For many Christians, the passion, or the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ, are very familiar. We’ve heard countless messages on the crucifixion and even possibly seen movies or plays depicting it. Not to mention, there are four gospel accounts in the New Testament. However, not all the gospels offer the exact same details. One might include some things which others leave out. In John’s gospel, he includes some details which others have not, but at the same time, he has left out some events that others included. So the tendency among preachers and expositors is to fill in the blanks, so to speak, as if to make up for what John was lacking.

Now in the case of the other gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, that could be considered an appropriate method of exposition, since you could make the case that those three writers were not actually in attendance. However, that’s not the case with John. He makes it clear that He was there. He is the disciple whom Jesus loved mentioned in vs.26 and 35 who was there and witnessed himself the proceedings.

So then the question is, why did John include some things and not others? Well, the answer is that John is not writing a biography, but a gospel. He is telling and emphasizing certain events to present the gospel of Jesus Christ which leads to salvation. That’s what he says in chapter 20:30, 31, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

My dilemma then is to figure out exactly how to present this gospel message that John is endeavoring to give us. And as I prayed and studied this text, I came to a very simple conclusion; John is presenting the fact that Jesus gave His life to accomplish salvation, not focusing on the morbid aspects of the crucifixion, but on the aspects which teach principles of Christ’s atonement for us. So as someone said, Christ gave His life not to engender sentimentality but spirituality. Not that we might be mortified by the physical torture and bloody gore of the crucifixion, but that it teach us the knowledge leading to salvation. As another writer said, Salvation is based on believing. Believing is based on truth. And truth is revealed in Scripture. That believing we might have life in His name.

So then, we will examine this principle of Christ giving His life to accomplish salvation through four vignettes which John presents to us. The first is He gave up His clothes, then He gave up His mother, then He gave up His Spirit, and finally He gave out water and blood.

Now, I also want to add at the beginning that John correlates some of these events with Old Testament prophesies, showing that they were fulfilled in Jesus’s crucifixion. And I believe three of the references he mentions are found in Psalm 22, and one in Psalm 34. And I just want to point out that the Psalms was written 1000 years before Christ. There is absolute proof of that. It is indisputable. In fact, the enemies of Christ, the Jews, would have been very familiar with these Psalms. They probably did not consider these references as Messianic prophesies. So they would not have connived to correlate Christ’s crucifixion with the prophesies even if they had wanted to. The Romans did what Roman soldiers did, irregardless of what the Jews wanted. And those Jews would not have wanted to confirm Christ’s Messiahship. So these prophetic fulfillments are very important to John to point out, so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ. And I don’t want to gloss over that. But now let’s focus on the four vignettes of how Jesus gave His life to accomplish our salvation.
First. Jesus gave up His clothes. We’ve all heard the phrase, “he didn’t own anything but the clothes on his back.” Well, that was especially true of Jesus. He had no possessions, no home, nothing of any value. All that He had were the clothes on His back. And we see in vs 23, that the soldiers took those clothes and divided them up between themselves. When Jesus came down from heaven’s glory to earth, He came all the way down to the bottom to accomplish our salvation. He let go of all His pride, all His clothes, becoming completely poor for us, so that we might become rich in Him. He became naked, bearing all the shame which that brings. It’s the same shame that Adam and Eve felt in the garden of Eden when they realized they were naked and hid from God. Christ became naked for us, bearing the shame, the scoffing, the stares, so that He might be our substitute for sin.

2 Cor. 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Now how does this incident illustrate that we became rich? Because these four soldiers each received a part of His clothing. There were no more vile sinners than these soldiers who stripped Jesus’s clothes from Him and nailed Him to a cross. And yet we know that even as they did so, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What John pictures here is that the clothes of Christ were made available at the cross for the covering of sinners. Just as God skinned animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve, so also He skinned Jesus to make clothing for you and me. Isaiah 61:10 says, “For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.”

The hymn we sing, The Solid Rock, says, “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.” 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” There is no better picture of our sin situation than that we are naked and ashamed before God. Christ took that upon Himself, that we might become clothed in His righteousness.

But John adds that there is another piece of clothing there, which was not divided, because it was made in one piece. It was a tunic, worn under the outer clothing. And I find two pictures in this; first it is the inner garment, signifying the spiritual. And secondly, it was without seams. It’s not in part, it’s complete. The Spirit of Christ is not given piecemeal. Then thirdly, it is the garment of the High Priest, according to Exodus 28:31-31. Christ as our High Priest is described in Romans 8:34 saying, “who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Now as we see this dividing of His clothing played out by the soldiers, it may seem that Jesus has no control over these events. Yet John informs us that the invisible hand of God guides all things, so that specific prophecy is specifically fulfilled. The fact that it was foreordained indicates that Jesus gave His clothing willingly, even as He gave His life willingly.

The picture teaches us that we need to be clothed in His righteousness if we are to be saved. It is the means of our justification; Christ’s righteousness given to us in exchange for our sin. And when we are saved, then we receive the spiritual covering of His Spirit, so that we might be like Christ. Then in response to Christ’s likeness we also are willing give up our possessions for the sake of the kingdom. Matthew 5:40 “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” 45, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Secondly, Christ gave up His mother. I know that heading sounds awkward. Maybe it would be more palatable to say, He gave up His family associations. But all we have presented here is His mother. There are indications from this text and others that Joseph was long dead and Jesus had, as the eldest son, taken on the responsibility of His mother and His brothers. His brothers at this point had not believed in Him. There is no evidence that they were there at the crucifixion. In fact, all his disciples had fled except for John and these four women.

Jesus would have been very aware of the pain that His crucifixion was causing to Mary. She was the only one out of His family that believed in Him. And now as Simeon prophesied to her 33 years earlier, a sword would pierce her soul. I’m sure in His humanness, Jesus would have loved to have used His divine power to come down from the cross and spare His mother this grief. But He was obedient even unto death to the will of the Father, knowing that in His death He would spare not only her soul, but millions more.

So John records here that Jesus gave up His mother, His family, and He gave over her care to John. He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” Not only was Jesus concerned about her physical care, but He was emphasizing also the nature of family in the kingdom of God. There is a new family dimension in the Kingdom of God. Our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers are those in the kingdom. In Luke 8:21 Jesus said, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

He not only gave up His earthly family, He gave up His friendships. Note that John is always described as the one that He loved. This attitude of Christ also must be our attitude. This principle of consecration to God is stated by Christ in Matt. 10:37, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Thirdly, He gave up His Spirit. Phil. 2:8 says, “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Giving up His Spirit means first of all, that He gave up His life. That is a tremendous thing. It was not an act of suicide. His hands are nailed to a cross. He can’t take His life by violence against Himself. But what He does is an act of divinity. He gives up His life willingly, of His own volition.

But before He acts in divinity, John shows His humanity. Jesus became thirsty and asks for a drink. So they give Him vinegar to drink. He suffered as all mankind would suffer the pangs of the cross. His divinity did not prevent His suffering. As a man, He thirsted. As God, He had the power over His life.

He gave up His life, voluntarily. As Jesus said, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17-18)

The gospels record 7 statements or words of Jesus on the cross. John only gives us three. One was the statement to John and His mother. The second was He was thirsty. And now John records another statement that Jesus made as He gives up His Spirit. He cries, “Tetelistai!” it is finished. Tetelistai means it is complete, perfect. His life on earth as a man was complete. He lived from the first moment to the last, sinless, perfect. By the death of His perfect life He paid in full the debt of mankind who could never live a perfect life. And by dying, He paid the complete price which we owed; a life of perfection, righteousness, that God might place upon Him our sins as a substitute for the world.

1Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.” Not only did He give up His life, but He surrendered up His Spirit to death, to the abode of the spirits. Very little in scripture is given to us concerning the three days Christ spent in the grave. But according to both Peter and Paul, though His body was in the tomb, His Spirit was alive in the abode of the dead. I don’t want to speculate where the Bible does not indicate, but I cannot help but wonder if there was not an element of the punishment He bore for sins which was accomplished in the Spirit while He was in Hades. For it is certain, as the Apostle’s Creed confirms, that “He descended into Hell.” Though we are not privy to all that means, one thing is certain, He went to Hell, that He might triumph over death and Hell, that we who have faith in Him might never experience it.

The human body is spirit, soul and body. Our spirit is the spiritual part of our being that is connected to God, which then rules over the mind and the body. That is what it means to be born again. We must be born of the Spirit, if we are to be spiritual. And then we must give up our self rule to the rule of the Spirit if we are going to live as God would have us live, to be obedient to death, even as Christ.

Finally, the last vignette John presents for us is He gave up water and blood. The soldiers, in order to hurry the death of the crucified, broke their legs, which would cause them to suffocate. But coming to Jesus, these executioners realize that He is already dead. So one took his spear and stabbed Him in the side, presumably to prove He was dead, and John tells us that blood and water comes out. Now doctors have said that this clear liquid was from the pericardium surrounding the heart and partly coagulated blood. That’s the physical explanation. Other, more sentimental explanations have said it was a sign of a broken heart. I’m not sure that such a thing has been established as physically possible. But there is no doubt that there is a symbolic reference in the blood and water coming out of His side. And perhaps it is best stated in the old hymn, Rock of Ages, which says, “Let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from death and make me pure.” The blood therefore representing justification from sin, and the water being purification from sin.

Matthew Henry, the great theologian said it like this; “The blood and water that flowed out, signified those two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ, justification and sanctification; blood for atonement, water for purification. They both flow from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified we owe merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for our sanctification.”

Therefore, we can say that He gave His life to save us not only from the penalty of sin, but the power of it. As I have said numerous times, there are three phases in salvation. All must be accomplished for salvation to be complete. Justification is deliverance from the penalty of sin. Sanctification is the deliverance from the power of sin. And glorification is the deliverance from the presence of sin. The last phase will not happen until the resurrection when we will be given a glorified body. But all three phases are necessary in our salvation.

John has given us these vignettes of salvation tucked into the greater story of the cross, so that we might get a better understanding of what Christ gave His life for. Salvation must be more than just believing intellectually in Christ’s existence, otherwise everyone attending the crucifixion would have been saved that night. But we know that is not the case. Salvation is more than just some sort of superficial belief in the historicity of the events. And I will add something else that you may find disconcerting; salvation is more than just what Christ did on the cross. If salvation was accomplished for men by what Christ did on the cross, then all men have been saved. There is no need to evangelize. Christ has done everything. We do nothing. Well, we must do something, we must believe. But we must believe with saving faith. And faith is not merely intellectual, but it is also a matter of the will. Romans 10:10 says, “with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Faith is a matter of both the intellect and the will. And in those two aspects of faith are couched justification and sanctification. So that James may rightly say, “show me your faith by your works. Faith without works is dead.”

Listen, the water and the blood streaming from the cross of Christ destroyed the enslavement to sin that the devil has held all of mankind in for all who believe. The symbolism of the blood and the water is the crux of the gospel, it is powerful for the destruction of fortresses. And it provides complete salvation. It is able to justify us, to deliver from the penalty of sin, but it is also powerful to sanctify us, to deliver us from the power of sin. Sin no longer needs have dominion over us. The truth will make us free when we embrace the whole truth of the gospel. Let us take up our cross and follow Christ, dressed in His righteousness, our justification. And being made free from the penalty of sin, let us live as free from the power of sin as we yield to the Spirit who lives in us and rules over our will.

In the last few weeks we have been looking at the various aspects of apostasy. Apostasy, as you know, is the act of turning away from the truth. We started out examining the apostasy of the church in the example of the disciples at the arrest of Jesus. Peter’s denial of Christ exemplified the apostasy of the church.

Then last week we looked at the apostasy of the world, particularly as evidenced by religion and politics. The Jewish religious leaders under Annas exemplified apostate religion, and Pilate illustrated apostasy in politics.

Today we are going to look at one last example of apostasy, and that is the apostasy of government. Government is a divinely appointed institution, which God uses for HIs purposes. Romans 13:1 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” However, even though God has established government, and has given it the authority to govern, we will see in this passage how as an institution it has turned away from the truth of God, or become apostate.

We might further define those three categories of apostasy as follows; Religion is man’s attempts to reach God; attempting to administer divine truth by mans methods. Politics is the art of compromise; attempting to manipulate truth to reach a consensus. And government is the rule of the people (the rule of law); attempting to enforce man’s truth through law. In each case, truth is subservient to man and not vice versa, as God intended it.

Now as we go through this passage, we will see seven ways in which government has turned apostate. As I have previously pointed out, Truth is on trial. Jesus is the embodiment of divine truth. And He is on trial for that truth which He represents on behalf of God.

So in rebellion against the Truth, Jesus is arrested and put on trial. And we see seven aspects of this apostasy on the part of the government which I have categorized as follows to help us see how this apostasy on the part of government is played out; they are exchanging the truth, mocking the truth, rejecting the truth, examining the truth, judging the truth, killing the truth, and rewriting the truth.

First let’s consider exchanging the truth. In chapter 18 Pilate declares, “what is truth?” And ironically, Truth is standing right next to him, and yet he does not recognize it. So Pilate does what people have done for centuries, what people do even today. As the representative of government he offers the people a choice; man’s version of the truth versus God’s designation of the Truth. He offers them either Christ or a man called Barabbas. Now John tells us that Barabbas was a robber. He was a convicted criminal. And yet when faced with the choice of choosing a criminal or an innocent man, they chose the criminal. So basically, they chose to exchange the truth for a lie.

Paul in his letter to the Romans, says the world is condemned because of that very thing. He says in Rom.1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” Paul isn’t just talking about pagan idolatry here, he is talking about serving the devil himself, the father of lies.

I want to point out an interesting feature in the name Barabbas. Barabbas means “son of a father”. So we have here son of the father, Barabbas, and on the other hand Jesus whose name means Jehovah is Salvation who claims to be the Son of God the Father. So here is the choice that Israel is faced with. Will you release Barabbas, son of the father? Or shall I release to you Jesus, Jehovah is salvation, the Son of God the Father? And of course we know that they chose the creature, rather than their Creator. So given a choice by government, the people chose to exchange the truth for a lie.

But in this travesty of human justice, let us not miss the picture of divine justice presented for us here. In God’s court of justice, mankind stands before God as Barrabas, guilty and condemned. But God offers His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, so that we might go free. It is the divine principle of the just dying for the unjust, the innocent taking the place of punishment for the guilty pictured in the law as the innocent, spotless lamb slain for the sins of the people. And this principle is stated succinctly in 2Cor. 5:21, “ [God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Secondly, in it’s apostasy, government mocks the truth. As we look at the beginning of chapter 19, we see Jesus mocked by Pilate and his soldiers. Pilate is almost obsessed with this concept of Jesus as King. Pilate of course is only a governor of Judea. He would have to bow to a King. So when He asks Jesus in chapter 18 if He was a King, Jesus asserts that He is in fact a King, but not of this world. He is really saying “I am a King, but not of this government.” He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords reigning throughout the world spiritually. But rather than that statement denouncing Christ’s authority, in reality it means that Pilate’s authority is subservient to Christ’s authority. But perhaps Pilate fails to comprehend this principle in entirety, or perhaps he does comprehend it, but instead of bowing to Christ as Lord, he mocks Christ’s rule.

So Pilate takes a man who is innocent by his own admission, and has Him scourged. John doesn’t give us the details of this scourging, but typically it was with a whip called a cat of nine tails, whose lashes were tipped with bits of glass or steel. The law had limited the number of strokes to 39, because 40 were known to kill a person. So they scourged Jesus, probably to within an inch of His life, though He was innocent of any wrong. Pilate reveals how cruel and evil he is, being willing to scourge an innocent man for the sake of appeasing the Jews and perhaps satiating his own jealous hatred of anyone challenging his authority.

Their mockery though is even more revealed by the crown of thorns and the purple robe the soldiers placed on HIm, and then parading the bleeding, lacerated Christ before the mob pronouncing “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapping Him in the face.

The mockery of apostasy as revealed in this example shows that it’s possible to espouse the truth and yet not really believe it. It’s possible to proclaim Jesus is Lord and yet live for the devil. It’s possible that one’s actions can make a mockery of their professed faith in God. 2Peter 3:3 says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.” Truth is made a mockery by living in sin. Faith must be more than just lip service. As James said, “show me your faith by your works.”

