrument of replenishment and fresh energy of soul. Even being in the presence of fellow believers in worship is a restorer of spiritual hope. We so underestimate the power of a people in one mind and with one commitment. Even a prayer can so touch a hungry heart that it can rescue a sliding foot in a treacherous time.
A few years ago, two or three of my colleagues and I were in a country dominated for decades by Marxism. Before we began our meetings, we were invited to a dinner hosted by some common friends, all of whom were skeptics and, for all practical purposes, atheists. The evening was full of questions, posed principally by a notable theoretical physicist in the country. There were also others who represented different elements of power within that society. As the night wore on, we got the feeling that the questions had gone on long enough and that we were possibly going in circles.
At that point, I asked if we could have a word of prayer with them, for them, and for the country before we bade them good-bye. There was a silence of consternation, an obvious hesitancy, and then one said, "Of course." We did just that—we prayed. In this large dining room of historic import to them, with all the memories of secular power plastered within those walls, the prayer brought a sobering silence that we were all in the presence of someone greater than us. When we finished, every eye was moist and nothing was said. They hugged us and thanked us, with emotion written all over their faces. The next day when we met them, one of them said to me, "We did not go back to our rooms last night till it was early morning. In fact, I stayed in my hotel lobby most of the night talking further. Then I went back to my room and gave my life to Jesus Christ."
I firmly believe that it was the prayer that gave them a hint of the taste of what worship is all about. Their hearts had never experienced it.
Over the years I have discovered that praying with people can sometimes do more for them than preaching to them. Prayer draws the heart away from one's own dependence to leaning on the sovereign God. The burden is often lifted instantly. Prayer is only one aspect of worship, but one that is greatly neglected in the face of people who would be shocked to hear what prayer sounds like when the one praying knows how to touch the heart of God. To a person in need, pat answers don't change the mind; prayer does.
Application:
Going to Forgotten People
So what is John's take home message for us today from this portion of John 4?
Jesus goes where he had to go because he is the Savior of all Humanity.
He transcended the racial and religious barriers that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans of his day by going through Samaria instead of around it on the East side of the Jordan River which was the customary thing for Jews to do to keep from becoming defiled.
Jesus overlooked racial and religious bigotries to reach out to others, to make connections, to be their Messiah, their Savior.
And Ravi Zacharius goes to Atheistic Communistic countries overcoming political and religious bigotries and boldly asks if he can a word of prayer with them, for them and for their country before departing after an evening in which the discussion was going nowhere.
Is John telling us this morning to shed our bigotries for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of our Savior, for the sake of our neighbor?
Is John telling us this morning to set aside, transcend, our racial, religious, cultural, and political bigotries so that we have to go through some Samaria?
Where is our Samaria?
Where do we "have to go" to bring the Good News, the Gospel, our Savior into the lives of others?
Is our Samaria today located right beneath our noses here in Wilmington, NC?
Transition:
John tells us another thing Jesus did in breaking down barriers to God.
B. He talked with a Samaritan woman vv 7-29
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Explanation:
a. He Asked Her for a Drink v 7-9
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
MAJOR POINT = drinking vessel handled by a Samaritan - makes a Jew ceremonially unclean
POINT = rabbis don't talk publically to women
sarcasm = we Samaritans are the dirt under your feet until you want something
b. He Offered Her Living Water vv 10-15
v 10 "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
"if you knew" - trying to move her from the material to the spiritual
v 10 gift of God = God's grace through Christ - Jesus gives life freely
v 10 living water = eternal life
v 12 our father Jacob - the past preventing her from seeing the great present opportunity
(bolster importance of the Samaritans in the eyes of a Jewish rabbi)
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
v 15 welling up - "leaping up" - bubbling up from within (vs drawn up with hard labor)
- vigorous abundant life
v 15 - Woman's literal response to never being thirsty again is like Nicodemus' literal response to Jesus about not being able to literally re-enter his mother's womb to be born again in 3:4
v 15 Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
c. He Talked to Her about Her Life vv 16-18
Jesus request to call her husband: 1. proper (etiquette), 2. strategic (placed her in dilemma)
v 18 five husbands:
- Jews held that a woman might be divorced twice or at most three times,
-would have been considered immoral if Samaritan's held to same standard,
-not married to current partner
v 19 a prophet - special insight - Jesus shocked her! (no longer small talk but personal)
v the mountain - didn't like the way the conversation was heading - diversion, arguing
-Abraham & Jacob had built altars in the vicinity of Mt. Gerizim (Gen 12:7; 33:20)
- the people had been blessed from this mountain (Dt 11:29; 27:12 - Moses divided people concerning entrance to promise land, half on Mt Ebal [where altar constructed], half on Mt. Gerizim, Levites read the Law, people responded antiphonally)
-Samaritan Scriptures say Mt. Gerizim rather than Mt. Ebal is where Moses commanded an altar to be built
-Samaritans built a temple on Mt. Gerizim 400 BC - destroyed by Jews in 128 BC
d. He Told Her about True Worship vv 19-24
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
v 22 worship what you do not know - Samaritans worshipped the true God but in failing to accept much of his revelation (only the Pentateuch) knew little of him, confused due to syncretism (foreign deities + God)
v 22 salvation is from the Jews - the Messiah is a Jew
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
v 24 God is spirit... worship in spirit and in truth
- place of worship is irrelevant,
-true worship must be consistent with God's nature which is spirit (is light [1 jn 1:5], is love [1 Jn 4:8], is a consuming fire [Heb 12:29] = 4 nouns describing God in the NT
= worshipper must deal openly and honestly with God
-truth - associated with Christ in John's Gospel (14:6 I am the way, the truth and the life...)
-spirit & truth - important to the proper understanding of Christian Worship!
-God can't be confined to one place or be conceived of as a material being!
e. He Told Her He was the Messiah vv 25-26
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
v 25 Messiah... will explain everything - her last attempt to evade the issue (too important for them to work out!)
Samaritans expected a Messiah but knew very little about him having rejected all of Scripture expect the Pentateuch - mainly a teacher
Dt 18:15 Predicted by Moses to teach God's people all things "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him."
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
v 26 I... am he - only time other than at his trial that Jesus specifically says he is the Messiah
In Samaria in contrast to Galillee viewed spiritually vs politically and therefore given a hearing rather than viewed as a subversive statement
v 27 were surprised - Jewish religious teachers rarely spoke with women in public
V 29 everything I ever did - exaggeration but shows the impression Jesus made on her
v 29 Could this be the Christ? question full of longing
Illustration:
Ravi Zacharius definition of True Worship -
The Coalescence of Worship
One of the great longings of the human heart is to worship; yet, within that very disposition there are tugs in many directions that contradict the essence of worship. This fragmentation is felt in every life. But there is a further complication. The idea of worship itself is not monolithic or uniform when you get a glimpse of the different kinds of worship in which people engage.
The thirst for worship or for the sacred across cultures and across time is ineradicable (permanent, fixed) among the educated and the uneducated, the young and the old. During my days as a student at college in New Delhi, I well remember students seated around me with colored ash smeared on their foreheads, having visited the temple on their way to school. All over the world, churches, temples, mosques, and tabernacles abound. Sacred books still line the shelves of seekers after truth—the Gita, the Koran, the Bible. Religious ceremonies are performed and prayers are invoked in life’s most significant moments. Even a casual look at the record of human history reveals a fervent pursuit of spiritual things.
Jesus was very much aware of this bent within the human spirit. That is why He said worship should be done in truth, as well as in spirit. Without truth there is no limit to the superstition, deception, and sadly, even violence that can come in the name of religion. You see, worship alone cannot justify itself; it needs the constraints of truth, and that truth is the person and character of God. As an individual makes a commitment to God, not only is his or her life unified for God’s glory, but the impetus of truth is given for all other pursuits and relationships.
In other words, worship must not only be formal, it must also be substantive. You see, we humans are not a collection of isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression. We are fashioned to bind these expressions by the character and reverence of God.
So much goes on in the name of religion today that must make us question whose character is being revealed in the process.
Worship that is true and spiritual binds all the diverse aspirations and propensities creating a tapestry of beauty and a life that is in harmony with the goodness and the holiness of God. So next time you pause to worship or even to observe it, ask the question: Is this what Jesus Christ meant when He said we are to worship God in spirit and in Truth?
Application:
Talking to Forgotten People
So in this section portion of John 4 today, what is he trying to tell us?
And how is God trying to change our heart through what John has written?
Jesus has gone into defiled territory, Samaria, and at a well asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water - the ultimate in breaking down barriers.
Jesus is in Samaria, talking to a woman with a suspect past, asking to drink from a Samaritan's utensil.
Can't get much more defiled than that.
Can't break many more taboos than that.
Racial, Cultural, Religious, Sexual, Physical.
You name them He broke them all!
In talking to a woman who may have been such an outcast she had to go to the well during the hottest time of the day Jesus breaks every worldly barrier in reaching out to her, in connecting with her, as her Savior.
a. He Asked Her for a Drink v 7-9
b. He Offered Her Living Water vv 10-15
c. He Talked to Her about Her Life vv 16-18
d. He Told Her about True Worship vv 19-24
e. He Told Her He was the Messiah vv 25-26
Is John showing us just how far we must go in reaching out to others?
Is he showing us that we are to not let there be any barriers between us and other people when it comes to Him, when it comes to the Good News of His Resurrection!
And is he showing us how we are to reach out to others:
a. by being willing to risk it all
b. by sharing the Good News of His Resurrection
c. by getting to know other's pain so that
d. by not being afraid to talk with them about Truth, they will see it
e. by not being afraid to talk with them about the Jesus Christ they will come to know Him
And a second application may be related to what Ravi Zacharius tells us that with Truth as the person and character of God unifies our lives for God's glory as well as for other pursuits and relationships.
Ravi Zacharius tells us that with Truth as the person and character of God worship is transformed from isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression into a substantive expression that is in harmony with the goodness and holiness of God.
So the tough question becomes: Are we worshipping in Spirit and Truth?
Does our worship consist of isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression?
Or is our worship a substantive expression that is in harmony with the goodness and holiness of God?
Transition:
John tells us one more thing Jesus did in breaking down barriers to God
C. He stayed with Her People vv 30-42
30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Explanation:
v 33 My food ... is to do the will of him who sent me
- depended on and did the will of the Father
- satisfaction of completing father's work > any food given to him
5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek to not to please myself but him who sent me.
v 35 Four months more and then the harvest - a proverb meaning "harvest can't be rushed"
-the fields Jesus referred to were ripe for harvest
- Samaritans leaving town coming across fields towards him ready for harvest
36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
v 36 draws his wages
- part of the work had already been done
- others working hard
- they were not to think the harvest was far off
- "the crop for eternal life"
- urgent - the crop would not wait!
v 36 glad together
- no competition among Christ's servants
- sowers and reapers both share in the joy of the harvest
v 37 - 1 Co 3:6-9
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
v 38 others - John the Baptist and his supporters or the work the apostles would build or looking back to the prophets and men of old - Jesus expect the disciples to be reapers as well as sowers.
two necessary and interrelated bases for belief:
1. testimony of others
2. personal contact with Jesus
-progression from faith built on testimony of witness of another to a faith built on their own experience
Illustration:
Ravi: Relationships 8:20
http://www.rzim.org/resources/listen/letmypeoplethink.aspx?archive=1&pid=2063
Application:
Staying with (Realting to) Forgotten People
Quickly, in this final section, what is John telling us and how does God want us to respond?
How much satisfaction do we derive from doing Our Father's will?
For Jesus this was more satisfying than any food he could be given even when he was physically tired and hungry.
Are we more concerned about our bellies than doing our Father's will?
And what is His will?
For Jesus it was to go wherever God led him, to break down whatever barriers existed between people because whatever barriers exist between people create barriers between people and God - and barriers interfere with relationship.
Barriers between people prevent the Good News of Christ's Resurrection from being taken from where it needs to go, from being shared with who it needs to be shared, from being heard from who needs to hear it and from being accepted by who needs to accept it.
