John
The Gospel of John
John 21 vs 15-25
February 3, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 21 Verse 15 •What we’re about to see here is an exchange between the resurrected Jesus and a very broken Peter. We’ve known Peter to be impulsive…we’ve also seen him reckless and brash…if you recall when Jesus was carrying around the water basin that night in the upper room…Peter objected… •When many began to fall away from following Jesus, John tells us in Chapter 6 that Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Will you leave Me also?” And Peter replied magnificently, “Where else would we go? You have the words of everlasting life!” And Mark tells us in Chapter 8 of his Gospel that Jesus once asked Peter who he said Jesus was and Peter responded immediately and brilliantly, “You are the Christ!” Truly a high point… •But then directly after that in Mark Chapter 8 we read how Jesus told the disciples of all the things that the Christ should suffer for the cleansing and rescuing of all men…and what did Peter do? He took Jesus aside and Mark tells us…in an act of open confrontational impulse…he rebuked Jesus! And Jesus’ response was certainly alarming, “Get behind Me Satan for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.” •You see that was Peter’s issue all along…and that’s our issue also…as Peter shows us precisely what it means to honor God with your lips but indeed have a heart far from Him. To be mindful, preoccupied with the things of this world, the issues of today and now rather than the things of God. •Well what are the things of God? That we may be mindful of them? Simply put, His will, His ways! For you and I to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength…yet what do we often do? We love ourselves with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength! Don’t we? We think we are all that! Man that God would have us be happy and have what we want? Man we may not be as mindful of the things of God as we think… •(Billy Graham Funny Story). You see His plan and will for each of us is that our minds would be utterly filled with thoughts and concerns of His glory, His grace…and our strength, our energy to be used not to please ourselves and gain worldly junk, or some sort of name or earthly credentials or accomplishment…but to be spent worshipping Him in our moments, in our circumstance and our situation…in our arguments and in our trials… •What are the things of God? To know Him…and to know Him is to love Him…and to love each other just as Jesus has loved us…and how’s that? How did He love us? In what manner? Yes, you are thinking now and its true, He loved us all the way to the cross…but have you ever considered that the manner in which He loved us was utterly, completely, whole-heartedly one-sided!? The Bible says that while we were His enemies, Christ loved us to death! •That is to be mindful of the things of God man…to grow so close to Him, to know Him so personally, to be filled with His Spirit, the Spirit of power, a sound mind, purpose, eternity and love to the point that they don’t have to love you back, they don’t have to treat you kindly…in fact they can scourge you, spit on you, mock you, shove a crown of thorns into your forehead….and yet, your love for them remains…and beyond simply remaining, it-is-shown! •The mind of Christ, the Bible would call it…the fruit of the Holy Spirit, God’s will…Peter had issues. But it’s interesting here as we peer into this final scene of John’s Gospel, where they are…they are on the beach around what? A fire of coals. •No doubt as Peter sat there with the Lord he was reminded of another fire of coals. One we find in John 18:18. The fire of coals where Peter stood and warmed himself, mindful of his physical discomfort, driven by his fear and faithlessness…yet here this fire of coals roasting this meal, at dawn on the beach, prepared by whom? Jesus. •Peter, I wanted to teach them, you rebuked Me. I wanted to wash your feet, you refused Me. I wanted you there with Me, you denied Me. I told you to wait for Me, you went fishing. I wonder how deep was Peter’s sorrow as he sat there at this fire of coals…entirely exposed. I wonder if he was prepared to hear words of rebuke that morning…you know, in a way, he probably even desired it… •Just like Peter I find myself so utterly sick of me sometimes. Sick of my failures, sick of having to live in this futile state, ya know…sick of not being good enough…but God’s grace washes over me as I sit with Him and peer into my fire of http://coals...in absolute honesty with the One who already knows me completely…no doubt as Peter was this morning…broken as he must have realized, he must have thought upon that last fire of coals that he was around…warming himself, mindful of his own comfort… •And then utter honesty with the Lord. What do you mean by honesty, Matt? Well understand, we cannot be healed until we are first honest. If you continue in thinking that he’s the problem or she’s the problem, or they are the issue for your discomfort, for your pain, for your anger, for your sin…then you are lost. Unless you are willing to turn from your sin, you are not willing to turn towards the Lord. And what we’ll see here in this account is a great healing, a great restoring…an utter renewal of Peter because he is indeed willing to be exposed…he is, maybe for the first time…honest. •You see it’s in the Greek. Hidden for you to find by John…by the Lord…as Jesus says to Peter, “Simon, do you agapeo Me more than these?” Now agapao is the Greek word for supreme, ultimate love…self releasing and unconditional love…it is the love that God has for us…it is the love displayed upon the cross the of Calvary. Agapeo describes a love that is in love with giving love. It is the love that we are to have and to show and to live out as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is the love that fills our hearts when we are born again. •"Peter, do you agapeo Me more than these?" What were the "these"? In the Greek the word is tuton which literally means, these things, these matters…maybe He’s referring to the fish, the breakfast…maybe the fishing…Peter’s livelihood. "Do you love Me more than your livelihood, Peter? Do you love Me more than the great success in your chosen profession? Having the height of success that morning in carrying to shore 153 large fish, do you love Me more than that, Peter? •Or the "these" could be referring to the other disciples because recall the conversation Peter had with Jesus in front of them that we read about in Matthew Chapter 26 and Mark Chapter 14 when Peter said, “even if all of these leave you, I will never…” In essence saying, "Lord, I am more faithful, and I love You more than the others…" Yet pride comes before the fall…and Peter had fallen... •And Peter replied, “Yes, Lord. You know that I phileo you.” Lord, You know. I love that. Brokenness. Contriteness. So many say they are the way they are…they live the way the live…because of someone else…so many say they know nothing of the Word of God because they have no time…so many say that they struggle with this sin or that sin because of what happens to them or what they’re around or whatever…but God has called us to accountability, responsibility and truth. If we are honest, our own failures and sins are our own…they are not the choices of others…they are OUR choices man…and Peter here is so honest. Jesus says, do you love me unconditionally, Peter replies…no. •“Lord, my heart is filled with fondness for you. But You know and I know that I have no strength. He’s basically saying here, before I told you I loved you more than any other, then my life denied you…I won’t do that again, I can’t…I’d rather be exposed and close to you then dishonest and following you from afar…therefore, others may agapeo You…but of them all, I am the least…I am fond of you Lord. •Many of us play the game that Peter is no longer willing to play. Lord You are my everything, My strength, My Lord and My God…then Mark 9 hits…and we aren’t willing to die to sin and self. When it comes to sin in our lives, when it comes to money, when it comes to booze, when it comes to sex out of wedlock, when it comes to drugs, when it comes to loving and serving others and living our lives not for ourselves and our own comforts but for the Lord’s will and worship…we so readily deny Him. And we think it normal. We call upon His grace…we are so busted… •We say we’ve received grace? Man, I’m under grace! We proclaim our own lack of relationship…Biblical grace, will always, always, always result in purposeful obedience to God’s ways. It’s Romans Chapter 1 Verse 5. “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith!” What do you mean, Matt? That doesn’t even make sense. I thought that grace meant that we are free and forgiven? It does and you are! You are free to live man! Live a life free from the deception and decay of evil. •Charles H. Spurgeon once noted, “A man who has within him this hope of perfection (which grace is) finds that it does not give him license to sin. I have heard a thoughtful person say, “If I had a good hope of being saved and knew that I would go to Heaven, I would live as I liked.” Perhaps you would, but then you have not that hope—and God will not give it to you while you are in such a state that you would like to live in sin. If a Christian could live as he liked, how would he live? Why, he would live absolutely without sin! If the Lord would indulge the newborn nature of His own children with unrestricted liberty, in that unrestricted liberty they would run after happiness! The unrenewed heart would run to sin, but the renewed heart quite as eagerly loves to obey the Lord. •Folks call upon grace as a license to sin all the time and in so doing they themselves pronounce their disagreement with the Word of God. Peter won’t go there…instead He is honest with the Lord, emptied of his own pride for the first time in his life…and in so doing, he is ready to take on the greatest honor of responsibility for the Lord. What? •I know what you’re thinking. He just told God that he didn’t love Him…true, but understand…he just showed God that he loves Him so much, he’s no longer willing to trust in himself and risk dishonoring the Lord! “Lord, You know!” Epic! This honesty, this brokenness, this love lived out…is to believe, is to follow, is what it means to press in to the Lord…only this love, none other. Peter has offered the other…the superficial love, the lip service lover, the passion filled pledge of allegiance…and he has failed…here in his seemingly darkest moment, he has finally turned the corner…absolutely poured out in front of the Lord and thus now, the Lord can use him! He’ll fail no more… •“Tend My sheep” the Lord replies. Well done man. You’ve finally began to learn to trust in Me Peter. To trust that I won’t forsake you…that I’m worth it…that all this life of being big Peter…living for you…its all worthless…time for your life to change man…welcome to My service…and then a second time… Chapter 21 Verse 16 •Again, Jesus asks agapeo, Peter responds phileo…”Tend My sheep, Peter.” Quit fishing, turn from the frustrations of your wanderings Peters…feed My little ones and tend my flock… Chapter 21 Verse 17 •A third and final time…Simon, son of Jonah…little boy…are you ready to grow up? Do you love Me? This time…phileo. Jesus meets him right where he’s at…Peter, are you fond of Me? This time Peter weeps…he knows full well what is happening here…he knows that he can’t answer this high call of the Lord to unconditional, powerful love…and he is grieved and he says to Jesus, “You know all thing…You’ve always known…You know that my wretched heart is capable of nothing but to be fond of you…” And Jesus no doubt places His hand upon Peter and finally responds…feed ‘em son… Chapter 21 Verses 18 - 19 •“Peter, when you were young, you wanted to give your life for Me. But you didn’t. You backed down. Well look, you won’t again and when you’re old, they’ll carry you off…and do the same to you as they did to Me.” But Peter wouldn’t have that…Peter would demand to be crucified upside down proclaiming to not be worthy enough to even die as Jesus died. •And Jesus says, even so, “Follow Me…” Chapter 21 Verses 20 – 23 •A bit of competitiveness between Peter and John? Possibly. A bit of companionship between Peter and John? Maybe…but ultimately Jesus clears it all up for Peter…You want to make it? Eyes up son! Doesn’t matter what I’ve asked or said of anyone else…you are to follow Me…no one, nothing else… •And notice Jesus doesn’t say John would live until He returned…He simply said John’s days were in His hand…and church history tells us John was poisoned, boiled and exiled before he would finally die…but Jesus doesn’t tell this to Peter…why would He? Chapter 21 Verses 24 – 25 •And thus we conclude John’s Gospel. But John says, “hey, this is just the beginning of the story…your story…of your great and awesome relationship with the One of whom I have written…”
John 21 vs 1-14
January 27, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 21 Verse 1 •Now this is intriguing because John doesn’t say, “Jesus came to them.” He says, “Jesus showed Himself to the disciples.” What’s significant about that is the idea there in the Greek is that Jesus was already there with them, yet unseen. The word in the Greek is phaneroo which quite literally means, “to make visible what is invisible.” •And I dig that because just as Jesus was at all times with them yet at this moment John says He simply physically manifested, Jesus is at all times with you and I! We may not always feel that way, we may not always want it that way, but nevertheless He is always with us. What great comfort it must have been for John when this clicked…and what great comfort it is, what great strength it will bring, when it clicks with us too and we place our trust in the One who will never leave us nor forsake us. Chapter 21 Verse 2 •Notice only seven disciples names…only seven disciples are together at this time. Where are the other 4? We’re not sure. John doesn’t say but it’s interesting that the number is 7. Possibly why John decided to close out his Gospel with this account as he thought upon this day and realized that it was seven of them which is the Biblical number of completion…and the Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart…pens down. •And I like how John introduces the folks. Peter first, Thomas second, then Nathaniel…finally John mentions himself and his brother and two un-named disciples. There’s a lot going on here. •First notice, and I believe this is significant, Peter, Tomas, Nathaniel all mentioned first and in that order. Who cares? So what? Well wasn’t it Peter who failed the Lord miserably…denying Him three times? Yet here he is, mentioned first. And wasn’t it Thomas who doubted the testimony of the others regarding Jesus being raised from the dead? Yet here he is, mentioned second. And wasn’t it Nathaniel who when Philip came to Him and said, “we have found the Messiah,” wasn’t it Nathaniel that didn’t believe saying, “can anything good come our of Nazareth?!” Yes! •Yet here they are, mentioned first, second and third by John among the disciples. And I love that because the order of grace is foreign to the minds of men! God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things to put to shame the mighty…God has chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are…such that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1) You see these are they that had been forgiven much, received much grace and therefore they loved much…and that love qualified them to lead. I love that! •And then John here throws us a curve ball and refers to himself as the Son of Zebedee…maybe it’s because they’re about to go fishing or maybe it’s to compliment and complete his own biography in a way. Several times John has written about himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” And now, here he refers to himself as the son of Zebedee…And I like this because it’s as if he’s saying that first and foremost I identify with Jesus…and along with that, I am the son of Zebedee…a fisherman. •You see when God calls you to Himself, He doesn’t wipe away who you are…your personality, your life, your family…No! He doesn’t remove your programming and key-in the programming of a worship robot. That’s religion. God’s not into that! The Bible says that He redeems you! Slanted towards hell, bent on sin…dark and destructive our tendencies…then when the Lord enters our hearts, our minds…our lives, the Bible says that we are renewed…we are no longer being conformed into the image of the world…the image of selfishness and greed and lust and death…but we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds as we walk out the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12) •And so John, he is the disciple of Jesus. The one that finds it absolutely remarkable and impactful that that Jesus would love him…yet he is also Zebedee’s son and in that there is the freedom and liberty to simply know Jesus…to enjoy real relationship…not robotship! •And then there are these two other disciples. John apparently can’t remember their names. I’m not sure I buy that. So why are they unnamed? That we may believe (Chapter 20 v31)…these two other disciples, as we look at this together…it’s us…you and me. Place yourself there with them on this beach on this day as Jesus just shows up. John says, you’re a part of this story too…John’s a pretty clever guy. Chapter 21 Verse 3 •Notice the disciples here, they’re brand new at this walking by faith bit. For the past 3.5 year they have followed Jesus, watched Jesus, heard Jesus, chillaxed with the Lord…but now things are quite new. Now they are to walk by faith. Now they are to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit…they are to learn to trust and wait upon the Lord… •Its just is if they are new Christians…what you and I experience today as we go from making our decisions and charting our daily course based upon what we see, what we perceive sensually with our five physical senses…we take in the information, we compute the calculations and we make our plans. We react you see to our sight… •But as a follower of Jesus we must live by faith…faith in the Lord and His ways and His truth…and therefore all of these things we see, hear, smell, touch and taste…they are all to be filtered through the truth of God’s Word and God’s ways so that we remain upon the path that follows the Lord…because truly that is the pathway to righteousness…the course, the decision, the action that will lead to life, joy, peace, purpose, power and love… •But this is something that requires a maturing process, this walking by faith business…its so very different than what we are used to in the flesh and many times the way you feel you should go is in direct contrast with what the Word of God would say about your specific situation and it is at that moment that you have a decision to make…walk by faith and follow what God’s word says…or walk by sight…? •The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, “there is a way that seems right to man but its end is the way of death.” And in our daily decisions as Christians, in our choices of how to deal with a matter or with a person or with just how you choose to spend your time…as Christians, day by day we learn this to be quite true…but it takes time…and directly proportionate with your progress in choosing the things of the Lord, taking up your own cross and denying your flesh, directly proportionate to that will be your spiritual growth and maturity…as God would say, “well done, you’re faithful to the measure of faith that I have given…I can trust you with more.” And as you follow closely after Him, press into Him, choose Him…He will choose you the Bible says and more and more and more revelation will be given… •But just like those who are early in the faith or immature in the Spirit, frustration will set in. “Where is God? Why hasn’t He showed up yet? What am I supposed to do…just sit here and wai?” Yes Peter, that’s exactly what you are to do…wait upon the Lord…but here he grows restless and John tells us he proclaims…well I’m going fishing! •But notice, he takes his homies with him…or better stated, they followed him. Happens to us too. We grow restless, we take matters into our own hands rather than resting and trusting in the Lord and what happens…man we carry our peoples out to sea and waste a bunch of time…we waste theirs and we waste ours…they caught nothing all night. Interesting how the restlessness comes at night and the wasted time comes within a time of darkness… Chapter 21 Verse 4 •Now it could be that they were far enough off the shore that they simply couldn’t identify Him as Jesus, not being able to see Him well enough…plus it was daybreak and most likely not particularly bright yet…or •It could be that there is a bit of a