Thirdly, the apostasy of government rejects the truth. Vs.4, Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”
Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”

Pilate asserts again and again that Christ is guiltless of any crime. Yet in spite of that, the Jews still reject Him. This rejection of Christ really began a long time before this trial. Jesus spoke of this rejection in a parable found in Luke 19:14, in which the citizens of the kingdom say, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Jesus was speaking allegorically of the citizens of Israel, who would reject God’s reign. And as Christ prophesied in yet another parable, they would kill the Son in order to try to thwart God’s sovereignty over them.

Government either recognizes God’s rule over the world, and they are merely stewards of that responsibility given to them by God, or they have rejected God’s rule, in order to rule themselves according to their lusts. And far too often in our society today, we see government capitulate to protests, to mob lust for blood, in spite of whether or not the placards and slogans of the crowds are true or not. As Isaiah 59:14 says, “Truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.”

And I would suggest that this is the crux of man’s rejection of salvation. Man rejects the idea that Christ should rule over them. They may not dislike the idea of Christ dying in their place, but they reject the notion that they give up their right to self rule. Most people reject salvation because they want to live their life by their standards, by their rules, and as such reject the rule of Christ as Lord of their life.

That brings us to the fourth aspect of apostasy in government, and that is the examination of the truth. When Pilate has said they should crucify Him themselves, they respond, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” This accusation strikes fear into the heart of Pilate. Pilate was more than willing to punish an innocent man who claimed a spiritual kingdom, but the thought that Christ was actually God in flesh concerned him greatly.

So Pilate brings Christ out to the Praetorium, his private residence, in order to examine Him. In effect, Pilate had already examined Christ by scourging, a method used to soften up the criminal so that he would be ready to confess. But at that point, Pilate had no charge to condemn Him with. Now he has this assertion by the Jews that Christ had committed blasphemy by declaring Himself as the Son of God.

But the Jews appeal to their law, probably referring to the law of Moses concerning blasphemy. However, they do not examine Him according to truth. Truth affirms that He is the Son of God. He was foretold by the prophets, heralded by angels, acknowledged verbally by God in the heavens, transfigured before His disciples, and He had performed hundreds of miracles that could only be of God and which served to validate the truth of His teaching. All of which, if they would have considered, would have eliminated the charge of blasphemy and caused them to fall on their knees in worship. But they aren’t interested in the truth, only in finding fault.

For Pilate, however, the possibility that Christ was the Son of God was alarming, and he takes Jesus privately into his quarters and begins to question Him saying, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

Listen, God is not obligated to answer man’s questions as to where He came from, or how or why He does certain things. Job became angry with God and asked God for answers on the assumption that God wasn’t fair and just, and when God finally did respond, He did not answer the question “why”. God is good and just and merciful, but He is God. He is sovereign, and finite, mortal man cannot ascertain Him. So Jesus did not answer Pilate.

Vs.10,11So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

As we looked at earlier, Romans 13:1 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Pilate thinks that he has authority to judge, but he fails to realize that actually the great Judge of all the earth is judging him.

I find it ironic that just this week we had a decision by a panel of judges that rendered the Presidents order as unconstitutional. I don’t want to make political statements here, but I will say that judges do not have unilateral authority to determine truth. Judges have to be accountable to the truth, and as the law is the expression of truth then they must judge according to the law. Judges cannot legislate; they interpret and apply the law.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that the the General Government has no powers but such as the Constitution gives it. And as I said last week in regards to the American Constitution, the founders recognized that certain truths from God were evident, from which they established certain laws.

That principle is expounded in Jesus’s statement which is that government’s authority comes from God and God alone. Without such truth as a foundation, there can be no justice. But in the case of the government under Pilate, we see that truth is rejected for what is considered popular and expedient. And so he judges Christ according to the dictates of a mob, and the pressures of the moment.

And by the way, we see that being played out today as well. Society is trying to change laws and influence government by protests, by mob violence. And as we have seen it is effective to a great degree. That method has been used with great effect since the 60’s to change American policy, to make the general populace and particularly the politicians think that it is the majority opinion, when in fact many times it’s just the louder opinion. The silent majority suffers injury from a more vocal and violent minority.

That leads us to the next aspect of the apostasy of government; judging the truth. Vs.13, “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.”

John’s gospel is full of irony. And the height of irony is that Pilate sits on his judgment seat to cast judgment upon the Son of God. This same Jesus, whom Pilate and worthless men put to death, will one day sit on the Great White Throne. And all judgment will be given to Him to judge every man according to his deeds. John writes in Rev. 20:11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, [that includes kings and governors and celebrites and all who are considered great in this world) standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

So here is the puny prefect of Judea, sitting in judgment of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Judge of the whole earth. What irony. Who is man that dares to judge God? And how will God judge him that has passed judgment on Christ by refusing to submit to Him as Lord and King?

Vs.14, “Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’ So they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.”

In their judgment of Christ they sealed their own judgment. Here is the nation designed to be a theocratic nation. Here is the nation that claimed Jehovah as their God and King. But here they renounce their theocratic relationship to Jehovah God, by saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” And so Israel, guilty of blasphemy in the denial of the Son of God, and guilty of apostasy in turning from God as King to Caesar thus denounces the theocracy, their own unique position before God, and in a few years they will receive their judgment and be scattered to the four corners of the earth, until there is no longer any Israel at all.

God is patient with the government of mankind, not wishing for any to perish but all to come to repentance. But one need only look at history to see the long line of governments that have abandoned God and become apostate, and as a result are no longer a power any longer on the earth to be reckoned with. The great Egyptian empire is no more. The Roman Empire has crumbled. The Greek Empire is no more to be found. England’s once grand empire is no longer. Nazi Germany’s empire was destroyed. And America, as the modern world’s greatest superpower, is on the brink of imploding under the weight of it’s own corruption. But the truth of God endures forever. God’s empire is increasing and will never end.

So the apostasy of the government results in killing Truth. That is the only solution to a world who hates the truth. That is their only way they think they can silence the truth, and thus silence their consciences. So they crucify Christ. Vs.17, “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.”

And governments have been killing Christians ever since, trying to silence the gospel. Trying to silence the truth of God. Christianity Today magazine has put the number of Christian martyrs since Christ walked the earth at 70 million people. And the persecution has not slowed down. Many sources say that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today. Jesus said in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

There is one final aspect of apostasy in government that we will look at today, and that is rewriting the truth. Vs.19, Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Pilate wished to frame the argument his way. His argument was that Jesus was a Jew, and his death was a result of Jewish law. He wanted to absolve himself of any responsibility in the matter. He wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair. But Jesus did not let Pilate off so easily. Jesus made it clear that He was a King, but not of this realm. However, He also made it clear to Pilate that His realm superseded Pilate’s realm. He said Pilate would have no authority if God did not give him that authority.

So Pilate in one last desperate brazen act, writes a sign to be placed on Jesus’s cross, “The King of the Jews.” In one sense it was true. But it was only part of the truth. The full truth was that Jesus is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He was the very Son of God. And as is so often the case, a half truth is little more than a full lie.

Pilate writes his version of the truth. And says, “what I have written, I have written,” as if to say that his word was law. But as we have already stated, God’s law is the final authority. Man may write enough books to fill up the Atlantic Ocean, but all of them cannot equal the truth of God’s Word, the Bible. It is the sola scripture; the sole authority for life and practice. It is the source of truth, regardless of the revisionist historians, regardless of the scientists, regardless of the consensus of the courts of men.

The question for Pilate is the same for men today. What will you do with Jesus? If he was just the king of the Jews 2000 years ago, that was martyred, then we can write him off as inconsequential to 21st century Americans. But if He was the Son of God who gave His life as the Passover Lamb for the sins of the world, so that we like Barabbas might be set free, then we must fall at His feet and worship Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do not turn away from the truth. Everyone will one day stand at the Great White Throne Judgment and answer this question: “What did you do with Jesus Christ?”

Hillary Clinton achieved a great measure of notoriety during the Benghazi Hearings for her response to questioning regarding what really happened during the massacre, by asking her accusers, “What difference does it make?” Some would say that this statement of seeming indifference at the loss of the US Ambassador’s life and three embassy personnel’s lives was a key factor in her recent loss in the election.

And while that incident has very little to do with today’s message, as I studied the text this last week, and considered the importance of the truth of Christ upon our lives, I found myself hearing that shrill question repeated in the back of my mind. What difference does it make? Is the truth really that important? That is the subject we have been looking at for the last couple of weeks as we have studied the arrest and now the trial of Jesus. The subject has been the contrast of truth versus apostasy. Remaining stedfast in the truth, versus caving in to natural wisdom or human preferences which subvert the truth.

And for the last couple of weeks we have looked at various responses of the church when the truth engaged with the hostility of the world. The disciples initial response when Jesus was arrested was the fight or flight syndrome. Most of them fled into the darkness, Peter tried to fight. Both responses were natural, but both were the wrong response. The truth as evidenced by Christ’s response is stedfast, it is grounded in the word of God.

Then last week we looked more closely at the denial of Peter, his attempt to fight in his own cunning and strength resulted in eventually blaspheming and denying the Lord. That action is what is called apostasy in ecclesiastical terminology. And we looked at four steps by which the church – not the world, but the church – can turn from the truth to apostasy as evidenced by Peter. They were reliance upon your own wisdom and strength, a distancing of oneself from God, a desire for friendship and acceptance by the world, which finally culminates in blasphemy and denial of the Lord. And we often see this apostasy mirrored today in the church.

Now this week, as we follow the events recorded by John, we see another view of apostasy, the apostasy of the unsaved, or the apostasy of the world. Christ manifested the truth of God to the world, but the world turned away from truth, deliberately choosing apostasy. Truth is what was on trial then, and it is what is on trial in our modern culture as well. And we who love the truth find ourselves on trial as well. As Jesus in vs.37 says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” You are either of the truth, or you are in opposition to the truth. And I believe the world who is antagonistic to the truth has echoed the question made by Hillary, “What difference does it make?” Truth is under attack. Apostasy is championed, in both the religious and political realms of this world.

Even a cursory look at the problems headlining our society today reveals the dilemma of our modern culture, which is summed up in Isaiah 59:14 which says, “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.” Today truth has stumbled in the street. Apostasy seems to hold sway in the world and it threatens to overwhelm the church. The world loves darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, they hate righteousness, and they love wickedness.

But while we can expect such a sentiment from the world who is in rebellion against God, it is even more disconcerting that the same question is asked by the church at large, if not directly, then indirectly. Is truth worth standing for? Does the truth really matter? Is the truth worth dying for? Is the truth worth separating over? Or do we just throw up our hands as Pilate did and say, “What is truth?”

I would submit to you that the truth is all that there is. It is the most important thing. Not conformity to religion, not conformity to the status quo, not conformity to political correctness. Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” So truth is important.
Even the founders of our country understood that our heritage as Americans depended upon the truth. The Constitution begins, “We hold these truths to be self evident…” They acknowledged that truth was derived from our Creator. But I’m afraid that though they made a good start, they stopped far short of the truth. True life and freedom can only come when we believe and accept the gospel which is the truth of God given by Christ Jesus. As Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

So as the church, we must believe all the truth, and nothing but the truth. It’s so important that as a church truth must be paramount in our focus. We cannot allow false teaching to creep in. Because like leaven, a little leaven leavens the whole lump, a little falsehood dilutes the truth so that it loses it’s power to set you free. A little lie serves to keep you in bondage.

The truths or doctrines of our faith are like railroad ties, underlying the steel rails of the track. If you start removing some of the ties, soon the rails are no longer able to keep the train on track, and you end up with a train wreck. But the world doesn’t see truth like that. They see it as a restriction on their freedom. They hate it because it makes them feel guilty. They want independence from God, even though such freedom leads to destruction. So they want to overthrow the truth, and are hostile to the truth. The world is at enmity with God.

In our text today we see this attempt by the world to subvert the truth concerning Jesus Christ. Truth is on trial, as I said previously. And the world is characterized by two entities in this passage; religion and politics. Those are the two elements of the world we are looking at today in this story. Religion and politics. First let’s consider religion. Not the church(the true believers) but religion.Religion is man’s attempts to reach God. Christianity is God reaching down to man through Jesus Christ.

So in this passage, religion is identified with Annas, the father in law of the high priest, who was Caiaphas. John doesn’t tell us much about Jesus’s trial with Caiaphas, but other gospels fill in those blanks. However, as I said in previous messages, John isn’t interested in a chronological biography here, he is giving us his gospel. And so the message I believe he wants to get across to us is not necessarily every detail of Christ’s trial, but the overarching view or goal of the religious bureaucracy, which was their animosity and hatred of the truth of Christ.

John focuses on Annas, because he is the real manipulator behind the Jewish religious facade. Caiaphas, who is the high priest that year is his son in law. But Annas, who had once been the high priest himself, is the godfather so to speak. Annas is the one who is in charge of all the concessions which were in the temple; the money changers and the sellers of doves and sacrifices. All of that was known as the bazaars of Annas. He was the godfather of what Jesus referred to as a “den of thieves” when He made a scourge of cords and cleaned out the temple.

And remember, Jesus did that twice. At the beginning of His ministry and then after His last triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus cleaned out the temple. And that operation had exposed and called out the corruption of the religious system of the Jewish temple and the priesthood which was complicit. See, what they did was they fleeced people who came into the temple to present their sacrifice. Annas had inspectors there who inspected the animal or birds that the person had brought to be sacrificed. And of course, the law required that such had to be without spot or blemish. So when the inspector would look it over, he would find fault and say that it had some sort of defect and could not be sacrificed. So then the only real option was for the person to buy one of the “perfect” specimens that the bazaars offered, which of course cost much more money than what you could buy the same for elsewhere. And to make it even more odious, these theives had another aspect to their racket that included money changing. They said you couldn’t buy the sacrificial animal with Roman money, because it had Caesar’s image on it, and that amounted to idolatry. So you had to exchange your money for Jewish money, which again cost you a hefty commission. So they had quite a racket going on, enough to make the Mafia jealous.

Caiaphas, being the High Priest, was complicit in this scheme of course. It was a family business, after all. They were made extremely wealthy by it. But the High Priest was by this time a political appointment. The Romans recognized the degree of control and authority of religion in Israel, and so they had taken over the appointment of the High Priesthood in order to make sure that whoever was in that position followed their wishes and worked with them. And Caiaphas and his father in law Annas had managed to ingratiate themselves to the Roman authorities through graft and behind the scenes deal making. So that’s who these guys were. They were using religion for personal advantage. Truth had stumbled in the streets, because there was no righteousness in the leadership. They cared more about political correctness, about keeping the powers that be happy, and about garnering wealth than they did about truth. In fact, Caiaphas was the one who had said in vs14, “It is expedient for one to die on behalf of the people.” Unbeknownst to him, God was prophesying through him that Christ would die for the sins of the poeple. But from his perspective, what he was really saying, was it was expedient to sacrifice truth, to murder Jesus, for the sake of their religious enterprise.

So Annas, starting in vs.19, begins a mock trial of Jesus in the middle of the night. It was totally illegal and improper. There were no witnesses there to bring charges against Him. And as you look at his line of questioning, you notice that he doesn’t accuse Christ, but that He wants to get the Lord to say something which they can use to incriminate Him. They ask Him about His disciples and about His teaching.

It’s almost as if they are more concerned about how many people Jesus has in His church, and how many services they are holding, than whether or not Jesus is speaking the truth or not. So Jesus answers him saying, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”

Here is what is happening; the ruling party of the Jews have already issued a verdict upon Jesus. He is to be killed, to be crucified. They have already determined that He has to be done away with. They have no charges in regards to Him teaching anything that isn’t true, or scriptural, but their issue is that He challenges their authority and their ability to exert financial gain from their religion. So there is a conflict between their religious traditions and Christ’s teaching of truth of God and their only solution is to silence Christ by killing Him.

Listen, there are similar conflicts going on in the church today. There are traditions, practices, that have been passed down from generations and are considered essential to church health and wealth. And if you don’t conform to the country club mentality, then you are ostracized and even sometimes attacked. You are put on trial by the religious community because you don’t conform to the church paradigm which is practiced by most churches. Truth is sacrificed for the sake of continuity, for the sake of conformity, for the sake of prosperity. And when you don’t adhere to that template because you don’t see that specified in God’s blueprint for the church then you are subject to hostility and denunciation.