Are we willing to do Our Father's Will?
Are we willing to overcome the barriers which exist inside of us in order to go, develop relationships wherever it is needed and make disciples of all nations?
Are we willing to overcome the barriers which exist inside of us in order to go and make disciples right here in Wilmington, NC - in the parts of this city where barriers need to be crossed by someone in order for the Gospel to be taken, shared, heard and accepted?
Transition:
John tells his first century readers that in telling a Samaritan woman he was the Messiah, Jesus broke down several barriers to God by:
I. Going through Samaria
II. Talking with a Samaritan Woman
III. Staying with Her People
Conclusion:
In this passage, John tells us today that in telling outcasts Jesus is the Messiah, we break down several barriers to God by:
I. Going to Forgotten Places
II. Talking to Forgotten People
III. Staying with (developing relationships with) Forgotten People
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that in telling a Samaritan woman he is the Messiah, Jesus broke down several barriers to God.
This morning we’ll be looking at the barriers to God Jesus broke down by:
I. Going through Samaria
II. Talking with a Samaritan Woman
III. Staying with Her People
The first thing John tells us about Jesus breaking down barriers to God is that
A. He went through Samaria vv 1-6
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
Explanation:
v 4 "had to go" - Jesus' mission, not geography - Savior of all Humanity!
Jews often avoided Samaria by crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side
biblical map of Israel
http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/samaria.html
Jews would become ceremonially unclean/defiled if they came in contact with Samaritans
Luke 9:52-54
52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
Samaritans - the mixed population of the former territory of the Northern Kingdom; people of mixed ancestry (half Jew/half non-Jew-Assyrian); OT - idolatry of polytheistic origins; NT - followed the teachings of Moses
Samaritan Bible - Pentateuch: Samaritans replace Israelites in text
Mt. Gerizem - Worship Center for the Samaritans
Luke 10:33 "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him."
Luke 17:16 He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan.
SCENE:
v 5 Sychar - small village near Shechem (Jacob bought land he gave to Joseph)
v 6 Jacob's well - half mile from Sychar; at the foot of Mt. Gerizem
noon - unusual time of day to be at the well - shunned due to her character?
Illustration:
A Mighty Evangel
Ravi Zacharius
Years ago, I read a definition of worship that to this day rings with clear and magnificent terms.(1) The definition comes from the famed archbishop William Temple: "Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."
The more I have thought of that definition, the more I am convinced that if worship is practiced with integrity in the community of God's people, potentially, worship may be the most powerful evangel for this postmodern culture of ours. It is imperative in planning the worship services that church leaders give careful attention to every element and make sure that the worship retains both integrity and purpose. People come to church generally "beaten down" by the world of deceit, distraction, and demand. There is an extraction of emotional and spiritual energy that brings them on "empty" into the community. The church's task is to so prepare during the week that it is collectively the instrument of replenishment and fresh energy of soul. Even being in the presence of fellow believers in worship is a restorer of spiritual hope. We so underestimate the power of a people in one mind and with one commitment. Even a prayer can so touch a hungry heart that it can rescue a sliding foot in a treacherous time.
A few years ago, two or three of my colleagues and I were in a country dominated for decades by Marxism. Before we began our meetings, we were invited to a dinner hosted by some common friends, all of whom were skeptics and, for all practical purposes, atheists. The evening was full of questions, posed principally by a notable theoretical physicist in the country. There were also others who represented different elements of power within that society. As the night wore on, we got the feeling that the questions had gone on long enough and that we were possibly going in circles.
At that point, I asked if we could have a word of prayer with them, for them, and for the country before we bade them good-bye. There was a silence of consternation, an obvious hesitancy, and then one said, "Of course." We did just that—we prayed. In this large dining room of historic import to them, with all the memories of secular power plastered within those walls, the prayer brought a sobering silence that we were all in the presence of someone greater than us. When we finished, every eye was moist and nothing was said. They hugged us and thanked us, with emotion written all over their faces. The next day when we met them, one of them said to me, "We did not go back to our rooms last night till it was early morning. In fact, I stayed in my hotel lobby most of the night talking further. Then I went back to my room and gave my life to Jesus Christ."
I firmly believe that it was the prayer that gave them a hint of the taste of what worship is all about. Their hearts had never experienced it.
Over the years I have discovered that praying with people can sometimes do more for them than preaching to them. Prayer draws the heart away from one's own dependence to leaning on the sovereign God. The burden is often lifted instantly. Prayer is only one aspect of worship, but one that is greatly neglected in the face of people who would be shocked to hear what prayer sounds like when the one praying knows how to touch the heart of God. To a person in need, pat answers don't change the mind; prayer does.
Application:
Going to Forgotten People
So what is John's take home message for us today from this portion of John 4?
Jesus goes where he had to go because he is the Savior of all Humanity.
He transcended the racial and religious barriers that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans of his day by going through Samaria instead of around it on the East side of the Jordan River which was the customary thing for Jews to do to keep from becoming defiled.
Jesus overlooked racial and religious bigotries to reach out to others, to make connections, to be their Messiah, their Savior.
And Ravi Zacharius goes to Atheistic Communistic countries overcoming political and religious bigotries and boldly asks if he can a word of prayer with them, for them and for their country before departing after an evening in which the discussion was going nowhere.
Is John telling us this morning to shed our bigotries for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of our Savior, for the sake of our neighbor?
Is John telling us this morning to set aside, transcend, our racial, religious, cultural, and political bigotries so that we have to go through some Samaria?
Where is our Samaria?
Where do we "have to go" to bring the Good News, the Gospel, our Savior into the lives of others?
Is our Samaria today located right beneath our noses here in Wilmington, NC?
Transition:
John tells us another thing Jesus did in breaking down barriers to God.
B. He talked with a Samaritan woman vv 7-29
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Explanation:
a. He Asked Her for a Drink v 7-9
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
MAJOR POINT = drinking vessel handled by a Samaritan - makes a Jew ceremonially unclean
POINT = rabbis don't talk publically to women
sarcasm = we Samaritans are the dirt under your feet until you want something
b. He Offered Her Living Water vv 10-15
v 10 "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
"if you knew" - trying to move her from the material to the spiritual
v 10 gift of God = God's grace through Christ - Jesus gives life freely
v 10 living water = eternal life
v 12 our father Jacob - the past preventing her from seeing the great present opportunity
(bolster importance of the Samaritans in the eyes of a Jewish rabbi)
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
v 15 welling up - "leaping up" - bubbling up from within (vs drawn up with hard labor)
- vigorous abundant life
v 15 - Woman's literal response to never being thirsty again is like Nicodemus' literal response to Jesus about not being able to literally re-enter his mother's womb to be born again in 3:4
v 15 Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
c. He Talked to Her about Her Life vv 16-18
Jesus request to call her husband: 1. proper (etiquette), 2. strategic (placed her in dilemma)
v 18 five husbands:
- Jews held that a woman might be divorced twice or at most three times,
-would have been considered immoral if Samaritan's held to same standard,
-not married to current partner
v 19 a prophet - special insight - Jesus shocked her! (no longer small talk but personal)
v the mountain - didn't like the way the conversation was heading - diversion, arguing
-Abraham & Jacob had built altars in the vicinity of Mt. Gerizim (Gen 12:7; 33:20)
- the people had been blessed from this mountain (Dt 11:29; 27:12 - Moses divided people concerning entrance to promise land, half on Mt Ebal [where altar constructed], half on Mt. Gerizim, Levites read the Law, people responded antiphonally)
-Samaritan Scriptures say Mt. Gerizim rather than Mt. Ebal is where Moses commanded an altar to be built
-Samaritans built a temple on Mt. Gerizim 400 BC - destroyed by Jews in 128 BC
d. He Told Her about True Worship vv 19-24
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
v 22 worship what you do not know - Samaritans worshipped the true God but in failing to accept much of his revelation (only the Pentateuch) knew little of him, confused due to syncretism (foreign deities + God)
v 22 salvation is from the Jews - the Messiah is a Jew
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
v 24 God is spirit... worship in spirit and in truth
- place of worship is irrelevant,
-true worship must be consistent with God's nature which is spirit (is light [1 jn 1:5], is love [1 Jn 4:8], is a consuming fire [Heb 12:29] = 4 nouns describing God in the NT
= worshipper must deal openly and honestly with God
-truth - associated with Christ in John's Gospel (14:6 I am the way, the truth and the life...)
-spirit & truth - important to the proper understanding of Christian Worship!
-God can't be confined to one place or be conceived of as a material being!
e. He Told Her He was the Messiah vv 25-26
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
v 25 Messiah... will explain everything - her last attempt to evade the issue (too important for them to work out!)
Samaritans expected a Messiah but knew very little about him having rejected all of Scripture expect the Pentateuch - mainly a teacher
Dt 18:15 Predicted by Moses to teach God's people all things "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him."
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
v 26 I... am he - only time other than at his trial that Jesus specifically says he is the Messiah
In Samaria in contrast to Galillee viewed spiritually vs politically and therefore given a hearing rather than viewed as a subversive statement
v 27 were surprised - Jewish religious teachers rarely spoke with women in public
V 29 everything I ever did - exaggeration but shows the impression Jesus made on her
v 29 Could this be the Christ? question full of longing
Illustration:
Ravi Zacharius definition of True Worship -
The Coalescence of Worship
One of the great longings of the human heart is to worship; yet, within that very disposition there are tugs in many directions that contradict the essence of worship. This fragmentation is felt in every life. But there is a further complication. The idea of worship itself is not monolithic or uniform when you get a glimpse of the different kinds of worship in which people engage.
The thirst for worship or for the sacred across cultures and across time is ineradicable (permanent, fixed) among the educated and the uneducated, the young and the old. During my days as a student at college in New Delhi, I well remember students seated around me with colored ash smeared on their foreheads, having visited the temple on their way to school. All over the world, churches, temples, mosques, and tabernacles abound. Sacred books still line the shelves of seekers after truth—the Gita, the Koran, the Bible. Religious ceremonies are performed and prayers are invoked in life’s most significant moments. Even a casual look at the record of human history reveals a fervent pursuit of spiritual things.
Jesus was very much aware of this bent within the human spirit. That is why He said worship should be done in truth, as well as in spirit. Without truth there is no limit to the superstition, deception, and sadly, even violence that can come in the name of religion. You see, worship alone cannot justify itself; it needs the constraints of truth, and that truth is the person and character of God. As an individual makes a commitment to God, not only is his or her life unified for God’s glory, but the impetus of truth is given for all other pursuits and relationships.
In other words, worship must not only be formal, it must also be substantive. You see, we humans are not a collection of isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression. We are fashioned to bind these expressions by the character and reverence of God.
So much goes on in the name of religion today that must make us question whose character is being revealed in the process.
Worship that is true and spiritual binds all the diverse aspirations and propensities creating a tapestry of beauty and a life that is in harmony with the goodness and the holiness of God. So next time you pause to worship or even to observe it, ask the question: Is this what Jesus Christ meant when He said we are to worship God in spirit and in Truth?
Application:
Talking to Forgotten People
So in this section portion of John 4 today, what is he trying to tell us?
And how is God trying to change our heart through what John has written?
Jesus has gone into defiled territory, Samaria, and at a well asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water - the ultimate in breaking down barriers.
Jesus is in Samaria, talking to a woman with a suspect past, asking to drink from a Samaritan's utensil.
Can't get much more defiled than that.
Can't break many more taboos than that.
Racial, Cultural, Religious, Sexual, Physical.
You name them He broke them all!
In talking to a woman who may have been such an outcast she had to go to the well during the hottest time of the day Jesus breaks every worldly barrier in reaching out to her, in connecting with her, as her Savior.
a. He Asked Her for a Drink v 7-9
b. He Offered Her Living Water vv 10-15
c. He Talked to Her about Her Life vv 16-18
d. He Told Her about True Worship vv 19-24
e. He Told Her He was the Messiah vv 25-26
Is John showing us just how far we must go in reaching out to others?