parallel here with the account of Mary not recognizing Him at the tomb. There certainly is a similarity in the Greek. Actually the phrase, “did not know it was Jesus,” is the same phrase we find in the earlier account, back in verse 14 of Chapter 20… •Mary was distraught with sorrow, eyes filled, vision blocked with tears…but we talked about this, how it was backwards in a way…because she was weeping at an empty tomb that is the present cause for our rejoicing! She had lost nothing, yet was wailing as if she had, and because of her angst she totally misses that Jesus is right there with her. And remember we talked about how we ourselves weep at empty tombs in our lives…for no reason man…when we should be rejoicing! •And here, these seven…restless…and so they go out and return to their worldly vocation…occupied with their bodily needs and therefore they weren’t even expecting Jesus…they too can’t recognize Jesus even though He’s right there with them! Surely these things are written for our learning man! •We can become so angry for anger sake, or so bitter for bitter sake, or so self pitiful for nothing! When as an act of our own free will we can simply trust in the Lord, turn the dag-on corner and rebuild what was lost in our marriages, start a-new with that neighbor that sends his dog to our yard to leave us gifts…we can decide to love, we can wipe our eyes of our self-full tears and start to look for Jesus man…and in so doing, He’ll be found. He promised! •We can get so immersed in making money, being somebody…moving on UUUUPPP! And we sit back and say, “well God has richly blessed!” Really? At the expense of what? Your family? At what cost? Your ministry unto God’s people? That’s God’s blessing? I’m not so sold that! How do you know that’s not a clever trick to water you down bro? What is it all going to be man when we stand in eternity and you give an account… •You know you might ask someone what is the most important thing in their lives and they might say, “my children.” And then they accept a higher position at work which requires much more time from them and they show what really is important to them…These men are out fishing, trying to get a meal, trying to make a living…and Jesus – RIGHT THERE – yet they knew not. Tragic. Chapter 21 Verse 5 •I love this. Here they are in their toil. Worthless man…catching nothing. Frustrated…maybe the others are muttering against Peter you know…and Jesus calls out to them! Just calls to them right where they are at. He doesn’t wait until they come back to shore…He doesn’t send a wind of delusion to drive them to their knees in submission…not His style man. He just speaks to them. I love that. •And look what He says, “Hey sinners! Hey um, ya’ll tired of being losers? You rebels!” No. He says, “children.” In the Greek that’s pideon which literally means, “my little guys.” Man I want those eyes. I want that heart! Those are the eyes of grace…that is the heart of love and power and purpose…that even though all of these men are a complete mess, Jesus greets them with a smile and with the love of family! •And He asks them, “Do you have any food? Have ya caught any substance?” And they answer Him, “No.” These guys are all right with me…because I must say that many who need substance and life from the Lord, which is only where it comes from…when asked how they’re doing…”ah, I’m just fine.” That attitude will leave you right where you’re at. “My little ones, do you need Me?” Is what Jesus is asking…they’re response…the right one…”yes, we have no food of our own…” •Jesus says, “No problem, I’ll hook you up.” Chapter 21 Verses 6 – 10 •Jesus is so cool and this is so practical…hey guys, you’ve being doing it the wrong way…in your own strength, try the right side of the boat…try doing it the right way…man just try it…and they did…and look, MUCH substance! So much that they had plenty to share, plenty to go around man! •And immediately John perceives that it is the Lord, he’s used to the Lord doing the miraculous…and so am I, man…and then Peter tweaks! I love Peter. He just throws off his fisherman’s gear and cannon-balls! Awesome man. I dig Peter, he’s a knuckle head true and he’s far from perfect true, but man I want to be like him as I see him here…”the Lord’s over there!” SPLASH! •And as they near the land Jesus has a fire of coals ready and He says, “bring some of the fish…I’ll meet you right here and we’ll enjoy them together!” Man this speaks to me…Jesus calls out to them, tells them…reveals to them the right way…they obey…there is much much substance, so much that many can and will and are filled…and then, we enjoy it together…that intimacy is so sweet in my life…and notice, where did it all come from? Jesus! •Alone, I’m aimless, pointless, the ministry is unfruitful…but then God provides…everything…and all I do is walk through the open doors in obedience and He brings about a great catch…great substance…and then we sit and enjoy it together on a fire of coals that He has readied…so all sufficient you see…so cool and so intimate. Chapter 21 Verses 11 – 14 •Mighty Peter, given great strength in the Lord’s service. 153 large fish…maybe 2 or 3 pounds each…that’s a heavy pull…but Peter is able…and John mentions that the net is not broken. And that encourages me. Because if God calls you to it, He will get you through it. He called them to obey Him and catch all those large fish…then He structures miracle after miracle around their obedience and brings them all the way to a wonderful intimate meal. He calls you to the same…
John 20 vs 19-31
January 20, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 20 Verse 19 •And so the church is assembled on Sunday, the first day of the week, which we continue in still to this day, yet they were behind closed doors, and the word there in the Greek actually means that they were behind “barred” doors. Locked doors. Why? John tells us, “for fear.” •Why were they so afraid? Were they breaking the law? No. Were they conspiring against Rome? No. Were they doing anything at all, or guilty of anything at all that would have caused them to fear in such a way to lock themselves in a room in acknowledgement of some sort of alarm? Well, you could say they feared because of their association with Jesus…ok, not bad, but remember the Jews and Romans had already killed Jesus…Jesus was gone in their eyes…the threat was removed…so why are all 10 of theses men (Thomas was not there and Judas was gone) cowering in a locked room together? •Because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s quite simple to me. They are not in the Spirit. It’s not until verse 22 when they receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus Himself that we see them act no longer out of fear. Why? Why would having or not having the Spirit matter…because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” •Therefore, in what Paul is saying to Timothy, when someone is moved with fear, motivated by fear, leaning upon fear as a reason for a specific action or way of life, then they are filled with spiritual weakness, utter selfishness and a warped mind. Do you see why I say that? If Paul said that the opposite of power, love and of a sound mind is fear…then fear is the opposite of those three things…therefore fear, at its root…is weak, self-righteous confusion. •And so when someone justifies sin with fear…”I was afraid and so I did this…Matt, you don’t understand how afraid I am of losing my situation…losing my money, losing my job…how afraid I am of him or of her...” it takes me right back to the Garden man…”Adam, why are you hiding?” “Because I am afraid,” Adam replied… •I know in that moment, when someone says that, texts that, tweets that…I know exactly how to pray for that person, how to minister to that person…and unfortunately I’ve found that ministering to folks that are motivated by fear is one of the hardest battle grounds there is…because the center of fear…is pride. Care and comfort and concern for me, myself and I…makes me quite afraid of all kinds of circumstances…and what ifs… •365 times in the Bible we are commanded to “fear not.” Why would God devote so much to this topic throughout the Bible? Because I have seen and you have seen some of the absolute worst decisions we ourselves and others have made were made out of, or motivated by fear…and in that, the enemy is served. •So what’s the remedy? We’ll see in verse 22…The Holy Spirit…the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind! The remedy is following Jesus closely! That will run the fear right out of you! The Spirit of the Lord and spirit of fear cannot co-habitate. “Well I am close to the Lord but I am still riddled with fear.” Well, I’m not so sure…you may know about the Lord, but I would ask you to take a close look at your intimacy with Him. •What do I mean by that? Look I can sit close to the TV but it doesn’t make me close to newscaster. I can look him right in the eye and reach out to touch him…but I have no personal knowledge of him. No intimacy. •And many have mistaken knowing about Jesus with knowing Jesus. The plain truth is that the one that is close to Jesus will resemble Him. That’s the mark. That’s the tat man. You can tell me all day how close you are to the Lord…how He is your strength…your Commander…but I will always, and everyone will always read your character. How you treat people, how you serve others, how you handle tough situations, how you handle correction… •James 3:6 calls the tongue a world of evil and therefore it is not to be trusted…we can’t take people at their word man…we can take God at His for sure…but you cannot get a pulse on someone’s character by what they say…”I’m a disciple of Jesus” but their life doesn’t add up…not sure if we can buy that you see… •Jesus said, “you are indeed My disciples, if you abide in My word…if you do as I have commanded you…if you live out the precepts and truths found in God’s word…” You cannot fake that…and truly you don’t follow God’s word to be close to Him…you live out God’s word because you already are! And therefore you do not walk in weakness, you walk in power…you do not walk in selfishness, you walk in love…and you do not walk in confusion…being warped and making horrible decisions that lead to continued strife, further decay, you walk in sound mind! •And I love the scene John describes here for us because the disciples are there and then all of sudden Jesus is right in the middle of them! And notice His first words to them. “Where were all of you when I was hanging on the cross?” “Why are you all sitting around doing nothing?” You see they may have expected a reprimand from the Lord as He stood in their midst, yet He brings with Him peace… •You might feel that way also. That if the Lord were to come into your life, the secret places of your life…that surely He would bring reprimand…let this scene change your heart and remove your fear…Jesus brings with Him peace…peace is always a mark in a situation, in a family, in a church, in a person…that Jesus is in their midst…and look that peace doesn’t have to be global…it can’t always be enterprise wide…your husband still may be a taz-manian devil spinning around the house in anger and strife…your parents may still be at eachother’s throats…your coworkers may still always have beef…but you don’t have to… •Some folks in the church may be continually stirring up strife and passing around sin…but when they come to involve you in their sinful discord, you don’t have to share in their sin! You can follow Jesus, stay close to Jesus and in that (and only that) can you minister to them with power, love and a sound mind. This peace is further than circumstantial tranquility…this is an inner peace…and that is what Jesus brings… •I love this…they may have expected reprimand…Jesus says, “peace!” •I heard a story this week of a pastor and his wife buying a house. And in this house was a room that had a white carpet. May be a good idea for a DINK (dual income, no kids) but not so much for him and his wife as they had three daughters. One day his wife and he went out and bought a white couch to match the white carpet (this is a true story by the way) and therefore created in their home what they called, “the white room.” •Quickly the rules were laid down…no eating in this room, no drinking, no playing…this room is for viewing only…but one day, some months later he was in there cleaning and he pulled up one of the cushions to clean under it and there on the underside of the cushion was a huge pink stain! Knowing his wife would eventually find it, he called her in and they examined the blemish together. •Standing in the white room, they summoned their children. As their three girls were standing there in front of them, he reached towards the couch to flip over the cushion. Just then, their youngest daughter bolted! She headed up the stairs and hid and quickly her father went after her. •He called her name a few times. She didn’t answer. He began to check the rooms eventually finding her in her closet with her head buried in her knees. She was crying and didn’t want to look up at her father. He knelt down and placed his hand on her back… •He writes this story and says, “I wonder what she thought my response was going to be. Did she think I would get angry? Did she think I would yell?” They went downstairs together and the little girl told her mom and her father what had happened. •She let out a secret that she had been keeping for months. She had spilled the fingernail polish and then had tried to clean it up but as she scrubbed and scrubbed, the stain just got worse. She eventually flipped the cushion over to hide what she had done. •She told them how she had felt sick to her stomach everytime they were in that room…sick with fear that they would find out. And then she looked into her fathers’ eyes and asked a question that broke his heart…with eyes full of tears she asked, “Do you still love me?” •Maybe that’s where you’re at today. You’ve stained your life so badly, tarnished your true self with sin so deeply that you’re afraid of people knowing. You’re afraid of God knowing…You know after that little girls parents comforted her, reassured her that no stain would ever keep them from loving her…that stain didn’t go away. You know its still there to this day but this little girl, shortly after that, started telling the story of the stained white couch! •After that she liked to show people the stain and tell them what happened. Why? Because a stain that once represented shame and guilt and fear of rejection…now represents love, grace, security and acceptance. THAT is the essence of what is wrapped up in this moment between Jesus and His disciples…between Jesus and your secrets, your shame, your sin…”Peace with you.” Chapter 20 Verse 20 •I like to call this…perspective. I have 20/20 vision. Which means I see clearly without glasses…here we have chapter 20 verse 20…and if this is the lens through which we view the world, through which we view eachother, through which we view God and through which we view the mirror…then we will be as these disciples…glad. •This word glad is “chairo” in the Greek. It is a form of the word “charis” meaning grace and it literally means to be very well…to thrive…oh that we would have 20/20 spiritual vision…that we would look upon the One who was pierced for us…who has paid our debt…and place our everything in Him… •Just a verse ago…they were filled with fear…now notice, Jesus comes, their perspective is clarified…and their fear turns to gladness. Precisely what the Word of God continues to do today in our lives… Chapter 20 Verse 21 – 22 •I love this…He comes to them, He calls them to His service and then He enables them…He fills them with the Holy Spirit! And notice how He does this…John tells us that Jesus “breathed on them.” The word in the Greek is “empysao.” Guess how many times that word is used in the Bible…once. Hold that thought… •Here the disciples…they are born again. Born again? Yes! In Genesis 2:7 we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man…came alive…born into a living being!” But then God set man in the Garden of Eden and He said to Adam, of all the fruit of the Garden you shall eat, but of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it…you shall surely die. •And what did Adam do…he ate…and in that day, his spirit…died to sin. The wages of sin are death man and that day, the perfect communion that man had with God, the bond of purity in the Spirit…died just as God warned… •Now fast forward to Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John Chapter 3. He said to Nick, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nick protested…how can a man be born twice? Jesus answered, “because a man must be born once of water…the physical birth…and once of the Spirit.” •This is that moment for the disciples man…Just as God breathed life into Adam and Adam became a living being…Jesus breathes life into the disciples and they become ALIVE in the Spirit! Born again unto God…the bond of spiritual communion, reestablished through the price paid upon the cross! Through the Savior Jesus Christ! •And notice, I believe firmly that the Bible is clear in that if you are set free, then you are free indeed. If you are saved, born again by the Holy Spirit, then you cannot be unborn…your salvation is secure because it is not predicated on your righteousness…but on the righteousness of Jesus which is established forever and ever! And therefore, this word here in the Greek…only once. You don’t see this happening again and again in the lives of the disciples…they are saved here, born again here, the price on the cross paid, here they believe and are glad to receive Jesus…and I believe this sole use of this word is simply a gift from the Lord to set that precept in stone for us. Blessed assurance we might sing… Chapter 20 Verse 23 •In Mark Chapter 2 we find a scene where Jesus pronounced forgiveness to a paralyzed man and the Pharisees were all up in arms. “Only God has the right to forgive sin,” they said in Mark 2:7. And they were right. Well what then does this verse in John mean? •It means exactly what is said in several other places in the Bible. That we are His ambassadors man! An ambassador according to Webster is an empowered and approved messenger…a representative or agent of a higher power! That means that it is not we ourselves who provide forgiveness of sins…in and of ourselves we are but dust…no no no we don’t provide forgiveness, man we proclaim it! On behalf of our Leader, or Lord! •To one who says, “I don’t feel forgiven,” it is our responsibility to say, “according to the Word of God, if you open your heart to Jesus Christ and believe in Him, your sin is gone!” Conversely, to the one who says, “I won’t follow Jesus, I’m into meditation or religion or I’m just going to go my own way,” it is our responsibility to say, “your sin remains because only the blood of Jesus has the power to wash it away!” •And so no we aren’t little gods man that is blasphemic theology…thou shalt have no other gods before me…the Lord wrote on the tablets…but rather we are God’s little reps upon the earth…and let me tell you, just as many have gotten this wrong and claimed to have the authority to pardon sin, MANY have totally missed that a Christian IS to live as if they are here on temporary assignment, representing Jesus! •If I took a did a survey today and asked Americans, “Do you believe it’s important to eat right and exercise?” mostly all of them would say, “yes, I believe that.” Americans overwhelmingly say their health is important. But the most popular food at state fairs is a bacon cheeseburger with a bun made out of two Krispy Kreme donuts! You’re charged extra if you want chocolate covered bacon! Which is worth every penny in my opinion. I mean logically speaking, if you’re going to eat a donut bacon cheeseburger, you might as well put some chocolate on your bacon! •But its just like that I find with folks that wear the badge of Christianity today…they say they believe, they rock the cross tattoo but when it comes down to being a real deal, radical on-the-clock agent for Him, His Word and righteousness…man they’re eating the bacon! Their lives resemble the world…let that not be said of you Christian…represent Christ…encourage people to the Lord, teach them truth by your own life…correct them in their sin, rebuke them in their painful cruelty and anti-christ-like selfishness…lest you be found to be like salt that has no flavor… •We’re out of time and I know we didn’t get that far in the text this morning but I pray that we have gotten quite far in your desire for intimacy with Jesus…because that is what will enable you to live your life unto the Lord, in power, purpose, stillness and resolve. I pray that as you leave here today, you do so with a renewed sense of who you are in Him and what your life could and should mean…lived out in the wonder of His grace!