And as we see in the case of the High Priest’s appointment, there is a similar situation in the church today over leadership that is not according to the calling of God. I read a blog the other day from a pastor, lamenting the number of pastors he knew that had recently quit the ministry. They talked about things like burnout, and lack of appreciation, or conflicts with membership or committees. I don’t deny that pastors can get burned out, or that they can suffer from loneliness or depression just like any other person does. I am sometimes a victim of such things myself from time to time. But what I think is perhaps the root of the problem is that there are a lot of pastors today that have been called by churches, but not necessarily called by God. They may have been appointed by a seminary, but not appointed by Christ. If a pastor has a clear call of God to preach the gospel, and pastor the flock of Christ that Christ has given him, then I think that such a man will not likely quit the ministry due to feeling under appreciated. I think far too many men are called according to a popularity contest held by the church’s pastor search committee, and in order to maintain that approval rating, they have to conform to what the people want them to do, rather than their first priority as to what God would have them do. And that lack of a divine call upon their lives is equivalent to what Jesus referred to as a hireling, and not a true shepherd, who abandons his sheep when trouble comes.

I will say this as well, when the church starts to dismiss certain truths of scripture in favor of cultural preferences, then you should expect a continued decline into apostasy to follow shortly afterwards. For instance, when churches opt to disregard the clear teaching of the Bible in regards to women in ministry because it is no longer fashionable, then it should come as no surprise when those same denominations eventually move to include homosexuals into the clergy. One need only look at the predominate Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations to see how one denial of truth soon leads to another and so on until it is completely corrupted. A little leaven soon leavens the whole lump.

Well, the response to Jesus’s rebuke of the High Priest earned Him a slap in the mouth. Vs22,
When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

Jesus comes back to the truth. If I’m telling the truth, why do you strike Me? The reason is that they hated the truth. They didn’t want to hear the truth. And I believe that is still the prevailing sentiment today in organized religion. People don’t want to hear the truth, if it opposes what they want to believe. We have seen that lately in the political arena as well, haven’t we? The riots the other day at Berkley University. They don’t care about the truth. So they strike out, they riot, they break things and cause damage in order to prevent or intimidate people from speaking the truth. And as Jesus indicated, they break laws in order to try to convince others that they are unlawful.

We have seen such attacks even here in this church. We speak the truth, and eventually someone gets their pet principles stepped on, but rather than seriously seek to know the truth, they go out of their way to attack the pastor, and demean him to as many people in the community as they can. Such is the nature of apostasy. But Jesus is the example of how we are to react to it.

There is one other aspect of the apostasy of religion that is illustrated here in vs 28, “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.” What this indicates is a commitment to ceremony at the expense of truth. The hypocrisy of these Jews is really astounding. They don’t want to be defiled, and so they will not enter into the hall of judgment because the hall of judgment is in the hands of Gentiles. God hadn’t told them to do this, this was their tradition. So in their minds, to enter into the hall of judgment will bring about the possibility of defilement. It’s ironic that they are so scrupulous about the little details of tradition, but totally unconcerned about the vast sin of the murder of the Son of God.

Now, what makes it even more significant is that John says they didn’t enter into the hall of
judgment that they might not be defiled, so they might eat the Passover. Now, isn’t this amazing? Think of the irony of it. Who is the Passover lamb? Well Paul says in
1 Corinthians 5: 7 that Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb. He says, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” So they continue in their sin of murder, but publicly adhere to ceremonial cleanliness, in order that they might eat the Passover, while putting to death the Passover Lamb.

And as a modern application of that, let us be careful in the church if we accommodate sin, in order to not offend the world, so that we might practice our religion. Remember that Christ suffered and died for those sins. And when we wink at sin, we embolden the practice of those sins, and cheapen the grace of God through licentiousness, disregarding the fact that God crushed Jesus to pay the penalty for those sins so that we might be set free from them.

The second aspect of the apostasy of the world that is illustrated here is the political realm. Pilate is a prime example of the political aspect of the world. Let me give you a little background on Pilate. First of all, he married well. He married Claudia, who was the daughter of Tiberius, the grand daughter of Caesar Augustus. As a result of that marriage, he was appointed prefect of Judea, or what we might call the governor.

Pilate was a politician, trying to please the Emperor of Rome on the one hand, and to placate the Jews on the other. Yet Josephus and other historians tell us that he repeatedly irritated the Jews, and had more than once been rebuked by Rome for his treatment of the Jews. So perhaps that is an indication of why Pilate seems to try to accommodate the Jews desire to crucify Christ, even though he found no fault in Him. Even his wife urged him not to have anything to do with crucifying the Lord. He was trying to please people, even if it meant he would have to sentence to death an innocent man.

I’ve come up with my own definition of the word politics. Politics is the art of compromise. It means one will jettison truth in order to reach a consensus. Politics is in opposition to the truth. Now in Pilates case, you get the feeling that he wasn’t happy being political, but he felt he had no other alternative. Look at the predicament he found himself in.

Vs.29, “Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this Man?’ They answered and said to him, ‘If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.’ So Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,’ to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.”

The predicament is this; Pilate is summoned to court to condemn Jesus, whom I believe it would have been next to impossible for him not to have heard of to some extent, and the judgment, crucifixion has already been determined, and yet there is no charge that they prove is worthy of death. The religious leaders have put Pilate in a box. They know Pilate has been in trouble with Rome over his treatment of the Jews in the past, and he cannot afford another incident. So in order to appease the Jewish rulers, he must condemn Jesus to death. But in his heart he knows that Jesus is not guilty of death.

I think a lot of people in the world find themselves in a similar position today in regards to Christianity or the church. They recognize something about it which seems true and right, but the acclaim of the culture is that they condemn Christianity. And at that point they have to make a decision; to please the world, or to please God. Since they haven’t yet chosen to believe in God unto salvation, it is very unlikely that they will do so under duress. They make the same mistake that Pilate did. They try to escape making a decision at all.

vs.31, “So Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ But the world will not let you off the hook so easily. The world requires allegiance to it’s doctrine, just as God demands allegiance to His doctrine. In the words of Bob Dylan, “you got to serve somebody.” You have to make a choice.

So Pilate asks Jesus directly, “Are You the King of the Jews?” That was a start towards the truth. But let’s see if Pilate is seriously seeking the truth, or if he is just seeking a way out. Jesus answers him curiously; ““Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”

Jesus doesn’t need to ask Pilate questions, as He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart of man. But what He is doing is asking a question to prompt Pilate to ask himself the right question. So Jesus says, Do you say this yourself, or did others tell you that about Me? Are you repeating what you have heard, or are you seriously inquiring to know if I am King of the Jews?

Note Pilate’s response; Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” So he at once removes himself from the equation, putting Christianity aside as a nationalistic thing, something that has nothing to do with himself as a Roman. And yet he cannot sweep this question of what to do about Jesus aside. It is a question that everyman and woman must answer at some point in their lives. Is He King of Kings, and Lord of Lords? And if I say He is, then I must bow to Him and worship Him. If I say He is not, then I will suffer the eternal consequence of my decision.

Jesus then answers in a way that does nothing to absolve Pilate of guilt. But rather includes everyone regardless of his nationality. “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Note that Jesus does declare that He is King, but not just of the Jews, but of a realm which is outside of the geography of nations and kingdoms of this world. It is a spiritual kingdom as opposed to an earthly kingdom.

Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Here is the purpose of Christ’s coming to earth as declared by Jesus Himself; to testify to the truth. And here is the means of salvation; everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Hearing indicates more than listening however. It indicates receiving, believing, and obeying the truth of Christ with all your heart and soul.

Folks we need to understand this. Jesus testified to the truth of God. God is life and they that believe in the truth of God receives that life. The very life of God; spiritual and eternal. The truth has been given to you and now the choice of receiving it is up to you. Jesus is the way of life, the truth of life, and the source of life, even everlasting life. But you have to receive Him and by extension His truth, and walk in it.

But the politician Pilate was still trying to duck the question. And so are many in the world today. The world echoes the disillusioned cry of Pilate; “what is truth?” Truth was staring him in the face, and he would not receive it. Oh, I believe Pilate saw it, just as clearly as Annas and Caiaphas saw the Passover Lamb standing in front of them. But like them, Pilate cannot afford to receive it. He loved too much the favor of this world to become an outcast with Christ.

Pilate thought he could please the world and still please God. He said to Christ what is truth, thus hopefully excusing himself from receiving the truth, and then he goes out to the crowd and says I find no fault in Him. He doesn’t want to make a decision either way. But either you accept Christ as your Lord and King, or you condemn Him along with the world. Undecided is not an option in the Kingdom of God. You are either for Him or against Him. You either believe Him, or you reject Him. Pilate would ultimately find this to be true, and though he would wash his hands for eternity, he would never wash away the blood of Christ upon his hands.

Listen, don’t die with Christ’s blood on your hands. Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost said in Acts 2:23, “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” It was your sins and mine that put Jesus to death. And only by repentance and faith in Him can we be forgiven of it, and given a second life.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Believe the truth today and be saved. Hold onto to the truth today and be set free. Walk in the truth and have life more abundantly. Today you have seen the truth of Christ. What will your response be? Will it be the response of religion? Continuing to practice expediency at the cost of truth? Will it be the response of political correctness, at the expense of truth? I pray you hold fast to the truth, no matter what the world or religion or political persuasion says.

As I have previously pointed out, John isn’t presenting a blow by blow account of the arrest and trial of Christ. By the time he is writing this epistle, the other three gospels have already presented all of the chronological events in detail. Instead, what John is doing is specifically highlighting certain events in order to illustrate particular principles which he is attempting to teach. And as we have seen from our previous studies, John is very focused on presenting the gospel as the truth of God. He quotes Jesus reaffirming this principle again and again in statements such as “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” And “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me.” And another, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Finally one more, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

In fact, 83 times in his writings John writes about either truth or what is true. I firmly believe that for the apostle John, truth was the preeminent theme of the gospel. So what I think he is doing here in addition to presenting the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion is he is including a sub plot, which is contrasting the truth with the dangers of apostasy. The truth of Christ is contrasted with the apostasy of Peter. And Peter is representative of the church. Remember, Jesus had said in Matt. 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” So the apostles, and especially Peter, are emblematic of the church because they are the foundation of the church. And in this passage we are looking at today, John is highlighting the dangers of the church slipping into apostasy.

Apostasy means the abandonment or renunciation of belief, particularly religious belief. So to become apostate is to abandon or renounce your faith, or the principles of truth which undergird your faith. In 2Thess. 2:3, Paul speaking of the second coming of Christ says, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first.” The Bible teaches that in the last days there will be a great falling away from the truth. False prophets and false teaching will fill the church to the extent that Jesus said if it were possible even the very elect would be misled.

And we know from church history that in fact happened. When Jesus speaks for the last time to the church in Revelation 2 and 3, which was also written by John by the way, He speaks to the seven churches in Asia, which were symbolic of the church universal, and in practically each of His messages to the churches, He emphasizes their need to stay true to His word, and warns them to repent of their apostasy, lest He remove their lamp stand from the Earth.

Now last week we looked at the first part of this passage set in the Garden of Gethsemane where the mob came to arrest Jesus along with the Pharisees and the Roman cohort. And particularly we focused on the response of the disciples as an example of how the church often responds to a hostile world. We talked about the natural response of the human psyche to fear or intimidation known as the fight or flight syndrome which was exemplified by the disciples fleeing, and Peter swinging his sword and cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s slave. And if you will remember, my application contrasted the church’s natural response to the world as opposed to what should be the true response of the church as identified by Acts 2, in the first church of Jerusalem immediately following Pentecost.

In a similar fashion, I want to show a subsequent application to the church through the events recorded in this passage that may not at first be apparent from a superficial study of the chronology of events. But if you will bear with me, I hope to show you how the denial of Peter and the trial of Christ mirror the choice confronting the church today, namely, remaining steadfast in the truth, and on the other hand, denying the truth, or becoming apostate.

So what we see from the passage is that really what was on trial was the Truth. That becomes apparent in Jesus’s response to both Annas and Pilate later on in the chapter. It was all about the truth that Jesus taught and represented. Jesus was the Truth personified. That is what the Pharisees and Sanhedrin hated. They weren’t interested in the truth, they were interested in the law. The law was their religion. They had learned to manipulate the law. They could take advantage of the law. They could enrich themselves through the law, administered through religion. But Jesus focused on the truth. The truth trumps the law because the law comes from the truth. However, as I said, they were not interested in the Truth, they were interested in law, which was administered through their religion. And sadly, we see today in the church that there is an emphasis on religion as they define it, but there is very little emphasis on the truth. Truth is relative today in our culture, and the church in it’s efforts to be relevant to the culture has become a mirror of the culture, rather than a reflection of Jesus Christ who is the Truth.

So John’s record at this point doesn’t focus so much on the illegality of the trial or on the Pharisees, but he seems to deliberately juxtapose Peter’s denial with Christ’s affirmation of Truth. Twice John shows another side of what was going on, that which was happening in the courtyard below with Peter. And I am proposing that his intention is to show the counterpoint to the truth of the gospel, which is apostasy, and how easy it is and possible it is for the church to fall into it.

So without further introduction, let’s look at four steps to apostasy as illustrated in this text. And I will give you each step in advance; First, the steps to apostasy begins with acting in your own wisdom, which leads to # 2, distance from God, which produces #3, a desire for acceptance from the world, and #4, results in blasphemy and denial. That’s the four steps to apostasy.

Let’s consider how this is illustrated in the text. The first point, acting in your own wisdom we pretty much covered last week. When confronted with the hostility of the mob, Peter did what he thought was right according to his own wisdom, according to his own strength. When he should have followed the Lord’s example and looked to him as to how to respond to the attack of the mob, instead he acted in his own strength, according to his own wisdom, and it resulted in disaster. He pulled his sword and whacked off the High Priest’s servant’s ear. That was a bad move. It could have been even worse had not Jesus healed the man’s ear. Because as we see later, Malchus’s kinsman was sitting at the fire later in Annas’s courtyard, and he recognized Peter and called him out in front of the soldiers.

We see this same attitude played out today in the church all the time, though perhaps in a little less dramatic fashion. More and more we see the church relying of philosophy, psychiatry, science, survey’s, and business practices in order to achieve their goals. The average sermon today is an impotent mixture of pyscho-babble and sentimentality, with a few jokes and a poem thrown in for good measure. Rather than looking at how the Bible says we should approach things like marriage, or sexuality, or church organization, etc, we follow what science or business or common sense tells us to do. But we need to remember that God has given us a blueprint for the church, and when we deviate from it to follow our own wisdom, we do so at our own peril.

I want to point out another contrast inherent in this scene. Peter decides to fight with his sword against the forces of darkness that are arrayed before him. And though he manages to wound one out of possibly 50-200 armed men, it was not a very effective strategy. And as I said earlier, if Jesus hadn’t stopped it and healed the servant, it would have probably ended badly for Peter. But then notice the contrast of the truth. In vs. 4, it says, “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and *said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.”

Here is the irony of the contrast. Peter takes his sword and wounds one man, and potentially sets up a disastrous situation. Jesus uses the sword of His mouth, the very word of God, and 200 men are knocked flat on the ground. I believe that John shows us this contrast to illustrate that even the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men. We must not neglect the word of God. It is powerful even to the destruction of fortresses. 2Cor. 10:3 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” The efforts of our flesh in our wisdom and strength fail to make a difference for the kingdom. Whereas God’s word is powerful and sharper than a two edged sword. Because it is the truth of God.

Well, as we see in Peter’s case, acting in your own wisdom leads to the second step towards apostasy, which is distancing yourself from God. It’s really amazing that Christ demonstrates His divine power even in this hour of darkness, in both knocking the mob on the ground and healing the man’s ear, and yet the mob is unmoved. They are resolute in their hatred and determination to put Jesus to death. Their hearts are hardened.

But what’s even more amazing is that the disciples, also seeing these things, and having seen so many other miracles that Jesus had done over three years, are unmoved as well. They run away. You would think that they would have recognized that the safest place for them to be was with Jesus.