Is he showing us that we are to not let there be any barriers between us and other people when it comes to Him, when it comes to the Good News of His Resurrection!
And is he showing us how we are to reach out to others:
a. by being willing to risk it all
b. by sharing the Good News of His Resurrection
c. by getting to know other's pain so that
d. by not being afraid to talk with them about Truth, they will see it
e. by not being afraid to talk with them about the Jesus Christ they will come to know Him
And a second application may be related to what Ravi Zacharius tells us that with Truth as the person and character of God unifies our lives for God's glory as well as for other pursuits and relationships.
Ravi Zacharius tells us that with Truth as the person and character of God worship is transformed from isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression into a substantive expression that is in harmony with the goodness and holiness of God.
So the tough question becomes: Are we worshipping in Spirit and Truth?
Does our worship consist of isolated and unrelated senses just seeking expression?
Or is our worship a substantive expression that is in harmony with the goodness and holiness of God?
Transition:
John tells us one more thing Jesus did in breaking down barriers to God
C. He stayed with Her People vv 30-42
30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Explanation:
v 33 My food ... is to do the will of him who sent me
- depended on and did the will of the Father
- satisfaction of completing father's work > any food given to him
5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek to not to please myself but him who sent me.
v 35 Four months more and then the harvest - a proverb meaning "harvest can't be rushed"
-the fields Jesus referred to were ripe for harvest
- Samaritans leaving town coming across fields towards him ready for harvest
36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
v 36 draws his wages
- part of the work had already been done
- others working hard
- they were not to think the harvest was far off
- "the crop for eternal life"
- urgent - the crop would not wait!
v 36 glad together
- no competition among Christ's servants
- sowers and reapers both share in the joy of the harvest
v 37 - 1 Co 3:6-9
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
v 38 others - John the Baptist and his supporters or the work the apostles would build or looking back to the prophets and men of old - Jesus expect the disciples to be reapers as well as sowers.
two necessary and interrelated bases for belief:
1. testimony of others
2. personal contact with Jesus
-progression from faith built on testimony of witness of another to a faith built on their own experience
Illustration:
Ravi: Relationships 8:20
http://www.rzim.org/resources/listen/letmypeoplethink.aspx?archive=1&pid=2063
Application:
Staying with (Realting to) Forgotten People
Quickly, in this final section, what is John telling us and how does God want us to respond?
How much satisfaction do we derive from doing Our Father's will?
For Jesus this was more satisfying than any food he could be given even when he was physically tired and hungry.
Are we more concerned about our bellies than doing our Father's will?
And what is His will?
For Jesus it was to go wherever God led him, to break down whatever barriers existed between people because whatever barriers exist between people create barriers between people and God - and barriers interfere with relationship.
Barriers between people prevent the Good News of Christ's Resurrection from being taken from where it needs to go, from being shared with who it needs to be shared, from being heard from who needs to hear it and from being accepted by who needs to accept it.
Are we willing to do Our Father's Will?
Are we willing to overcome the barriers which exist inside of us in order to go, develop relationships wherever it is needed and make disciples of all nations?
Are we willing to overcome the barriers which exist inside of us in order to go and make disciples right here in Wilmington, NC - in the parts of this city where barriers need to be crossed by someone in order for the Gospel to be taken, shared, heard and accepted?
Transition:
John tells his first century readers that in telling a Samaritan woman he was the Messiah, Jesus broke down several barriers to God by:
I. Going through Samaria
II. Talking with a Samaritan Woman
III. Staying with Her People
Conclusion:
In this passage, John tells us today that in telling outcasts Jesus is the Messiah, we break down several barriers to God by:
I. Going to Forgotten Places
II. Talking to Forgotten People
III. Staying with (developing relationships with) Forgotten People
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
WTTW HIS WORD "STAND FIRM"
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15 SERMON: “Stand Firm”
In today's passage, Paul tells first century believers to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
This Easter morning we’ll be looking at what Paul says about the foundation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The first reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith are vv 1-11 and is because Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence
Explanation:
v. 3 "what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that (1a) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that (1b) he was buried, that (1c) he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that (2) he appeared to..."
"first importance" - stresses centrality of the 3 doctrines cited of the Gospel
1. Testimony of Old Testament: - NOT QUOTED, BUT PROBABLY...
Psalm 16:8-11
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead (1b),
nor will you let your faithful one see decay (1b).
11 You make known to me the path of life (1c);
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand (1c).
Isaiah 53:5-6, 11
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities (1a);
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all (1a).
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life (1c) and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities (1a).
2. Eye Witness Testimony:
- VALID EYE WITNESSES MUST BE CITED FOR RESURRECTION TO BE BELIEVED
Paul Lists Six Resurrection Appearances
1. Peter - Luke 24:36; John 20:19
2. Twelve - refers to the group of disciples - Luke 24:26; John 20:19
3. 500 Brothers - possibly referenced in Matthew 28:10, 16-20
4. James - half-brother of Jesus - Matthew 13:55; Act 1:14, 15:13
5. apostles - Ascension - Acts 1:13-15
6. Paul - Damascus Road
"one abnormally born"
- a few years after the Resurrection
- not part of original group of disciples
- abruptly removed from his former way of life
- persecuting "church of God" - persecuting Christ!
Gospels Lists Other Resurrection Appearances
Matthew (28:1-20): Mary Magdalene & the other Mary (wife of Clopas); Eleven
Mark (16:1-20): Mary Magdalene; Two walking in the country; Eleven
Luke (24:1-53): Cleopas & someone; Simon Peter; Eleven
John (20:1-29): Mary Magdalene; Ten; Thomas + 10; Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John & two other disciples
Illustration:
What historical events have you been witness to?
Did you witness Pearl Harbor? Hiroshima?
Did you witness the Vietnam War on your TV set during the evening news during the 60"s?
Did you witness Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a Dream Speech?"
Did you witness John F Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for your speech?"
Did you witness the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy?
Did you witness the first mood landing and Neil Armstrong's one giant leap for mankind?
Did you witness the start of AIDS?
Did you witness the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism?
Did you witness the Gulf War?
Did you witness 911?
Did you witness Iraqi Freedom? The War in Afghanistan?
Surely everyone of us has witnessed at least one of these historical events in our lifetime.
Some of us have witnessed more than one and thanks to mass media some of us have witnessed several of these events.
What is the importance of your's and other's witness of these historical events?
Does your witness matter? Does it make any difference?
What part does the collective witness of you and others play in the historical record?
Does it validate what happened?
Or is it irrelevant?
There are conspiracy theorists for almost everything including those who say the moon landings were staged, fake?
Do you believe the conspiracy theorists or the collective historical record?
Moon Landing Hoax? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MVVtFYTSo
Application:
So what is Paul saying to us this morning about faith and the evidence for Christ's Resurrection?
He is telling us we are to stand firm in our faith because of the overwhelming evidence for Christ's Resurrection.
How are we looking at that evidence this morning?
How are we looking at what Old Testament Prophecy says about the resurrection of the Christ?
How are we looking at what Paul and the Gospel's say about the eye witnesses accounts of Christ's Resurrection today?
Do we think eye witness accounts of the Resurrection are less validating than our eye witness accounts of historical events today?
Do we think the Resurrection is a hoax like some of the Corinthians did?
Do we look at the evidence and make a conclusion similar to that of moon landing conspirists?
Or are we able to stand firm in our faith because of the evidence Paul lays out for us today on Easter Sunday?
Transition:
Another reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith comes from vv 12-34 and is because Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
B. God's Plan for Salvation.
Explanation:
v 12 But if it is preached (as it is) that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
verb form Paul uses expresses the "certainty" of Christ's bodily resurrection
"if it is" - as it is
Paul uses this verb form 7 times to emphasize the certainty of the Resurrection
God's Plan for Salvation is the Answer for those who say there is no resurrection:
Paul presents the logical conclusions of those Corinthians who say the dead are not raised:
1. not even Christ has been raised v 13
2. our preaching is useless v 14
3. so is your faith v 14
4. we are "false witnesses" that God raised Christ from the dead v 15
5. your faith is futile v 17
6. you are still in your sins v 17 and still carry the guilt and condemnation of sin v 17
7. those who have fallen asleep (have died) in Christ are lost v 18
8. "we are to be pitied" who "only for this life... hope in Christ" v 19 and put up with persecution and hardship
Paul's categorical conclusion, his major proposition is given in:
v 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep...
Paul categorically states that God's Plan for Salvation underlies the Resurrection
- Necessary because "in Adam all die" v 22, i.e. his descendents
- God's Salvation Plan: "in Christ all will be made alive" - GOD'S GUARANTEE!
- related to him by faith
- made alive at the resurrection
v 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits. then, when he comes, those who belong to him...
"firstfruits" (OT Concept) - the first sheaf of the harvest offered to the Lord
- prior to main harvest
- assurance the rest of the harvest was coming
"each in his own turn" - Christ precedes people in his bodily resurrection and guarantees theirs at his second coming
"when he comes" - second coming
- John 5:25
25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
- 1 The 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
- Rev 20:6
6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death (SPIRITUAL DEATH VS PHYSICAL DEATH [FIRST DEATH]) has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
In this section Paul talks about:
- the process of handing over the kingdom to God:
-Christ's second coming with the rapture
-millennial reign
-new heaven & new earth
v 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
- the destruction of death will occur at the end of the second coming events after Christ conquers his enemies (Rev 19:11-21)
- at the great white throne of judgment when death & Hades are thrown in the lake of fire (Rev 20:5-14
v. 29 Paul returns to the issue "if there is no resurrection"
- futility of Baptism
- futility of endangering themselves
- futility of life "eat, drink & be merry for tomorrow we die"
"Bad company corrupts good character " - quotation from Greek comedy Thais (Poet Menander)
TEACHERS OF NO RESURRECTION CORROPT HOLDERS OF CORRECT DOCTRINE
Illustration:
THAIS, a Greek courtesan, who lived during the time of Alexander the Great. She accompanied him on his Asiatic campaign, and is chiefly known from the story which represents her as having persuaded the conqueror to set fire to the city of Persepolis. This anecdote forms the subject of Dryden's Ode to Saint Cecilia's Day. But its authenticity is doubtful, since it is based upon the authority of Cleitarchus, one of the least trustworthy of the historians of Alexander. Thais subsequently became the wife of Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt. Numerous anecdotes and witticisms attributed to her will be found in Athenaeus.
Application:
What is Paul telling us this morning?
What is he telling us about standing firm in our faith?
And does standing form in our faith have anything to do with the company we keep?
Paul tells us one reason we are to stand firm in our faith is that Christ's Resurrection is God's Plan for our Salvation.
Are we keeping company with God's Plan for Salvation or are we keeping company with some other plan of salvation?
Do we believe in God's plan for Salvation, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and are we spending time with the Risen Christ in word and prayer or are we spending time with the TV, our computer, our cell phone, our DVD's - our technology instead?
John 3:!6 says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us not the word became technology and made his dwelling among us.
Too much time with technology turns it into "bad company" and like Paul quote the Poet Menander as saying in the comedy Thais, "bad company corrupts good character."
And when our faith is corrupted it is more difficult to stand firm.
Thais corrupted Alexander the Great and he destroy a city.
Corrupting influences on our faith can destroy it too.
Transition:
Let's move on and look at the final reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith from vv 35-58.
In these vv Paul tells them Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
C. A Life-Giving Spirit
Explanation:
In v 35 Paul says, "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?