John 20 vs 11-18
January 13, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 20 Verse 11 •So Mary had made her way back to the tomb and we know from verse 18 that this Mary is Mary Magdalene. And here she stands weeping…kilo in the Greek which literally means bewailing in pain…and I find that quite off…quite backwards. •The tomb is empty. We rejoice when we celebrate Resurrection Sunday don’t we? We cheer the triumph of the Lord over the grave but here Mary stands…inconsolable. What do you mean inconsolable? •Well we know that in just a minute she will encounter two angels…and they ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” And then she will encounter Jesus Himself…and what does He ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” So entirely backwards! •You see the very thing which should have made her rejoice, here she stands weak in faith…weeping. Had the Lord’s body still been there, then this scene wouldn’t be so backwards because that would mean that His promise had failed, that His work on the cross was in vain, and she…Mary…and all others are hopeless and lost in their sins…but there was no body… •So what’s going on here really? You see the weeping manifested her affection…how she loved the Lord, how she longed for Him…but the weeping also showed something else…her unbelief… •How often we do the same thing. How often we mourn over the absence of things in our lives which in reality are within our grasp. My wife won’t respect me. She’s so hard and unkind to me. Even if she was the best wife on the block…wouldn’t fill you up man. If you love her as Christ loves the church, you’ll find that fullness of joy, because it ain’t in her power to give it to you in the first place…it’s in the Lord’s power…you see you already have it now, within your grasp! God has given you a wife, God has given you a ministry, God has given you His Son…and now you stand at the empty tomb weeping!!?? •But my job man, it’s so unappreciative of my talents! They treat me poorly and never invite me to lunch! Well what are you there for? To work unto man or to work as unto the Lord? Out serve everyone! Pray for everyone! Make sure your job is to let your light so shine before them that they see your good works and they glorify your Father in heaven! (Straight out of the mouth of the Savior! Matthew 5:16) •You do that, you apply that Word from the Lord tomorrow at work and you’ll watch your job begin to mean so much more than lunch and popularity. So much more than monetary success and personal gratification…You see you already have it now, within your grasp! Yet you stand at the empty tomb weeping!!?? •Oh but Matt my life isn’t what I wanted it to be…if coach would have just put me in man, I could have gone pro! Life’s adventures aren’t comprised of different places, but different perspectives! The life you want is within your grasp! God is with you! He has not left you nor forsaken you! You’ve veered off of His path, out of His will…but today is the day of salvation! Get out from in front of that tomb weeping and get to praising! Rejoice always, again I say rejoice Paul wrote to the Philippians! •No this isn’t easy but is anything easy that is worthwhile? Is anything effortless that has its end in preciousness? No…so you may need a few things…namely the Holy Spirit, faith, resolve and humility. •I pray in my own life for more faith and more patience so that I might rejoice in what I do have rather than mourn over what I think I should have or feel that I want. That changes everything man! A heart that is thankful for its portion rather than spiteful and bitter for its lack. Mary here weeps for something and someone whom she has in no way lost…her weeping is backwards and I pray for patience and faith in my life and yours…that we would allow more time, we would wait upon the Lord in gratitude and rejoicing as God develops His purposes in our own understanding. Chapter 20 Verses 12 - 13 •What a neat picture here…two angels sitting there in the tomb and between them the bloody linens of the Lord…this brings to mind the mercy seat situated upon the top of the Ark of the Covenant, right? •In Exodus 25 God tells Moses precisely how to construct the Ark of the Covenant. Yet God calls it “the Ark of the Testimony.” Here we have 2 angels…which biblically is the number of perfect witness or testimony. And God told Moses…(this is Exodus 25 verses 18 and 19)…”You shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one at one end and the other at the other end.” •And so these two angels sitting there in the tomb…and between them? The mercy seat. So cool! Where God promised He would meet with man and speak with man…(Exodus 25:22). And here also between them…the blood scarred linens of Jesus speaking of the cross…and we’ll see in the next verse that God meets with Mary there…as she’ll turn and see Jesus there with her…such a great parallel to the Ark of the Covenant… •No doubt the construction of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament pointed to…had this scene as its very essence…what was in the Ark? The tablets of the 10 commandments…the law…the handwriting of requirements for all men, that no man could attain to…our condemnation was there in that Ark…but notice, the Ark was their coffin just as this tomb was the final resting place of our separation from God! •One more thing to note here before we move on…Mary is faced with two angels…but she’s not impressed! I dig this! Here she is weeping for the Lord, longing for the One True God…and a couple angels show up…and she’s like big woop…why? •Because it is Jesus whom she wants and loves…and it is Jesus that she knows! No angel will do! I love that because Paul would write to the Galatians, “even if an angel comes to you and preaches any other gospel that what we have preached, that of Jesus Christ, let him be refused…accursed…cast out!” •Why is this so important to not…because there are major movements today that have heeded the word of angels over the Word of God! And look they’ve done so to their own demise! •Who gave the golden tablets (fictional story that is) to Joseph Smith? According to Mormon history, the angel Moroni! Who gave the Koran to Muhammad? The angel Gabriel! Ellen G. White wrote about her “accompanying angel” who revealed to her the hidden truths of the Bible leading to the founding of the 7th Day Adventist movement. Even the Jehovah’s Witnesses falsely believe that Jesus is Michael…the arch angel! •What’s completely common within all of those movements? They all deny the deity of Jesus Christ but notice…Mary here, denies the supremacy of the angels! Chapter 20 Verse 14 •See that? She cares so little about these angels and so much about the Lord that she turns her back to them…and when she does…she sees Jesus! •This is a lesson that we NEED to learn from Mary! The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 73, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!” •If Jesus really occupied the throne of our hearts…the meager and temporary and fleeting things of this world would make no appeal to us. It is because we are so little absorbed with Him and therefore so poorly acquainted with His soul-satisfying perfection, that the things of time and sense, the things of this world…are so highly esteemed. •We trade in our beauty for ashes, our days for loss, our children for pleasure and emotional http://satiation...and we wake up heavy with regret… •God offers us just the opposite in Jesus. Hope for regret. Power for weakness…if we would (like Mary) would turn our backs on even angels for the sake of seeking the Lord! •And as she turns to seek, she finds Him…what do you have to turn from to really seek Him I http://wonder...money? Sex? Fraud? Pride? Your own intellect, maybe? Maybe your own way…because according to Jesus there is only one way. What is it that God is telling you…”get right, choose righteousness?” Turn from it! And turn now because notice, when Mary turns…great revelation! Not only does she see Him…He speaks to her! •But first, why do you suppose Mary did not know that it was Jesus? Well look before I say anything, the Bible doesn’t tell us…The Bible gives us clues that our heavenly eternal body is not completely different than the one we have now, but it is also not completely the same…2 Corinthians 5 tells us that we have a body that awaits us…a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens… •And so we don’t know if Jesus looked all that different or all that the same…but we do know that Mary is weeping…weeping for a bit of a backwards reason and quite possibly her eyes were so swollen with tears that she couldn’t see… •Rings true in my life…the Lord comes to us through brothers, sisters, circumstances, songs…man even the rocks declare His glory…but how often we too do not know that it is Jesus holding us…calling out to us…reassuring us…because of our backwards tears…crying for our trinkets and our own sinful affections… Chapter 20 Verse 15 •“Woman, why weep? Whom are you seeking?” The first words of the risen Jesus and isn’t this just like Him? “Why weep” He says reminding me of Revelation 21 which promises “He will wipe away all of our tears.” And “Whom are you seeking” He says reminding me of Isaiah 61 which speaks of the Savior as a Healer of the brokenhearted…One who proclaims liberty to the captives and opens the prisons of those who are bound! •And I love this because Mary says “just tell me where they’ve taken Him and I will carry Him back.” I’ll bear His weight…which shows her great love for Him…because love bears all things! Chapter 20 Verse 16 •I just want to point something out here as we see the primary occurrence…the initial instance…the first time Jesus reveals Himself after the resurrection…and whom does He choose for this epic event…a woman. •There are a couple reasons that I bring this up…first…for John to hope that His book would take root…if he indeed were not simply writing what is absolutely true…he would have without a doubt…chosen either himself…or at least a man for this high honor…but its Mary…it’s a woman chosen as the first witness of the resurrected Christ…you see my point is…no one, in that culture, would fabricate that! •Why? Because in the culture the witness or the testimony of a female wasn’t even recognized legally! But John is simply writing what happened and I love this because the culture said one thing…Jesus said the truth! He was radical man, counter cultural! Firm in righteousness! And we should be too! •And the second thing is I see an interesting parallel here…a pattern that reveals a powerful truth. Who was the first person that He just came right out and told that He was and is the Christ? You got it! The woman at the well! •You see in God’s economy…male and female…completely equal! Galatians 3:28 says, in His family there is neither Jew nor Greek…slave nor free…male or female…for we are all one in Christ Jesus…He created man in His image and He created them male and female…but this culture and many cultures still seek to elevate one gender or one race or one social status above the other…not God! Man in God we are all equal and there is no partiality…no favoritism! •What there is…is order. Opportunity for discipleship. Because truly without a plan there is no disciplan (discipline). 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that we serve a God of order…just as there is order in heaven…Jesus prayed to the Father, “nevertheless not My will by Thy will be done!” Yet was He and is He absolutely equal to the Father in all ways? Entirely. •And here Jesus shows this wonderful equality and balance in His creation…as He once again chooses a woman for this tremendous revelation! •And He says to her, “Mary.” And when He does…she recognizes Him! How? Why? There were many Mary’s. How is it that this one call of her name…opened her eyes? I submit to you that He spoke to her in a personal…familiar way…which is exactly how He speaks to you and to me. If we would but have ears to hear…my how our eyes would be opened! •And her eyes were…look at the next verse… Chapter 20 Verse 17 •This word “cling” in the Greek (haptomai) is given to us in the present imperative tense which means that she indeed was clinging to Him… •And so interesting what He says to her…”let Me go”…remember back in John 14…He had made a promise. He said “when I return to the Father, I’ll send to you the “Helper” and He will abide with you and in you…He is the Spirit of truth, of love, of power and of a sound mind…” And I believe that this was His will for Mary…that she should know Him no longer according to the flesh…as Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5:16, but now we know Him according to the Spirit, in eternal communion… •And He says, “I go to My Father and Your Father, and to My God and your God.” Why not just say “our?” Because He is proclaiming the death of separation! Lost in sin, the world is of its father the devil man…but because of His grace, because of what Jesus accomplished…because of the price He paid…now His Father is our Father…and His God is our God…why? Because we have a Mediator. One that was and is able! Chapter 20 Verse 18 •No doubt she didn’t want to let go…but she did. Why? Because He commanded her to…I wonder what it is today, as we have heard so clearly of His commandments and they all center around one theme…love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength…and love eachother as yourself…I wonder today what it is that has been commanded of you as the Lord speaks personally to your heart…into your life…that you, like Mary, may have no practical interest in doing… •That is the ground level, primary marching orders of what it is to be a Christian…a follower of Jesus…a disciple of Christ…God’s word is clear…and when the chips all fall…when all of the smoke and the mirrors of your life are removed…so is your answer. I pray today, you’d choose to be fully His…and fully free!
John 20 vs 1-10
January 6, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 20 Verse 1 •So we are on the third day after the Jews Preparation Day, or Friday, which we saw at the end of last week in Chapter 19 Verse 42. So Friday being the first day, Saturday being the second day…we are now to Sunday, or the third day which is the first day of the Jewish week. •And Mary is up early. Now you find some interesting additional details in the other Gospels that John doesn’t necessarily give us here but just so we have the complete picture… •Mary was not alone. According to Mark’s gospel, Chapter 16, Mary was traveling that morning with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Salome and then Luke adds that Joanna, the mother of James (not Jesus’ brother who was the son of Mary), was also with them. So we have a group of four ladies, up early…on their way to the tomb. But why? •Well Mark tells us that they were bringing spices that they might come and anoint Him. Most likely Jesus’ body had not been properly prepared…or at least thoroughly prepared for burial as the Jews were in a hurry to get Him squared away in the tomb due to it being a High Holy Day of Preparation during the Passover when Jesus had been crucified. •And so Mark continues and tells us that the women, as they walked, said among themselves, “who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” •So here we have four women all agreeing that together, even as a team, they don’t have a chance at budging that boulder…but notice…they’re on their way! •I love that! Man, there are boulders set throughout our lives aren’t there? There’s no way my marriage can be fixed, we’re too far gone! There’s no way I can get out of debt…there’s no way I can endure another day or another month or another this or that…there’s no way God would accept me…I’m too dirty man…not true. •These women knew that the stone would be there separating them from Jesus but they went anyway! So should we! Think for a moment, accept for a moment…trust for a moment that it is GOD’s job to remove the stone…not ours! We are to walk by faith so put on your faith shox and let’s bounce! •How!? Ugh!? I need practical! SO DO I! Do you know what faith applied looks like? The Word of God! That is what faith applied is. Learn what the Lord says, study His ways, get trained up in the truth and then resolve to do it! That is to place your trust in Him and when you do…boulders roll man! •Some lady heard Jesus teach and watched Him perform miracles once and she stood and shouted, “blessed is yo momma!” For real, go look in Luke Chapter 11 Verse 27! But Jesus replied, “More than that! Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” •And that is exactly what they find here, great blessing…God’s faithfulness in front of their eyes…as John tells us that they saw the stone had been taken away! •You think its there! You expect it to be there! But you go anyway JUST to see what God will do! You obey anyway just to see what God will do. You deny your sight for the sake of the scripture just to see what God will do and I’m telling you…when you get there…you’ll see the strength and the faithfulness of God! •Now before we move on, one simple question I have for you. Who raised Jesus from the dead? God? Jesus Himself? The Holy Spirit? If you answered any of those then you know what? You’re right! The Holy and Eternal and Mysterious Trinity…the Godhead Three in One is expressed explicitly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! •What are you talking about Matt… •Look, so cool! God raised Jesus from the dead! Acts Chapter 13 Verses 29 and 30 say, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.” •Let’s continue! The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead! Romans Chapter 8 Verses 10 and 11 say, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” •Let’s complete the picture! Jesus raised Himself from the dead! John 2:19 Jesus said, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!” And in John Chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 Jesus said, “My Father loves Me because 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!” •And so how is it that Jesus raised Himself, yet God raised Him, yet the Holy Spirit raised Him? Because indeed they are all One God! Just a cool testimony of the Trinity in the resurrection that I wanted to show to you! Chapter 20 Verses 2 – 7 •So Mary bolts back to the disciples, obviously excited as we read in other gospel accounts that the women actually witnessed the rock being rolled away by heavenly forces, and she comes to Peter and John…now that’s not it…she no doubt went to others but it appears here that Peter and John were together which is not surprising and John really doesn’t know anything more…why? Because he took off! •He and Peter ran out together and I love how John just throws in here that he outran Peter…but not by much because as John is sizing up the scene, here comes Peter and impulsive as we have seen him before, Peter just goes right in. •And all he sees there in the tomb are the grave cloths and the handkerchief that had been wrapped around the head of Jesus. But notice, Peter sees something that John deems important. He sees that the head cloth is not lying with the others, but it is folded and off to the side by itself. •At first pass, we may just move on but with a little bit of study, something amazing is being communicated here. First the grammatical construction in the Greek here indicates that the linen cloths were lying in a circular form as though a body were still in them…just collapsed. (refutes the shroud of Turin) •And the headkerchief folded off to the side by itself is significant. In the Jewish culture, at a meal if one were to rise from the table and place their napkin cloth on the table in a disorderly fashion, that would signal to the host or to the servants that they were finished. •But if one were to rise and neatly fold their napkin cloth and place it on the table, no matter if they leave for a minute or an hour, their meal would remain there on the table. Why? Because that action meant…I’m not finished! I’m coming back! •And so as Peter saw this, no doubt he stared at this! No doubt his mind went to the many prophecies given of Isaac and Jonah and even Jesus…that He’s not done! Isaac came off that mountain. Jonah got barfed!! He rose! And He’s coming back! The grave conquered is just the beginning…not the end! •You may feel today that the grave that your life has become is the end…no its not! It’s the beginning! God is not through with you yet! God will see you through it to greater days, glorious days…if you yourself don’t throw in the towel! (Now you know where we get that saying from don’t you!?) Stick with Him! Trust in Him! If you’ve been a knucklehead this past week this past year this past decade then today is the day of salvation the Bible says! •Do you know it says that? 2 Corinthians 6:2. Today, not tomorrow, not when you get it all figured out…TODAY! Every day God deposits 86,400 moments into your life. 86,400 opportunities for you to choose Him, sow to the spirit and affect your tomorrow for the purpose of peace and love and grace and purpose! •But so many return those moments decayed and wasted at the end of each day…cut it out! If your life isn’t getting any better then wake up and smell the java baby! There’s something not right with YOUR walk! Not theirs! •The Bible says that the promises of God are “yes and amen.” 2 Corinthians 1:20. And the Word of God, the precepts of truth say that “those who obey His ways and seek Him with all their hearts are chock full of JOY!” Psalm 119:2! •So if you’re telling me today that you can’t get right cause she ain’t right then man you are so busted! I pray that you see! Your joy, your walk, your progress, your growing has nothing to do with him or her or them or they…it has everything to do with are you willing and ready to obey!? •Today is the day of salvation! This moment in your 86,400 that you have this day…this one right here…because just as He rose from the grave…He left His handerchief neatly folded to tell you and tell me, “I’m coming back! Will I find you faithful…or pitiful?” Man…Lord that we would have ears to hear! •Ears to hear? Man, I can’t get nothing from you Matt. I can’t follow you…I don’t even understand. Listen, you’re hearing the Word of God aren’t you? And the Bible says that it doesn’t go forth void…it will accomplish its purpose. There’s something that you can get I know, and listen, if you would just apply one thing that you learn each week…one point…one precept that you learn each week in church then in a year you would have resolved to apply 50 truths of God in your life! •Man, talk about on fire…but you gotta be here, now, resolving that today is the day of salvation! Chapter 20 Verse 8 •Is John saying here that before this point…he didn’t believe in Jesus? Not at all. There is something very interesting, very practical in the Greek construct here. Check this out… •You find the English word “saw” in verses 5, 6 and 8. In verse 5 John came to the tomb and “saw” the linen clothes lying there. That word in the Greek is “blepo” which literally means “to look at or see visibly.” •In verse 6, Peter “saw” the linen cloths lying there. That is a different word in the Greek. It’s “theoreo” which literally means, “to study carefully.” This is where we get our word theory from as we glimpse a deeper meaning and come up with a theory… •Then finally here in verse 8, the word translated “saw” is “eido,” from which we get our word “idea” or you could say “I get it!” •And so the pattern. First, something is seen…surface level…perceived yet not completely understood. Then, further consideration leads to formulated conclusions…possibilities as to what it really is or means. Then, finally a full understanding. •John is telling us here that it was at this moment that it clicked for him. What this all meant. The empty tomb, the linen cloths lying there… •And I find this interesting because most of the time our faith progresses according to this pattern. First, you’re exposed to some piece of information. Some nugget during a Bible study such as this one. Then, down the road maybe you hear the same thought on the radio or someone says something that prompts you to give the idea a bit more of your own thought equity. •Then, finally there comes a moment when you really get it. It clicks. It’s no longer just a concept theologically, but it becomes part of your life personally. •I see it as tens or hundreds or thousands of locks wrapped around folks…interlocking chains together. Biblical truth comes in…and that truth is a key. A key that fits a lock. And the person may or may not even take the key. But some do. But no click. Then something happens…the opportunity to exercise faith…and when that Biblical truth is selected in place of emotional impulse or historical habit…that key is placed into a lock and click…chains fall… •That is something that cannot be taught. That is something that requires faith folks. And faith finds freedom! •Now have you ever tried a key and it didn’t work? What’s next? You toss it out don’t you? I fear for those that hear the Word and hear the Word and hear the Word and deny it’s application…because once that same familiar key is labeled “trash”…man it’s tough to find the faith and the humility to give it another shot…your heart hardens to it… •And if you never hear the information in the first place then you’ll never be able to embrace it…apply it to the point of it “clicking.” So keep in the Word! “But I’m not getting much out of it,” you might say. Wait! You will. Eventually it will begin to stir something in your thinking and finally it will become part of your being. •Read your Bible. Stay in the scriptures…and apply the Word and you will see this process unfold in your moments even as it did for Peter and John in this moment. Chapter 20 Verse 9 •Ah so you see…the entire scenario just clicked for John. “That’s what He meant! This is what He was talking about!” Chapter 20 Verse 10 •And so they went home…with new keys…I wonder today, as you return to your homes…what you will do with the keys that you have been given by God this morning. As His Word has gone forth…as His truth has been presented. •Will your chains shatter? Or will they remain? It’s your choice. God has done all that is required for your absolute freedom and joy…will you choose Him? Much is at stake…
John 19 vs 28-42