I have said that from this pulpit many times and I will say it again this morning. There is no safe place outside of the will of God. And there is no safer place than to be in the will of God. Yet how quickly we forget that. The disciples thought that it would be safer somewhere else. So they ran. Peter, I will give him some credit, doesn’t run. Instead he follows from afar, according to Matthew 26:58. And so when Jesus is in the house of the High Priest, Peter is hanging around outside in the dark, outside the courtyard door.

Over the last couple of months or so, I have had a number of people tell me that they felt as if they were far from God. They didn’t feel close to God anymore. They feel like God didn’t care, or didn’t love them anymore. They felt distant. And I will tell you what I tell them every time. It’s an alternate version of the old adage; sin will keep you from God, or God will keep you from sin. When you feel distant from God it’s usually because you have moved away from God, not vice versa.

It’s like the couple that had been married for 30 years, back in the day when cars had bench seats, not like the bucket seats we have today. And the couple were driving down the road, and the wife looked over at the husband who was driving and said sort of reproachfully, “Remember when we used to take a drive when we were dating, and how you used to put your arm around me, and hug me close? Don’t you ever miss that kind of closeness? And the husband looked over at her on the passenger side of the car and said, “Well, I didn’t move, you did.”

God doesn’t move to distance Himself from us. Even when we are in rebellion against Him, He pursues us. The Lord is like the husband of Hosea, who watches and provides for his love from afar, waiting for her to return to Him, and never stops loving her. James gives us the prescription for a healthy relationship with God in James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Distance from God usually happens as a result of a lack of dependence upon God. You stop reading His word. You start skipping your devotions. You hardly pray. Start missing church services. It’s usually characterized by a desire to keep a comfortable distance from God, while all the while claiming to be in fellowship with Him. You want to be free to make your own decisions, and then that leads to neglecting the word of God so that you can operate independently without a guilty conscience.

Thirdly, distancing yourself from God leads to a desire for acceptance by the world. We see this illustrated in Peter’s example. There is an unnamed disciple in the text, who John says was known by the High Priest’s family. Most commentators believe that this is John himself. And so John realizes that Peter is outside the door, and he speaks to the girl watching the door so that Peter can come inside. I’m not sure that Peter really wanted to come inside. But nevertheless, he more or less had to come in when John came to the door.

But where he ends up is not back beside Christ as you might think. He hasn’t felt enough remorse over his earlier actions so that now he just wants to be next to Christ again. No, he just sidles over to the fire where the enemies of Christ are hanging out getting warm. So it’s apparent where his sentiments are at this point. There are two sides in this mock trial. There is Jesus all alone, and there is everyone else. Peter gains entrance to the house, but he chooses sides with the enemy. He wants to keep his distance from Christ.

We see that in Christianity all the time. There is a crisis in one’s life, and so they feel remorse that they were caught up in some crime, or put in jail, or totaled the car, or messed up their marriage somehow, but rather than come all the way to Christ, the natural tendency is to come only so far. To hang on to their autonomy, to hang on to their sin. The choice Peter should have made was to come all the way to Christ, even to the death if necessary, which was what he had boasted earlier that he would do.

So of course in our text we see that the enemy recognizes Peter as having been with Christ. So they start to call him out. First the slave girl says, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” And He said, “I am not.” He denies being a disciple. He doesn’t deny knowing Christ at this point, just denies being a disciple.

I don’t think that Peter was afraid of this slave girl. I think Peter suddenly is getting a clearer understanding of what Jesus has been saying all along about what it really means to be a disciple, to suffer for Him. I think it was easier being a disciple when they had this miraculous power to call down fire from heaven or cast out demons. But now this hour belonged to the power of darkness. And in this hour he begins to remember how Jesus had just told them they would be persecuted and killed for following Him. It suddenly is no longer theoretical, but an immediate possibility. And maybe he realizes at this point that this being an outcast from society, being persecuted, being publicly ostracized was going to be part of what it means to be a Christian. And at that moment, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to commit to that.

So he chose friendship with the world, which Paul tells us is enmity with God. He found himself at odds with Psalm 1:1 which says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

Acting in your own wisdom results in distancing yourself from God, which leads to a desire for acceptance from the world. And we see that all the time in the church today among Christians. Who at some point, come to realize that following Christ completely and being stedfast to the truth of God puts them in opposition to the world. It’s makes us an outcast, a fool for Christ. So to appease the world we want to soften our stance on things that the Bible speaks clearly about. We start to accept the dictates of the culture, because if we spoke out about adultery or homosexuality or evolution or a host of other subjects then we would become ostracized in our communities. We could lose our job. We might get “unfriended” on face book. We might get laughed at in school.

And before we know it, we have moved from walking according to the counsel of the wicked to standing in the path of sinners, and before we are done we end up sitting down with the scoffers. We find ourselves like Lot, who moved from living in the country near the city of Sodom to living next to it, to finally moving downtown. On the road to apostasy you get comfortable with the world, and uncomfortable with discipleship. So you move further and further towards apostasy. When you start to accommodate the world’s views in one area, it leads to another area, and soon it like yeast in a lump of dough it corrupts completely.

That takes us to the final point, which is a desire to be accepted by the world leads to blasphemy and denial of the truth. Peter finds himself getting warm by the fire. Notice that John repeats that twice in vs 18 and 25. That accommodation of Christ’s enemies leads to Peter denying the Lord three times. You will remember that Jesus prophesied that before the night was over Peter would deny Him three times. Peter had denied such a possibility vigorously. Once again you see this disregard of God’s word. We think we can disregard God’s word with impunity. But we cannot. If the word of God convicts you, then you need to repent and ask God to forgive you. Because when you disregard the conviction of the Spirit of God through the word of God your heart becomes hardened, and you give the devil an opportunity to destroy you.

In his later years, Peter illustrated that he come to appreciate the schemes of the devil and how he uses such things to take you down. Peter writes in 1Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” But at the point in our story, Peter had not learned that lesson yet. He thought he was good, he was strong, he could handle things himself. But in fact, Jesus had warned Peter earlier that Satan had demanded permission to sift him like wheat.

Peter didn’t believe that he was weak, however. He was confident that he could stand up to the devil’s temptations. Peter exhibited overconfidence in himself, and a lack of confidence in God. It would have been good for him to know 1Cor. 10:12 which says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Well, as we see here, one denial of the truth leads to another lie, which leads to yet another lie. That’s the way sin is. A little leaven soon leavens the whole lump. And so we see Peter get deeper and deeper into sin, until he ends up not only denying Christ, but blaspheming and cursing in order to prove himself not a friend of Christ. It’s really just incredible to watch the fall of Peter.

John 18:25 “Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, *said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Peter then denied it again. (Matthew 26 tells us that Peter denied it with an oath, and then when asked again he resorted to cursing,) and immediately a rooster crowed.

Most of us when confronted with the possibility that we would deny Christ would protest as Peter did that we would die before denying Him. But that is in theory. In actuality, it doesn’t often go the way we think it might. Satan gets us to deny Him first by denying the Lord’s power in favor of our own. We do it our way, kind of like Frank Sinatra. We try to make it look like we are doing it for the Lord, but the bottom line is we want to deny Christ control over our lives and want to exercise our will and wisdom. That leads to further distance from God, as we think we are doing fine, and don’t really need to depend daily upon God. Skipping devotions or prayer time or church time becomes more commonplace as everything else starts to take precedence over the things of God. And that distance from God leads to a desire to find acceptance from the world. Maybe that is even our original motivation. We like the acclaim of men, so we seek out ways of pleasing the world, rather than pleasing God. And then finally, that leads to down right denial of Christ.

Oh, we may not be cursing God, or uttering blasphemies directed towards Christ directly, but in many ways I’m afraid we deny Christ in our relationship with Him, in His Lordship over us, we deny Him control over our lives, and we don’t trust Him to take care of us. And if we don’t turn and repent of such things, it can lead us into outright apostasy. We end up denying the truth of God. We deny the truth of God’s word. We fail to stand up for Christ when He is attacked by the world.

I think the lesson to be learned from this story is that if apostasy can happen to Peter it can happen to the best of us. Because, contrary to the way many portray Peter, I believe Peter was the best of us. I believe he was passionate about following the Lord. He loved the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord. He was an intimate friend of the Lord. And yet, he fell from faith in denying Christ three times on the night of His crucifixion. It is a tragedy that is possible for all of us. And many of us have already done as bad if not worse at some point in our lives. I know I have.

But like Peter, I am a child of God. Thank God my disobedience and denial of my Lord does not negate the fact that I am His child. God is a God of restoration. He came to seek and to save those that are lost. And just as Christ made a point to meet with Peter specifically after His resurrection and reconcile Peter to Himself, so He will do with you and with me if we are truly His people and we are willing to repent. If you don’t repent, Satan will use your rebellion to try to destroy you. But if you turn back to God, He will heal you and restore you.

In Peter’s case, not only did Christ reconcile with Peter, but He still used Peter to be the foundation of the church. Peter’s past mistakes did not disqualify him, but once he was reconciled to Christ he was used as the chief apostle of His church. God has a plan to use us, even when we have been broken and beaten up by the devil and by failures. The key is we learn to trust God, to let Him have control of our life, and we don’t trust in our own strength or wisdom, but trust in the word of God.

My message today is titled, “Fight or Flight.” And I hope that the reason for that being so named would be evident from the content of the verses we just read. On the one hand we know from this text and the other gospels that all the disciples fled as a result of this incident, and on the other hand we see Simon Peter trying to put up a fight by taking out his sword and cutting of the ear of the high priest’s servant. Hence I have called it, Fight or Flight.

Psychologists tell us that fight or flight is associated with a physiological reaction which occurs in humans or animals in response to a perceived harmful attack, or threat to survival. It is an automatic, instinctive response from our nervous system that activates our physical muscular system in order to help us survive. It is natural. It is instinctive. It is normal. But in the realm of the spiritual that which is natural and physical is not necessarily the kind of reaction that is in alignment with God’s purposes.

And we find that natural vs spiritual response illustrated in this text. The disciple’s reaction to the mob coming to arrest Jesus was pretty normal. It was a natural reaction. Some fled, and some attempted to fight. That is the way the body is engineered. We are told in Mark 14 that even as the disciples fled, one young man was caught and he slipped out of his clothes and ran away naked. And of course, we know what Peter did. He drew a sword to defend Christ. He was going to fight the spiritual battle in his own strength, with his skill and determination.

I think that the church is often guilty of similar responses as we try to find our way in a hostile world. We tend to try to use human ingenuity to accomplish spiritual goals. But when we do so we fail to apply Ephesians 6 which we studied not long ago in our Wednesday evening Bible studies, which said we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

Jesus made the same principle clear in this chapter, in vs 36. Jesus answered to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” So if as Jesus indicates, our kingdom is spiritual, not physical, and our enemies are spiritual and not physical, then it stands to reason that the church’s strategies must be spiritual and not physical.

So Jesus and the disciples climb the Mount of Olives to engage in a spiritual battle, the battle of the will of man. It was in the Garden of Eden that man first encountered the spiritual warfare with the enemy of his soul. There the battle with Satan was lost by man, there he forfeited the rights of the earth over to Satan by yielding his will to Satan’s will. Now Jesus enters another garden to do battle with Satan. The issue again is God’s will versus the will of Satan.

But the disciples react in the flesh instead of according to the Spirit. So Christ rebukes Peter in vs.11 saying, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” The Lord Jesus had known ahead of time how all this was going to come about. He knew that Judas had planned to betray Him there. And yet He did not try to avoid arrest by fleeing from the soldiers or by planning a defense. Instead, we are told that Jesus went boldly out to meet the mob. I’m sure it would have been possible for Jesus to have easily eluded them in the dark in this olive grove. But that wasn’t the Father’s will. And Jesus had prayed in the prayer recorded in Luke 22 that He was concerned that the Father’s will be done, and not His own.

John’s record of this time in the Garden of Gethsemane is selective. He doesn’t make an attempt to mention a lot of what the other gospel writer’s have already written about. Out of all the events that transpired in the garden, John emphasizes the fact that Jesus initiates His own capture. He doesn’t mention the night spent in prayer, or the sweat drops of blood that Christ spilled as He prayed. He doesn’t mention the disciples falling asleep. He doesn’t mention Judas’s kiss of betrayal. And what we can deduce from that is that what John does record is to illustrate certain facts that he felt served his greater purpose. As he said in chapter 20 vs.30, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” So John emphasizes that Jesus went boldly forth to offer Himself as a sacrifice by doing the will of the Father

That sacrificial love is illustrated in vs.8, in which Jesus says in effect, “Take Me, and let these go.” That is the same sacrificial love that takes Jesus to the cross for us all. In bearing our judgment for sin, He said the same thing to the Father’s justice. “Take Me, and let these people go.”

So what John has given us is selected to teach us certain truths. Now there are many applications that one could get from this passage. But there is one particular application that I would like to make, which may seem like a stretch perhaps, but which I think is appropriate. Rather than doing my normal exegesis of each verse, I want to use this text to make an application that I feel God has laid on my heart this morning; and that is the purpose of the church. I see in this situation an illustration of how the church is to respond to the demands of a hostile culture.

Now I feel this application is justified because these 11 disciples represent the church. We know from other scriptures, particularly Ephesians 2:20, that the apostles are the foundation of the church. And at this point there is very little else but the foundation. Christ has spent the last three years building the foundation, teaching the disciples concerning the kingdom of God.

You will remember that Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” So the disciples were the foundation stones upon which Christ would build His church, and Christ is the cornerstone. But the main point I want to emphasize is they are the church at that point. Eleven guys, and they have all sorts of shortcomings, and they are facing all sorts of challenges, and their response is often completely wrong and yet Christ has chosen them to be the foundation of His church.

So the Lord will use this situation and others like it to teach them so that when Jesus is no longer with them in person, they will know how to lead the church and so that the church will not only survive, but thrive. The disciples will learn from even their failures how to continue Christ’s ministry.

On this particular night, it must seem to the disciples that the gates of hell are prevailing against the church. And so while Peter attempts to take matters into his own hands, and the other disciples flee into the darkness, Jesus stands firm knowing that He is acting according to the Father’s will.

However, notice that Jesus’s promise to the church that the gates of hell will not prevail against it, is conditional. His promise is conditional upon the fact that it has to be His church, and He has to be the builder of it. If He is, then there is the promise that hell will not prevail against it. But if it is not His church, and He is not the builder of it, then there is no such promise.

As a pastor, I am routinely asked from time to time about our plans for this church. What are our goals? What is our long term plan? Where are we going with this thing? I guess those are valid concerns. But I can’t help but feel that they are often prompted by unbiblical expectations. And that is because the Christian community today has a picture in their mind of what they think church should be, what the church should look like. That vision may have been influenced by many factors, such as what seems to be working elsewhere, what church was like when they grew up, or what they’ve been told the church has to do to reach our modern culture.

And I can tell you that from a pastor’s perspective that answering this question isn’t easy for me either. There are dozens and dozens of books out there which purport to tell you how to build a church. Or what a successful church should look like. Rick Warren wrote a very popular book many years ago now which has had a tremendous impact on the modern evangelical movement, called “The Purpose Driven Church.” There are a lot of things in that book that sound good. But there are also some things that I feel are misdirected. Namely, that there is a formula, a tried and true business style model for how to build a successful church.

Whether Rick Warren intended to imply it or not, the average church pastor who uses that book as a template does so hoping that it will result in building a large church. Because Rick Warren has a huge church and he used that formula. And because large numbers are what practically everyone thinks is emblematic of a successful church. How many people you have, how many Sunday morning services you conduct, what kind of programs you have and so forth indicates how successful you are.

But for the most part I have eschewed such handbooks for church growth. Instead, about three years or so ago, or maybe longer than that now, I began a study in the book of Acts on Sunday mornings because I wanted to address some of these fundamental questions concerning the church. And what better source is there to determine how God builds His church than to study the first church in Jerusalem from the book of Acts. However, that was a long time ago, and some of you weren’t here at that time to benefit from that study.