He goes on to described the difference between our current bodies and our resurrection bodies using the analogies of
- sowing seeds v 37 with each type of seed growing into its own body v 38
- all flesh not being the same: human, animal, bird, fish v 39
- there being differences in the celestial bodies: earth & heavenly bodies v 40 differing splendor of the sun, moon, stars v 41
Our Bodies:
- sown perishable vs raised imperishable v 42
- dishonor vs glory v 43
- weakness vs power v 43
- natural body vs spiritual body v 44 -
- first man Adam became a living being vs the last Adam a life-giving spirit v 45
- first man was of the dust of the earth vs the second man from heaven v 47
God will take a perishable, dishonorable, weak body - a natural body characterize by sin and through the resurrection change it into an imperishable, glorious, powerful body
A different order of life!
Spiritual body
- doesn't mean "non-material" similar to the present one in organization but radically different and fit to live eternally with God (continuity with change!)
- an imperishable body that has received eternal life from Christ, the life-giving Spirit
- similar to Christ's resurrected. glorified physical body!
- Genesis 2:7 - SPIRIT BREATHING LIFE INTO OUR PHYSCIAL BODY
7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being
- John 5:21 - SPIRIT BREATHING LIFE INTO OUR SOUL
21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
- John 6:57-58
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
- Romans 8:2
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
vv 48-40 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we are borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
v 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.
"mystery"
1. not all Christians will fall asleep for some will be alive when Christ returns (1 Th4:15)
2. All Christians will receive changed bodies when Christ comes back and summons his people at the sound of the last trumpet - "rapture" (Rev 11:15)
3. The change will occur instantaneously and completely for all Christians whether living or dead
4. The change will occur from one kind of body to another, those in Christ whose bodies are decaying in the grave will be given imperishable bodies and those in Christ in mortal bodies will be changed into immortal bodies
v 54-57 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
the sting of death is sin
- Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men - because all sinned...
the power of sin is the law
-the Law of God gives sin its power (reveals our sin & condemns us because of our sin)
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
-Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
- Isaiah 25:8
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
- Hos 13:14
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
“I will have no compassion,
Illustration:
time lapse sprouting seeds
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/time-lapse-radish-seeds-sprouting-top-and-roots-growing/0f178f0f0087484b0d850f178f0f0087484b0d85-889304121797?q=youtube+time+lapse+sprouting+seeds&FROM=LKVR5>1=LKVR5&FORM=LKVR3
Application:
What is Paul telling us this morning?
He seems to be mocking death when he says,
"where o death is your victory?"
"where o death is your sting?"
And he seems to be telling us that we are like these radish seeds we saw sprouting.
That it is not until our perishable bodies are planted in the ground like seeds, until we have physically died and have been buried,
Will the life giving Spirit change us, change our bodies to the imperishable, immortal, glorified resurrection body of eternity.
He is telling us this will not occur with time lapse photography but in an instance at the Lord's second coming when death is swallowed up, when death is put to death!
He is telling us that because of the life giving Spirit of Jesus Christ we can stand firm in our faith at all times and in all circumstances.
Transition:
In this passage, Paul tells first century believers to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
Conclusion:
In this passage, Paul tells believers today to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
THEREFORE,
May Our Faith Be Assured by the Overwhelming Evidence!
May Our Faith Be Assured by God's Salvation Plan!
May Our Faith Be Assured by the Life-Giving Spirit!
May We know that death has no victory.
May We know that death has no sting.
May We STAND FIRM!
May We let NOTHING move Us!
May We always give Ourselves FULLY to the work of the Lord, because we know that our labor in the Lord is NOT in vain!
May We know that our labor is not in vain because our victory is in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today's passage, Paul tells first century believers to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
This Easter morning we’ll be looking at what Paul says about the foundation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The first reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith are vv 1-11 and is because Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence
Explanation:
v. 3 "what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that (1a) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that (1b) he was buried, that (1c) he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that (2) he appeared to..."
"first importance" - stresses centrality of the 3 doctrines cited of the Gospel
1. Testimony of Old Testament: - NOT QUOTED, BUT PROBABLY...
Psalm 16:8-11
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead (1b),
nor will you let your faithful one see decay (1b).
11 You make known to me the path of life (1c);
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand (1c).
Isaiah 53:5-6, 11
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities (1a);
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all (1a).
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life (1c) and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities (1a).
2. Eye Witness Testimony:
- VALID EYE WITNESSES MUST BE CITED FOR RESURRECTION TO BE BELIEVED
Paul Lists Six Resurrection Appearances
1. Peter - Luke 24:36; John 20:19
2. Twelve - refers to the group of disciples - Luke 24:26; John 20:19
3. 500 Brothers - possibly referenced in Matthew 28:10, 16-20
4. James - half-brother of Jesus - Matthew 13:55; Act 1:14, 15:13
5. apostles - Ascension - Acts 1:13-15
6. Paul - Damascus Road
"one abnormally born"
- a few years after the Resurrection
- not part of original group of disciples
- abruptly removed from his former way of life
- persecuting "church of God" - persecuting Christ!
Gospels Lists Other Resurrection Appearances
Matthew (28:1-20): Mary Magdalene & the other Mary (wife of Clopas); Eleven
Mark (16:1-20): Mary Magdalene; Two walking in the country; Eleven
Luke (24:1-53): Cleopas & someone; Simon Peter; Eleven
John (20:1-29): Mary Magdalene; Ten; Thomas + 10; Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John & two other disciples
Illustration:
What historical events have you been witness to?
Did you witness Pearl Harbor? Hiroshima?
Did you witness the Vietnam War on your TV set during the evening news during the 60"s?
Did you witness Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a Dream Speech?"
Did you witness John F Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for your speech?"
Did you witness the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy?
Did you witness the first mood landing and Neil Armstrong's one giant leap for mankind?
Did you witness the start of AIDS?
Did you witness the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism?
Did you witness the Gulf War?
Did you witness 911?
Did you witness Iraqi Freedom? The War in Afghanistan?
Surely everyone of us has witnessed at least one of these historical events in our lifetime.
Some of us have witnessed more than one and thanks to mass media some of us have witnessed several of these events.
What is the importance of your's and other's witness of these historical events?
Does your witness matter? Does it make any difference?
What part does the collective witness of you and others play in the historical record?
Does it validate what happened?
Or is it irrelevant?
There are conspiracy theorists for almost everything including those who say the moon landings were staged, fake?
Do you believe the conspiracy theorists or the collective historical record?
Moon Landing Hoax? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MVVtFYTSo
Application:
So what is Paul saying to us this morning about faith and the evidence for Christ's Resurrection?
He is telling us we are to stand firm in our faith because of the overwhelming evidence for Christ's Resurrection.
How are we looking at that evidence this morning?
How are we looking at what Old Testament Prophecy says about the resurrection of the Christ?
How are we looking at what Paul and the Gospel's say about the eye witnesses accounts of Christ's Resurrection today?
Do we think eye witness accounts of the Resurrection are less validating than our eye witness accounts of historical events today?
Do we think the Resurrection is a hoax like some of the Corinthians did?
Do we look at the evidence and make a conclusion similar to that of moon landing conspirists?
Or are we able to stand firm in our faith because of the evidence Paul lays out for us today on Easter Sunday?
Transition:
Another reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith comes from vv 12-34 and is because Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
B. God's Plan for Salvation.
Explanation:
v 12 But if it is preached (as it is) that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
verb form Paul uses expresses the "certainty" of Christ's bodily resurrection
"if it is" - as it is
Paul uses this verb form 7 times to emphasize the certainty of the Resurrection
God's Plan for Salvation is the Answer for those who say there is no resurrection:
Paul presents the logical conclusions of those Corinthians who say the dead are not raised:
1. not even Christ has been raised v 13
2. our preaching is useless v 14
3. so is your faith v 14
4. we are "false witnesses" that God raised Christ from the dead v 15
5. your faith is futile v 17
6. you are still in your sins v 17 and still carry the guilt and condemnation of sin v 17
7. those who have fallen asleep (have died) in Christ are lost v 18
8. "we are to be pitied" who "only for this life... hope in Christ" v 19 and put up with persecution and hardship
Paul's categorical conclusion, his major proposition is given in:
v 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep...
Paul categorically states that God's Plan for Salvation underlies the Resurrection
- Necessary because "in Adam all die" v 22, i.e. his descendents
- God's Salvation Plan: "in Christ all will be made alive" - GOD'S GUARANTEE!
- related to him by faith
- made alive at the resurrection
v 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits. then, when he comes, those who belong to him...
"firstfruits" (OT Concept) - the first sheaf of the harvest offered to the Lord
- prior to main harvest
- assurance the rest of the harvest was coming
"each in his own turn" - Christ precedes people in his bodily resurrection and guarantees theirs at his second coming
"when he comes" - second coming
- John 5:25
25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
- 1 The 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
- Rev 20:6
6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death (SPIRITUAL DEATH VS PHYSICAL DEATH [FIRST DEATH]) has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
In this section Paul talks about:
- the process of handing over the kingdom to God:
-Christ's second coming with the rapture
-millennial reign
-new heaven & new earth
v 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
- the destruction of death will occur at the end of the second coming events after Christ conquers his enemies (Rev 19:11-21)
- at the great white throne of judgment when death & Hades are thrown in the lake of fire (Rev 20:5-14
v. 29 Paul returns to the issue "if there is no resurrection"
- futility of Baptism
- futility of endangering themselves
- futility of life "eat, drink & be merry for tomorrow we die"
"Bad company corrupts good character " - quotation from Greek comedy Thais (Poet Menander)
TEACHERS OF NO RESURRECTION CORROPT HOLDERS OF CORRECT DOCTRINE
Illustration:
THAIS, a Greek courtesan, who lived during the time of Alexander the Great. She accompanied him on his Asiatic campaign, and is chiefly known from the story which represents her as having persuaded the conqueror to set fire to the city of Persepolis. This anecdote forms the subject of Dryden's Ode to Saint Cecilia's Day. But its authenticity is doubtful, since it is based upon the authority of Cleitarchus, one of the least trustworthy of the historians of Alexander. Thais subsequently became the wife of Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt. Numerous anecdotes and witticisms attributed to her will be found in Athenaeus.
Application:
What is Paul telling us this morning?
What is he telling us about standing firm in our faith?
And does standing form in our faith have anything to do with the company we keep?
Paul tells us one reason we are to stand firm in our faith is that Christ's Resurrection is God's Plan for our Salvation.
Are we keeping company with God's Plan for Salvation or are we keeping company with some other plan of salvation?
Do we believe in God's plan for Salvation, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and are we spending time with the Risen Christ in word and prayer or are we spending time with the TV, our computer, our cell phone, our DVD's - our technology instead?
John 3:!6 says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us not the word became technology and made his dwelling among us.
Too much time with technology turns it into "bad company" and like Paul quote the Poet Menander as saying in the comedy Thais, "bad company corrupts good character."
And when our faith is corrupted it is more difficult to stand firm.
Thais corrupted Alexander the Great and he destroy a city.
Corrupting influences on our faith can destroy it too.
Transition:
Let's move on and look at the final reason Paul gives the 1st Century Believers for standing firm in their faith from vv 35-58.
In these vv Paul tells them Christ's Resurrection is founded on:
C. A Life-Giving Spirit
Explanation:
In v 35 Paul says, "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?
He goes on to described the difference between our current bodies and our resurrection bodies using the analogies of
- sowing seeds v 37 with each type of seed growing into its own body v 38
- all flesh not being the same: human, animal, bird, fish v 39
- there being differences in the celestial bodies: earth & heavenly bodies v 40 differing splendor of the sun, moon, stars v 41
Our Bodies:
- sown perishable vs raised imperishable v 42
- dishonor vs glory v 43
- weakness vs power v 43
- natural body vs spiritual body v 44 -
- first man Adam became a living being vs the last Adam a life-giving spirit v 45
- first man was of the dust of the earth vs the second man from heaven v 47
God will take a perishable, dishonorable, weak body - a natural body characterize by sin and through the resurrection change it into an imperishable, glorious, powerful body
A different order of life!
Spiritual body
- doesn't mean "non-material" similar to the present one in organization but radically different and fit to live eternally with God (continuity with change!)
- an imperishable body that has received eternal life from Christ, the life-giving Spirit
- similar to Christ's resurrected. glorified physical body!