December 30, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 19 Verse 28 •After this. In the Greek that phrase is meta touta which is precisely the phrase that you will find within the divine outline of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:19. •Jesus said to John there in Revelation 1:19, “write the things which you have seen (Chapter 1), and the things which are (Chapters 2 and 3 or the “church age”), and the things which will take place after this (or meta tauta).” Well, after what? •God makes it so clear for us, He doesn’t want us to miss this, and so He says look for meta tauta to know when the after will take place. And to have an after, there must be a before and so after what? After the things which are…Chapters 2 and 3…after the church age! After the bride of Christ is complete and presented to Jesus in heaven! Well how do we know that? Again, God makes it so clear for us. •Revelation Chapter 4 begins with a landmark…meta tauta…and its so interesting, its so very clear…after what God? After the church son…the word church in the Greek, ekklasea, is mentioned, used by Jesus 19 times in chapters 1-3 of Revelation…so what? Big deal! Well, just a minute. How many times is it used in chapters 4-21? Until all things are accomplished…the New Heaven and the New Earth…through the Tribulation period…all of chapters 6-19 of the Book of Revelation…how many times do we see the church mentioned? ZERO. •Why? Where is the church? Gone you see! In heaven, as John saw a door standing open in heaven and a voice like a trumpet saying “Come up here” and immediately he is in the spirit, in heaven, in the very throne room of God…and when did that occur? Meta tauta! •So clear, so comforting…so awesome! As we see the body of Christ, the church of Jesus, the bride of the Lord…is not appointed unto wrath as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in Chapter 5 of his first epistle to them…the church is withdrawn from the scene entirely prior to the Great Tribulation period! But why? How? How is it that we as sinful men and women can escape the wrath of a holy and just God…who must judge sin lest He Himself be found to be not good… •What do you mean by not good, Matt? Well if a murderer or a thief or any criminal was on trial with unquestionable evidence…proof of his or her guilt…and that evidence was presented, the jury of peers render a unanimous verdict of guilty…yet the judge says, “you have been found guilty of murder, the evidence is sure…anywho you are free to go…” what would happen to that judge? He or she would be removed! That would be a “bad judge” you see. Because justice was not served. •And so how can you and I, sinful and guilty of the entire law, escape the punishment? Escape the justice? Right here in John 19. Because of this first meta tauta. •You see the groom paid the price for the bride. Our kinsman redeemer. He has bought us, purchased our freedom from sin…its power and its penalty…with His blood. As He was mocked, rejected, beaten, and bolted to the cross…He was accomplishing for you and for me…our rescue! •Yes our rescue from the Great Tribulation, from God’s righteous and just punishment of sin…our rescue from an eternity of exile and excruciation…but also our rescue…your rescue, my rescue… from the present penalty! •Man, sin bears great consequence even in this life! The Bible says that sin brings forth death. Death to your job, death to your family, death to your marriage, death to the innocence of your little ones…as mommy or daddy is stripped from them…man decay to your psyche as sin’s depressing effect deepens…There is rescue in the Lord…for now as well as forever… •Why? How? Because all things have been accomplished it says here in John 19. All things? Yes…the answer to your burning need…where can you find love…a spring of hope…a supply of worth and purpose…that’s secure and where you will be readily accepted…welcomed…that’s been accomplished for you…His name is Jesus! •And the word here for accomplished is so magnificent…its teleo in the Greek which literally means…”paid in full.” The price of your redemption, the penalty for your sin, the sentence for your crime of imperfection and outright selfish rebellion…paid! And therefore the Tribulation is not for you believer…the sadistic control and conquer of the enemy…is not for you Christian! Hope is here, now…today…all because of this scene…this love…this Savior, Jesus! •He takes away the thirst of the lonely…the thirst of the hopeless…the thirst of just being lost…unable to find your way…and He takes it upon Himself as He calls out to the Father, “I know what sin does to them Dad…It’s horrible, it’s unimaginable…it’s thirst!” •We do not serve a God that does not understand every bit of us, every bit of our pain, every bit of our earthly experience…He knows exactly where you’re at, exactly what you’re going through, and look He knows exactly how you feel right now! How comforting is that!? •The scriptures tell us that He grew tired, He hungered, He slept, He marveled, He wept, He prayed, He rejoiced, He groaned…and He thirsted. He sees you now, His nail scarred hand…outstretched to you even now and not in a condescending or demanding way…but as a Father to the fatherless. As a friend who sees and understands and is willing and able to rescue! Chapter 19 Verse 29 •Now we know that Jesus’ utterance of “I thirst” was actually the fifth statement (5 of 7 statements) that He made upon the cross. And this statement would have been immediately following the three hours of darkness which is described for us in Matthew’s gospel…as the Light turned from the Son…wow and we read in other Gospels how Jesus cried out, “Father, why have You forsaken Me?” As His love, security and acceptance were stripped from Him so that mine would be eternally secure… •And it says here in verse 29 that one of the soldiers there by the cross offered Jesus sour wine mixed with hyssop. Sour wine is interesting because it was at the wedding of Cana where Jesus showed us that His wine is only the best…the sour wine of our hands…what we’ve done…our busted and sour sin…received by Jesus. •And notice it was mixed with hyssop. A soother of sorts…and how mysterious that it would be offered to Jesus now…upon the cross. I submit to you that that is precisely what the world will offer to you as you fade away as a result of sin. While you are condemned and doomed the world will offer you soothing relief. •Take this pill, smoke this weed…its legal, go ahead. Dr. Phil will tell you to find someone that will appreciate you…don’t stick it out with your husband, don’t go the distance with your wife…why suffer? Find a new job! Somewhere that really recognizes you for your skills and experience. Go to another church. One that doesn’t condemn sin but makes you feel fuzzy. Tell her what she does wrong since she’s telling you about your shortcomings…go ahead…it will be so soothing! Relieve your frustrations… •Relief? Look that won’t relieve your frustrations…that will make you RELIVE them…perpetually! What relief is this hyssop as sin ravages the life out of Jesus? What soothing is there to the one who is on a collision course with death? False relief! Counterfeit, simulated soothing! And Jesus would have none of that…look at the next verse… Chapter 19 Verse 30 •So when Jesus had received sour wine. Don’t miss this, I love this…John doesn’t say that Jesus received the hyssop does he? He takes the sour wine…our sin…He receives our wretchedness but He refuses the counterfeit cure… •And upon His receipt of our sin, our offense…the entire past, present and future history of man’s unrighteousness…He cries out “It is finished!” Or “it is accomplished.” What is accomplished? God’s love man. •For God so loved you and so loved me and so loved mankind that He gave all that He ever had…His only Son…to accomplish our freedom and to restore to us life! •And as Jesus gave up His spirit…it was not taken from Him, it was not crucified out of Him…He GAVE it to us…His righteousness, His spirit…freely given by Him who loves us desperately…as He gave of Himself, Matthew tells, Mark tells us, and Luke tells us that “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” •The veil that separated the people from the earthly throne of God Almighty…the veil that separated the place of the normal folks from the Holiest of Holies…ripped from top to bottom. God removing His separation from us…as Jesus paid the price of our exile! Chapter 19 Verses 31 – 34 •Medical experts tell us that the outpouring of blood and water indicates that Jesus died literally of a ruptured heart…a broken heart. And what’s intriguing to me is that we just read that Jesus GAVE Himself…He GAVE up His Spirit there on the cross and so if indeed His physical diagnosis was a broken heart then indeed, the answer to my soul is…Jesus gave to me…His heart. •How could I refuse mine from Him then, ya know? •He’s in the very business of changing hearts! Did you know that? He’ll take your heart of darkness, your heart of regret and loss and He will replace it with His own…isn’t that awesome! A deal you can’t refuse! •And I like too what Jon Courson says about this…he comments that blood and water are the substance of birth…for just as a bride was birthed from the side of the first Adam, so the church was birthed through the blood and water from the side of the last Adam. Awesome. Chapter 19 Verses 35 – 37 •And so John pleads with us and with all those that might read these words that they are absolutely the truth…not just the words but also the utterance of the Holy Spirit to your heart as you hear them. That God loves you that much. That Jesus alone has accomplished your freedom…and that you hold the heart of God even now in your hands as the Bible rests open in your laps. •He offers a few scriptures fulfilled in this scene…just a few of over 300 that were perfectly fulfilled in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But he tells us here that he’s written this account so that you may believe…and the word there that he uses is pestyuo which literally means trust this, place your confidence in this…INVEST man! This is not blind belief but intellectual faith homes…fact in the most eternal sense… •And so if this is true, which it is…then it changes everything doesn’t it? God on high, the Maker of the universe, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords…the One without beginning and without end…eternally Other and magnificently transcendent…has called you to be different. To open your heart to His Holy Spirit and walk in the light…as He is in the light. •To have power and purpose beyond this provisional and passing world…to be set free and alive now and forever in the glory of His grace! •That is what John is saying here…that’s why I’ve written this…he says…that you may believe…and true belief, when you really believe something…demands doing. That is why James would say that “faith without works is dead” and John would later write “if you say you believe yet your life is unaffected, then in truth…you don’t” and indeed you are still in bondage…wrapped in chains as the puppet of provocation and impulse…serving loss and regret… Chapter 19 Verses 38 – 42 •What an amazing thing. Here Joseph of Arimathaea…a successful and prominent business man…puts his livelihood in jeopardy…and Nick, big and strong and respected Nicodemus (carrying 100lbs of spice!) places his religious standing and societal success on the far back burner simply to honor Jesus. •Man I tell you, the way to motivate/move folks, persuade people to serve Jesus (and in doing so find absolute life, freedom, joy, love…salvation) is not to make them feel guilty, not to put pressure on them, not to try to sell something or manipulate their emotions…but simply to allow them, like Nicodemus and Joseph, to see what He did for them on the cross… •Joseph takes the body, wraps it in linen, and places it in a stone tomb with myrrh and spices…just as another Joseph, 33 years earlier, had taken the same body, wrapped Him in swaddling linen cloth, placed Him in a stone manger and watched as He was presented with myrrh. •So there laid Jesus…but not for long…because death could not hold Him, the grave had no power over Him and the sacrifice unto God was found to be without blemish…and we’ll look at that in depth, next week.
John 19 vs 17-27
December 16, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 19 Verse 17 •In the Greek, Golgotha is…well Golgotha. It’s actually a Greek word and you may say, “I thought Jesus was crucified at Calvary…so what’s the difference between Golgotha and Calvary?” The answer is nothing. They are the same place because you see Golgotha in Latin is Calvarie which is where we get our word Calvary and both mean literally, “the place of the skull.” •The actual geographic location for Calvary is not specifically given in the scriptures however we do know according to Hebrews 13:12 that wherever it was and is, it is outside the city of Jerusalem which is significant…why? •Theologically and biblically Jesus being crucified outside of the city would align particularly to the Levitical law. The High Priest would take the blood of the sin sacrifice and once a year he would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the Altar there making intercession for all of Israel, the entire nation, on the Jewish Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. The body of the sacrificial animal would be taken and burned outside of the city. The ashes would signify the completeness of the sacrifice. •And so Jesus, His blood spilled where? Right! Within the city and then He carried His cross where? Right! Outside of the city, you got it and so Jesus was and is the fulfillment of the type, the completeness, the unveiling of the Levitical Law instituted by God and commanded of the Jewish people. •Him being crucified outside of the camp, at the place of the skull, Golgotha is also significant prophetically. This is the time of year where we step back and think primarily of others. We plan and we peruse and we purchase gifts for our friends, our families, even our paper delivery person whom we’ve never met. We spend time together, enjoying each other, coming back together maybe in some sort of reunion. We uphold family traditions and are reminded socially and ceremonially of the birth of our Savior. We celebrate together our freedom from sin and death because of the gift that was given to all mankind. •All the way back in Genesis Chapter 22, God foretold us through Abraham that He would do this…His plan, His prophecy…the purchase of our eternal life through the perfect present. And what wrecks me, what drives me to my knees in an almost compassionate confusion…is that His gift to us would culminate here, right here, as Jesus Christ would endure rejection, betrayal, scourging, abuse, mock worship…His own cross…to His own death…to take away my sin…in other words…in my place. •How’s that, what was that about Genesis 22? Yea its Genesis 22 in which we find the story of Abraham being told by God to, “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.” Moriah? You see the hills of Jerusalem were part of the land of Moriah and as we follow the story in Genesis 22 we see Abraham and Isaac not stopping at the first hill but continuing on to the highest point…which would be…you guessed it…Golgotha! •And so God said to Abraham, “your son…take him to Golgotha…and there offer him as a burnt offering.” Wow, what? Why would He…? How could He…? Just remember what Abraham remembered…that God had already promised to make a great nation of Isaac and so Abraham knew nothing was impossible for God except for Him to not keep His promises. So Genesis 22 says, “Abraham rose early, wasted no time, got right to it…” •And the Bible says that Abraham took the wood and laid it on Isaac…and so Isaac carried his own cross as it were…and then Isaac asks dad, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham looked at him…them both standing there on Mt. Moriah, Golgotha…where Jesus now is 2,000 years later…and Abraham said, “My son, God will provide Himself the lamb!” And miraculously, Isaac, the young man, the beloved son, the innocent was spared there that day as the scene closes on Genesis 22… •But back in John Chapter 19, Jesus Christ, the young Man, the beloved Son, the innocent arrives in precisely the same spot, in precisely the same manner, for precisely the same purpose however because of God’s great gift to you and to me…not a vocation…not something you can earn…not something you can achieve or attain…only something that you can receive…God’s Son…right here, right now…for the freedom of all men…was not spared on this day. •One more interesting tidbit. One more nugget as to how just perfect Jesus’ sacrifice was…hundreds of prophecies perfectly fulfilled, Jesus Himself perfect in all ways…and look at this…just a little interesting fact…As Jesus was led away, His perfect trial was completed…perfect trial? I thought Jesus was tried unjustly…at night, even asked to testify against Himself? •You are correct in saying that but look…what is the number of perfection in the Bible? Completion? 7! And so where does 7 show up here…look…The trial of Jesus Christ was in seven stages…Chapter 18:28-32 occurs outside, Chapter 18:33-37 occurs inside. Third outside, Chapter 18:38-40. Fourth inside, Chapter 19:1-3. Fifth outside, 19:4-7. Sixth inside, 19:8-11 (funny as this is Jesus’ final testimony against sin). And finally seventh, outside Chapter 19:12-16. Chapter 19 Verse 18 •There is much that can be said regarding Jesus being crucified between two thieves…the fulfillment of prophecy, the illustration that He is the sacrifice between two sinners, two warring parties…such as when an imperfect man and an imperfect woman come together in marriage how Jesus being the center will always result in peace, love, grace, mercy and forgiveness…much to say about how this scene of Him between two of His sons, two of His loved ones, His little ones…both being executed because of evil and sin…and here He is between them, heartbroken for them… •Yes there’s much to draw from here but I’d like to say just one thing before moving on…that in a way it’s quite fitting for Him to be positioned among thieves because that day He also took something…He stole away from me and from you that which we both deserve. The penalty of sin. •He didn’t have to do it. He could have stayed in that upper room, He could have avoided the Garden of Gethsemane, He could have accepted the offer of Lucifer that day on the Temple Mount, He could have left me…but He didn’t… Chapter 19 Verses 19 – 20 •Hebrew was the theological language; Greek, the intellectual language; and Latin, the political language. How significant…all those that view things theologically; all those who view things intellectually; all those who view things politically…know this; Jesus is King! I love it! •And the Jews go buck wild, but not just because of what is written but how it is written…check this out… Chapter 19 Verses 21 – 22 •So they are wide eyed and flippin’ out! Why? Well for one they’re afraid of the Romans. They had already said to Pilate, “we have no king but Caesar.” Also, they hated Jesus, they thought nothing of Jesus, and here for all to see is this Jesus titled as their King and so they were…look ashamed of Him! But man the tipping point, there is a piece of mystery here that is not blatantly obvious to us…that is what caused them to panic. •You see in those days it was the custom of the scribes to take the first letter of each word of a sentence and give it a new meaning, a custom that remains to this day…taking a word and making an acronym of it. So what! Booooring…now hold on just a minute. What was written above Jesus in Hebrew, the theological language was Jeshua Hanozri or “Jesus of Nazareth,” Wumelech or “King,” Haiehudim or “of the Jews.” The result? The acronym? JHWH. The Tetragrammaton! The unspeakable name of God! The name that the Hebrews were afraid to even pronounce! The name that when it was written, each letter would require a new pen, new ink and the scribe would have to ceremonially wash himself before putting pen to paper. The most holy name of God Almighty! •Amazing! Everytime you read LORD in all capitals in the Old and New Testaments, that is there written the unspeakable name of God. 7,026 times and here once again…where? Jesus’ name tag man! He and the Father, One! His power, unstoppable, immeasurable, eternal…yet here He is on a Roman cross…why? How? Because that is the price of my sin! Because that is the measure of God’s love for me! •And so the Jews they freak out man! Pilate, do you know what you’ve done?! Pilate finally gets a little courage and says, nope…and I don’t care either…what I’ve written stays! •But isn’t it a wonder to you, I wonder actually do you even see, that even as He was there dying, paying it all, He was STILL shouting out to anyone that would hear Him, “Look and see! Believe and be saved! I am hope, I am salvation, I am Yahweh!” Why else would this title have occurred? Coincident…please! Chapter 19 Verses 23 – 24 •John refers here back to Psalm 22 which describes in astounding detail the suffering Messiah…what is happening here 700 years later at Calvary. And quite interesting what specifically is quoted here is Psalm 22:18 in its entirety. So what. Who cares…well many may not but it somewhat jumps out to me that 18 is 6 times 3 or 6+6+6 and what is being described here? The High Priest of mankind, the Bridge between God the Father and busted man…the Door to eternal life, the One who holds the key of David and the keys to death and Hades…the only Way to truth and everlasting life…is being robbed. They’re taking His robe man! •And look, this evil that rules this world, that sin that you “struggle with” and most of the time that just means that sin that you choose…robs you…mugs you…will leave you condemned and bleeding while it plunders your family man…but Romans 8:28 says that condemnation is not even in God’s vocabulary… •And so from Genesis 22, Abraham taking Isaac to this same spot 2000 years prior to the cross; to Psalm 22, where God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ again described in great detail 700 years prior to the cross…and look there’s another 22…Revelation 22 > the last chapter, the final words and Jesus says get the pattern kids…look at My name tag! My finger prints! Hear Me because Revelation 22:12-15, “Behold I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me (all the saints), to give to each one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Blessed are those who DO His commandments, that they may have the RIGHT to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs, sorcerers (pharmakos) and sexually immoral (pornos) and murderers (phoneus) and idolaters and whosoever loves (phileo) and practices (or authors and performs) a lie. •Here He hangs for His reward; to buy back His lost children and notice what the dogs do…they cast lots it says here back in John 19. Here they are throwing dice, playing games even as Jesus was dying for their sins! Are we doing that? Are you playing games with the Lord? Throwing dice for what you can get…you know a better robe, a better house, a better job, a better girlfriend…are you at church looking for the next blessing, the next piece of bible study knowledge to use against your wife or husband or neighbor…the next days sinful life will feel a little more justified if you attend church…you know pay your dues… This ought not to be. Jesus would call that murder. •We just read it back in Revelation 22…those that are just playing here…phoneus in the Greek…phonies…translated for us “murderers.” Why? Because He said that with Him comes His reward to give to each one according to their WORK. And your work, your position in Christ, He is to you…you are to Him either a born again saved sinner or one that individually nailed Him to that cross…His murderer. Wow. Let us not be casting dice folks but casting our lives, placing our faith, our hopes our cares our days and minutes into the hands of Jesus. •You know, He calls them phonies…the Bible translators call them murderers…those that play and ultimately are “just looking”…ultimately like after hearing the truth, after knowing clearly who Jesus is…after seeing His very nametag…yet ultimately they’re still following after their own lust…God calls them phonies, the Bible translators call them murderers…I call them wolves…because before too long…they start eating sheep. •And I’m on the clock man. I will not hesitate…the flock of God is not to be a happy meal for some wolf…no drive through here…the only fast food here is the Word of God man and so you too, when folks, sheep here begin to be devoured…I pray you too are on the clock and will stand with me like David did for his flock…Like Jesus does here as He gives His everything for our protection and supplication… •This verse angers me…I guess you may be able to tell. Phonies drive me absolutely bonkers man because they hurt people and here we see that ultimately whatever is done to the least of the sheep is done directly to My Commander, My God and My Savior as He hangs here dying for them yet they mock Him and they rob Him…God’s gift to us, His Son, His baby boy…sent into this mess, given to you and to me…but like a rose trampled on the ground, here He is…taking my cross, thinking of me… •That is the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving…tell your kids please. Chapter 19 Verses 25 – 27 •Understand these verses describe a very special time between Jesus and His mother. In fact, this is it for them. From here on out, Mary is released from her biological bond…Look. After this, He would no longer call her “mother” as doubtless He had addressed her many times throughout His life. Understand that His death on the cross made an end of all His natural ties. •Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:16, “We had known Jesus Christ according to the flesh…as a man…yet now we know Him thus no longer!” From here on out Jesus would be linked to Mary and to each one of us by an even closer bond than heredity…by carnal, temporary bloodline…she and we are all now link to Jesus by spiritual, eternal relationship…and this is what the Savior would now teach His beloved disciple and His mother. •Woman, behold thy son…I am thy “Son” no longer…you see this statement separates Himself from the place that He had once filled and notice, don’t miss this…look at this…He first commands Mary to look to John! The order is striking…He gives to John the place which He Himself had filled – a higher place mind you than He would give to Peter…and again, notice the order! John was to be the stay of Mary, her strength, her lead…not the other way around! This is most important as so many have turned to a high form of idolatry in the worship of Mary…Jesus sets the record straight here… •But don’t lose sight of this amazing moment between Mary and her baby boy…She had born the secret of His incarnation her whole life. The angel had said to her, “He shall be great, He shall be called the Son of the Highest.” And when Jesus was brought to the temple to be dedicated, the ancient man Simeon to whom God had promised would not die until he had seen the Messiah, saw the baby in Mary’s arms and he proclaimed, “Oh God let your servant depart in peace, for I have seen Your Salvation.” But then he turned to Mary and said, “A sword will pierce your soul.” You find this account in Luke Chapter 2. •At this moment, as the gift of the Father to you and to me and to all who would believe…as He looked there at here and blessed her…her baby boy, her little guy, her young man, her pride and joy…all she had…her Lord and Savior…at this moment, she know what Simeon was talking about. •The other disciples, scattered in fear. John alone remains there next to Mary…Joseph no doubt was dead by now…and so watch what Jesus does, He makes provision for family within the body of believers. And even today, I find closer, deeper bonds of family in my own life within the family of the Lord than I do in my own blood. What a blessing when that bond is comprised of both… •Here the ultimate gift of God…the Reason for our celebrating Christmas…for giving gifts…bestows upon us His free gift of grace…salvation through His cross…and so amazing…even as He suffered His last…He freely offered His best. •Notice John’s obedience. From that hour that disciple took her to his own home. Will you obey the call of the Lord today? Will you answer the Holy Spirit today and from this hour on…share in His eternal love and grace…power and strength? I pray you will! •What better gift to offer the Lord this Christmas…than your entire life, your complete attention…you focused and fervent adoration and worship?!