So I want to go back to Acts chapter 2 in order to refresh our minds. If we are going to have a church which is Christ’s church, and which is built by God, which will stand against the gates of hell, then I can think of no better example than the church in chapter 2 of Acts which was birthed by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And first of all we note that 3000 people were saved on the day of Pentecost. That means that if you’re going to have a church that is built by God, and protected by God, then it must start with a saved congregation. The church is the congregation of the saints.

Church buildings that are filled with unsaved people aren’t actually Christ’s church. The people may be the social pillars of the community, they may have all the trappings of the church, they may look like what we think churches are supposed to look like, but if they are not made up of born again saints then they do not constitute the church according to God. That eliminates a whole lot of so called churches right there. Nice people practicing religion does not constitute a church. People who have received and believed the truth of the gospel are granted righteousness, resulting in salvation. So a saved congregation is the first prerequisite.

And then in Acts chapter 2 we find in one verse the purpose of the church, as designed by God, and given to us. Acts 2:42 gives the divine blueprint they followed: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Those are the four essential elements that make up the actual function and life of the church.

To be saved is to become a disciple of Christ. That’s what Jesus’s mandate was to the apostles as recorded in Matthew 28:19. Go into all the world and make disciples. And a disciple is a learner, a student. So then the first order of the church is to teach Christ’s doctrine. To teach Christians how to live as Christ would have us live according to what Christ had taught them. This was the primary responsibility of the apostles. And in Ephesians we read that as the church goes forward, Christ gave to the church first apostles and prophets, then evangelists, and then pastor’s/teachers. So if we are going to pattern ourselves according to God’s blueprint for the church, then the church must continually devote themselves to the teaching of the word of God. And we do that not just so that we might have an intellectual knowledge of doctrine, but so that we might know how to live as Christ taught, and that we might be obedient to that truth. That is sanctification, being saved, being conformed to the truth of God.

A godly church then is made up of saved people who apply themselves to the teaching of the word, and then are obedient to the word, so that they might be witnesses to the world. The purpose of teaching is that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. That we might become in practice like Christ. We have become righteous by justification through Christ, now we must be sanctified in practice like Christ. We must be obedient to what we are taught. It is to no advantage whatsoever if we meet to have what is called a worship service, but there is no evidence of the transforming power of God in our lives. If the church is filled with people living in adultery, filled with people who are living in sin, who are still enslaved to sin, then what kind of witness is that to the world? It’s a useless exercise in self righteous religion. The purpose of the church is to make disciples that look like Christ and act like Christ as they live like Christ.

We conform to the image of Christ because He was conformed to the image of the Father. He was obedient to the Father’s will. Hebrews 5:8 says, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” That’s what Jesus was referring to in His rebuke of Peter. He had prayed in the Garden in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” He was apprehensive in His flesh, but when the mob came, Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will saying to Peter; “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

Listen, we can learn from this example that God’s purposes are not always apparent to men because they are not according to the natural man. His purposes do not always lead to our immediate exaltation. His purposes sometimes takes us through thorny ways before we meet the joyful end. As the hymn writer says,
“Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”

So the first priority of the church is continually devoting yourselves to the apostles teaching. That’s the word of God. Because the word of God has power to transform lives. Programs don’t have that power. Music doesn’t necessarily have that power. Activities and outreaches don’t have that power. But God’s word is powerful and sharper than a two edges sword, able to pierce the heart and soul, and reveal the inner thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now I don’t want to neglect the other three essentials of the church; fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. But the teaching of the word is what is the priority, and then fellowship comes from the sense of unity we have in the truth. Our church name is the Beach Fellowship. It means communion, with God first and then with one another in the truth of God. We talked about that last week; Christ prayed for unity. And we discovered that unity is found in the truth. Not in organizations, but in truth.

And then the breaking of bread could be referring to the Lord’s Supper. But in all likelihood it was just as simple as the daily taking of meals together. Vs.46 says they were breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” Eating and sharing together is a basic form of fellowship. That’s why we have dinner every Wednesday night before Bible study. We believe it promotes fellowship. It is sharing in the physical comforts to meet physical needs, so that we might be able to reach spiritual needs.

And of course prayer is the last vitally important component. I spoke about prayer at the beginning of chapter 17. And for three weeks we studied Christ’s prayer as a template for our own. As I said then, if we are a praying church, then all the other disciplines of the church would be elevated. But even in prayer, it must be in truth. Prayer must be grounded on Biblical truth, or it is not effective prayer.

When you have those four vital aspects of the church in effect, then you will see the result noted in Acts 2:43 which says, “everyone had a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” Though we no longer see the same kind of miracles and wonders of the apostolic times, God’s power still remains on display. What could be more miraculous than giving life to people who are dead in sin? He heals people of their hurts, puts broken homes back together, and brings people out of the bondage of sin to Christ. In short, He transforms lives. When the church follows God’s design, He will do marvelous and powerful things in individual lives before a watching world.

But it has to start with a saved congregation who submit to the teaching of the word of God and then are obedient to the will of God in their daily lives. Even though many times in the Jerusalem church to obey God meant that they would experience suffering. We too suffer many times if we are going to be obedient to God. We suffer perhaps the loss of a job which does not honor God. Or we suffer the loss of friendships that are of the world or that are ungodly associations. There are lots of ways that we might suffer, but through thorny ways, God leads us to a joyful end.

The church that is willing to suffer with Christ is a church that experiences a sense of awe or reverence for the Lord. That’s what is meant by they felt a sense of awe. It doesn’t mean they were oohing and ahhing over the drama of the miracles. It means that they felt a holy reverence for the Lord. They had a reverence for the holiness of God. And if you read further in Acts, you will see the Lord’s response against Ananias and Sapphira who did not revere the Lord as holy nor His apostles. So God struck them dead in the middle of the church because God desires reverence.

And then there is one more point that I would like to make from the example given to us in Acts. It says in Acts 2:47 that “the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” If you want a formula for success in the church there it is. You start with God saving men and women, and then the church being transformed and sanctified by the teaching of the word of God, add fellowship and prayer and then you add to that the reverence for the holiness of the Lord, and you end up with God adding to the church day by day those that were being saved. That’s God’s church growth plan.

It has nothing to do with building projects. It has nothing to do with appointing committees or Sunday School directors. It has everything to do with being saved according to the truth, then taught the truth of the word and then being obedient to it and living it out in the community.

Listen, I don’t think I need to belabor this point this morning. I’m convinced most of you are here today because you want to follow Christ’s teaching. You want to be transformed, to be set free, and to be a witness to the world of the saving power of Christ. But neither do I want you to be discouraged or distracted by what the world might tell you is important. The disciples acted on their instincts, they acted in their own strength, and they acted out of an emotional, natural response. And they found themselves at odds with the purposes of God. After the resurrection, Jesus will spend the next 40 days to help them understand the principles that He had been teaching them so that they would be ready to take charge of His church when He left to go back to His Father.

But we have an advantage that they didn’t have. We have the advantage of learning from their mistakes. We have the advantage of the complete revelation of God right in our hands. So the teaching of the word is the first priority of this church. Because it is everything we need for life and happiness. As 2Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Let’s not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the scriptures tell us, and let us continually devote ourselves to the teaching of the word of God through pastors/teachers “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” That is how the church is supposed to look. That is the plan of God for the church. That we all grow to mature men and women, being conformed to the full measure of the image of Christ.

For the last few weeks we have been studying the prayer of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion. And as we have noted, there are three levels to His prayer; He prays first for Himself, then for His disciples, and then for those who will be saved in the future (that is the church at large). But in addition to that purpose, there is an underlying application to His prayer, which is not only for our edification, but for our education. We can learn from Christ how to pray effectively in a way that will please God, and we can learn doctrinal truth. We have focused on both of those perspectives in past messages.

This week, in addition to studying what the Lord is praying concerning us, we are going to examine the underlying doctrine of Christ’s prayer. And if I had to pick one word to encapsulate the doctrine of Christ’s prayer it would have to be the word “truth.” Truth is the key doctrine emphasized in Christ’s prayer. And as such, truth must be the foundation of our prayers. Our prayers have to be grounded in the truth, or they will be of no avail. As Jesus told us in chapter 4 vs 24, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

Even though the word “truth” is only mentioned specifically in vs 17, it’s theme is found throughout all of the prayer. In the first section Jesus is the manifestation of the truth. That produces sanctification through the truth in the second section, which in turn produces unification in the truth in the final section which we are looking at today. So as we look at Christ’s specific prayer for the church, we see that her unity is His predominate concern.

Jesus mentions unity three times, in verse 21, verse 22, verse 23, each time praying that we might be one. So unity is obviously the theme of the conclusion of Christ’s prayer. And I would suggest that He makes four points in reference to the unity of the church that I would like to look at today; unity in congregation, unity in glorification, unity in consummation, and unity in manifestation.

First let’s look at Jesus’s prayer for unity in congregation. I have used congregation as a substitute for the church. The church is a congregation of the saints; whether local or universal. That is who we are, and that is who Christ prays for at this point, saying, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” So He is speaking to all those who will believe as a result of the apostle’s doctrine. The apostles are the foundation of the church in the sense that what they taught and wrote concerning Christ’s teaching is the truth by which we are saved. They established the doctrine of the church.

So notice that Jesus says unity in the church is established by belief in the word. This is immensely important. Unity must never come at the expense of the truth of God’s word. Unity is not found in an ecclesiastical organization or denomination, but only in the word of God, and as the church is true to the word. The unity of the church then is spiritual, not necessarily physical. Those that are in agreement with the truth of God are one with God and thus one body of Christ. There may be different parts of the body, but all are one spiritual body.

However, when a church strays from the truth, then we are under no compulsion to be unified with it, but rather we are actually commanded to break fellowship in order to protect the truth. Jude warns of this deception that entered the church in Jude 1:3, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand [fn]marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

And to counter that corruption from within Paul wrote in 1Cor. 5:11, “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”

I don’t know if you noticed an article in the news last week about a certain Baptist church in South Carolina. Some years ago they made the decision to break away from the Southern Baptist Convention primarily because they wanted to accommodate the practice of ordaining women to the pastorate. And so they broke away and for a few years had a woman pastor. A deliberate affront to the truth of God’s word though always brings with it a continual hardening, which often results in further apostasy. And in their case, that culminated last week with the church appointing a married lesbian couple to be the pastors of their congregation. With such churches we cannot be unified. We must in fact rebuke such who go against the clear teaching of the word in favor of the culture. The culture will change with the times, but the word of God endures forever unchanging.

So the unity of church is established by salvation, and salvation comes through the word of God. Paul said in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We are saved by the apostle’s doctrine which has been written for us as the scriptures. There is no other way to saving faith. Nature may teach us enough about God according to Romans 1:20 to incriminate us, but not enough to save us. There must be the preaching of the word of God. 1Cor. 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

And unity comes through the word, so that the world might know the truth of Jesus Christ. He continues in vs.21, “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Our unity then is not for purposes of organization, but for the preservation of the truth, that the world might know the truth of Jesus Christ; that He is One with God, and that salvation comes through His name alone. There is salvation in none other. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.”

Secondly, Jesus prays that the church might have unity in glorification. Vs.22, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” What is the glory that was given to Christ from God? I have read a lot of suggestions as to what glory represents, but I would suggest that it is the truth of God. That is Christ’s glory; that He was God and was sent from God. And that is the glory of the truth that He gave to the apostles. 

John affirms this glory in John 1:14 saying, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So Jesus goes on to say that when they receive that glory of the truth, they will be “perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” Perfected means completed. Our unity with God is completed when we know the truth of God in Jesus Christ. And when we are complete in our knowledge of the truth, then we can fulfill the mission of the church, which is to go into all the world and make disciples. When we know the truth about Christ, then we can make Him known to the world, that the world might come to a saving knowledge of God.

Notice that twice Jesus prays the same phrase; vs 21, “so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” And then in vs 22, “so that the world may know that You sent Me.” This is obviously important to Christ, that the world would come to know that He was sent from God to save the world from sin. That He was God come in human flesh to be our substitute as a sacrifice for sin. This is the core of the gospel. “For God so loved the world, that He gave HIs only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is God’s love for the world; that through faith in Christ they might be saved from sin and death.

This truth is worth dying for. Did you ever realize that Christ died for telling that truth? How then can we diminish what Christ died to prove? The truth is obviously important to God. And the truth is that God sent Jesus to die for our sins that we might be saved from sin and death. Our job is to make that truth known. That is job one of the church. That is our unifying mission. And any so called church that diminishes the gospel of Jesus Christ or His deity cannot be unified with His church.

Thirdly, Jesus prays that the church might have unity in consummation of His kingdom. If you were at our Wednesday night Bible study then you will remember that I spoke of the inauguration and the consummation of the Kingdom of God. We live in the time between the inauguration and the consummation. Jesus here prays that we may see His consummation of the Kingdom. Vs.24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Jesus was going away back to the Father. He has told them this over and over again. In fact, at the beginning of the Upper Room Discourse He said, “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1)

So what Jesus is praying for is that the church would be united with Him in heaven, that they might see His glory, even the glory which He had before the world began. The disciples had come to know a veiled glory, but He desires that we might know His full glory. He is speaking of His second coming when every eye will see Him coming in the clouds with glory. And when we see Him in glory, it will result in our glorification. The children of God will be given new bodies like God. As John describes for us in 1John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

When we see Him come in the consummation of His Kingdom, we are going to be given new bodies like Him. We are going to be seated on thrones with Him. We will share in His glory. And then the bride of Christ will be joined to Christ in a celestial union the likes of which our earthly marriages are but a pale shadow. This union with Christ at His consummation is what we call heaven. Heaven is an actual place, but more importantly it is a perpetual state of being. We will be with Him, and as such be like Him, and share in His glory.

I want to give you a preview of what we will be talking about eventually in our study of Revelation on Wednesday nights. When most people think of heaven, they think of the streets of gold, and the pearly gates. Such themes are the subject of the description given to us in Revelation chapter 21.

But if you will turn there for a moment I want to show you something interesting. Revelation 21:1-3, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”

Then skip down to vs.9: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” So I want you to notice that twice in this passage the New Jerusalem, that city which we think of as heaven, is said to be the bride of Christ, which we know from Ephesians 5 in particular and other places is a way of referring to the church. Now I will save the full exegesis of those verses for the future, but suffice it to say that our union with Christ will be as His bride, and that constitutes heaven.

Thus Paul could say, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” “And that is ever more better.” I believe this is the consummation of the Kingdom when Christ will return for HIs bride and take us to be with Him and thus will ever be with the Lord according to 1Thessalonians 4.

But before we leave Revelation 21, let me show you one other thing. Look at vs.14, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Note how synchronistic that is with Ephesians 2:20 which in speaking of the church says it is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.” That is what Jesus has been praying for in this prayer of John 17, that those who believe in the Lord as a result of the apostle’s doctrine would come to know the fullness of the truth of Christ, and being unified with Him in doctrine, we will one day be unified with Him in the consummation of the Kingdom. And then we will share in His glory, for we shall be like Him, having seen Him as He is.

The fourth and final thing that Jesus prays for here for the church is that we might know unity in manifestation. Look at vs.25,26; “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” When we are unified with Him in truth, then we will be unified with Him in presence, in HIs manifestation to us both in revelation and incarnation.

But first I want you to point out here that Jesus calls His Father righteous. It’s interesting that Jesus ascribes two characteristics to God the Father in His prayer. The first is in vs 11, Jesus calls Him Holy Father. And now in vs25, Jesus calls Him Righteous Father. Holy and righteous, two great distinctives of God the Father. These are the two characteristics that are important to Christ. Not the only characteristics that are important. He goes on to speak of the love that God has for Him and for the church. But above all else, God is holy and righteous. God is also just, He is merciful, He is compassionate, His is loving, He is wrathful, He is Mighty, He is awesome in power. There are a multitude of characteristics of God. But I would say that the danger in the church today is that we want to boil down God to one characteristic. Rob Bell says that God is love and that one characteristic eclipses all other considerations of God. So that the love of God overshadows the righteousness of God. Therefore God will not send anyone to hell, he says, because love overwhelms all of God’s other distinctives of His character. He is not concerned about righteousness any more. But notice Christ includes both righteousness and love. God’s righteousness demands justice and consequently punishment for sin, but God’s love requires that He substitutes Christ to be punished on our behalf.