- Genesis 2:7 - SPIRIT BREATHING LIFE INTO OUR PHYSCIAL BODY
7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being
- John 5:21 - SPIRIT BREATHING LIFE INTO OUR SOUL
21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
- John 6:57-58
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
- Romans 8:2
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
vv 48-40 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we are borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
v 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.
"mystery"
1. not all Christians will fall asleep for some will be alive when Christ returns (1 Th4:15)
2. All Christians will receive changed bodies when Christ comes back and summons his people at the sound of the last trumpet - "rapture" (Rev 11:15)
3. The change will occur instantaneously and completely for all Christians whether living or dead
4. The change will occur from one kind of body to another, those in Christ whose bodies are decaying in the grave will be given imperishable bodies and those in Christ in mortal bodies will be changed into immortal bodies
v 54-57 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
the sting of death is sin
- Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men - because all sinned...
the power of sin is the law
-the Law of God gives sin its power (reveals our sin & condemns us because of our sin)
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
-Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
- Isaiah 25:8
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
- Hos 13:14
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
“I will have no compassion,
Illustration:
time lapse sprouting seeds
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/time-lapse-radish-seeds-sprouting-top-and-roots-growing/0f178f0f0087484b0d850f178f0f0087484b0d85-889304121797?q=youtube+time+lapse+sprouting+seeds&FROM=LKVR5>1=LKVR5&FORM=LKVR3
Application:
What is Paul telling us this morning?
He seems to be mocking death when he says,
"where o death is your victory?"
"where o death is your sting?"
And he seems to be telling us that we are like these radish seeds we saw sprouting.
That it is not until our perishable bodies are planted in the ground like seeds, until we have physically died and have been buried,
Will the life giving Spirit change us, change our bodies to the imperishable, immortal, glorified resurrection body of eternity.
He is telling us this will not occur with time lapse photography but in an instance at the Lord's second coming when death is swallowed up, when death is put to death!
He is telling us that because of the life giving Spirit of Jesus Christ we can stand firm in our faith at all times and in all circumstances.
Transition:
In this passage, Paul tells first century believers to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
Conclusion:
In this passage, Paul tells believers today to stand firm in their faith because Christ's resurrection is founded on:
A. Overwhelming Evidence (for it) vv 1-11
B. God's Plan for Salvation (underlying it) vv 12-34
C. A Life-Giving Spirit (powering it) vv 35-58
THEREFORE,
May Our Faith Be Assured by the Overwhelming Evidence!
May Our Faith Be Assured by God's Salvation Plan!
May Our Faith Be Assured by the Life-Giving Spirit!
May We know that death has no victory.
May We know that death has no sting.
May We STAND FIRM!
May We let NOTHING move Us!
May We always give Ourselves FULLY to the work of the Lord, because we know that our labor in the Lord is NOT in vain!
May We know that our labor is not in vain because our victory is in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
WTTW HIS WORD "HOSANNA"
TEXT: JOHN 3:1-21 SERMON: “Hosanna”
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is also recorded in: Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; & Luke 19:28-40
STORY TAKES PLACE BETWEEN BETHANY AND JERUSALEM
In today's passage, John tells his 1st Century Readers how Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey with the people praising God while the Pharisees’ second guessed themselves.
This morning we’ll be looking at what John says about Jesus fulfilling prophecy on what we call Palm Sunday by discussing how three groups of people responded to Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey:
1. Passover pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem
2. Eyewitnesses to the raising of Lazarus
2. Pharisees
The first thing John tells us in verses 12-15 is that
A. The Passover pilgrims recognized him as Messiah, who came in the name of the LORD. vv 12-15
Explanation:
John 12:12-15
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
- "Great Crowd" - Pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast (unique to John's version)
- Palm Branches - used in victory celebrations
- Lev 23:40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
- Rev 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
- John 12:13 3 COMPONENTS
(1)Jeremiah 31:7
7 This is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‘LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
(2) Psalm 118:25,26
- CUSTOMARILY SUNG BY THE PASSOVER PILGRIMS ON THEIR WAY TO JERUSALEM
25 LORD, save us!
LORD, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
A MESSIANIC TITLE IS BEING APPLIED TO JESUS BY THE PASSOVER PILGRIMS!
HOSANNA - "SAVE NOW" PLEA FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION BY THE KING
DAUGHTER OF ZION - CITY OF JERUSALEM (ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, MICAH, ZACHARIAH)
(3) Blessed is the King of Israel - reflects Jesus' royalty
John 1:49 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
- John 12:15
- HIS ENTRY ANNOUNCES HIS TIME HAS COME BUT NOT ACCORDING TO PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS
-NOT CONQUEROR
-MESSENGER OF PEACE
-ARRIVES ON DONKEY NOT STEED
(1) Zech. 9:9 The Coming of Zion’s King -
ANNOUNCES KING OF ISRAEL WILL APPEAR HUMBLY W/O POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- John 16
- STATEMENT INSERTED BY JOHN STATES DISCIPLES DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION ALTHOUGH LATER COMPREHENDED IT
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. v 16
(1) Glorified - after Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension & Pentecost the disciples appreciated the meaning of the prophecies and their fulfillment
- John 2:22 Destroy this Temple... disciples remembered what he said after his resurrection
Illustration:
Hail to the Chief
Ruffles and flourishes are preceding fanfare for ceremonial music for distinguished people.
Ruffles are played on drums, and flourishes are played on bugles.
For example, the President of the United States receives four ruffles and flourishes before "Hail to the Chief." Four ruffles and flourishes is the highest honor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpp_OkRU_M&feature=related
Application:
What is John telling us today, on Palm Sunday, 2011?
Is there anything we need to be saved from?
Anything we have urgent need of?
Any trouble we are facing?
Do we need to be saved from something NOW!
Any financial problems? relational or marital problems? health problems? loved ones suffering? loneliness? depression? alcohol or drug problems? deep pain from the past? deep pain from the present?
Anything we need saving from?
Then we need Jesus to ride into Wilmington today!
We not only need him in our heart, we need him in our lives.
And we need to shout Hosanna to him - Hosanna, Hosanna, Save Us Now, Save Us Now!
We need to shout loud, calling on the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.
Like the Israelites of 2000 years ago we have no shortage of things that oppress us that we need to be saved from and in the midst of our sufferings our Hosanna's take on a sense of urgency.
It is the point where we stop relying on ourselves and instead cry aloud to Christ the "beggars prayer" -
Lord Have Mercy
Christ Have Mercy
Lord Have Mercy.
Asking him to save us from whatever trouble we find our self in.
Transition: Another thing John also tells us in verses 17-18 was the people's response when Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey:
B. The eye witnesses were amazed by his ability to raise Lazarus from the dead. vv 17-18
Explanation:
John 12:17-18
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.
- John 17-18
- SECOND GROUP OF PEOPLE FOLLOWING JESUS - WITNESSES TO LARAZARUS' RAISING
- AROUSED CURIOSITY OF THOSE IN JERUSALEM WHO WENT OUT TO MEET HIM
- John 17
(1) John 11:42 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
- John 18
(1) v 10-11 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him
(2) Luke 19:37 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[a]
Zech. 12:10 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Illustration:
Presidential Campaign of 2008
Obama: Change We Can Believe In / Change We Need
Inauguration of President Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1aK0d4vpvA&feature=related
Application:
Today, we come to meet Jesus because of more than his raising of Lazarus.
We come to meet Jesus because of the sign of the Cross - the sign of his death, but also the sign of his resurrection because unlike the Crucifix, the Cross is empty symbolizing not only his death but his victory over death, his resurrection.
Both the Crucifix and the Cross have their place with the Cross symbolizing victory over death!
And this is what draws us to Him.
Many were drawn to President Obama and went out to meet him in 2008 because of their desire for immediate change chanting "Yes we can, yes we can!"
We all want change for the good and it is precisely because we have heard that the Cross is empty and that Jesus is alive that we come to meet Him and experience immediate and everlasting change.
It is hard to ask Him to "save us now" without first meeting Him.
If is difficult to shout "Hosanna" without first coming to meet Him.
And, the place we meet Him is at the Cross - the place where he carries all of our troubles, all of our burdens.
Transition:
John goes on to tell us in verse 19 that when Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey there was a third group of people who were neither amazed nor praised him:
C. The Pharisees viewed him as a threat, not as the Son of God. v 19
Explanation:
John 19
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
- John 11:47-48 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
(1) The Pharisees were jealous because so many in Israel believed in Him. v 19b
EXASPERATED BY THEIR ATTEMPTS TO STOP HIM BEING TOO FEW TOO LATE!
Illustration:
As Media Matters for America has documented, numerous media figures have compared Obama to Hitler and the Nazis in recent days. Cunningham asserted on the October 30 broadcast of his show that "Obama wants to gas the Jews."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7790828
Cunningham on Obama
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200811040013
Application:
So what is John telling us today when Jesus is viewed as a threat rather than a savior?
When our President is viewed as a foe rather than a friend it compounds the gridlock of Washington and nothing changes-the ingrained political dysfunction continues to the detriment of our country.
So it is when Jesus is viewed as a threat instead of as Savior - our ingrained dysfunction, our Sin Nature, remains to the detriment of our souls.
While some shouted Save Us Now, others second guessed themselves for not doing something sooner to stop him, for not taking definitive action to keep the people from coming to him.
And today, second guessers exist as well.
Second Guessers today work to destroy their political opponents like second guessers 2000 years ago.
However, Jesus wasn't a political opponent - he was the Son of God.
Second guessers failed in their attempt to destroy the Son of God.
Through our Sin we were participants with the second guessers 2000 years ago.
Are we second guessers today?
Do we do things to try and stop Jesus? to stop the spread of the Gospel?
Do we actively do things? Do we passively do things?
By our inaction are we in effect opposing the spread of the Good News of our Lord and Savior?
By our inaction are we passively killing the message?
Are we passively trying to kill the messenger like the Pharisees actively were trying and did do 2000 years ago?
Transition:
John told his 1st Century Readers that Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey as the people praised God and Pharisees’ second guessed themselves.
A. The Passover pilgrims recognized him as Messiah, who came in the name of the LORD. vv 12-15
B. The eye witnesses were amazed by his ability to raise Lazarus from the dead. vv 17-18
C. The Pharisees viewed him as a threat, not as the Son of God. v 19
Conclusion:
In this passage, John tells us today that Jesus fulfills prophecy confirming he is the Messiah by entering our hearts and lives to the praise of some and second guessing of others.
A. The oppressed recognize He is the Messiah, shouting "Hosanna" to Him, begging Him to "SAVE US NOW" from their troubles.
B. The faithful are amazed by his resurrection!
C. The second guessers view Him, not as the Son of God, but as a threat to their way of life - their power, their control.
May we not be second guessers but instead Passover pilgrims, faithful believers, beggars, praying:
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have Mercy.
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is also recorded in: Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; & Luke 19:28-40
STORY TAKES PLACE BETWEEN BETHANY AND JERUSALEM
In today's passage, John tells his 1st Century Readers how Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey with the people praising God while the Pharisees’ second guessed themselves.
This morning we’ll be looking at what John says about Jesus fulfilling prophecy on what we call Palm Sunday by discussing how three groups of people responded to Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey:
1. Passover pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem
2. Eyewitnesses to the raising of Lazarus
2. Pharisees
The first thing John tells us in verses 12-15 is that
A. The Passover pilgrims recognized him as Messiah, who came in the name of the LORD. vv 12-15
Explanation:
John 12:12-15
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
- "Great Crowd" - Pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast (unique to John's version)
- Palm Branches - used in victory celebrations
- Lev 23:40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
- Rev 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
- John 12:13 3 COMPONENTS
(1)Jeremiah 31:7
7 This is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‘LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
(2) Psalm 118:25,26
- CUSTOMARILY SUNG BY THE PASSOVER PILGRIMS ON THEIR WAY TO JERUSALEM
25 LORD, save us!
LORD, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
A MESSIANIC TITLE IS BEING APPLIED TO JESUS BY THE PASSOVER PILGRIMS!