John 19 vs 1-16
December 9, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
John 19:1-16 Chapter 19 Verse 1 • Now understand the Jews had brought Jesus to Pilate and demanded that He not be tried…but rather that He’d be put to death. We know that because back in Chapter 18 verse 31 Pilate tries to release Jesus back into the hands of the Jews and what did they say to him, “don’t do that, we don’t have the right of capital punishment”…in other words, “we can’t put Him to death.” And so death is what they wanted… • But Pilate found no fault in Jesus. We know from the other gospels and even the accounts given in the Book of Acts of this night that Pilate actually tried no less than seven times to release Jesus. Acts 3:13 tells us that “Pilate was determined to let Him go.” He was even urged by his wife, (according to Matthew Chapter 27 verse 19), not to sentence Him…to not even have anything to do with Him because she had had a dream that had freaked her out about the whole situation… • And so understand what Pilate is trying to do here…the same thing he has tried to do over and over again…by ordering the scourging, Pilate is actually again trying to release Jesus. What’s that? How’s that? • Well the Jews…they were ravenous, insatiable and they were not ok with Pilate simply finding what they already knew to be true…that this Man, this Jesus was truly without fault! • We see continually, several times…that Pilate found no fault in Him. Annas had found no fault in Him. Pilate had sent Him to Herod and Herod had returned Him. The simple truth is that they were blood thirsty and nothing was going to dissuade them…and Pilate knew it. So notice, he did not order the execution of Jesus, instead He ordered Him to be scourged. • Scourging was a form of interrogation. A terrifying form. A shocking and horrendous sentence. The tool of scourging was a cat of nine tails. A leather whip with multiple extremeties lined and embedded with little bits of glass and lead, designed to rip the flesh. The sentence carried a penalty of 40 lashes but in the Roman’s twisted view of mercy, they only would administer 39. • One was enough to kill a man. As they would lay a stripe across the back, the prisoner would cry out a crime that he had committed. And every time he would call out a crime, the next lash would be a bit less severe. But for every stripe with which a crime was not called out, the next would be more severe. Progressively more intense and forceful. • This was a very effective sentence for exacting a confession…and so Pilate intended to satisfy the blood thirst of the Jews while also hopefully exciting their compassion for Him as he expected a confession. The confession however had already been given to Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king?” Jesus confessed, “I am.” There was no more confession to extract and so Jesus silently and without a word…without a defense took all 39 lashes. • Why? 39 progressively harder stripes across His back…He would have been stretched by chains or chords so that the pain and injury would have been terrible yet He took that loss. Why? For you man…for me. Because He is good. Because His love is so ultimately unstoppable. Man…and if you think upon His lashes, meditate upon His love man and the penalty that He paid to set us free…the Bible says by that you are healed. • What do you mean healed? Well look, how close can I get to sin without being burned, Matt? Wrong question! The right question is help me understand what my sin cost! Show me the penalty man…the price paid for this bottle of Beam that I can’t seem to put down…the price paid for this illicit relationship that I can’t break off…the price paid for this hateful heart, this bitter and unforgiving attitude that in my weakness, I can’t change… • I heard a story this past week…a fictional story but interesting in its precept. The story goes that Jesus engaged Satan in a conversation. Satan had a smug smirk on his face and Jesus asked him where he had come from. Satan responded, “I just caught the entire world of people…set me a trap and caught ‘em, all of ‘em.” “What are you going to do with them?” Jesus asked. Satan replied, “oh I’m gonna use them. I’m going to teach them how to marry and then divorce, how to hate, how to envy, how to insult…how to use drugs and drink and curse and destroy themselves. I’m gonna teach them how to use the earth to create guns and bombs and sharp edges and then I’m gonna teach them how to use them against eachother.” Jesus asked him, “and what will you do when you have done all of those things?” “Oh, I’ll kill them,” Satan glared proudly. • Jesus asked him, “how much do you want for them?” “Oh noooo, you don’t want those people. They ain’t no good. Why you’ll take them and they’ll just hate you in return. They’ll spit on you, curse you, beat you and kill you!!! You don’t want those people!” • “How much,” He asked again. Satan looked at Jesus and hated Him…he sneered back at Jesus, “All of Your tears, all of Your strength, all of Your life, and all of Your blood.” Having named his price, without hesitation, Jesus answered, “Done!” • If we really believe…if we really truly believe to the point where we can place ourselves there that day, this day…as Jesus took lash after lash…as He was mocked, as He was punched and eventually as nails were driven through His body and He was lifted up to die…If we really believe that He loves us that much to pay that price for us…then how can we continue to toy with sin? How can we continue to ask how much this little sin will cost me or how much will that big sin cost me in the eternal bank of business…we can’t man…to understand the terrible price paid, to understand the lashes He endured is to be healed man from the power of temptation and transgression. His goodness is the only power that can fuel you to turn from sin for real…turn from the trap of evil…and then once you do…you’re free, you’re healed! • Isaiah 53 says (written 700 years before the birth of Jesus!), “They wounded Him for our transgressions, they bruised Him for our sins, He endured, He suffered the punishment for our peace, and by His stripes…we are healed.’ • Those stripes, each one, bore the weight of my sin. My hand holds the whip…and yet He doesn’t condemn…He doesn’t plead His case…He doesn’t even stop me…He simply loves and so He takes it, and takes it, and takes it…39 times…until the Bible says He was injured worse than any man in history…man Jesus, for real, this Man…Jesus Christ…He is my Hero! He is strength! He is love! He is compassion! He is Truth! He is righteous! He is God and man I long to be more like Him. • I don’t serve Him for what I can get man…I serve Him because He’s legit! He is worthy! He is the King of all kingdoms and the Lord of all authority and eternal life! And when I follow after my flesh, when I just walk in and out of sin like its nothing then the Bible says that I walk right away from Him. I deny all of those things that I just said… • We look at our lives and we wonder why things are so hard or so warped or so broken or so not where we want to be and we wonder how God would allow this to happen…while as a people for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, get out of our entertainment, get out of our decisions…man to just get out of our lives. You know, just let me live my life! And being the gentleman that He is, look He has no choice but to back out! He cannot force His love and His mercy and His promises upon us!! And then we call out for blessing…how can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone? That is the very demand we scream to the heavens as we dance in and out of sin! Chapter 19 Verses 2 – 4 • Pilate is dumbfounded. He is in awe. He’s never EVER seen anything like this Man. 39 stripes…no words. And even now, as a crown of thorns is shoved into his forehead…Jesus stands. What manner of man is this? One stripe cripples the mightiest of men and here this One stands…no words, no defense! • Have you ever heard stories of miraculous strength? Like maybe that a mom and her kids were in a car accident and one of the children was pined under the car so the mom just grabs the car and lifts it off of them to free her child? I think we all have right? Something like that…well imagine 7B of your children are trapped…You see His strength…everlasting, immeasurable right now…why? Because His love is the same…and Pilate witnessed that first hand. • And so he goes back out to the Jews, “behold I’m letting Him go!” • And look at this crown given to Him. The King of righteousness the King of sinlessness…was given a crown of…sin. Sin? Yes throughout the Old Testament the thorn is a type, a picture, a result of sin. God handed to Adam his curse in Genesis 3 and said “for your sake the ground is cursed and shall bring forth thorns”…none until then apparently in the Garden of Eden…and even in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, thorns are mentioned 11 times in connection with the transgression of God’s people but then, the final time its mentioned (and the only time thorns are mentioned beyond chapter 40), God says in Isaiah 55 that the thorns shall be replaced with the cypress tree! A picture of peace and beauty. • And here is that type displayed. That punishment of Adam fully paid as they prepare Him for His execution by crowning Him not the King of Kings but the King of sin! Wow…I wonder how you handle an unfair crown of thorns? When you’re mistreated, when you’re accused or mocked…when all that you’ve done may even be righteous yet they crown you not with the crown of respect but with the crown of reject. Do you defend? Do you throw the crown in their face? Or, do you stand in strength and endure the blows for the sake of the Father’s glory? Quite telling in those times whose glory you are most concerned with… Chapter 19 Verse 5 • And so we see Pilate’s heart. “Are you a king?” “Yes Pilate, I am King of all Kingdoms and Lord of all Lords...” Yet Pilate brings Him out and announces Him as…man…tragic. Chapter 19 Verse 6 • Again, Pilate tries to release Him…and it’s interesting here that Pilate goes on record and verifies the perfection of Jesus. He says “I find NO FAULT in Him.” Not “I find that He is innocent of the charges,” no he says “no fault.” And that’s intriguing because that statement, that fact has never been disputed by any historian, any cynic, any atheist on record. They’ll deny Him, but you never hear them deny His flawlessness. So cool. Chapter 19 Verse 7 • Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA! They knew it all along! See that! So many times Jesus was so very clear yet they denied…they played dumb…they turned a deaf ear…but oh the truth, they understood…”He made Himself the Son of God!” • Jesus never claimed deity the cultist insists. God has no Son the Koran states…but here it is clear and plain…the people of that time, as He walked among them, as He taught in the open air, as He performed wondrous miracles and as He loved, man…they knew…they understood clearly…that is why they killed Him… Chapter 19 Verses 8 – 11 • So Pilate snatches Jesus back into private and filled with fear He demands of Jesus, “Where are You from?!” And Jesus simply remains silent…bloody, beaten, crown of thorns…man this must have been quite a nightmare for Pilate… • And then He says, “Jesus, don’t you know that I have power over You?” And I love how Jesus responds. “Son, that power you have, what you think you’re doing…has very little to do with You…It’s My Father’s will, therefore I will rest!” • And notice Pilate’s so-called “power.” According to law, if he found Jesus to be innocent, he’d have to release him. If he found no guilt in him, per the judicial code of Rome, then he was to be set free! But what does Pilate say? “I find no fault in this Man!” And yet here, “I have the power to crucify You!” Oh Pilate, your power is smoke and mirrors. • In truth, you’re a pawn. You’re controlled by the ravenous masses. The law means nothing now. Only your own neck. You call that power? Jesus doesn’t. Here Jesus stands, innocent yet offering His own neck…THAT is power. Pilate should have said, “don’t you know that I am so full of fear that I’m going to have to crucify You unless You do something!!! I mean float or levitate or wipe these Jews out or something…” • But Jesus was not there to be released. He was there to release us man and so He, just for a moment, comforts Pilate…Pilate, the one who delivered me to you has the greater…or the elder sin. • Now Jesus is not saying that one sin and another sin are any different in penalty…because James 2:10 is clear and many other parts of the Bible are clear, that if you do not keep the whole law, if you break just one of God’s commandments then you are guilty of the entire law. One sin doesn’t condemn you to hell while another is allowed…that’s preposterous. And that’s not what Jesus is saying here at all…what He’s doing is speaking to Pilate’s heart. • Pilate, I know you are afraid and that you have tried to release me seven times…I see your heart…the one that delivered me to you, the one that put you in this position…Judas…Caiphas…their hearts are black and full of death…I see you Pilate… • And I believe this later caught up with Pilate. Because we have record that says later in life, Pilate committed suicide (Josephus describes his removal by Tiberius while Eusebius records his suicide…legend however tells of a horrific scene before Tiberius which resulted in Pilate’s suicide and burial first in the river Tiber, then in the river Rhone which is called “Via Gehennae” or “Road to Gehenna.”) • But notice this is Jesus’ last testimony before the nails. His last statement to Pilate, to you, to me, to eternity and all of the heavenly host before carrying His own cross to His own crucifixion…and what does He say? God is on the throne and His will is absolutely everything! • Pilate I have divine authority to judge the hearts of men…as I speak to the very sin in your own heart…the sin of fear and as I speak to the sin in their heart…the sin of blasphemy and hate…yet the purposes from above, the authority of My Father, the sovereignty of His will…is not now and will never be overturned by some man or some nation that believes they are something… • And now notice, the last word of our Lord before accomplishing our release from eternal hopelessness…sin…in the Greek “hamartea”…violation, offense, betrayal, wrong…mistake…He calls out the name of our failure and then carries it to its grave!! Chapter 9 Verses 12 – 16 • As Pilate sat down on that judgment seat to make this decision, the irony is that he himself was being judged on the basis of his response to Jesus Christ. So too, some of you will sit back and say, “I’m going to analyze, scrutinize, and evaluate Jesus Christ.” When in reality you’re not judging Him, but your reaction to Him is judging you because He is the King of kings regardless of what you decide. • He’s going to have His way whether you get on board or not. You see as you wait to decide whether you are going to choose Him or not, follow Him or not, place your life in His hands or not…the judgment seat you’re occupying right now is that of your own judgment. • He would say to you today…choose Me and in so doing…choose life…see what I’ll do in and through you and ultimately…I’ll see you forever, in eternity…in My Father’s house…
John 18 vs 25-40
December 2, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 18 Verses 25 – 27 •So the scene opens back with Peter. As Jesus was being led out of the inner court of Annas, bound in chains, no doubt approaching Peter…here again we find Peter where? Where he shouldn’t be. In a position, in a place, around particular people that create a temptation, an opportunity for the Lord to be denied. We talked at length last week about that idea of opportunity and how we must be on guard, be awake in our own lives to avoid even the opportunities, the temptations offered by this world to become the joke of evil… •You see these men challenged Peter…but why? Because they hated Jesus? Not particularly. Because they hated Peter? Not likely. Because they expected Peter to cower and lie? Certainly not…I believe they wanted the truth. There was a great stir that night as 600+ men led One Man, this Jesus into see Annas…and so why did they challenge him? Check this out…because he was standing with them! •He was there with them, as one of them, no doubt the fire lighting up his face which caused him to be recognized. No doubt they were already talking about Jesus…how He was going to really get it and how He was in big trouble with the High Priest you know. Blasphemies…yet Peter, simply warmed himself. Something didn’t fit. The fire revealing him, his actions denying him…and so they challenge… •First the servant girl, then some folks around a fire and now a servant of the high priest and each time, Peter readily denied the Lord. What an interesting progression. What a profound truth as to how sin decays you from the inside out. A little sitcom, a moment of ungodly conversation, even getting wrapped up in the routine of a regular week…a work week…and your desire for prayer…dull…and then maybe you find yourself days without speaking to God. Weeks without meeting with the family of the Father to worship…and without repentance, you slip into a life apart from God in open denial of Him. •Repentance from what? Missing church? Nope, that’s just a symptom. Missing prayer…missing time in the Word? Nope, just symptoms. Repentance…from faithlessness man…from following Jesus from a distance…the very weakness that plopped you down at the fire of the world to warm yourself! •I mean, if you go to the Doctor for a cough and you are diagnosed with Strep Throat, if all you’re given is a cough suppressant, you’re doomed! Doomed to repeat your current circumstance! •No! You need penicillin or whatever antibiotic they give now a-days for Strep so that you can be cured of the problem, not comforted in your sickness! And just like that man we need to turn not from prayerlessness or missing church but from not being real man! From being disinginuine in our walks. From being loosy goosy in our discipleship…from folding in to this fallen world and its sinfulness…lest we find ourselves in a circumstantial cycle of turmoil, frustration, restlessness and endless hardship…man that cycle is always…and this is the truth…always associated with following Jesus from a distance. •Even those in the worst of pain and circumstance, when following Jesus closely, pressing in on Jesus, being real about eternity…even when faced with raging tragedy…they are clothed in peace, and grace, and love, and patience, and kindness, and character! •Now this is interesting because we know John is still close to Jesus and so how does John know to write this? Well church history tells us that this story was quite famous. It was used as often as Peter preached to remind him of his denial of Jesus. Everywhere he went this story would be used by the enemy to discount his witness…and that is true for us today also. The world is always watching us who say we are His disciples for something to discredit our witness also. •This crowing of the rooster would have been a penetrating sound for Peter. It was Peter who said, “Lord even if this whole world denies you, it will be I…I will be the one left standing.” How revealing as he stood alone and denied him. You see man alone, apart from the presence of God…certain to fall. What is man? What is our boasted strength but utter weakness when we are left to ourselves…how our most solemn resolutions…just like Peter’s…melt like snow before the heat of the world’s fires… when we are following Jesus from a distance. •But even as devastating as this story is…even as penetrating this sound of Peter’s open denial…I see a very bright side to this story…what does the rooster’s crow signify? The dawn of a new day…and its like God used the rooster specifically to tell Peter and to tell us yes Peter, you’ve blown it…you’ve cursed and sworn (the other Gospels add those details, as well as the fact that as he denied Jesus the third time, Jesus and he caught eyes), you’ve cursed and sworn and denied Me not once but three times. But a new day is dawning. •“I’m not through with you, not by a long shot!” You see following the resurrection, Jesus sought Peter out individually! Jesus prepared a meal for Peter…not the other way around…signifying a coming together that day on the beach which we’ll see in John 21. Jesus restored Peter and then commissioned him into the ministry! And powerful was Peter’s life even after this! •Wherever Peter went…yes the world would crow reminding him of his failure because that’s what the world does! Not what God does and as His church, not what we should do either. Paul would write to the Galatians, “brothers, if any of you be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore!” Notice Paul didn’t say remind, rebuke, or reveal…He said RESTORE! Jesus is in the very business of restoration you see and as a Christian we ought to always be looking for opportunities to see men and women continue on, to be restored, to not be held back because of some failure or circumstance! After all, that’s what the Lord did for us, right? •And so we leave the account of Peter’s denial, not to return to it again but to see Peter restored, renewed and remarkably powerful in his ministry unto the Lord! You also! If there is anything that is weighing you down, some past denial, some previous failure man repent and let’s go! There’s work to be done and it isn’t God holding a grudge against you that’s weighing you down…its pride man! Resist the devil…and he will flee > get up and get in the battle! Chapter 18 Verse 28 •Man how crazy and warped their minds! Here they are about to kill the Son of God, a righteous man…the Messiah and yet they are worried about defiling themselves by stepping into Gentile territory! Jesus said “its crazy how people will strain at gnats but swallow camels” and yet even still today this is prevalent within religious circles. So careful about certain issues like women wearing makeup or kids dancing at a slumber party or people celebrating even Christmas yet they live their lives hard and unkind, ungentle…backbiting and despising others…so backwards…and just like these Jews, they risk missing the big picture altogether. And what is the big picture…LOVE! Chapter 18 Verses 29 – 31 •Now this statement of the Jews is significant. Very. They say here to Pilate, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” Understand that in the year 30AD, just a few years prior to where we find ourselves this morning in the text, the Romans had stripped the Jews