So Jesus isn’t teaching some watered down version of the gospel. Jesus goes on to say that the world does not know the Father. And I would suggest that is because they aren’t concerned about knowing the truth of God, nor the word of God. They have devised notions about God according to their image of what is right or correct in light of the present culture. But God is unchanging. He is God from everlasting. He must be worshipped in truth, or He will not be known at all. So then intimacy with God is predicated upon fidelity to the truth of God, of which the pillars are righteousness and holiness.

As the bride of Christ we must be concerned about righteousness and holiness. Because God is concerned about righteousness and holiness.Jesus said if you love Me you will keep My commandments. That is God’s standard for righteousness. If God did not care about righteousness and holiness then the death of Jesus Christ was a great tragedy and a waste. It need not have happened at all. But we know that it was not a tragedy, but a triumph. Christ died to take away the penalty of sin, God’s punishment for an affront to His righteousness. Now in return, we are to be as commanded in the scriptures such as 1Peter 1:16 to be holy, even as He is holy.

But though the world doesn’t know God, Jesus says these disciples do know Him, and because they know the truth of God, and know that Jesus is the manifestation of the righteousness of God, then He will make God ever more known to them. Listen, that is speaking of what I have said many times from this pulpit. And that is that the revelation of truth is progressive. As we are obedient to the truth given, then the Lord will give us more truth. When we keep the truth of God as revealed through His word, then He will lead us into more truth. He will lead us into intimacy with God, that we might know the love of God. That is the intimacy of the bride of Christ with the bridegroom; that we might share the love of God.

And that love of God towards us is manifested by the Spirit of God who indwells us. In that sense we share in the incarnation of Christ, in that the Spirit of God dwells in His people, and we are His temple. Vs.26, “so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” You cannot know intimacy with God more than that, can you? To know God, to know the love of God and to know the presence of God. I said a few weeks ago, that the greatest thing in the world is to know God and to be known of God. And we can know God because we have the Spirit of God in us, to lead us and guide us into the truth of God.

The Spirit of God is given to us that we might know God intimately, and that we might do the works of God. He is given that He might write the laws of God upon our hearts according to Hebrews 10:16. That the truth of God is manifested within us by the Spirit of God who is in us. The Spirit conforms us to the image of God from the inside out.

I had some woman call me last week from a church down on the southern part of the Eastern Shore, and she identified herself as the pastor. She said she had come across a young man who had been saved, but wasn’t in a church, yet he lived in our area. And so she wanted to recommend him to a good church up here. But before she could recommend us to him, she wanted to know if we were a spirit filled church. Of course, I said we were. Otherwise, we are not saved. But I knew what she was actually getting at. She wanted to know if we practiced speaking in tongues and other gifts of the Spirit. To her, that was the critical thing. So much so that I believe after talking a while she had decided not to recommend him to this church.

Listen, the defining characteristic that Christ desires for HIs bride is not that we all speak in tongues, or that we have some sort of emotional experience which may or may not be in keeping with the truth of scripture. But the vital characteristic of the church is that we be in union with the truth of the word of God. The Spirit of God is given to us that we might know the truth, and that we might have the truth written in our hearts, so that we might have the power within us to work the works of God. The Spirit is in us, so that we might do the work of Christ, which was to manifest the truth of God to the world. That is why Jesus calls Him the Spirit of Truth.

And that is why Jesus prays that the church will know the truth, and that truth will produce unity in congregation, unity in glorification, unity in consummation, and unity in manifestation. I pray that you know God in truth. I pray that you have come to believe in the truth of God manifested in Jesus Christ, and having believed in Him for salvation, you have been born again, and are the dwelling place of the Spirit of the Lord. I pray that you will come to know God more fully, and that you will become complete in Christ, as you are conformed to His image. That one day, when Jesus Christ returns for His bride, He might find you ready and waiting, dressed in the spotless robes which were provided by Christ’s righteousness for us, and that you might enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb in the presence of the Lord and there be forever with the Lord.

Last week we began to look at what is the longest prayer of Christ that is recorded, and perhaps the most instructive of His prayers. It is instructive from many different perspectives. The prayer can be broken down into three main sections; vs1-5 Jesus prays concerning Himself, vs 6-19 Jesus prays concerning the disciples, and vs20 -26 Jesus prays concerning the church.

And as we saw last time, one of those perspectives is that Christ’s prayer teaches us to pray. His prayer as recorded in the first five verses is an example of effective prayer, prayer that is pleasing to God. In vs 1-5, we noted that Christ’s prayer was to the right person, then in the right timing, for the right purpose, according to the will of God, according to the knowledge of God, that He might do the work of God, that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son. If we emulate Christ’s example of prayer, then we can be confident that God accepts our prayers.

This week, we are looking at the middle section, or the prayer for HIs disciples. And in this section we see that Christ is obviously praying for our benefit. He prays for the benefit of His disciples and also us, as evidenced by vs.6 and 20. But in praying for us, He is also praying as an example for us. He is praying not only to edify us, but to educate us. And so contained in this prayer is a healthy measure of doctrine that is being taught.

Doctrine is simply another term to designate truth or principles of truth. So as Jesus prays for the disciples, He is also concerned that He prays for them according to the truth. That is the key to effective prayer, or prayer that will be accepted by God. Prayer, to be acceptable to God, must be in accordance to God’s nature and character. I frequently find an attitude among naive Christians that uses prayer as a form of existentialism. Whereby they act in what they think is faith and speak things that they want to be true, but which often are not founded on the truth.

Such prayers are not effective, because God is concerned about truth. There is no truth outside of God. God is truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.” So we cannot access God without truth. Jesus said again, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

So as Jesus prays for the disciples, He prays according to the truth, and He is teaching that truth as He prays. There are three points He makes in this middle section of the prayer, which is particularly directed towards the disciples, but exponentially to us as well. The three principles build on one another. The first is the manifestation of the truth, which produces separation by the truth, which produces sanctification through the truth.

I want to focus our attention first upon the manifestation of the truth. Jesus said in vs.6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”

The first way that the truth of God was manifested to the disciples was by Jesus Himself. “I have manifested Your name.” That means that He manifested, or brought to life, the nature and character of God. He was the invisible God made visible. To make manifest is to take what is obscure or mysterious, and make it clear. Jesus Christ made God clear. Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He [that is Christ} is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”
Also, Colossians 1:15 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

And John 1:14 speaking of Christ says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The point being, that Jesus Christ was the exact representation of the nature and character of God. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the truth of God, made manifest to the world.

There used to be a popular song on the radio that had the lyric, “tell me all your thoughts on God.” And that is a popular sentiment in society today. Tell me what you believe God is like. But in reality, they are telling you what they want God to be like. However, that is idol worship. That is creating a god according to your image. God has already declared Himself as to who He is, through Jesus Christ. And we must worship Him in truth.

And then Jesus says there is a second way that God is manifested. Starting in vs.6b, “they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”

It’s no coincidence that in John chapter 1 Jesus is called the Word who was with God and who was God. And now that person called the Word, who is the manifestation of God, gives them the word of God and that word manifests the truth of God; that Jesus is from God, and is sent by God.

The difference between us and the disciples is that we don’t have the person of Jesus Christ here with us today. We cannot see Jesus. But we do have His word. And His word manifests Christ and manifests the Father. God has manifested Himself to us through His word, and the Holy Spirit works through the word in us to declare to us the truth of God. Thus Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit again and again as the Spirit of Truth.

I said last week that it was important to pray. Perhaps one of the most important disciplines we can exercise as a Christian is to pray. It should stir up our faith in all areas of our lives. But I do not say that to diminish the importance of the word of God. It is the foundation for all that we do. So when we pray, we must pray according to the truth of God’s word. If our prayers are to be acceptable to God, then they must be in accordance to the character and nature of God, which is revealed to us in the word of God.

Note also vs 8 shows that the manifestation of God through the word produces salvation. “for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” That is salvation in a nutshell. To receive Christ, to believe in Him and all that He has said concerning Himself constitutes faith. And we are saved by grace through faith. Simply seeing the light of the truth of Jesus Christ and receiving Him and believing in Him constitutes saving faith. And don’t miss the fact that salvation comes through the hearing of the word. Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

That leads us to the second doctrine that Christ is teaching in His prayer, which is separation by the truth. Once we are saved, the truth of God separates us from the world’s lies. Jesus prays in vs 9, “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.”

Look at how this works; we are chosen by God, given to Christ, separated unto God and Christ, and as a result we glorify Christ. That’s amazing, isn’t it? God glorifies Christ, Christ manifests the Father to us, we are saved, and then we glorify God by manifesting Christ. It comes full circle. And don’t miss the security that is given there. We are not only separated unto Christ, but kept by God and by Christ. Jesus spoke of that in John 10:28, saying, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” He will not lose those who are His. He keeps us, forever.

Then back in our text in vs 11 Jesus says that results in us being unified with Him, and in turn unified with the Father. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” We are unified with God by the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul said in 1Cor. 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” And in 1Cor. 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Listen, we are not of the world, but separated unto God, because we are the temple of God and He dwells in us. We aren’t separate from the world because we think we are better than they are, but because we want to be pleasing to God.

1John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” So we separate from the world because we are not of the world. We belong to Christ. We have been bought with a price. And we have been separated unto Christ, we are unified with God, because the Spirit of God indwells us.

When we are unified with Christ through separation from the world, then we know the joy of the Lord. Vs.13, ““But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” I said last week and I will say it again; a life lived for God’s purposes produces joy. Whereas a life lived for yourself produces dissatisfaction. Living for God will bring you true joy. Living for yourself will maybe garner a few moments of happiness, but in the long run it is a joyless experience. But when you live to glorify God, then you can know the joy of Christ, which is everlasting joy, even in the midst of tribulation. Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

And let me just add this thought; if you are a Christian, living in the world will make you miserable. The devil will try to seduce you with promise of happiness found in the lusts of the world, but it will only end up making you miserable. Because if you love the world, then you are opposed to God, and that goes against your new nature. So don’t fall for the temptation of the world. It will not bring joy. Joy comes from separation from the world and unity with God.

While separation from the world unto Christ produces joy, it conversely produces hatred from the world. Vs.14, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Because they hated Christ, they will hate us as well. That hatred of the world is why we endure tribulation. But that is also why He promises us joy first. So because of the joy set before us, like Christ we can endure the cross and despise the shame. Knowing that if we suffer with HIm, we shall also be exalted with Him. That one day we too will sit on thrones with Christ.

Vs.15, Jesus prays, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” Now how is that accomplished? How do we keep ourselves from the sin which so easily besets us, from the snare and trap of Satan? I suggest that the answer is found in Christ’s prayer. Note that He has bracketed vs15 on the front end and the back end with the same phrase: “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Twice Jesus says it, to show it’s imperative for keeping ourselves unstained by sin, and unfettered by vice. To be not of the world is to keep oneself from the evil one.

When we try to see how close to the world we can get and still be ok, we put ourselves at risk from the evil one, who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. But when we stay far away from the lusts of the world and the paths of sin, then we free ourselves from many temptations. Paul illustrates this through the lust for money in 1Timothy 6:9, “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon, or money.

The third major principle Jesus illustrates in His prayer builds upon the principle of separation we just looked at, and that is sanctification through the truth. Jesus prays in vs.17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” This is one of the greatest principles in the New Testament. First, a definition of terms; sanctification means to be set apart. To be consecrated, set apart from profane use to holy usage. That is the purpose of separation. We are no longer of the world, but we are set apart for temple service, for holy service.

Now note that Jesus says, sanctification comes through the truth. What does that mean? It means when we look at Christ, we see the standard for righteousness. We see God’s standard for holiness. And when we emulate Christ and obey His truth we become conformed to His image. 2Cor. 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

So the Spirit of God, working in us obedience to the truth of God’s word, produces in us the image of Jesus Christ, by which we manifest Him to the world. That is sanctification, when we become holy vessels used for service to God.

Secondly, Jesus affirms, “Your word is truth.” I love that. Because truth is under fire in our day. But Jesus says unequivocally that His word is truth. Absolute, irrevocable, eternal truth is found in the word of God.

Every year, Oxford Dictionaries chooses a word or expression to “reflect the passing year in language.” For the Word of the Year 2016, they chose “post-truth.” They define “post-truth” as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

So basically, what they are saying is that in 2016 the word that characterized this generation the most indicates that our society doesn’t believe in absolute truth anymore. They believe in relative truth, as defined by their emotions and personal inclinations.

This is why the world hates us. Because the Christian’s worldview is completely opposed to this post-truth mindset. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Objective truth only exists because we have God’s Word. Jesus says in John 17;17, “Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth.” Both Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). Psalms 119:160 says, “The entirety of your word is truth.” When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth of God, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person or age to age. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks truth is subjective or dependent upon their preferences. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by Jesus Christ.”

The final principle we see in this section of Christ’s prayer is that sanctification not only comes through separation and the word, but through service. Vs.18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

So sanctification means to be set apart for good works. Eph. 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

The temple of God was for service to God, for worship to God. They are really one and the same; service and worship. You cannot have one without the other. Romans 12:1 illustrates that perfectly. It says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” And notice how that service and worship is accomplished by the way; by separation from the world, vs.2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

What is our purpose in sanctification? That in being conformed to the image of Christ we may be the manifestation of Christ to the world. Jesus models this Himself. “As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” Just as he was God’s instrument, sent to be the Light to a blind and dying world, so He sends us to do the same. We are sent to the same work, sent with the same resources, and thus we are continuing the work of Jesus in the world. That is the process of sanctification. We serve the Lord, as the temple of God.

Further, he prays, this will be made possible by his death on the cross: “For their sake I sanctify myself.” He dedicated Himself to be used as an instrument of righteousness by going to the cross. In order that we might be sanctified in the truth. And as the outcome of that death of Jesus on our behalf we are granted righteousness, and holiness, and the indwelling power of the Spirit by which we too may be useful instruments in the Kingdom of God.

For a myriad of reasons, New Year’s Day compels people to think of making resolutions for the new year. I’m not alone, I think, in usually deciding to begin a new exercise program. Actually, mine started the day after Christmas. December 26th is my birthday, and that is usually reason enough to try to turn back the clock. So New Year’s Day is just further incentive to make good on my resolution for better health, or lose weight, or whatever.

And I think that such calendar prompts are helpful. It helps to measure time, to take note of your situation, and then make plans and take action steps. If we didn’t do that from time to time, then we end up like the man in Psalm 90:9, we end our days with a sigh. We realize too late that we failed to number our days and make good use of the stewardship of time and resources that God has given us.

But I also think that it is a mistake at such a time to focus merely on the physical. I would urge you to also think of a spiritual plan for the New Year. To make resolutions and a commitment to mature spiritually in the Lord. And there are a lot of things that you could do in that respect. You might resolve to be faithful in church attendance. You might commit financially to support the church. You might resolve to be more engaged in ministry in the church.

But if I had to make a recommendation for the best spiritual resolution that you could make which would have the greatest possible impact, not only for yourself, but also on your church, your family, friends and coworkers, I would suggest that you resolve to be a better man or woman of prayer. That doesn’t mean that I think reading your Bible is not essential to Christian health, or that other godly disciplines are not profitable. But it simply means that if you become a man or woman of prayer you cannot help but become more attuned to the things of God. A committed prayer life will immeasurably enrich all areas of your spiritual life. You cannot have a vibrant prayer life and be a lukewarm Christian. A diligent, effective prayer life will elevate your spiritual maturity in all areas. It will improve your devotional times, it will improve your ministry involvement, and it will affect your witness to others.

However, I emphasize that such a commitment must result in effective prayers. Not merely going through the motions. As Jesus said in Matt. 6:7, “…when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” So it’s not the quantity of our prayers that matters as much as the quality of our prayers. As James said, “the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” On the other hand, praying the rosary over and over again is just meaningless repetition and is profitless.

So with that as our goal, then if we would achieve effective prayers we should look to the supreme example, and that is of course Jesus Himself. The Bible records many instances of Jesus praying. But while we see many instances in which we are told Jesus prayed all night or that He spent much time in prayer, we have only records of brief sentences of His prayers. We have what is called the Lord’s prayer, but it isn’t a prayer which Jesus prayed. It was a model prayer for the disciples to learn to pray. So as we come to this 17th chapter of John, we have a tremendous opportunity to study the prayer of Jesus in full measure. It is a comprehensive prayer, and as such it is one in which we can study and emulate in full confidence that we are praying according to the will of God, which Jesus told us is the key to effective prayer.