HOSANNA - "SAVE NOW" PLEA FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION BY THE KING
DAUGHTER OF ZION - CITY OF JERUSALEM (ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, MICAH, ZACHARIAH)
(3) Blessed is the King of Israel - reflects Jesus' royalty
John 1:49 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
- John 12:15
- HIS ENTRY ANNOUNCES HIS TIME HAS COME BUT NOT ACCORDING TO PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS
-NOT CONQUEROR
-MESSENGER OF PEACE
-ARRIVES ON DONKEY NOT STEED
(1) Zech. 9:9 The Coming of Zion’s King -
ANNOUNCES KING OF ISRAEL WILL APPEAR HUMBLY W/O POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
- John 16
- STATEMENT INSERTED BY JOHN STATES DISCIPLES DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION ALTHOUGH LATER COMPREHENDED IT
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. v 16
(1) Glorified - after Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension & Pentecost the disciples appreciated the meaning of the prophecies and their fulfillment
- John 2:22 Destroy this Temple... disciples remembered what he said after his resurrection
Illustration:
Hail to the Chief
Ruffles and flourishes are preceding fanfare for ceremonial music for distinguished people.
Ruffles are played on drums, and flourishes are played on bugles.
For example, the President of the United States receives four ruffles and flourishes before "Hail to the Chief." Four ruffles and flourishes is the highest honor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpp_OkRU_M&feature=related
Application:
What is John telling us today, on Palm Sunday, 2011?
Is there anything we need to be saved from?
Anything we have urgent need of?
Any trouble we are facing?
Do we need to be saved from something NOW!
Any financial problems? relational or marital problems? health problems? loved ones suffering? loneliness? depression? alcohol or drug problems? deep pain from the past? deep pain from the present?
Anything we need saving from?
Then we need Jesus to ride into Wilmington today!
We not only need him in our heart, we need him in our lives.
And we need to shout Hosanna to him - Hosanna, Hosanna, Save Us Now, Save Us Now!
We need to shout loud, calling on the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.
Like the Israelites of 2000 years ago we have no shortage of things that oppress us that we need to be saved from and in the midst of our sufferings our Hosanna's take on a sense of urgency.
It is the point where we stop relying on ourselves and instead cry aloud to Christ the "beggars prayer" -
Lord Have Mercy
Christ Have Mercy
Lord Have Mercy.
Asking him to save us from whatever trouble we find our self in.
Transition: Another thing John also tells us in verses 17-18 was the people's response when Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey:
B. The eye witnesses were amazed by his ability to raise Lazarus from the dead. vv 17-18
Explanation:
John 12:17-18
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.
- John 17-18
- SECOND GROUP OF PEOPLE FOLLOWING JESUS - WITNESSES TO LARAZARUS' RAISING
- AROUSED CURIOSITY OF THOSE IN JERUSALEM WHO WENT OUT TO MEET HIM
- John 17
(1) John 11:42 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
- John 18
(1) v 10-11 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him
(2) Luke 19:37 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[a]
Zech. 12:10 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Illustration:
Presidential Campaign of 2008
Obama: Change We Can Believe In / Change We Need
Inauguration of President Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1aK0d4vpvA&feature=related
Application:
Today, we come to meet Jesus because of more than his raising of Lazarus.
We come to meet Jesus because of the sign of the Cross - the sign of his death, but also the sign of his resurrection because unlike the Crucifix, the Cross is empty symbolizing not only his death but his victory over death, his resurrection.
Both the Crucifix and the Cross have their place with the Cross symbolizing victory over death!
And this is what draws us to Him.
Many were drawn to President Obama and went out to meet him in 2008 because of their desire for immediate change chanting "Yes we can, yes we can!"
We all want change for the good and it is precisely because we have heard that the Cross is empty and that Jesus is alive that we come to meet Him and experience immediate and everlasting change.
It is hard to ask Him to "save us now" without first meeting Him.
If is difficult to shout "Hosanna" without first coming to meet Him.
And, the place we meet Him is at the Cross - the place where he carries all of our troubles, all of our burdens.
Transition:
John goes on to tell us in verse 19 that when Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey there was a third group of people who were neither amazed nor praised him:
C. The Pharisees viewed him as a threat, not as the Son of God. v 19
Explanation:
John 19
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
- John 11:47-48 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
(1) The Pharisees were jealous because so many in Israel believed in Him. v 19b
EXASPERATED BY THEIR ATTEMPTS TO STOP HIM BEING TOO FEW TOO LATE!
Illustration:
As Media Matters for America has documented, numerous media figures have compared Obama to Hitler and the Nazis in recent days. Cunningham asserted on the October 30 broadcast of his show that "Obama wants to gas the Jews."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7790828
Cunningham on Obama
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200811040013
Application:
So what is John telling us today when Jesus is viewed as a threat rather than a savior?
When our President is viewed as a foe rather than a friend it compounds the gridlock of Washington and nothing changes-the ingrained political dysfunction continues to the detriment of our country.
So it is when Jesus is viewed as a threat instead of as Savior - our ingrained dysfunction, our Sin Nature, remains to the detriment of our souls.
While some shouted Save Us Now, others second guessed themselves for not doing something sooner to stop him, for not taking definitive action to keep the people from coming to him.
And today, second guessers exist as well.
Second Guessers today work to destroy their political opponents like second guessers 2000 years ago.
However, Jesus wasn't a political opponent - he was the Son of God.
Second guessers failed in their attempt to destroy the Son of God.
Through our Sin we were participants with the second guessers 2000 years ago.
Are we second guessers today?
Do we do things to try and stop Jesus? to stop the spread of the Gospel?
Do we actively do things? Do we passively do things?
By our inaction are we in effect opposing the spread of the Good News of our Lord and Savior?
By our inaction are we passively killing the message?
Are we passively trying to kill the messenger like the Pharisees actively were trying and did do 2000 years ago?
Transition:
John told his 1st Century Readers that Jesus fulfilled prophecy confirming he was the Messiah by entering Jerusalem on a donkey as the people praised God and Pharisees’ second guessed themselves.
A. The Passover pilgrims recognized him as Messiah, who came in the name of the LORD. vv 12-15
B. The eye witnesses were amazed by his ability to raise Lazarus from the dead. vv 17-18
C. The Pharisees viewed him as a threat, not as the Son of God. v 19
Conclusion:
In this passage, John tells us today that Jesus fulfills prophecy confirming he is the Messiah by entering our hearts and lives to the praise of some and second guessing of others.
A. The oppressed recognize He is the Messiah, shouting "Hosanna" to Him, begging Him to "SAVE US NOW" from their troubles.
B. The faithful are amazed by his resurrection!
C. The second guessers view Him, not as the Son of God, but as a threat to their way of life - their power, their control.
May we not be second guessers but instead Passover pilgrims, faithful believers, beggars, praying:
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have Mercy.
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
WTTW HIS WORD "MORE OR LESS"
TEXT: JOHN 3:1-21 SERMON: “More or Less”
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that Jesus must become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
1. Who John the Baptist was
2. Who Jesus is
This morning we’ll be looking at what John says about Jesus becoming greater and John the Baptist becoming less by focusing on the differences between these two men, starting with looking at "Who John the Baptist was."
I. John the Baptist was a man who
A. Received only what he was given from heaven. 27
B. Testified he was not the Christ 28
C. Said he was like the bridegroom's friend 29
Explanation:
Argument develops about everyone going to Jesus..
John3:27-29
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
v 27 - true of everyone including John and Jesus
v 28 I said = John 1:20, 23
20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
v 29
the bridegroom - most important man at the wedding = Jesus
best friend helps the bridegroom = role of John the Baptist
joy is mine - bridegroom present, hearing of his success
Matthew 9:15
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Illustration:
Joseph Genesis 37:5-11
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Application:
How might the Apostle John be speaking to us this morning through his words?
What is he telling us today?
Most certainly in our ministry, like that of John the Baptist, Jesus is the One to be seen not us.
Jesus is the One to shine through us - the One people should be seeing in what we say and do.
If in our ministry we are the one who is shining, we are the one who stands out, we are making ourselves the greater and relegating Jesus to the lesser role.
In our ministry we can never allow our self or others to put us up on a pedestal because we don't belong there.
The only one who belongs in an exalted position is Jesus Christ and these verses show us how well John the Baptist knew this and left us his example for ministry.
Might the Apostle John also be telling us something else this morning through these words he wrote over 2000 years ago?
Maybe in our life, like in John the Baptist's, there is someone we are being asked to prepare the way for.
Maybe in our life there is someone like Joseph, a dreamer, and we need to choose between either being jealous of them or helping them achieve their dreams.
Maybe in our life we need to look at whether we have people around us who we have been given the role to help them shine even at our own expense or sacrifice.
As we know John the Baptist sacrificed his life at the hands of Herod.
Do we have any Herod's in our life?
How great a sacrifice are we willing to make for someone else?
Transition: Let’s move on in looking at the contrast John is making in this passage between who John the Baptist was and who Jesus is to look at what he has to say about,
II. Jesus (is) the One who
A. Was from heaven above 31
B. As Christ was above all 31
D. As the Bridegroom testified to what he had seen & heard 32
1. Speaks the Spirit empowered words of God 33
2. Given all authority by the Father who Loves him 35
3. Brings eternal life to all who believe in him 36
Explanation:
John 3:31-36
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[a] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
v 31
- the One who comes from above - Jesus heavenly origin
v 13
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
8:23
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
1 John 4:5
5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
- vs the one who comes from earth - anyone, but here John the Baptist
v 32 "the divine experience"
32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
v 8:23
see above
v 15:15
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
v 11
11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
v 33
33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
"certified" - accepting Christ's testimony = accepting truth that Jesus came from heaven and that God was acting in him for the world's salvation... this certifies that God is truthful!
v 34
34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[a] gives the Spirit without limit.
Jesus getting the Spirit without limit from God
vs
believers getting the Spirit without limit from Jesus
v 17
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
- Isa 42:1
1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
- Mt 12:18
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
- Lk 4:18
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
- Ac 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
v 35
35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
Mt. 28:18
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
v 36
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
"has" - eternal life is a present possession
"God's wrath" - God is opposed to everything evil
"remains" - God's wrath is total and permanent - it remains!
v 15
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
5:24
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
6:47
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
Illustration:
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Paul’s Vision and His Thorn
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road and experienced the third heaven or paradise in his preparation to be an Apostle.
third heaven = paradise - designates a place beyond the immediate heaven of the earth's atmosphere and beyond the further heaven of outer space and its constellations into the presence of God himself
inexpressible things = unknown to use because Paul was not permitted to tell, an experience that gave incalculable strength to his apostleship which involved constant and extreme suffering
this experience was not self-induced and therefore left no room for self-glorification
What an impact it had on him!
Inexpressible things gave him incalculable strength
He was able to acknowledge when he was weak then he was strong
And his strength came from the RISEN LORD!
It was through his belief in the RISEN LORD beginning on the Damascus Road but solidified without doubt in the third heavens where he came face to face with God that he knew that in his weaknesses the power of the Cross rested on him - this is where he experienced it on earth!
This is where he experienced the present of God in his life outside the third heavens in the thorn in his flesh, in his sufferings, in the Cross of the Risen Christ, in his grace, in his forgiveness.
Having that was so powerful it overcame everything else, it allowed him to endure anything else that he faced in life-all sufferings even his terrible thorn in the flesh.
Application:
What is thorn do we have in our flesh?
What are we suffering from?
Is it medical illness, mental illness, substance abuse?
Is it deep emotional pain from the past?
Is it the deep scars of trauma in our life?
Or is it our suffering alongside someone else who is suffering this morning?
We need to remember that the One sent from Above is Above All, He is Christ the Messiah
and that He was given All Authority of Heaven and Earth by the Father
and was given the Spirit without limit
and that everything was placed into His Hands.