of the right of Capital Punishment. Now in response, the rabbis ripped their clothes, put on sackcloth, threw dirt and ash on their heads, and said, “God has failed us! God has failed us!” as they marched through the streets of Jerusalem… •Now that’s major. Why would they do that? Why would they cry out that God had failed them? Because all the way back in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 49 Verse 10, the promise was given that the scepter would not depart from Judah until Messiah came….and the basic foundation of self governance was the ability to deal with lawbreakers, so the scepter had indeed departed and the Jews recognized this…yet their problem…the Messiah was seemingly nowhere in sight! Oh but Messiah was there, right in their midst…they just didn’t recognize Him. They denied Him… •The truth of the matter…Just like Stone Cold Steve Austin used to say, the fact of the matter and the bottom line…is God NEVER fails. His word…always triumphs yet just like the Jews, sometimes we ourselves walk through the streets of our own lives, “God where are you, why God…why?” and we feel dejected by God, abandoned…like God has failed us…not so. I wonder if you can recognize the Messiah… Chapter 18 Verse 32 •Three times Jesus had said that He would be “lifted up.” Just as Moses lifted the serpent on the staff in the wilderness…lifted up so that the Jews may realize that He is the Messiah…lifted up so that all men might be drawn to Him…John 3:14, John 8:28 and John 12:32. •Also, notice, Psalm 22, hundreds of years before crucifixion had even been invented…David writes, “they pierced My hands and My feet…they stare at Me and divide my clothing among them…” And so the Messiah would have to be handed over to the Romans…just as they are doing now…so that He may endure death upon a gentile cross…the Roman specialty… Chapter 18 Verses 33 – 34 •This is so cool because check this out…Jesus was in front of Annas…what did He try to do? Save Him! Now John leaves the account of Jesus before Caiaphas out but we know from Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus openly revealed to them that He sure enough was the Messiah…and even now…here He is, trying to reach Pilate…I wonder if that is your heart? These are major enemies in an earthly sense of Jesus yet each one He seeks to serve. He seeks to give a future and a hope. I wonder if that is your heart for even your closest of friends. •Do you seek to serve them or do you demand to be served yourself? Jesus has been up all night. Stressed out. No doubt He’s exhausted, starving, thirsty, weary and yet notice…”Pontius, do you really want to know? Because if you do then buckle your seat belt…the truth is going to rock you bro.” •Why? Why would Pontius accepting Jesus as who He was and is, the Lord of Lords, why would that be so hard for Pontius? Because you see, Pontius was a puppet, wrapped in the control of fear…you see he was an ex-slave from Rome who through marriage and political maneuvering, became a Procurator or overseer. He was sent out to Jerusalem because Herod the Great’s sons were horrible and this Roman province Jerusalem was a continual mess and headache for the emperor. •But the first time Pilate came to Jerusalem he had made a huge mistake because he brought with him soldiers carrying busts of the emperor and as they approached the temple, simply to pass by, the Jews rioted and some were killed. Rome then sent a warning to Pilate, “man you just got there, get it together!” •So Pilate, thinking that he could win the people over began building them an aqueduct however he needed money to do so and so he began to tax the temple treasury in order to finance his gift to the people. The Jews were infuriated at this and again began to publically outcry. Rome got wind of it and sent yet another warning to Pilate, “strike two slave…one more and you’re out.” So I want you to see this…Pilate…as he asked this question, asked it dishonestly… •What do you mean dishonestly? He didn’t care about the answer!! And so Jesus doesn’t entertain the dishonest question but rather He reaches out directly to Pilate and addresses the real matter. “Are you under their control son? Do you really want to know?” Man He speaks right to Pilate’s heart!! •And I’ll tell you, dishonest questions are a waste of time. Because answers aren’t really wanted…what’s wanted are arguments…And as you encounter folks in your life, I want to encourage you to learn, watch them, study them, listen to their lives more than their voices and determine whether they are asking for answers or asking to argue. If they’re asking to argue, don’t cast your pearls before swine or you may find yourself in an endless, circular, going nowhere argument that lasts for hours or weeks or months which will cost you! Cost me? Yes! Because every second you spend with a sucker, you miss a second with a seeker! Chapter 18 Verses 35 – 36 •Ah, Jesus revealed…He says, “My kingdom…” Pilate just said “are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus now answers, “yes I’m a King, but not of the Jews only…My Kingdom is beyond this world even, it’s eternal!” Chapter 18 Verse 37 •Notice Jesus says “everyone” here. No matter where they live, no matter when they live, every person who wants to know the truth will hear God’s voice. Everyone gets a fair shot to hear His voice and be set free. •Now where do we hear Him? In His word! Therefore if we are of the truth, then our lives will be conformed, transformed…our lives will be reformed as we hear, read, study and keep the Word of God…truth as Jesus says here… Chapter 18 Verse 38 •The Truth is staring him in the face…yet the question…”what is truth?” The real statement…what is he really saying here? Jesus, you I do not accept. Jesus has been so clear with Him. So gentle. “For this I was born Pontius, to give mankind, each and everyone a choice…give everybody an equal opportunity to choose Me or to choose death.” “For this cause I have come into the world, that I should display, show, reveal the truth.” Yet Pilate denies Him. •Oh how we do the same. We read the Bible and God’s precepts are clear…His direction and commands and promises are uncomplicated…all together simple…”if you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” •It’s all right here folks. The answers to your freedom, the keys to your personal prison…all right here. But what do we do? We throw our hands up and say, “I just don’t know what to do! What am I supposed to do now?” Finish the sentence! We stop short and miss the root of the issue. Don’t say or think “I just don’t know what to do!” Finish it! “I just don’t know what to do to be made free!” Don’t say or think, “What am I supposed to do now?” Finish it! “What am I supposed to do now TO BE MADE FREE.” Finish the sentence to finish the problem…ABIDE in My Word…do you? What is truth? Jesus said it, He has revealed it, He has testified of it…Jesus is truth. And if there is truth, then everything else is a lie… •But Pilate has no strength to hear. He is wrapped in fear and the control of man…which is the control of evil…I wonder are you? You know you have in you a demand…that demand is “I will not be controlled!” Do you know who put that in there? GOD did! Dad did! Because look He does not want to control you, He wants to LOVE YOU! He wants you to be free and in that to have the capacity and ability and blessing to KNOW Him relationally! •But we get it all backwards and the world says that the Bible is just a bunch of rules! Wrong! This world is a bunch of rules! Wear this, say that, buy this, eat that, watch this, think that and we’ll take good care of you! No! I will not be controlled man! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY! •But Pilate here misses his chance to truly be made free and he leaves Jesus…which is always the pattern…and goes out to the Jews… Chapter 18 Verses 39 – 40 •The world chooses death over life. Your flesh and the enemy, the ruler of this age dupe you into accepting death as satisfying…as your path…but Jesus came that you might be made free…that you might choose life…choose Him…not Barabbas…not the thief…and in that choice for life…that you might have it and have it abundantly! •Your flesh will fight you…your worldly reason and logic may even condemn you, but open your heart to something greater…something eternal…something spiritual and be led by the Spirit into real, everlasting, true life! •Don’t follow from a distance…steer clear of the world’s fires…abide in Him and find yourself joyful…gentle…powerful and loving…free and alive > no matter who they shackle you and drag you in front of…who was in control here…Jesus was…the shackles, the real ones…were not on Jesus…and they won’t be on you either!
John 18 vs 12-24
November 25, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 18 Verse 12 •There are many times that I have prayed, “Father please show them. Show them Your power. Show them Your compassion…surely they’ll believe and they’ll change.” But the truth is…they won’t…because the decision to follow Jesus…the resolve to see and accept the truth is not an act of logic or reason or physical proof…it is alone the business of the Holy Spirit within someone’s heart. •In Luke 16 we find an interesting scene. A rich man, wicked and corrupt dies as well as a righteous man by the name of Lazarus. And the scene opens in Abraham’s Bay where Lazarus is comforted as he awaits the redemptive work of the cross. And the rich man trapped in Hades, in torment sees Lazarus and Abraham a far off and calls out to him saying, “I beg you, send me to my father’s house for I have five brothers so that I may warn them lest they end up here in the place of torment.” And Abraham responded…”even if one was raised from the dead, they would not be persuaded…” •We see that type of hardness of heart here. The willful and utter blindness of the flesh…Jesus just spoke a word and 600+ men had fallen backwards to the ground! Malchus’ ear was just sliced off in their very eyes and Jesus lovingly had picked it up and restored it as if the wound had never occurred…yet the detachment, and the captain, and the officers…all together…proceed to arrest Him. The word there for arrest is specific…it reveals their rabid sinfulness…the word is syllambano and it literally means “they seize Him with impulsive lust”…their rage surged against Him even in the light of His power and great compassion… •And how ridiculous…they bound Him. The word in the Greek suggest that they used chains…whew good thing it wasn’t ropes…those chains should hold Him! Please. Jesus was already bound. Bound with a greater force than any material they could have used…He was already bound with His love for you and for me. He was already bound with His love for His Father’s will and glory! Chapter 18 Verse 13 •The position of high priest had become somewhat of a political character at this time. The Jews recognized Annas as their High Priest and the one having ultimate authority while the Roman Government had appointed Caiaphas through a biding and bribing type of relationship. And so they lead Jesus bound to their spiritual authority first, Annas. •And there in the next verse (Verse 14) John reminds us how it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. You remember http://right?...back in John Chapter 11 verse 50 where Caiaphas, after hearing the rumbles of the Sanhedrin about how Jesus was stirring up the people, which would be a problem for the Romans, said to them, “look…the ends justify the means…its better just to off Him than for the entire nation to be destroyed by the Romans…” Chapter 18 Verses 14 – 15 •Now we know from Matthew Chapter 26 that Peter followed Jesus indeed, however Matthew tells us that he followed Him “from a distance.” This distance between him and the Lord will, in just a moment, lead to outright denial of Jesus. •Well why? Because Peter was so weak? Because Peter was so afraid? Maybe…but I think there’s something much more powerful here that leads to his eventual denial of Jesus. Opportunity. •If Peter had simply followed Jesus closely all the way, there would have been no question…”are you one of His?” Because it would have been obvious…see what I’m saying? But Peter made the willful decision to follow Jesus…from a distance and therefore the opportunity to deny the Lord presented itself. •Same goes for us folks. The most prevalent problem in Christianity today is that so many are just fine following Jesus from a distance…and then what happens? They develop text relationships, or facebook relationships or lunch relationships with members of the opposite sex who are not their husbands or wives. “Oh come on Matt, they’re just friends, it’s fine > NO ITS NOT! Because that emotional equity and affectionate attention rightfully belongs only to your wife or your husband and so often that leads to relational adultery! Even for the unmarried! That emotional equity and affectionate attention belongs to the Lord alone! •“Oh now you’re off the deep end”…no sir, no ma’am it’s the other way around! Read 1 Corinthians 7! Don’t concern yourself with what he needs to be like or how you need your biceps this big to make sure you attract the “right one for you!” Psalm 37! Delight yourselves in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart…My God will supply all that is lacking! But we follow from a distance! •You know the math of the mind…my way + God’s way = Amway! You know I just keep getting richer! Do you? That equation is a scheme from the devil! A scheme that opens opportunity for you to deny the Lord. •Christians following Jesus from a distance…become enticed by the materialistic offerings of the world because they see, in total, hours of commercials a day watching television and surfing the internet…Black Friday is now its own holiday according to Wikipedia! Did you know that!? Yet far from a Holy Day it is! People go buck wild to save $5 on a cell phone! People hitting others, racing others, yelling and screaming at others…we laugh but all them calories should be spent on the Kingdom man! I wonder how many that fight for the Furby would say that they are Christians?! Following from a distance, man! •“Oh but you know they’re buying gifts for others Matt so…you know its ok”…check the stats man. Last year a survey was conducted by the International Council of Shopping Centers on Black Friday. The percentage of shoppers who were buying items for themselves or their families for immediate use was 90% compared to 10% of shoppers who said they were actually buying gifts for others. Wow right! All that fighting, all that greed, all dressed up in a costume and very very far from the heart of God. •Look we follow from a distance and we fall prey to the evil one…we become dreamers and fantasisers and buy into situational comedies and sappy sentimental stories that we can now get on our iBooks or Kindles at a simple click of a button…all the while becoming more and more out of touch with the truth…to live is Christ and to die is gain!! •Why not just scatter with the rest Peter? In Matthew 26:56 we read that after Jesus asked them why they came with weapons, the disciples scattered. Now we know from the next verses that John and Peter remained…but if you’re going to follow Jesus from a distance…why not just go home? At least then the opportunities of outright public denial would have been avoided you see? But Peter did what so many do…some knowingly, some having even no idea that they’re hokey pokey Christians. •“Well, following Jesus even a little is good, right Matt?” Wrong! That’s horrible! Following Jesus in this part of your life but not another will lead you right into confusion. To the point where you can’t even discern if God Himself is faithful! •“Oh Matt, you’re off today. I’m not with you today.” Look, I don’t want to freak you out but if that’s what it takes for you and for me to see the truth, then I’m ok with that. Jesus was! Revelation Chapter 2 verses 15 and 16…Jesus speaking to the Laodicean church…”I know you…that you are neither cold nor hot…I wish you were one or the other…so then because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of My mouth” Oh man, following from a distance, why does it make God sick to His stomach? Because it puts you in grave danger child! •Opportunity presents itself time and time again when you are not following Jesus closely and look, no matter how intelligent, no matter how well taught, no matter how well versed in the scriptures you are…opportunity presents itself enough and you too will deny Jesus. I’m no superhuman, I have no extra special strength…but Jesus does…and only He is able to keep you from falling. But Peter, he made a mistake here…a mistake that followed him the rest of his life…when it mattered the most, he followed from a distance… •And notice the “other disciple” that did not scatter with the rest we know is John as it was John who was at the cross. It was John who follows Jesus into the inner courtyard of the High Priest and that is how we have his account before us this morning. •Now John was the son of Zebedee who was a prominent fisherman in Jerusalem. Even today, there in Jerusalem you can go and visit a spot that is called Zebedee’s Fish Stand. Zebedee was an accomplished fisherman as we read that he had employees including but not limited to his own sons and so no doubt John in his youth would have carried fish from the market to the courtyard of the High Priest and therefore he was known by the servant girl who kept the door. •And so verse 16… Chapter 18 Verse 16 •John goes back out and brings Peter in…here comes opportunity… Chapter 18 Verse 17 •Strike one. Peter. A servant girl? Peter come on man are you that weak? Nope…simply the opportunity…you see we have to actively notice in our own lives where opportunity has been allowed for us to deny the Lord…and we have to take up our beds and walk you see…take away the opportunity. Lest a servant girl scares us to the point of denying the Lord! •Now we’re going to see Peter in a downward spiral. Poor decision after poor decision…which is always the pattern, the course, the frustration of this cycle of following Jesus from a distance, failing…following Jesus from a distance, distractions and disillusion…following Jesus from a distance…its like a rut, its like miry clay…notice Peter’s next opportunity and subsequent move… Chapter 18 Verse 18 •Here he is, warming himself, seeking comfort, at the world’s fire of coals…where’s John? The next verse tells us…John is near to Jesus…the next scene shows us that John was there, with Jesus…all the way in to the point where he could hear the conversation between Annas and Jesus…all the while > safe. •Isn’t that interesting? Peter acting out of fear…very much in harms way…finding himself in opportunity after opportunity to deny the Lord. John, staying close to Jesus which took much courage…to closely follow a prisoner, condemned already even…yet notice, John is never questioned. John is never hurt or harmed or anything…the entire time…safe. What an interesting pattern and one that is the opposite of what we think isn’t it? Chapter 18 Verse 19 •Now understand how extremely unlawful this accusation is. First, this is happening at night which was against the law because those that are being tried had the right to be tried in plain public daylight so that anyone involved or interested could be present or offer witness. This accusation not only is at night but it is also occurring in the inner room of the High Priest… •Even beyond that, the High Priest asking Jesus for His own testimony is in direct violation of Jewish law. In their law, no man could give testimony of or against himself…and Jesus knew all of this and so He exposes the unrighteousness. Look what He says… Chapter 18 Verses 20 – 21 •Verse 21 is not rhetorical. Jesus was for real showing the High Priest the truth and then posing a question in light of that truth. “Do you see?” “Why do you ask Me?” The correct answer, “because I am in sin.” Then, even at this time, the High Priest could have been healed…but no… Chapter 18 Verse 22 •Notice the officer “stood by.” Which implies that Jesus didn’t see this coming. To be slapped or punched when you see it coming hurts…but when you don’t see it coming, any blow can inflict real damage and at the very least…severe pain. •This is the first time in the story where we see Jesus physically assaulted. There were several other times when the crowd or the Jews or the High Priest sought to take Him but they couldn’t, why? Because Jesus would not allow it. But now, we see Him struck. We see contact. Why? Same reason. Because He allowed it. Jesus is in complete control…all the time. The things which are happening to Him and the things which will happen to Him…the cross…one reason…one motivation…His depth of love for you and for me… •Notice the High Priest stood by when He was struck…given the truth, the question of repentance…he refused…and so notice Jesus’ response… Chapter 18 Verse 23 •Notice, Jesus does not resist this evil…just as He taught in Matthew Chapter 5…but He does do something awesome. He challenges this man. He doesn’t cower into the corner and prepare for the next blow…although it may have been coming…no He stands in eternal strength and brings the truth! •Man that is power! That is might! That is real force! That is to say with great vigor and asurity, “Your physical affront has not achieved its intended effect!” You mean to berate me, you meant to anger me, to cause me to get all worked up…but what did you get? Truth! BOOM! Turn the other cheek at its root, at its very precept means STAND FIRM! Don’t return violence for violence but battle evil and hate and harm with TRUTH! •So often people get the best of us. They call us an idiot so we call them an idiot. They hurt us and so we conspire to hurt them. We retain bitterness and a future plan to “get even.” Man why would you EVER want to be even with evil!!??? No! You do as the Leader and the Author of your faith and my faith does here…you stand for righteousness! You deny the evil one the satisfaction of knocking you down to his low level! •You speak the truth in love…or you don’t speak at all. Prepare for the next blow…lest you become the joke and deny Jesus! “If I have done evil, tell Me and I will take full responsibility. But if I have done well, are you ok? What’s really going on with you? Why have you struck Me?” Oh what a wonderful wonderful WONDERFUL example that should always be followed…but oh how difficult when we ourselves, like Peter, following from a distance, are out in the outer courts and cannot hear the voice of Truth… Chapter 18 Verse 24 •And so we’ll pick it up next time as Jesus leaves Annas, travels briefly to Caiaphas and then on to Pilate…