Let’s look then at the beginning of this prayer on the last night of Jesus’ public ministry. This is widely known as His High Priestly prayer. In that sense, it is a prelude to His heavenly ministry. Jesus ends His earthly ministry by interceding through prayer in His heavenly ministry. Hebrews 7:25 says, “He ever lives to make intercession for us.” And so this prayer is a foretaste of His ministry in heaven as the mediator between God and man.

I want to point out for you seven essential components of effective prayer as illustrated in this prayer of Jesus. Or at least what we see in the first five verses. First we must pray to the right person, then in the right timing, for the right purpose, according to the will of God, according to the knowledge of God, that we might do the work of God, that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son.

Now there is some overlap there, but I think that will serve as a sort of outline by which we can examine this prayer for our benefit. Let’s notice first, praying to the right person. Jesus addresses His prayer to the Father. Of all the ways God could have chosen to be called, and out of all the names of God, Jesus uses the title Father. And we know that in the disciple’s model prayer, known as the Lord’s prayer, Jesus told the disciples as well to address God as their Father.

The title Father illustrates that God is not some distant, aloof, or abstract god afar off in the universe, or far beyond our comprehension. But God is our heavenly Father, which reveals the person and the personality of God. It reveals the intimacy we can have with the Father through Jesus Christ. And it reveals the love of God towards His children. It reveals the relationship we have with God, by which we can say, “Abba, Father.”

Note that Jesus calls God “Father” and He instructs us to call God “Father” which means that we are the children of God and thus co-heirs with Christ. As Jesus was the Son of God, He has brought many sons to glory, bought by the redemption of His blood, so that we are called the children of God. That relationship of Father and child is the basis for effective prayer. Because as Jesus said in Matt.6:8, “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” It means we can come to Him whenever we want, wherever we are and know that He hears us, and that He wants to help us, and that He will give us what we need, even with the same confidence that Jesus could appeal to His Father.

Secondly, note that Jesus prays not only to the right person, but in the right timing. Jesus says, “the hour has come, glorify your Son.” All through our Lord’s ministry He has said, “My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come.” But now as he approaches Calvary the hour has come. He is speaking of the hour in which He is offered up as a sacrifice for sin on the cross.

Jesus makes it clear that His hour was the hour of His crucifixion in John 12:27, Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” He went on to clarify what that meant in vs.31, ‘Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”

We too must pray according to the timing of God. Our timetables are not necessarily God’s timetables. I’ve seen that illustrated in my own life time and time again. For instance, we want a new car, so we get a loan for a car, and that becomes a monthly bill. Now every month when the bill is due I look to God to “supply my needs.” I think, surely, God knows that it’s the first of the month. What’s He waiting for? And when He doesn’t supply what I want just when I think He should I start to doubt the goodness or the love of God. But I need to remember that God didn’t sign that contract, I did. I let my glory, and my lusts and my desires set a timetable that God didn’t have any say so over. We need to remember Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” Jesus knew that God had appointed Him to die at the right time, and thus He prayed in accordance with the timing of God, confident that God’s timing was perfect. We don’t always know the timing of God, but we can wait patiently for it, trusting that our heavenly Father knows what His perfect time is.

Thirdly, Jesus prays, and we should pray, according to the purpose of God. “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” It’s interesting that Jesus asked to be glorified, because the hour had come to be glorified, but that glorification resulted in His death. That’s ironic, isn’t it? But Jesus considered it glory to die on the cross for us, that we might be reconciled to God, so that He might bring many sons to glory. His glory came at the expense of His death. And His glory was to glorify the Father.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question; what is the chief end of man? And the answer is, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. When we aim to glorify Him, then we will find the joy of Christ that He promised we would have. Joy is not found in self glory, or self gratification, but it is found in serving the Lord, and doing all for His glory.

So when we pray, we need to remember that principle. We must ask ourselves when we pray for things, are we praying to achieve God’s purposes or for ours, for our glory or for God’s glory? God’s glory requires that we die to ourselves first and then He will glorify us. James said in James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” So selfish motives in prayer is a form of self glorification. Our desire should not be to glorify ourselves, but to glorify God. Jesus could ask God to glorify Him because everything He did glorified the Father. How can we pray for God to glorify us? To reveal us as His people, as His children, as made in HIs likeness and conformed to His image. When we are obedient to Him, and thus reflect Him, then He will glorify us.

Romans 8:17 tells us though that our glory comes the same way Jesus did; through suffering. “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

Fourthly, we need to pray as Jesus prayed, not only to the right person, in the right timing, for the right purpose, but also according to the will of God. Now that may seem a little redundant. There cannot be much daylight between the purpose of God and the will of God. But perhaps we might think of the purpose of God as referring to His eternal purpose. Ephesians 3:10 speaks of this eternal purpose; “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So that speaks perhaps of the eternal purposes of God, whereas the will of God achieves that purpose as it is acted out in the daily events and exercises of our lives.

So in an example of praying according to the will of God, Jesus says in vs.2, “even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” The will of God is rooted in the authority of God, which He has delegated to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has all authority over life. He is the Creator of all. John 1 tells us “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.

So does not the Creator have authority over His creation? And since the Creator gives life to His creation, should not the creation recognize His authority to determine the ebb and flow of our lives? Should we not recognize that He gives us life, and thus His will should be our will? Then certainly when we pray, it is not to shape the will of God, but to seek and to submit to the will of God.

Jesus prayed according to the will of God. In the Garden of Gethsemane a few hours later, He prayed sweating drops of blood, “not my will, but yours be done.” When we are attuned to the Father’s will, then our prayers will be answered. We subordinate our will to the Father’s will.

It’s like a diet that you may want to adhere to in the New Year to achieve your fitness goals. The diet says, no sweets. But you want sweets. You love sweets. And so the diet is arduous for you. It’s difficult and you are constantly in a battle of wills. But if you could somehow become a different person – one that hated sweets. Why, then you would have no trouble in keeping the diet, would you? Because you hate sweets, and the diet restricts sweets. Now your will is in agreement with the diet plan. And so the diets is no longer difficult.

So it is with God’s plan for us. When we were of the world then we loved the things of the world. But when we are saved we become a new person. Now we hate what God hates, and love what God loves. So His will becomes our will. And our prayers are not a battle with God to get what we want, but they are in accordance with His will. And His will is clearly laid out for us in His word. Knowing the will of God is found in the knowledge of God revealed in His word.

That leads to the next point, we need to pray as Jesus did, according to the knowledge of God. Jesus prayed in vs.3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” We can know God, and know the will of God, because we have known Jesus Christ and believed in Him. Hebrews 1:3, speaking of Christ says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”

So if we want to know what God is like, we need only to look at Christ. He was God manifested to man. And when we believe that, then we exhibit saving faith, by which we are saved from our sins and given eternal life. Jesus came to teach us the truth of God, the knowledge of God, and give us the word of God. So when we pray, we can pray according to the revealed knowledge of God. That’s how we can know the will of God, because we have the word of God, which reveals the mind of God.

Sixthly, we need to pray that we might do the work of God. If we really want to do the will of God, then we must do the work of God. Jesus prayed in vs 4, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” So many times when we pray, we pray that God will do something for us. And God does many things for us. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from above. It says that God gives us the ability to make money, to be prosperous and successful. Jesus said God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust.

But how often do we pray that we might do the works of God? That God would strengthen us to be a witness at work? Or that God would give me the opportunity to talk to my neighbor about the Lord? How often do we pray that God would give us a gift that we might serve His church? Prayer is an essential part of service. And service to God is worship of God. Far too often we think that all God requires of us is to attend a meeting once a week or so and sing some songs and that constitutes worship. That may be the beginning of worship, but it certainly is not the end of it. Romans 12:1 says you are “to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Present your body to God as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual service of worship, to do what? Well, the rest of the passage says it is to exercise your spiritual gifts within the body, that is within the church. Paul goes on to say these spiritual gifts are not for self edification, or to glorify yourself, but to build up the church through means of prophecy (that is preaching), or in serving, or in teaching, or in exhortation, or through giving, or in leading, or in showing mercy, and all is to be done in love for one another. “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” Those are just some of the good works we have been saved to do. And we need to pray that God will give us His grace that we might do them.

Finally, we need to pray that all would be done to the glory of Christ. Our godly works are to glorify Christ. Jesus prayed in vs 5, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” We traditionally tack on the end of our prayers the phrase; “in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.” And we do that because Jesus Himself said whatever we ask for in His name the Father will do.

But to ask in Jesus’s name is not just some ritualistic appendage to our prayers, but it is an understanding and desire that all would be done to glorify Jesus Christ. He is worthy of all glory. Philippians 2:6 says about Christ that “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (or held onto) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus was asking in this prayer that He might once again take His rightful place in glory with God, the same glory that He had with God before He laid it aside to be humiliated in flesh. And God answered that prayer, according to Philippians 2. God gave Him the name above every name, that every knee would bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This really goes back to the authority of Christ. He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And so when we come before Him to pray in His name, we pray to the Father in the name of His beloved Son, whom He has exalted at His right hand, and with whom He shares all glory. This same Jesus is our Redeemer, our Advocate, our Mediator, our Great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us.

All of our works then should be for His glory. All of our lives should be lived for His glory. Everything we do should reflect Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of the Spirit of Christ who now lives in us, that He might do the works of Christ in us. That is the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit, that we might be enabled to do the works of Christ.

When we understand these principles of prayer as illustrated by Jesus’s prayer, then we will find our prayers effectual. We will pray without ceasing. We will pray fervently. We will pray for leading, for strength to do His will. We will pray for all the saints. We will pray for our enemies. We will pray for our government. We will pray for the expansion of Christ’s kingdom. And when we pray that way, it will elevate all areas of our spiritual lives to a higher plane, so that we may even more reflect Jesus Christ.

We are going to continue to look at Christ’s prayer for at least a couple of more weeks. But for now there is a lot here that we can begin to emulate. Peter said He is our pattern, that we might trace our lives over. Considering how important our prayer life is, there can be no more noble resolution this New Year than to become a greater man or woman of prayer. And the way to do that is to pattern our prayers after Christ’s example. That we might pray to the right person, in the right timing, for the right purpose, according to the will of God, according to the knowledge of God, that we might do the works of God, and that all would be done to the glory of God’s Son. May God give us the grace that we might commit to pray in this New Year with the same confidence and effectiveness as Jesus, as we pray in His name, to His Father and to our Father.

As those of you who are regulars here have come to realize by now, I do not go out of my way to preach topical messages on holidays. So, as such, I do not have a “Christmas message” per se for you this morning. That being said however, I feel that today’s message does speak to the real meaning of Christmas that unfortunately is often obscured by the focus on just the birth of Christ. The real message of Christmas I feel is that Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. Not just some sentimental nostalgia about a baby born in a manger, but a dawning of a new covenant, a new age in which God and sinners are reconciled. That speaks more to the purpose of Christ’s coming than the manner of His coming. The manner is important. But His purpose in coming is the main point.

So as most churches this morning are focusing on the first few hours of Christ’s life, I want to focus on the last few hours before His death. And in that timeframe, Jesus was detailing His plan and purpose not only for His life, but also His legacy for His disciples. We have been looking for weeks now at this last evening of Jesus’s life, in the passage known as Christ’s Upper Room Discourse. We are now down to the last few sentences. And Jesus makes five statements in these last 9 verses which we want to look at today. Each one of them is so pregnant with truth that we might easily spend a sermon on them individually. But in the interest of time, we are only going to look briefly at these statements.

At first glance, there is little to tie all of them together other than the impending departure of Christ. So from that perspective, we might surmise that Christ gives them these final principles in order to strengthen them and prepare them for what is to come.

The first statement Christ makes is found in vs.25, which we could summarize by saying, “the veil is lifted.” The actual words of Jesus are as follows: “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.”

Now I summarize this statement by saying “the veil is lifted,” because it refers back to the Old Testament period which the disciples were a part of, but are now transitioning out of. In Hebrews 9, the author tells us that in the old covenant, there was a tabernacle, and within the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies where the presence of God dwelled. Though God’s presence was there, He was veiled to the people. And only once a year the high priest offered sacrifices for himself and the people and went in before the presence of God to intercede on their behalf.

Hebrews tells us that the sacrifices and the altar and the high priests and the Holy of Holies separated by the veil were earthly pictures of heavenly realities. Hebrews 9:11 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” vs.24, “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

That means according to chapter 10 that we too have full access to God through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:19, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” By faith in Christ, the author is saying, we have entrance through the veil to God, by the blood of Jesus Christ.

So to go back to vs.25, then Jesus is saying, the time has come when I will perform the ultimate sacrifice and make it possible for you to enter into the Holy of Holies. That which was up to this point figurative and ceremonial, will now be done away with because the One who completes the picture has come. So that no more will there be need for pictures and symbols and parables and figurative language, but I will now tell you plainly of the Father, because I have offered the supreme sacrifice so that you are not separated from God by this veil, through which you now see dimly, but the veil will be torn in two so that you may draw near to God and be taught of God fully.

Jesus is stating that it was a new age in man’s relationship with God. Where there was once enmity, there is now peace. Where there was once separation, there is now full access. Where there was once pictures and symbols and parables, there is now the truth of God made manifest in Christ, through His word, and in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Thus Christ can say as He did earlier, that it was to our advantage that He went away. So that’s the first principle; that through Christ as our high priest we now have full access to God.

Secondly, because of this veil being lifted, Jesus says you will know the familial love of the Father. That’s the second point; to know the familial love of the Father. Jesus says this in vs.26 and 27, “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”

I think the key to understanding this statement is to understand the word love that Jesus says the Father has towards us. Contrary to most references in the New Testament, this love is not agape love as we are used to seeing. But this word for love Jesus uses is the Greek word “phileo” which means the love of family. This love speaks of a new relationship we can have with God that is made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

This love enables us to have a familial relationship with God which had not been possible before the veil was lifted in Christ. Having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we are not only able to go directly before the throne of God, but He has also come to us. He has given us His Spirit to dwell in us. So that we have now become the Holy of Holies where the Spirit of God dwells. As 1 Cor.3:16 says, “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.”

God no longer dwells in temples made with human hands, but in the hearts of His people. The sacrifice of Christ on our behalf makes us part of His family. And God has a special love towards His family. Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
So that as the Christmas hymn proclaims, “Pleased, as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.” Emmanuel, “God with us.” Not just as a baby born to men, but “Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.”
Thirdly, the basis of that relationship that both the disciples and we enjoy with the Father is founded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel Jesus condenses into four statements, which constitute our creed. We simply believe this creed, and the blood of Jesus Christ is applied to us, and we receive all these benefits of being sons and daughters of God. So Jesus states this creed containing four major points in vs.28; “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

This statement is tremendous in its simplicity and conciseness. One sentence with four points, and yet it contains the major doctrines of the gospel upon which we base our faith. Notice, “I have come forth from the Father (that is speaking of His deity). I am come into the world (that is speaking of His incarnation.) I am leaving the world (that speaks of His death by crucifixion). I go to the Father (that speaks of is His resurrection and ascension).”

This illustrates that simply recognizing Jesus as a baby in a manger, or as a good teacher, does not really constitute believing in Him. We must believe in His deity; that He existed in the beginning with God and He was God. Secondly, we must believe in His incarnation; that He is God who became flesh and dwelt among us yet without sin. Thirdly, we must believe that His death on the cross was the supreme sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and it was a voluntary act of sovereign grace. And fourthly, we must believe that God, having found no fault in Christ raised Him from the dead and He ascended to the right hand of the Father after all authority and power had been given to Him. That is what it means to believe in Him. And upon confession and faith in this creed and nothing less, the blood of Jesus Christ is made effective for us, cleansing us from sin, and secures us in the family of God, so that we share in the inheritance of Christ.

Fourthly, we see in this passage the faltering faith of the faithful. Vs.29, His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”

I think this statement by the disciples is sincere but it is incomplete in the sense that they have a immature faith at this point. God gives us trials in order to refine our faith, but also to strengthen our faith and mature it. Our faith grows in the fires of adversity. Up to this point, the faith of the disciples was mostly academic. I mean, they had certainly left all to follow Him, and thus suffered some as a result of that decision. But the real tests of their faith was yet to come. Consequently, their faith was still immature.