This "everything" that was placed into His Hands includes your suffering which like the Apostle Paul's thorn he has provided the ultimate answer for in His Death on the Cross and in His Resurrection from the Grave!
And, Your sufferings, your weaknesses, like those of the Apostle Paul are where the strength and power of the Risen Lord shows through in your life,
It is in your sufferings, your weaknesses that you experience the Risen Lord on earth and where others see him as well.
Without belief in the Rise Lord there is no hope only meaningless suffering.
With belief in the Risen Lord, with certifying that God is truthful in what He says about why he sent his son into the world (John 3:16), there is grace and forgiveness for all, there is libration, there is salvation, there is eternal life.
And with this assurance, like Paul we can live life with knowledge of the third heaven, with knowledge of paradise, and with its power to overcome any and all sufferings we face in this world.
With assurance of God's grace through his Son we too have entered Paul's third heaven with him and have access to inexpressible things that are the greatest source of encouragement there could ever be - the Risen Lord
Transition:
In this passage John paints a picture that distinguishes between two men John the Baptist and Jesus telling his first century readers that Jesus must become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
I. Who John the Baptist was
II. Who Jesus was
Conclusion:
In this passage John paints a picture for us today distinguishing between two men John the Baptist and Jesus telling us that Jesus had to become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
I. Who John the Baptist was
II. Who Jesus was
- John the Baptist was a man who
A. Received only what he was given from heaven.
B. Testified he was not the Christ
C. Said he was the bridegroom's friend
- Jesus (is) the One who
A. Was from heaven above 31
B. As Christ was above all 31
D. As the Bridegroom testified to what he had seen & heard 32
1. Speaks the Spirit empowered words of God 33
2. Given all authority by the Father who Loves him 35
3. Brings eternal life to all who believe in him
- Jesus is the One who is sufficient in all our sufferings and
- The One when we are weak who makes us strong!
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today's passage, John tells his first century readers that Jesus must become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
1. Who John the Baptist was
2. Who Jesus is
This morning we’ll be looking at what John says about Jesus becoming greater and John the Baptist becoming less by focusing on the differences between these two men, starting with looking at "Who John the Baptist was."
I. John the Baptist was a man who
A. Received only what he was given from heaven. 27
B. Testified he was not the Christ 28
C. Said he was like the bridegroom's friend 29
Explanation:
Argument develops about everyone going to Jesus..
John3:27-29
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
v 27 - true of everyone including John and Jesus
v 28 I said = John 1:20, 23
20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
v 29
the bridegroom - most important man at the wedding = Jesus
best friend helps the bridegroom = role of John the Baptist
joy is mine - bridegroom present, hearing of his success
Matthew 9:15
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Illustration:
Joseph Genesis 37:5-11
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Application:
How might the Apostle John be speaking to us this morning through his words?
What is he telling us today?
Most certainly in our ministry, like that of John the Baptist, Jesus is the One to be seen not us.
Jesus is the One to shine through us - the One people should be seeing in what we say and do.
If in our ministry we are the one who is shining, we are the one who stands out, we are making ourselves the greater and relegating Jesus to the lesser role.
In our ministry we can never allow our self or others to put us up on a pedestal because we don't belong there.
The only one who belongs in an exalted position is Jesus Christ and these verses show us how well John the Baptist knew this and left us his example for ministry.
Might the Apostle John also be telling us something else this morning through these words he wrote over 2000 years ago?
Maybe in our life, like in John the Baptist's, there is someone we are being asked to prepare the way for.
Maybe in our life there is someone like Joseph, a dreamer, and we need to choose between either being jealous of them or helping them achieve their dreams.
Maybe in our life we need to look at whether we have people around us who we have been given the role to help them shine even at our own expense or sacrifice.
As we know John the Baptist sacrificed his life at the hands of Herod.
Do we have any Herod's in our life?
How great a sacrifice are we willing to make for someone else?
Transition: Let’s move on in looking at the contrast John is making in this passage between who John the Baptist was and who Jesus is to look at what he has to say about,
II. Jesus (is) the One who
A. Was from heaven above 31
B. As Christ was above all 31
D. As the Bridegroom testified to what he had seen & heard 32
1. Speaks the Spirit empowered words of God 33
2. Given all authority by the Father who Loves him 35
3. Brings eternal life to all who believe in him 36
Explanation:
John 3:31-36
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[a] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
v 31
- the One who comes from above - Jesus heavenly origin
v 13
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
8:23
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
1 John 4:5
5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
- vs the one who comes from earth - anyone, but here John the Baptist
v 32 "the divine experience"
32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
v 8:23
see above
v 15:15
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
v 11
11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
v 33
33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
"certified" - accepting Christ's testimony = accepting truth that Jesus came from heaven and that God was acting in him for the world's salvation... this certifies that God is truthful!
v 34
34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[a] gives the Spirit without limit.
Jesus getting the Spirit without limit from God
vs
believers getting the Spirit without limit from Jesus
v 17
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
- Isa 42:1
1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
- Mt 12:18
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
- Lk 4:18
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
- Ac 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
v 35
35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
Mt. 28:18
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
v 36
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
"has" - eternal life is a present possession
"God's wrath" - God is opposed to everything evil
"remains" - God's wrath is total and permanent - it remains!
v 15
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
5:24
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
6:47
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
Illustration:
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Paul’s Vision and His Thorn
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road and experienced the third heaven or paradise in his preparation to be an Apostle.
third heaven = paradise - designates a place beyond the immediate heaven of the earth's atmosphere and beyond the further heaven of outer space and its constellations into the presence of God himself
inexpressible things = unknown to use because Paul was not permitted to tell, an experience that gave incalculable strength to his apostleship which involved constant and extreme suffering
this experience was not self-induced and therefore left no room for self-glorification
What an impact it had on him!
Inexpressible things gave him incalculable strength
He was able to acknowledge when he was weak then he was strong
And his strength came from the RISEN LORD!
It was through his belief in the RISEN LORD beginning on the Damascus Road but solidified without doubt in the third heavens where he came face to face with God that he knew that in his weaknesses the power of the Cross rested on him - this is where he experienced it on earth!
This is where he experienced the present of God in his life outside the third heavens in the thorn in his flesh, in his sufferings, in the Cross of the Risen Christ, in his grace, in his forgiveness.
Having that was so powerful it overcame everything else, it allowed him to endure anything else that he faced in life-all sufferings even his terrible thorn in the flesh.
Application:
What is thorn do we have in our flesh?
What are we suffering from?
Is it medical illness, mental illness, substance abuse?
Is it deep emotional pain from the past?
Is it the deep scars of trauma in our life?
Or is it our suffering alongside someone else who is suffering this morning?
We need to remember that the One sent from Above is Above All, He is Christ the Messiah
and that He was given All Authority of Heaven and Earth by the Father
and was given the Spirit without limit
and that everything was placed into His Hands.
This "everything" that was placed into His Hands includes your suffering which like the Apostle Paul's thorn he has provided the ultimate answer for in His Death on the Cross and in His Resurrection from the Grave!
And, Your sufferings, your weaknesses, like those of the Apostle Paul are where the strength and power of the Risen Lord shows through in your life,
It is in your sufferings, your weaknesses that you experience the Risen Lord on earth and where others see him as well.
Without belief in the Rise Lord there is no hope only meaningless suffering.
With belief in the Risen Lord, with certifying that God is truthful in what He says about why he sent his son into the world (John 3:16), there is grace and forgiveness for all, there is libration, there is salvation, there is eternal life.
And with this assurance, like Paul we can live life with knowledge of the third heaven, with knowledge of paradise, and with its power to overcome any and all sufferings we face in this world.
With assurance of God's grace through his Son we too have entered Paul's third heaven with him and have access to inexpressible things that are the greatest source of encouragement there could ever be - the Risen Lord
Transition:
In this passage John paints a picture that distinguishes between two men John the Baptist and Jesus telling his first century readers that Jesus must become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
I. Who John the Baptist was
II. Who Jesus was
Conclusion:
In this passage John paints a picture for us today distinguishing between two men John the Baptist and Jesus telling us that Jesus had to become "greater" and John the Baptist "less" because of:
I. Who John the Baptist was
II. Who Jesus was
- John the Baptist was a man who
A. Received only what he was given from heaven.
B. Testified he was not the Christ
C. Said he was the bridegroom's friend
- Jesus (is) the One who
A. Was from heaven above 31
B. As Christ was above all 31
D. As the Bridegroom testified to what he had seen & heard 32
1. Speaks the Spirit empowered words of God 33
2. Given all authority by the Father who Loves him 35
3. Brings eternal life to all who believe in him
- Jesus is the One who is sufficient in all our sufferings and
- The One when we are weak who makes us strong!
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
WTTW HIS WORD
TEXT: JOHN 3:1-21 SERMON: “Your Spiritual Birth”
Introduction: In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:
I. Being born again. v 3,7
II. Being born of water & the Spirit. v 5,6,8
III. Believing in the Cross. v 14,15
IV. Believing in His Son. v 10-13,16-18
V. Coming into His Light. v 19-21
This morning we’ll begin by looking at how God is going to save people through His Son by talking about
A. BEING BORN AGAIN
Explanation:
- John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they
are born again.”
Birth = our entrance into the world
Born Again = Born From Above (Greek) – spiritual rebirth
Born Again = transformation for entering another world – Kingdom of God
- Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Repent = make a radical change in one’s life
- John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
You = plural – for everyone, no exceptions!
Born of Spirit = New Life – unexplainable by ordinary reasoning
Inner change = Direct Act of God
Illustration: To illustrated this,
Birth of a Butterfly: Hatching after Transforming from a Caterpillar
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=44640880585792574#
Application:
Have we hatched like this butterfly on the inside?
If the caterpillar is our physical being, has our spiritual being been transformed from above by God into a butterfly?
Has our spiritual being undergone a fundamental change like this?
An inner change that brings us into a new world – God’s World, His Kingdom?
Living for Him instead of for ourselves or for this world?
Transition: Let’s move on to understand this further by looking at another aspect of how God is going to save all people through His Son, John says it occurs by their
B. BEING BORN OF WATER & SPIRIT
Explanation:
- John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Born of Water and the Spirit =
1. John’s Teaching Repentance & Baptism = in response to God’s appeal
2. Coming Messenger of God (Jesus) – Holy Spirit = transformation of life by Holy Spirit
- Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away,
calling on his name.
- Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy.
He saved us by the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Not legalism or outward conformity!
- John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
- John 1:13 (Yet to all who received him..) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you brothers that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does perishable inherit the imperishable.
- John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Spirit = Wind = origin and destiny are unknown to those who feel it
Spirit gives birth to spirit…born of God…born of the Spirit…
- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[a] (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.
Spirit transformed mind is discerning and Christ-like!
Illustration:
Conversation with a patient in the hospital who initially fought being there.
Looking back on her hospitalization saw God at work… We discussed this text.
The wind blowing in the trees… seeing the effect of the wind even though you can’t see the wind…
Was like the Spirit of God moving throughout the hospital in all those who she came in contact with, with all of those who helped her…
She was able to see the Spirit of God at work in her life rustling the leaves of the trees so to speak in rustling the people around her and in her to be helped and to receive and accept help.
Application: So what can John be telling us today.
Are we able to discern things through the Spirit?
Do we have the mind of Christ Paul talks about?
Are we able to see the wind blowing around us, the Spirit moving?
Have we been born of the Spirit so that we are able to make judgments about all things?
Are we able to understand what is happening around us from a spiritual perspective, using our spiritual eyes?
Transition: Let’s move on in quest for being born again to look at another aspect John gives for how God is going to save all people through His Son, he says it is by their
C. BELIEVING IN THE CROSS – START LIGHTHOUSE BEAM ILLUSTRATION
Explanation:
- John 3:14-15 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
- Numbers 21:8 8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”
Ancient Israelites Sin
1. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit
2. under condemnation by God & being punished for their sin
3. emblem of their judgment elevated before them
4. unable to rescue themselves
5. no antidote for serpents’ poison
6. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live
Lifted Up = Exalted
- John 8:28 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
- John 12:32 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
A call to receive Him as God’s provision for cure of sin and complete confidence for the future (eternal life)!