John 18 vs 1-12
November 18, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
As we enter into the next portion of John’s Gospel…the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus…what we’ll see is an astounding truth about our God and Father…that even in the light of man doing his worst, God responds with His very best. We may sometimes feel or think or say that somehow it was us who initiated our relationship with God. That, you know, one day we called out to God and He noticed us of sorts…that He answered us…but the truth is…we answered Him. God the Father is the initiator, Jesus said that He is the Author of our Faith (Hebrews 12), the Bible says that no one comes to faith unless they are drawn by the Father (John Chapter 6)…in fact even today, if you are here or if you are tuned in on the internet or radio or Podcast, you are doing so out of response to what God is doing in your life…not the other way around. You see, in these next verses we’re going to watch as Jesus, the Lord of all, equal in power and deity to the Ancient of Days, the One who sits forever upon the throne of all glory…we’re going to watch Him freely give of Himself to those that despise and refuse and reject…and betray Him. Just like I did…for many years…yet even so, He never left me, never forsook me, never stopped calling me to Himself, never stopped protecting me and reminding me that even when I was at my worst, I was still loved to the uttermost. He proved it on this night. On this night, as we get into the text, we see that Jesus had concluded His prayer to the Father as it says there in Chapter 18 Verse 1, “When Jesus had spoken these words…” and that prayer, the entire Chapter 17 of John spoke of what? His love (real, selfless love) for His family, for His friends, His disciples…as He prayed, “I come to You Father, I come to You Golgotha, I come to You Gethsemane, so that My joy may be fulfilled in them.” And so when He had spoken these words, it says there in verse 1, “He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron.” Now get the scene. The disciples don’t know where He’s going. This is not a group and Jesus is in their midst. Understand He is leading them. And where is He leading them to? Fullness of Joy. At what cost? The cross. And He leads. What manner of love is this? This world speaks of love and it displays selfishness. While a person falls into lust, not love…the world looks on and says, “wow how lovely”…a cheap counterfeit at best…true love looks like this…that even when they bring their worst, you offer your best. And the amazing part of that seemingly “bad deal” is that its not…it’s the best deal. Paul called it the “most excellent way” in 1 Corinthians 13. Why? What? What do you mean? What I mean to say is that when you love someone not for what you can get from them, or not because of how they treat you…but really when you love them without condition, just as Jesus shows us here…even leading them to His own suffering…LEADING them…when you love in that manner, you’re unstoppable! You’re FREE in the deepest sense of the word and man joy is completed in your own heart. It’s other-worldly. It speaks of eternity. Men, that is biblical spiritual leadership in the home. Ladies, that is the essence of how you are to love your husbands. It’s not this cheap discounted lustful love of the world and Dr. Phil and Dr. Ruth that say “compromise…you give a little and he gives a little and then happy happy happy…” That’s a sham! And it’s not even a Sham Wow! It’s a Sham Ow! Because at the center of compromise is self…man make Jesus the center and glorify the Lord in your marriage and watch love soar! Soar to a height as high as heaven! Lead her…husband! Right into your own suffering, in fact you’ll welcome it for her joy’s sake…if you are loving her as you are called to! Lead your kids…dad! Right into your own suffering, in fact welcome it for their joy’s sake and their protection’s sake…if you are fathering them in such a way to glorify the One that put you in that position in the first place…! Jesus leads http://them...such an amazing truth. And as He leads them, they pass over the Brook Kidron. I wonder about the eyes of the Lord. I wonder the revelation they would have given as He stood over the Brook Kidron on this night of nights. We see in Revelation Chapter 1 the eyes of the Lord as fire but on this night, no doubt they were heavy. Heavy with tears, heavy with betrayal, heavy with love…why the Brook Kidron though, Matt? Why as He looked down upon it on this particular night would He be so affected? Remember, it was the Passover. In 2 Samuel 24 we find David numbering the people of Israel to ascertain the strength of the nation…something that God had already commanded not to be done as their strength and security and courage should be placed in Him alone. And so the result was great punishment and we find 70,000 men of the people dead from a great plague. And so the Jews knowing that they were not to number the people, when the Romans wanted to know how many people were in Jerusalem during Passover, they could only do it by counting the sheep offered as sacrifices. Josephus, the Jewish historian, has that count in his writing…the count of the sheep at Passover. He tells us that over 256,000 sheep were counted. Even today if you were invited into a Jewish home and they played a board game or something in which they had to number the people off, they would do it something like this, “not one, not two, not three” and so on. So what? What does this have to do with the Brook Kidron and Jesus looking upon it? Understand that the Book Kidron flowed right at the foot of the temple mount and so this being the Passover…a quarter of a million sheep being slaughtered there at the temple…the Brook as Jesus led His disciples over it this particular night would be murky red from the blood of the sacrificial lambs being mixed with the water… Jesus’ mind probably went back to how David, centuries before, crossed the very same Brook when there was a rebellion launched against him by his own family…his own child, Absalom. You read about that in 2 Samuel 15. I wonder if Jesus’ heart broke for His children just as David’s broke for his…as He looked down to see the blood there mixed with water…knowing that the cross lay before Him. My heart breaks when my kids don’t like a gift I’ve given them…how much more from shear betrayal? How much more from utter rejection? Yet no doubt Jesus’ resolve to save you and to save me and to save us surged as they crossed the Brook Kidron on this night of nights… And notice John says there in verse 1, “where there was a garden.” So interesting…the first Adam turned a garden into a wilderness, in a way…turned it into death and a context of alienation. But, the second Adam, because of His obedience, will turn this garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, into the very gate of paradise. The difference is simple. ‘Thy will be done’, in Christ’s case, versus ‘My will be done’, in Adam’s case. Adam and Eve there in the first garden wanted to have life on their terms, supposing somehow that God was keeping their best interests at bay, because He was not going to give them the fullness of knowledge. Oh what a lie of Satan…what a deception of our flesh…God’s ways are so much higher than ours and eternally more pure, purposeful and without measure bursting at the seams with real love! And so we find the first garden, Eden, a context of disobedience and sin, and Gethsemane, the second garden, a garden of obedience and submission…and subsequently > life! And what’s so cool here…that which was lost in the Garden of Eden is reclaimed in the Garden of Gethsemane…and who reclaimed it? Jesus! And what did we do? Nothing! In fact we’ll see in just a moment Peter tries to “do” something and Jesus says “put that sword away…it won’t get you anywhere…” Chapter 18 Verse 2 •So John says that Judas knew the place but how did Judas know that He would be there? Because it was a time of trouble…and Judas knew that Jesus would be found in a place of prayer. I wonder do people know where to find you in a time of trouble? Would they look for you at church, studying the scriptures, pressing in on Jesus, in a place of prayer? … or somewhere else? Facebook? Twitter? Phone booth? Well we don’t have phone booths but maybe on the phone with this friend or that looking for comfort? > Jesus was found seeking the Father in solemn and strengthening prayer! •Not me Matt. I can’t clear my mind. I don’t see answers to my prayers…where is your faith! Why are you and I so bent on seeing exactly what we expect to see and never being open to something greater that God wants to do? •I heard a story of a place that was so cold that ice would accumulate onto the power lines. As the ice accumulated it would weigh down the wires and eventually cause them to sag and snap. This led to lots of power outages and lots of money being wasted to repair the lines. •One string however was not breaking and so a team was sent out to investigate as to why these lines held up while all the others failed. Do you know what they found? A beehive…well how could a beehive keep the lines from freezing? Well they planted a camera and what they found was that bears would come and climb the power line pole to get the honey from the hive and in turn, shake the water from the lines. •So they came up with an idea. Put beehives on all the poles. But how? They couldn’t do it from the ground up…it would take too long and would be too dangerous so they attempted to lower the hives onto the poles from a helicopter. But you’ll never guess what happened…as they flew over the lines, the air displacement of the helicopter blades blew the water off of the lines…and even today, guess how they prevent ice from accumulating on power lines? You guessed it…helicopters… •An unexpected solution however effective and sustainable…just a dumb example…just a simple illustration to show you hey, it doesn’t always go as we planned it or expected it to go…in fact, hardly ever, but man without that truth there would be zero need for faith. Where can you be found when times are closing in? Waiting upon the Lord with heart and eyes and mind open to what God is doing…or praying for the greener grass? •Well news flash (not hot tip) the grass isn’t greener on the other side…its greener where its watered…so cast your cares upon the Lord…for real sow in faith…and find Him faithful! He has promised!! •Now between verse 2 and verse 3 of Chapter 18 there is an entire series of events that John leaves out…an entire scene that we find in Matthew Chapter 26 verses 36 through 46. In this scene we see Jesus in terrifying distress to the point that Luke, the physician, tells us that Jesus was sweating great drops of blood. A condition that we know as hematohidrosis in which the blood vessels that surround the sweat glands in a net-like form constrict under the pressure of great stress and then as the anxiety passes and returns, passes and returns, the vessels dilate to the point of rupture producing bloody sweat. •And he leaves the disciples, goes a stone’s throw away and prays, three times…each time returning to find the disciples asleep…as God the Father was answering His prayer…”look Son, they’re without strength, there’s no other way…” •And so why would John leave this out? We can only guess but it could be that John was heart broken that he could not stand, he could not stay awake, even for an hour but even he, like Peter, in his flesh, failed Jesus…He heard some of it though, some of the Lord’s prayers because we have them recorded for us in the gospels…but no one this side of eternity knows the depth of Jesus’ prayers that night… •Also understand that each of the gospels have a united purpose to declare Jesus to us however they each take a different angle, perspective if you will. Matthew filled his gospel with facts of Jesus fulfilling prophecy targeting specifically the Jews and portraying Jesus as the prophesied Messiah of the Jews. •Mark featured Jesus’ humanity and portrayed Him as an obedient Servant. Luke was written with such detail and depth for targeting a gentile audience. Those that were not familiar with Hebrew prophecies about the Messiah nor did they care about them. Luke’s portrayal of Jesus is that He came for ALL mankind. •And finally John. John’s primary purpose, his picturesque portrayal of Jesus is in fact that Jesus was and is God. And so understand, John includes only that which supports His purpose, His calling…that we may believe (Chapter 20 verse 31). •And so verse 3 Chapter 18 Verse 3 •So Judas shows up with a detachment. That word in the Greek is “speira” which actually means a “cohort” or a tenth of a legion. Now a legion was 6,000 troops and so Judas rolls deep. Six hundred troops along with the officers from the chief priests and Pharisees…why so many ya know? This Jesus, never hurt anyone…never displayed any offense or aggression towards any enemy…why so many? Were they afraid of the eleven homies in Jesus’ squad…I doubt it…so why so many? Not the number…but the power! The power to raise the dead. The power to silence the elite. The power to heal the sick. The power to inspire thousands and turn a nation on its head! The gates of hell roll deep…because they fear the light! •And notice they bring lanterns and torches…why? Not because it was particularly dark…it was a full moon, there would have been plenty of light. They probably expected to have to search for Jesus. To have to beat the bushes because Jesus and His disciples would be hiding…but not so…not the case. And neither will we hide from evil if we are filled with the Spirit. Because we will not be filled with fear but with Power and we will stand for righteousness sake! •Notice the next verses Chapter 18 Verses 4 - 6 •Awesome. Jesus, faced with 600+ soldiers yielding weapons…coming for Him…yet He is in complete control. And He says to them “I AM.” No one can stand at the revelation of Jesus…every knee of the righteous will bow and all unrighteousness falls! Chapter 18 Verses 7 – 9 •Amazing. Notice, Jesus’ last statement before being taken and it is a command. He commands those that have even come to arrest Him and what is His commandment…set them free! Chapter 18 Verses 10 – 11 •Luke tells us that Jesus reached down, picked up Malchus’ ear, and placed it back on his head. Interesting that the last recorded miracle of Jesus was that He healed a wound inflicted by one of His followers. One of His disciples that was flailing the sword carelessly and inappropriately. And what does Jesus say? “Shall I not drink of this cup? The cup of suffering, the cup of love which reveals the heart and will of My Father?” •As He spoke of the cup there at the last supper, Jesus said to His disciples, “do this in remembrance of Me.” If we would take more often the cup, we would harm much less by carelessly wielding the sword. •We want to go get them! We want to go correct them and rebuke them and call them out and call them to task and just bam cut them into pieces and let God rebuild them…many have been hurt by that selfish type of ministry… •What’s in your hand? An out of control sword causing pain or the cup of suffering that brings about humility and unity in the body of Christ? Do you think you’re the stronger because you’re the holy one…all the while you secretly condemn in your heart those that harm you? You’re not the stronger, you’re not following Jesus…you’re following you. •What did Jesus do? He healed. He surrendered. He saved. And even today, He continues in that…
John 17 vs 14-26
November 11, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 17 Verse 14 •Jesus says here “I have given them Your word.” What a statement. What an expression of love and oneness with the Father! What’s that Matt? •Well look, there in the Greek…a heart cry from the Son to the Father. He says, “I have given to them,” in the Greek “ego didomi autos” or literally, “I have, on my own accord and for their advantage, bestowed to them a gift.” And the gift? Jesus says “Your word” or “Thy word.” In the Greek “sou logos.” •“So what Matt, how is that an articulation of love and oneness with the Father? I’m not following,”…recall John Chapter 1 verses 1 and 14. “In the beginning was the Word, the logos, and the logos was with God, and the logos was God. And the logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…” •Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven, heavy with the grief of sin’s penalty…yet utterly consumed by His love for His children, He lifts His eyes and says…”Father, I am ready, I have given to them, because I love them, because they need me…I have given them Myself…and truly I am Yours!” What worship to the Father! What resolve of heart and completion of love! What clear rendition of prophecy! •Prophecy? Yea! Remember way way back in Genesis 22, Abraham takes Isaac up on Mount Moriah and there he is commanded to offer his son as a burnt offering unto the Lord. But then when he gets up there Isaac says, “dad, look we have the fire, we have the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham, knowing what he was commanded to do yet having great faith in the promise that God had already made that He would raise up a great nation from Abraham…says to Isaac, “My son, God will provide Himself the lamb.” •Jesus says “Dad, Thy word, Thy Son…because of My love for them, I have given to them Myself!” What kind of love is that? What kind of strength is that? Extraterrestrial! Out of this world! Completely foreign to the essence of evil! And so Jesus says here, “the world has hated them.” •Of course the world hates this kind of love, this word of God…because light casts shadows and the world sings “don’t tread on me!” And the light exposes both decay and truth…the light testifies of truth…that there is indeed good and there is indeed evil and if there is good and evil then there must exist a Giver of good and a separate giver of evil because the two are not compatible! Light and dark cannot, will not, have never and will never dwell together…and so we get to the heart of the matter… •If there is a Giver of good who is now and forever only good, then we have Someone to be accountable to…the world hates that! Jesus said to Nick there in Chapter 3 verse 20, “for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” And if exposed, judged. And if judged, condemned. •This truth of God, the Son of God, the world hates and Jesus says why here, “because He is not of the world.” Nope, He is of eternity! Chapter 17 Verses 15 – 16 •Understand the Lord does not will for us to be separatists. No combines, no islands…wouldn’t work anyway. Remember that movie CastAway with Tom Hanks…He was there, all alone with Wilson…remember that…was his relationship with Wilson wonderful and perfect and charming and fluffy? I mean it was only him and Wilson right…no one to mess it up…no one to interfere…but what happened? He threw Wilson out of the cave man! Harsh! Poor Wilson. •We have this false notion that if we could just cure this world of evil then we’d be all good…we’ve forgotten that it’s not the world itself, this physical abode, this planet that is evil…it’s us! The battle rages within! We must take responsibility for the evil and pursue revival not in a tent that we put up for a weekend Holy Ghost party and not in the White House…no we must pursue revival in our own hearts!! •No private islands, no combines…survey history! They don’t work. The pilgrims left England, why? So that they could go and enjoy pure religion. Remember! They left for religious freedom. What happened? Welcome to ‘merica! About the farthest thing there is to a land that honors the God of the Bible! You see it doesn’t work. •So what is His will for us you might ask? Check out the next verse… Chapter 17 Verse 17 •You see the Lord’s will for us is to be sanctified! But what does that mean? That’s such a churchy word…well most basically, it simply means “be different.” Be “set apart.” Be “reserved!” Reserved, what do you mean by reserved? •Reserved for the King of Kings! Reserved for the Lord of eternity! Hagiazo in the Greek…to be holy! Isn’t that cool! Although you’re in a mess, although your circumstance, your situation, your job, your marriage, your day is filled with issues and problems and frankly aspects and characteristics that aren’t very pure…you still can be! How? •Jesus says, “sanctify them by Your truth…Your word is truth!” It is the Word that guides us into all righteousness and truth…the Holy Spirit revealing to us the truth of God and the truth of existence and the truth of eternity and then look…we simply activate our free will and walk in it…and what happens? Sanctification!! Now notice the order here as Jesus continues His prayer… Chapter 17 Verse 18 •God has given us His word, He has given us His Spirit for guidance and protection…He has commanded us to heed His word and therefore be sanctified by the truth…be set free from this world system and be tuned to what really matters…the next world’s system…love and grace and fellowship with the Father…and now look > Just as Jesus was sent not to condemn the world but that through Him all men might be saved…He now sends us…the lesser light as His ambassadors! •Check this out! Genesis 1:16. God appointed the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night. The greater light shines now in heaven where there is day and never night…however here, while the prince of the power of the air, the god of this age continually darkens this world and the night persists then who has He appointed to shine! Who is the lesser light? It’s not Jesus…He’s not lesser. It’s not the Holy Spirit, He’s not lesser. It’s you…and it’s me! •Jesus here says take My word, devour it! Live it! Keep at it, keep it in, keep going and in that you will find yourself holy and wholly sanctified from this decaying and dying and dark world…and oh by the way, don’t forget…you’re not here on your own accord! I’ve sent you!! Bam! What great encouragement and what powerful fuel! The God of all power and love and grace and strength…the God of all…you’re sent by Him! You rep Him! •And all the while…where is HQ? His word! I love it! So simple. So practical! Yet so elusive even in the church today! Why? Because our eyes are on us and our days are a waste! Because even though we may speak with the tongues of men (all wisdom) and of angels (all things heavenly) yet we have not love we are worthless! Where is love! Man God IS love! And He said so clearly that we search everywhere for Him…is He in this success or in that accomplishment or in this program…when He left His calling card time and