Consider Peter’s confession that though all fall away, he would never fall away. He was sincere, but he had no idea of what it would require of him to stay by the Lord’s side. They believed up to a point, but it was an untested, and as a result, it was immature faith. And yet all the disciples were in the same boat as Peter. They all would fall away that night. They all would desert the Lord. And there is no difference between those first disciples and us. We come to Christ through faith, but it is not fully developed. As we encounter trials and tribulations, God works in us to strengthen our faith, and to mature us in the image of Christ as we participate in the fellowship of His sufferings.

So to prepare the disciples for this testing what Jesus wants to reiterate was His relationship to the Father. He says “I am not alone because the Father is with Me.” This is what their faltering faith needs to rest upon in this hour of trial; that He and the Father were One. The deity of Christ is essential to their faith, so that though they may stumble, they would not fall headlong. Because their relationship with God depends upon His relationship with God. And He and the Father are inseparable. They need to know that Jesus is Lord, even when circumstances may seem to be declaring it untrue.

Fifthly, Jesus wants to remind the disciples of the peace of God and the good will of God in the face of tribulations. Vs.33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

When Jesus says in verse 33, “These things I have spoken unto you that in my you might have peace, He’s not saying that you’re not going to have tribulation, or difficulties, or trials and troubles. He’s simply saying that in the midst of the difficulties, and trials, and troubles, the hostility of the world, the persecution, perhaps even the loss of life, He will give us peace – a sense of the calm that comes from the assurance of the expiation of our sins and of a heavenly Father whose presence through the Spirit is with us in all the experiences of life.

The peace of God is two fold. On the one hand, we who were at enmity with God now have peace with God. Our sins have been expiated. We have been adopted by the Father and indwelled by the Spirit of God, so that we have permanent communion with God. That relationship we have is the foundation of our peace as we got through the trials and tribulations of this world. How much more can we ask for than to know that the Creator of all things is with us, and that He loves us and will never leave us. That He hears us whenever we call upon Him. That we can come to Him whenever we need Him and He welcomes us and promises to help us. That is a peace not as the world gives, but as only God can give to those that love Him and whom He loves.

And notice that He doesn’t say as you might would expect, “you have overcome the world. But that He has overcome the world. He is our victory. He is our advocate. He is our strength. All our resources and blessings come through Him to us. So our victory is settled because He was victorious over sin and death, and over all principalities and powers. He is the object of our faith, and He is the source of our victory. And so in Him, we can know the good will of God towards men, and the peace of God that passes all understanding.

When the angel proclaimed Christ’s birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:10 he said, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The fact that Jesus has come from God to be our Savior is the source of great joy to all people. God has become our Savior. And because of that fact, we can say with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Christ has secured our peace, He is the source of our joy, and because He has made it possible for us to be sons and daughters of God.

Charles Wesley wrote a Christmas hymn in 1739 which states in prose these same principles we have looked at today. I would like to read them for you, in hope that you will consider them in a new light, and more completely appreciate the peace of God and His good will towards men.

Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn king”
Peace on earth, and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
Joyful all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With angelic host proclaim
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn king”

Christ, by highest heaven adored
Christ the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of the favored one
Veiled in flesh, the God head seen
Hail the incarnate deity
Pleased, as man with men to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn king”

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
”Glory to the newborn King!”

The Christmas season is supposed to be a season of joy. It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. That’s what we are told, at least, in tradition and song. And yet I would suggest that for a lot of people, Christmas time is anything but joyful. For many people that are financially strapped, it is a stressful time. And for many who have lost loved ones, it is a sorrowful time. I think our expectations during this holiday are part of the problem. Perhaps because of the media’s portrayal of what we should be the Christmas experience, we have high expectations when it comes to this holiday in particular.

However, I do believe that the Bible teaches us to expect joy during this season. In fact, the angels announced to the shepherds in Luke 2:10, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” So the Lord’s birth was intended to be something which would bring great joy to all people on earth. It should be something to celebrate.

One of the Christmas carols we sang earlier was “Joy to the World.” I didn’t realize that the music for that song was attributed to Handel, of Handel’s Messiah fame. The words were written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, who based them on the second half of Psalm 98. The first and second verses are as follows;
Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Verse 2
Joy to the earth! the savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

So if joy is supposed to the be the experience of Christmas, then what is the problem? Why are we not experiencing joy? Well, I would suggest that the problem is our perspective. We often have sorrow rather than joy because our perspective is shortened. We are focused on the wrong things. We focus on the past, or on our circumstances or compare our situations with what we think others have. And quite often, we have unrealized expectations.

In the passage of scripture we are looking at today, the disciples had mistaken expectations as well. Instead of experiencing joy, they were experiencing grief and sorrow. And Jesus is quite concerned about that. In fact, practically the whole Upper Room discourse is devoted to Jesus trying to lift the hope of the disciples. He offers hope, and comfort and peace in the previous verses. Now in today’s passage He offers joy.

It’s amazing really that in the midst of the greatest trial and suffering of Christ’s life, He is concerned about our joy. That is a lesson for us. That no matter how dire the circumstances, there is the promise of joy through Christ to those who are His disciples. But there can be a promise of joy, there can be the gift of joy, and yet it can remain unclaimed, unexperienced. So let’s look at this section and try to learn what Jesus is telling us, how we can know the joy of Christ. And that is the joy of Christmas. It’s not going to be found in the commercialization of Christmas, or the kind of joy the world gives. The joy of Christmas is found in Christ.

Before we expound upon these verses though, we need to remember the context of this passage. In the directly previous verses, Jesus is speaking of the ministry of Spirit of truth who will disclose the Lord’s words to them and teach them and work through them to be a witness to the world.

So within that context, we might expect that the following verses will be related to the ministry of the Spirit as well. The first principle then that Jesus teaches is that joy, or the lack of it, is often related to our perspective. In vs.16, Jesus says, “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” Now this is a bit of a riddle, and the disciples evidently thought so as well. The reason teachers sometimes employed these type of riddles in their teaching was to get their students to ask questions. To get them to think it through.

And we see that’s exactly what happens. “Some of His disciples then said to one another, ‘What is this thing He is telling us, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”

Now the problem is not that they were asking the question. Because Jesus certainly phrased the riddle in order to make them ask questions. But the problem is they are asking the wrong person. They ask one another.

Jesus had just finished telling them in vs.15 that the Spirit would disclose to them the things of Christ. So they heard that, but in practice they weren’t looking to the Spirit. They were asking one another. And the result was confusion and ignorance.

Folks, let this be a lesson to us. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He has the answers to life. So when you have questions, ask Jesus. Don’t come to Him as a last resort after you have exhausted all your natural resources, after you have failed time and time again in your own wisdom. But ask of God. James said in James 1:5, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

The problem with the disciples perspective was it was short sighted. Jesus had told them He was going away. He had told them He was going to be killed. And so they were upset. Because they had pinned their hopes upon Him. And well they should have. But their hopes were wrong expectations. They expected Him to establish a physical, immediate Messianic kingdom here on earth, overthrow the Roman government, and seat them on thrones of power as His cabinet ministers within the kingdom. That was their expectation. And it was ill founded. Because that wasn’t the plan of God.

How many times are we discouraged and disappointed in life, especially as we attempt to live out the Christian life, because we have misplaced expectations? To put it bluntly, we expect to have our cake and eat it too. We expect to reap the glories of heaven, and yet experience the glories of earth. And since we are now on the earth, that takes precedence. We want glory now. We want prosperity. We want blessings now. We want worldly success as a benefit for godliness. But God doesn’t necessarily promise those things. In fact, God promises hardship now, but triumph and joy in the age to come.

So Jesus answers that false expectation with another enigmatic statement. Vs.20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.” Now we see the promise of joy. But note that their joy comes as a consequence of their sorrow.

I want to point out here that I didn’t write these words. I didn’t create this principle. If I were making this up, I would tell you what the false prophets on television tell you; that God doesn’t want you to suffer. That God never wants you to suffer. He just wants you to be happy. And whatever makes you happy makes God happy. That is the false prophet’s message today. And it’s a popular message. It’s what people want to hear. And so they seek out those false prophets who will tickle their ears and tell them what they want to believe.

But the truth is that Jesus says we will suffer. He said back in vs.2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” Jesus said in vs.33, “In this world you will have trouble.”

So I would suggest that the joy of the Christian is not tied to your circumstances. Our circumstances change from day to day, from sorrow, to grief, from riches to poor, depending on the tides of this world. But the joy of the Lord carries us through whatever trials we may endure. Maybe it would help to define our terms. Joy is not necessarily happiness. Or at least it is not constant happiness. Switchfoot has a song in which they say that happiness is a yuppie word. Happiness is the aspiration of a narcissistic world. Modern man is addicted to the notion of achieving happiness at all costs. And as such we are doomed to missing out on true joy because constant happiness is unachievable. The Bible never promises us constant happiness.

However, Jesus does promise us joy. Joy that will not be taken from us. So what is joy? I believe it is an abiding hope, a sense of contentment, the presence of peace that we can have no matter what our present circumstances may be. It is something that is not focused as much on the present as it is on the future, or the goal.

Jesus illustrates this joy with a analogy, or a parable that is a very familiar figure to all of us. Vs.21, “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.”

I don’t know this the of pain and grief that a woman feels in childbirth, but I have witnessed it. As I’m sure you all have some familiarity with childbirth. And I suppose that it is one of the most painful things a person can endure. In fact, many women have died giving birth. But commensurate with the pain is the joy that is produced. So that you might say that the degree of joy is directly related to the degree of pain. But that’s not entirely true either. Because the joy of a child in the long run far outweighs the temporary pain of childbirth.

So it is with our sorrows and joy. Ps.30:5 says, “Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” For the Christian, our sufferings are temporary, but our joy is eternal. However, it is important to realize that suffering does not eclipse joy. In fact, it is turned to joy. And the way that is achieved is by having a longer range view, a different perspective.

Consider Jesus Himself as our example. Hebrews 12:2 says, we should fix our eyes on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” What that verse tells us is that Jesus went to the suffering of the cross with the view of the joy set before Him, knowing that the result of His suffering would be the joy found at the right hand of God, when He was glorified because of His obedience even unto death.

I am not espousing a false type of piety that claims joy in the midst of a tragedy of some sort. We aren’t supposed to pretend everything is joyful when it isn’t, and somehow that is construed as faith and that faith results in actualizing joy. I don’t believe that is what Jesus is teaching. Obviously, you can’t rejoice in everything that happens in life. Jesus Himself wept and was greatly disturbed in His Spirit on at least a couple of occasions. So Jesus isn’t saying that it’s wrong to feel pain, or wrong to grieve.

On the contrary, Jesus says you will grieve. There will be times when you will feel pain like a woman in childbirth. But He also promises that sorrow will be turned to joy. And though there may be times when circumstances sort themselves out and we find our sorrow turned to joy on a physical level, I think this verse must be considered as relating to spiritual joy. God can turn our sorrow into joy when we look at it from a spiritual perspective.

For instance, no one can take the joy of my salvation away. No matter what I lose on this earth, no one can take that away. It is reserved in heaven for me, far beyond earthly circumstances. And nothing can take away God’s love for me. Romans 8:38, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So in the security of that knowledge, I know that Romans 8:28 then is true; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God will work all things together for good.

Now how will Christ accomplish His promise of turning the disciples sorrow to joy? Well, in verse 16 He equates their sorrow and grief stemming from His leaving them. ““A little while, and you will no longer see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me.” That statement is paralleled in vs 20; “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned to joy.” So we see that the fact that they will no longer see Him results in their sorrow and grief. And in like manner, when they see Him again, their grief will be turned to joy.

The obvious conclusion is that He is talking about His death producing sorrow and grief. And then His resurrection will be the occasion for turning their grieving into joy. And that certainly is true. But there is evidently a further explanation as well when you consider vs. 22; “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” That joy that they have when they see Him again, will not be taken away from you. I believe this statement indicates a more full measure of joy than simply temporal. He is talking about eternal joy.

Jesus will be resurrected 3 days after His crucifixion. And that will be a joyous occasion. But He is not with them constantly during those next 40 days He is on earth. He comes and goes. And many days they don’t know where He is during that time. And then after 40 days He is taken up into heaven. So what happens to their joy at that point, if it is dependent upon His physical presence with them?

Well, I believe as you consider the context of vs.15 and other sayings of Jesus in the Upper Room discourse, He is talking about being with them forever in the presence of the Spirit. He said earlier in vs.6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

So again Jesus relates His leaving them as producing sorrow, but their advantage will come from the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus speaks of that day, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit would come and be with them forever. And through the Spirit of Christ, Jesus would be with them always. His presence in them in the person of the Spirit would be the source of their joy. Because He would be their Helper, their Comforter, their constant guide, their source of truth, and their source of hope and peace.

That helps us understand what He is saying in vs.23; “In that day [what day? the day the Spirit comes to dwell in you forever] you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”

That helps us because Jesus has already told us what the Holy Spirit will do for us. Vs.15, “He takes of mine and discloses it to you.” So Jesus isn’t saying here that this is like Christmas for adults. We climb on God’s lap and ask for anything we want and just like Santa Claus, He will give it to us. We can’t ask for a Porshe 911 and get it. I have to admit, I find that prospect appealing to my flesh. But that isn’t what Jesus is saying.

He’s talking about His words, His truth, and His teaching. And the Holy Spirit will guide us, teach us, bring those words to our remembrance. He will take of Christ’s words and disclose them to us. That means He will disclose the truth to us. Jesus says in that day, you won’t ask me, because I won’t be present physically to ask as you do now. But I am giving you another Helper, and you will ask in Jesus’s name, and God will give you whatever you need.

I do think that our needs include physical needs. Phil. 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” But there is a difference between our needs and our wants. But though that is true, I think that the primary emphasis here is on our spiritual needs. Jesus has said that His words are life. His truth results in life. And Jesus has also said that you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Not only that, but Jesus calls the Spirit the Spirit of truth, so that we might be more certain that this is His chief ministry to us; to teach us the truth, to lead us in all truth. And when Jesus is gone, and the disciples cannot ask Him to help them, they will have the Spirit of truth to disclose His words to them.

Finally, in vs.24, Jesus says, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” Up until this point, the disciples asked Jesus directly anything that they had questions about or were concerned about. So Jesus says, now that I am leaving, you are to ask God in my name. To ask God in the name of Jesus is not just a phrase tacked on to the end of our prayers. Like some abracadabra and then presto, we get whatever we asked for. But to ask in Christ’s name is to ask according to His will. To ask according to His plan and purpose. To ask consistent with who Jesus is.

When we ask in His name, consistent with His will, then we will receive, and our joy will be made full. Literally, it says, our joy will be fulfilled. That speaks again of the promise of joy in the midst of sorrow. The promise of joy is fulfilled when we ask according to His will. That’s how Jesus Himself prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though He was suffering, sweating drops of blood, He prayed, “yet not My will, but Yours be done.” And though He continued to suffer, He considered the joy set before Him, and endured the cross, until He was exalted on high to the side of the Father’s throne.

The same is true for us as it was for Jesus. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

The next verse, Rom.8:17 also adds, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That is the key to having joy. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and as He considered the joy set before Him, so we must consider the joy set before us; even our inheritance.

And the way we do that is through the help of the Spirit of truth who will be with us forever. He is our Comforter, our Helper, and He will take of Christ’s words and disclose them to us, that we might have that joy fulfilled. Joy is the fruit of walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

It was a long time between the birth of Christ in a manger, and the joy that He experienced in glory in the presence of the Father. Thirty three years He suffered and was tried and tested. Thirty three years He suffered in all points like we do, yet without sin. He suffered as no man has ever suffered, leaving the throne of heaven for the life of a pauper, rejected of men whom He came to save. Yet as a consequence, God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a kingdom which will never end, and to which all knees shall bow. Consider Him this season. Consider His example. And keep the promise of His joy before you. Walk in the Spirit, and the joy of the Spirit will be with you, whatever the tidings, whatever the season, whatever the circumstances.