- Matthew 27:42 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Illustration:
Lighthouse Beam – look to it – guide, safety, protection, life!
http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/321433/night-lighthouse-beam-medium-looping.html
Application:
Review our sin and salvation using 5 points of ancient Israelite’s sin and salvation
Our Sin
7. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit – OUR SINFUL NATURE
8. under condemnation by God & being punished for our sin – WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
9. emblem of our judgment elevated before us – JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS
10. unable to rescue ourselves – NOT BY WORKS
11. no antidote for serpents’ poison – OUR SINFUL NATURE IS LETHAL
12. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live – LOOK TO THE CROSS FOR LIFE!
What are we looking at in order to live?
Transition: Let’s move on to consider one more aspect of how God is going to save people through His Son, John says it is by their
D. BELIEVING IN HIS SON – START METEORITE SHOWER ILLUSTRATION
Explanation:
- John 3:10-13 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Israel’s Teacher? = should know these things Proverbs 30:4
- Proverbs 30:4 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
Surely you know!
“we” = Jesus and disciples or Jesus and Godhead
“earthly things” = concrete analogy of the wind
“heavenly things” = Revelation, not discovery, is the basis for faith!
- John 1:18 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
- John 6:38 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
- John 3:16-18 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
world = all people on earth
believes, does not believe = continuing settled attitudes
- John 11:25,26 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
- Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Most important message of the Gospel =
1. salvation is a gift of God
2. received only by believing in God for it
3. consists of accepting something, not doing something
4. result of belief is (a) freedom from condemnation, (b) eternal life and (c) living in a relationship of total honesty with God
- John 5:24 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
- 1 John 4:9 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Two Options (to Good News) :
1. Eternal Life
a. duration of existence
b. quality of existence (vs futility)
2. Perish = opposite of salvation – not cease to exist
a. to fail completely of fulfilling God’s purpose and consequently to be excluded forever from his fellowship
b. to experience utter failure, futility, and loss of all that makes existence worthwhile
God’s purpose towards humankind is positive = Love, 1) not to condemn, 2) but to save
God’s purpose in sending Jesus = 1) to show His Love and 2) draw people to Him
- Romans 5:8 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Isaiah 53:11 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
The crux of belief and unbelief and the effects of each!
Illustration:
Meteorite Shower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mhvkoxg1W4&feature=player_embedded#at=39
Application:
Do we believe He came from His father?
Do we believe He reveals His father?
Do we believe He loves us?
Do we believe?
Do we believe he died and rose again?
This is the most important thing of all!
This determines our eternity…
Are we saved?
Are we perishing?
Transition: Let’s look at the final aspect John gives for how God is going to save people through His Son, he says it is by their
E. COMING INTO HIS LIGHT
Explanation:
- John 3:19-21 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Difference between believers and unbelievers:
1. not in their guilt or innocence
2. but in their different attitudes towards the “light”
- John 1:4 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
- Psalm 52:3 3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
- Ephesians 5:11, 13 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them… 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
- John 7:7 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
Unbelievers shrink from light – exposes their deeds
Believers come into the light so their real motives can be revealed
- 1 John 1:8-9 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Darkness keeps people from responding to the light!
All of us are held accountable for our actions: choice is ours!
Illustration:
Photography – flash photography, light exposes film = we see!
If it remains dark we don’t see!
Application:
Do we allow God to use flash photography on our lives?
Do we come into his light, do we come to His Son so that our darkness can be exposed?
Or do we remain in the darkness, not allowing his light to shine on us, instead continuing to fool ourselves that somehow there is life in the dark?
Transition to Conclusion:
In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:
I. Being born again.
II. Being born of water & the Spirit.
III. Believing in the Cross.
IV. Believing in His Son.
V. Coming into His Light.
Conclusion:
In this passage John tells us that God saves us today through His Son by our:
I. Being born again. – spiritually transformed like the a caterpillar to a butterfly
II. Being born of water & the Spirit. – washing of rebirth/renewal by the Holy Spirit - wind
III. Believing in the Cross. – the antidote for our lethal sinful nature
IV. Believing in His Son. – who demonstration of God’s love for us
V. Coming into His Light. – not hiding our deeds which lead to death
Be Born Again!
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction: In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:
I. Being born again. v 3,7
II. Being born of water & the Spirit. v 5,6,8
III. Believing in the Cross. v 14,15
IV. Believing in His Son. v 10-13,16-18
V. Coming into His Light. v 19-21
This morning we’ll begin by looking at how God is going to save people through His Son by talking about
A. BEING BORN AGAIN
Explanation:
- John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they
are born again.”
Birth = our entrance into the world
Born Again = Born From Above (Greek) – spiritual rebirth
Born Again = transformation for entering another world – Kingdom of God
- Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Repent = make a radical change in one’s life
- John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
You = plural – for everyone, no exceptions!
Born of Spirit = New Life – unexplainable by ordinary reasoning
Inner change = Direct Act of God
Illustration: To illustrated this,
Birth of a Butterfly: Hatching after Transforming from a Caterpillar
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=44640880585792574#
Application:
Have we hatched like this butterfly on the inside?
If the caterpillar is our physical being, has our spiritual being been transformed from above by God into a butterfly?
Has our spiritual being undergone a fundamental change like this?
An inner change that brings us into a new world – God’s World, His Kingdom?
Living for Him instead of for ourselves or for this world?
Transition: Let’s move on to understand this further by looking at another aspect of how God is going to save all people through His Son, John says it occurs by their
B. BEING BORN OF WATER & SPIRIT
Explanation:
- John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Born of Water and the Spirit =
1. John’s Teaching Repentance & Baptism = in response to God’s appeal
2. Coming Messenger of God (Jesus) – Holy Spirit = transformation of life by Holy Spirit
- Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away,
calling on his name.
- Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy.
He saved us by the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Not legalism or outward conformity!
- John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
- John 1:13 (Yet to all who received him..) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you brothers that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does perishable inherit the imperishable.
- John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Spirit = Wind = origin and destiny are unknown to those who feel it
Spirit gives birth to spirit…born of God…born of the Spirit…
- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[a] (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.
Spirit transformed mind is discerning and Christ-like!
Illustration:
Conversation with a patient in the hospital who initially fought being there.
Looking back on her hospitalization saw God at work… We discussed this text.
The wind blowing in the trees… seeing the effect of the wind even though you can’t see the wind…
Was like the Spirit of God moving throughout the hospital in all those who she came in contact with, with all of those who helped her…
She was able to see the Spirit of God at work in her life rustling the leaves of the trees so to speak in rustling the people around her and in her to be helped and to receive and accept help.
Application: So what can John be telling us today.
Are we able to discern things through the Spirit?
Do we have the mind of Christ Paul talks about?
Are we able to see the wind blowing around us, the Spirit moving?
Have we been born of the Spirit so that we are able to make judgments about all things?
Are we able to understand what is happening around us from a spiritual perspective, using our spiritual eyes?
Transition: Let’s move on in quest for being born again to look at another aspect John gives for how God is going to save all people through His Son, he says it is by their
C. BELIEVING IN THE CROSS – START LIGHTHOUSE BEAM ILLUSTRATION
Explanation:
- John 3:14-15 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
- Numbers 21:8 8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”
Ancient Israelites Sin
1. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit
2. under condemnation by God & being punished for their sin
3. emblem of their judgment elevated before them
4. unable to rescue themselves
5. no antidote for serpents’ poison
6. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live
Lifted Up = Exalted
- John 8:28 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
- John 12:32 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
A call to receive Him as God’s provision for cure of sin and complete confidence for the future (eternal life)!
- Matthew 27:42 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Illustration:
Lighthouse Beam – look to it – guide, safety, protection, life!
http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/321433/night-lighthouse-beam-medium-looping.html
Application:
Review our sin and salvation using 5 points of ancient Israelite’s sin and salvation
Our Sin
7. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit – OUR SINFUL NATURE
8. under condemnation by God & being punished for our sin – WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
9. emblem of our judgment elevated before us – JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS
10. unable to rescue ourselves – NOT BY WORKS
11. no antidote for serpents’ poison – OUR SINFUL NATURE IS LETHAL
12. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live – LOOK TO THE CROSS FOR LIFE!
What are we looking at in order to live?
Transition: Let’s move on to consider one more aspect of how God is going to save people through His Son, John says it is by their
D. BELIEVING IN HIS SON – START METEORITE SHOWER ILLUSTRATION
Explanation:
- John 3:10-13 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Israel’s Teacher? = should know these things Proverbs 30:4
- Proverbs 30:4 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
Surely you know!
“we” = Jesus and disciples or Jesus and Godhead
“earthly things” = concrete analogy of the wind
“heavenly things” = Revelation, not discovery, is the basis for faith!
- John 1:18 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
- John 6:38 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
- John 3:16-18 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
world = all people on earth
believes, does not believe = continuing settled attitudes
- John 11:25,26 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
- Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Most important message of the Gospel =
1. salvation is a gift of God
2. received only by believing in God for it
3. consists of accepting something, not doing something
4. result of belief is (a) freedom from condemnation, (b) eternal life and (c) living in a relationship of total honesty with God
- John 5:24 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
- 1 John 4:9 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Two Options (to Good News) :
1. Eternal Life
a. duration of existence
b. quality of existence (vs futility)
2. Perish = opposite of salvation – not cease to exist
a. to fail completely of fulfilling God’s purpose and consequently to be excluded forever from his fellowship
b. to experience utter failure, futility, and loss of all that makes existence worthwhile
God’s purpose towards humankind is positive = Love, 1) not to condemn, 2) but to save
God’s purpose in sending Jesus = 1) to show His Love and 2) draw people to Him
- Romans 5:8 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Isaiah 53:11 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
The crux of belief and unbelief and the effects of each!
Illustration:
Meteorite Shower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mhvkoxg1W4&feature=player_embedded#at=39
Application:
Do we believe He came from His father?
Do we believe He reveals His father?
Do we believe He loves us?
Do we believe?
Do we believe he died and rose again?
This is the most important thing of all!
This determines our eternity…
Are we saved?
Are we perishing?
Transition: Let’s look at the final aspect John gives for how God is going to save people through His Son, he says it is by their
E. COMING INTO HIS LIGHT
Explanation:
- John 3:19-21 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Difference between believers and unbelievers:
1. not in their guilt or innocence
2. but in their different attitudes towards the “light”
- John 1:4 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
- Psalm 52:3 3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
- Ephesians 5:11, 13 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them… 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
- John 7:7 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
Unbelievers shrink from light – exposes their deeds
Believers come into the light so their real motives can be revealed
- 1 John 1:8-9 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Darkness keeps people from responding to the light!
All of us are held accountable for our actions: choice is ours!
Illustration:
Photography – flash photography, light exposes film = we see!
If it remains dark we don’t see!
Application:
Do we allow God to use flash photography on our lives?
Do we come into his light, do we come to His Son so that our darkness can be exposed?
Or do we remain in the darkness, not allowing his light to shine on us, instead continuing to fool ourselves that somehow there is life in the dark?
Transition to Conclusion:
In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:
I. Being born again.
II. Being born of water & the Spirit.
III. Believing in the Cross.
IV. Believing in His Son.
V. Coming into His Light.
Conclusion:
In this passage John tells us that God saves us today through His Son by our:
I. Being born again. – spiritually transformed like the a caterpillar to a butterfly
II. Being born of water & the Spirit. – washing of rebirth/renewal by the Holy Spirit - wind
III. Believing in the Cross. – the antidote for our lethal sinful nature
IV. Believing in His Son. – who demonstration of God’s love for us
V. Coming into His Light. – not hiding our deeds which lead to death
Be Born Again!
In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
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