time again…in Psalm 40:7 and Hebrews 10:7, and John 5:39…you will find me in the volume of the book!!! •And I love this because the pattern continues…Jesus says because of My love for them they have the word, the word is truth and if they press in they will be sanctified and they will find Me and I will send them to free My kids who are chained by sin and by bondage! And all of this…because I will do for them what they cannot do for themselves…look at verse 19… Chapter 17 Verse 19 •This is a direct reference to the cross! Flip over to Hebrews Chapter 13 and meet me at verse 12. He did all so that we might be set apart and truly alive! •In the last three verses he has said sanctify, sanctify, sanctified…man do you see it? His will for us, God the Father’s will for us, the absolute best life we can have on this side of eternity is to be sanctified! Jesus says here that He is sanctified by His own obedience to the Father and His own suffering for love’s sake and now He passes the torch, as it were, to us… •He was sent to reveal the truth of God. So are we. He was sent to be a witness of God and truth and eternity. So are we. He came with one focus and one aim…to seek and to save those who are lost and hurting and hungry and thirsty. So are we! •He was sent to be a very bright light in a very dark place. So are we. He was ever about His Father’s business. So are we to be. That’s not a “Jesus Freak” or a “crazy Christian” or a “goodie-goodie…” man that’s just a normal Christian! The church has so lost sight of that! Paul wasn’t some superhero…he was a regular man born-again by the Holy Spirit…are you!? Have you lost touch with Hebrews 12:29, “God is an all consuming fire!” Or are you living in Matthew 6:24, serving two masters…the world and God…money and God…sex and God…pride and God…are you for real about Jesus? Man He was and is so for real for you! Chapter 17 Verse 20 •I love this! This is so cool because who is Jesus praying for now? That’s right…you and me! Because it is us who have heard and come to believe by the word that He gave to them that were with Him that night! •And what is His prayer for us…check it out…unity. Chapter 17 Verse 21 •Such a powerful evangelist was George Whitefield that 30,000 people would regularly attend his open-air meetings. So anointed and eloquent and engaging was he that history records many orators and actors would come just to watch him. •Charles Wesley, a contemporary of Whitefield’s, was also preaching to multitudes. Yet so diverse were the views of these two men on certain doctrines (Whitefield was ultra-Calvanistic while Wesley was ultra-Arminian), they took out advertisements in the newspapers (ancient Facebook) explaining why they believed what they did…and why the other was amiss. •People thought that these men hated eachother because of their differing views until one reporter asked Whitefield, “Tell me, Mr. Whitefield, do you expect to see Charles Wesley in heaven?” •“No,” answered Whitefield. “He’s going to be so close to the throne, and I’m going to be so far back, I’ll never see him!” •You see the heart of Jesus…unity! Here these guys, both being used powerfully by the Lord, both having very different views on non-essentials and very different flavors of ministry yet absolute unity through love even in their diversity! •God’s will for His church? Unity! It’s high time to put a stop to prejudice in the body of Christ! Oh you don’t pass the plate or your don’t recite the Nicean Creed so you’re a lesser church than us…that is so detestable to the Lord! The body of Christ is not divided! 1 Cor 1:13. And look the more we as this church and they as that church continue to harp on structural and stylish and denominational differences between us…the less souls are being saved! The less Jesus is lifted high! It’s time for us to grow up man and just accept wrong and not bomb back and just be ok with what they say…we know who we serve right? And in serving Jesus man He has called us to forge unity… •So how do we forge unity? By not offending? By not mistreating? Not a chance! Blessed are the peacemakers Jesus said…in other words…they are the greatest! And He also said the greatest among you shall be the servant of all…not the friend of all, not the equal of all, not the constant of all…the servant of all!! Surely I say to you, Jesus said, whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to Me! •Now think on how you treated the cashier at Walmart…how you interacted with that bank teller and tell me, matter fact tell Him, are you forging unity? Are you living according to His will? Are we as a church with the church down the street? •Not to be married to doctrines of demons and false teaching or the world…not that…we are quite rigid in the essentials of Christianity…but within the unessentials…man love covers a multitude of wrong…and we better not start thinking that we have no wrong…the church will not be complete until we are with Him in heaven… •There is great pleasure in unity! Psalm 133:1 says “behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. There is great power in unity! Proverbs 30:27 says even the locusts go forth all of them by bands and together great is their power! How effective, how powerful and how worshipful would the body of Christ be if we would all together just love eachother in unity despite the fact that one wears a tie and the other wears sweet kicks! Not uniformity, unity! God’s will for you and for me…for today…to glorify Jesus! Look at verses 22 – 23… Chapter 17 Verses 22 – 23 •How is it that the world will know that we are sent? How is it that we will be able to identify brothers and sisters in the Lord? Oh oh confidence…nope. Oh um righteousness…nope. Oh well what about cleanliness…you know it’s said that cleanliness is godliness…not even close…its love man. Love, not the emotion, the action. Not the thought the verbal exhortation. Not the intention but the object and subject of prayer and true worship. Jesus said you will know they are Mine by their love… •And in that we find oneness with Jesus. Chapter 17 Verses 24 – 26 •Here it is. The very heart of Jesus. His own will as He says, “Father, I desire…” We began this scripture set all the way back in Chapter 13 verse 1, “Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end…to the uttermost…” and now we end with what that looks like…that His love for you and for me is so unstoppable, so fervent…so desperate for us to be with Him, saved and sanctified for all of eternity…that He resolves http://here...in verse 26…”I have declared them Your name, and I will declare it!” •I will go to the cross. I will love them with love that is real…not fake, two way, reciprocated and circumstantial affection but genuine love…love that ends self…with eyes wide open… •The Book of Hebrews says “for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy that was set before Him…who’s joy? Yours and mine…and the Father’s together. That’s the will of God…that’s the cross.
John 17 vs 9-13
November 4, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 17 Verse 9 •Jesus makes a statement here in prayer to the Father. A statement that intrigued Wesley and Moody and Spurgeon…a statement that haunted Martin Luther…”I pray for them.” Why so important? Why so profound? Because you see it is Jesus and Jesus alone who makes intercession between man and God. •Romans 8:34 tells us “it is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us.” •Hebrews 7:25 says, “He (speaking of Jesus our High Priest) lives to make intercession for man.” •1 Timothy 2:5 concludes the matter telling us, “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” •Why do I bring this up? Because in the world today, about 3B people believe the way to God is through self. 1.6B people believe the way to God is through Mohammad. Out of the 2B people in the world today who claim to be Christian, 1.3B of them believe the way to God is through Mary. •Jesus says here, “I pray for them” and man we need it! It’s crazy! Self proclaiming Christians praying to the dead and petitioning a goddess. Goddess? Yes, goddess. Not the mother of Jesus. She doesn’t hear prayers. She doesn’t intercede for the living. The Bible is clear. Then who are they praying to? Why? Where did it all come from? •The garden! The serpent there twisting and warping God’s Word and tempting Eve with God-like power and authority…he said there in Genesis 3:5, “in the day you eat of it you will be made to be like God.” So where did all of this Mariology come from? Satan kept his promise…in a dark, horrible, devastating way... •Mariology, Queen of Heaven worship did not originate with the Roman Catholic Church. Its origins are all the way back. ALL the way from the Garden, man. And then progressing through time recorded for us as early as ancient Mesopotamia…all the way back to the period right after the flood that we find in Genesis Chapters 10 and 11 when a cunning, mighty and evil hunter named Nimrod ruled a city call Babylon. •According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Nimrod was executed by Shem (son of Noah and father to the Jews). However, after his death, Nimrod’s wife Semiramis came up with a clever plan to retain power and position. She became pregnant. That sounds like an odd plan, you might say, but listen the reason it worked is that she claimed to the people that she had seen her late husband Nimrod in a vision ascend into the sun and his name changed by the heavens to Baal. •She then went on to tell the people that he had physically appeared to her in his god-like state and impregnated her without touching her but he did it with the rays of his glory. Therefore she had been impregnated miraculously and the baby growing inside of her was half god, half man. •Her clever plan worked and she was worshipped thereafter as the Queen of Heaven. Tammuz, her soon to be born son, was also worshipped as a god. There is so so much more to this story that would just knock your socks off! Just a couple of other tidbits before we move on… •After she convinced the people of her cunning lie, she then claimed the moon was actually a goddess that went through a 28 day cycle and was “fertile” when full. In fact she herself had descended from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates during the first full moon after the spring equinox and it was at this time that the sun god, Nimrod or Baal had impregnated her with Tammuz. •Interestingly enough, what do we even today celebrate on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox each year? You got it, Easter. And what do we do? We paint…eggs! And even more shocking, another name for Semiramus through the ages was Ishtar which is precisely where we get the name Easter. Now march 9 months from Easter and what do you have? Christmas! Amazing stuff isn’t it! •This crazy, false and blasphemic worship of Nimrod (or Baal), Semiramus and Tammuz has continued throughout the ages and throughout nations and cultures. The heathen trinity as its called because it follows the father-mother-son pattern has promulgated with such characters as Osiris, Isis and Horus; Zeus, Diana and Dionysus; Jupiter, Venus and Cupid…and even today, in its most offensive false form as the father, the son and the mother…but ALL from the same origin. •All the way back to Satan’s attempt to keep man out of fellowship with God! But Jesus says here, so so clearly, “I pray for them!” We don’t need a reverend or a priest or a goddess or an angel or a patron saint…all we need is Jesus! In fact, check this out…so cool…the last recorded words of Mary in the Bible are found in John 2:5 where she said, “Whatever He says to you, do it!” Let’s honor the mother of Jesus for real (she doesn’t want our prayers or our worship or our adoration!) Her desire is that we would listen to Jesus! •Oh there is so so much more to the story. So much more to talk about like the origins of how the mystery Babylonian queen of heaven religion became mixed into Christianity legally by Constantine or how Mohammad selected his own god in the polytheistic temple and how Buddha, Crishna…all of these characters came to be…but suffice it to say, for the sake of continuing in our study, all you need is the one mediator, the eternal intercessor, the true Savior…Jesus Christ! •And Jesus continues here and says “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” Jesus is specifically, at this moment particularly, focused on this special group, His disciples. The world, or kosmos, in the Greek which literally means this whole system, all the drama, all the mess…ruled by the fallen one of heaven (as we learned back in Chapter 14 verse 30) is perishing. Jesus never came to save this world system, He came to save His children…those that would choose Him over it…disciples… Chapter 17 Verse 10 •Again, as we saw last week, the word doxazo in the Greek. This thought that the love and the purpose and the grace and the mercy of God the Father shown through Jesus and now Jesus flows that thought right on through to His disciples. Powerful. •Powerful in that this statement of Jesus coupled with the earlier verses 1 and 4 give us our job descriptions as Christians. True followers, genuinely, without and beyond doubt, sincerely and actually born again by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit…our lives should put on display for the world the peace and the power…the agape…completely “other” type of love…grace and truth in righteousness…of God. •I wonder if you were to apply for the position of Christian as detailed and described by Jesus and Paul and John in 1 John, would your resume fit the bill? I wonder does it even concern you? Do you even care? Do you think that you will just slide right by and barely, just barely, make it into heaven? You know, I’m not so sure anyone just barely makes it. I’m not so sure that anyone appears in heaven and says “yesssss, whew!” •Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5:20, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the religious leaders and the teachers and scribes, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” •A story is told of a pastor that was concerned about the spiritual state of his church. One Sunday he announced that someone dear to him and dear to the church had suddenly and tragically died and that the funeral would be held the following Sunday at the church instead of regular service. Folks looked around and all together could not readily identify who it was that had died. •As the week progressed, each of the members reached out to their friends in the church inquiring as to who had died. No one knew and so the next Sunday, filled with curiosity and concern, the place was packed. The folks that came every Sunday were there, plus the ones that would come every other, or every third Sunday. Even those that only came on holidays were there on account of the stir. •As they entered the sanctuary of the church, a closed coffin was seen. After the pastor delivered the eulogy, he opened the coffin and invited the people to come forward and pay their final respects. •All the people eagerly lined up to look in the coffin and at last find out who had died. As they peered into the coffin, passing by, some appeared filled with guilt, others had eyes full of tears, and still others were pale, as if they’d seen a ghost. In the coffin, tilted at the correct angle, was a large mirror. •At last count there were in excess of 2000 life insurance companies in the US alone. We make such provision for our money but we so often sleep with eyes sealed shut through our moments and days and weeks and lives giving no thought to the certain fact that one day, our lives will be required of us as it says there in Luke 12:20. And Jesus was very clear, the Bible is very clear, and so I would like to be very clear…Jesus said in Matthew 10:38, “whoever does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” In other words, for real…for really real, has not chosen Jesus. •Jesus says Father…I have showed them…and now I pray for My followers who will show the world! Please be honest. The truth will make you free. Have you chosen Jesus? Does your life resume fit the job description of His disciple as He says “I am glorified in them…” Chapter 17 Verses 11 – 12 •The Son of Perdition of course speaking of the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. You know a simple meaning of the word perdition is loss. You search the scriptures and you know what you’ll discover? Judas always referred to Jesus as Teacher, but never as Lord. And so interesting, what finally got Judas? Yes pride and lust and envy and anger plagued him, no doubt. But what finally got him? Money. What great great loss. •Loss to who? Judas, yes of course but to Jesus also! He is not willing that any should be lost! How broken hearted He must have been to be betrayed by one of His closest…How humble He is for the years of service and unconditional love that He offered to Judas while ministering and traveling and living with him… •I wonder if ever, maybe in the glow of a fire while traveling, Jesus would be sleepless, distraught with grief just watching Judas sleep, His child… Chapter 17 Verse 13 •Notice Jesus says here, “but now I come to you.” At first pass we read this as an action…that Jesus is leaving them and going to the Father and that is correct, but there are a few other ways to look at this that are profound. •Have you ever prayed, “Father we come before you?” Or “Lord God I come to you raising up this circumstance or that person?” Well look at what Jesus says here…”I come to You.” In other words Jesus is proclaiming His desire at the very throne of God the Father. His longing as He has learned experientially the love of a son to a mother, the love of a brother to a brother, the love between friends…and what is His request? •All their confusion, all their fear, all their pain would be transformed into joy fulfilled! And so cool, Jesus says here that it is “His joy.” What joy did He have? What joy did He have as He prayed this? The joy that had been with Him the entire 33 years that He tabernacled among men…the joy of fellowship with the Father! •Psalm 16:5-9 says, “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.” •Jesus was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief (Is 53) yet joy was His strength (Neh 8:10). It was this fullness of joy in fellowship with the Father that Jesus referred to when He said to His disciples, “I have food to eat (something that is completely satisfying) that you know not of.” (John 4:32) •This is not the first time Jesus has talked about our joy, your joy, their joy being full. Just a few breaths ago in Chapter 15 He said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and your joy may be full!” (John 15:11) In His instructions He told them, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full!” (John 16) Therefore a miserable and joyless Christian is a self-contradiction! •A joyless Christian is one without communion with the Father! Other objects have engaged his or her heart and the consequence is dejection! What’s the remedy then? Repent! Put away those things which hinders your communion with Him and make regular use of the means that in His grace He provided for us. His Word, prayer, be filled with the Spirit and live unto the Lord dwelling constantly, spending your thought equity on the glorious future that awaits us as you spread the Word, man…telling others of the joy and unsearchable riches that are to be found in Jesus! •One other last item of note here…one other practical truth that if applied, if believed…will set you absolutely free! We can shorten here what Jesus prays to reveal to us a spiritual truth that very few truly discover. But those that do…they taste of a deep liberty and fellowship that is found in a secret place…a secret revealed by the life of Jesus…look again at verse 13…Jesus says, “I come to You that joy may be fulfilled.” •May I submit to you that He’s speaking to the cross? Without Jesus going to the cross for you and for me…we’d be lost. Our sins would be upon us and our very existence…hopeless. •Maybe today you are joyless…maybe today you are depressed, dejected…maybe even low on hope…are you willing to go to the cross for them? Are you willing to lay “you” down and glorify the Father to them? Are you willing, in other words, is it your will, just as it is the will of Jesus, just as it is the will of your Father in Heaven…the One and only true God…is it your will to place them so far ahead of you in importance and priority even to the point of laying down your own life? •Very few know the Lord in this depth of joy…joy? You just said that I was going to die? You just said I don’t get anything and they get everything…yes I did…which is exactly what we got from Jesus…everything as He died there that day on the that cross… •I wonder are you willing to take up your own cross…the unsearchable riches and fulfilled joy of the Lord is found…at the cross.
John 17 vs 1-8
October 28, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London. It was sometime in the mid 1800s and as they planned their day they decided to go and hear the famed Charles H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway…a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people in prayer…asking the Lord’s blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon. William Cowper once said, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees.” And Samuel Chadwick once said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom…but he trembles when we pray.” On this night, as we get into John Chapter 17, what is called the “Holy of Holies in the Temple of Scripture” (John Knox), we hear the wholehearted prayer of the Son to the Father. As we listen in, we will glimpse the innermost being of Jesus, the very nature of God the Son …His purpose, power and mission…and most acutely, most clearly, His love for us. At the completion of the first temple in 1 Kings 8, Solomon stretched forth his hands towards heaven in front of the people kneeling before the ark of the Lord, and as he prayed…Satan trembled. In Exodus 32, as the people crafted false gods out of gold in the valley, Moses prayed earnestly to God for their deliverance…and Satan trembled! In Genesis 18, Abraham stood before the Lord and the bible says that “he came near” and poured his heart out for Sodom…and Satan trembled. On this night, as it says there in Chapter 17 verse 1, “Jesus having spoken these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father!”” On this night, as Jesus prayed…Satan quaked! “I’ll kill them all! You’ve made them in Your image! You’ve created them to know You and to love You and to live! I’ll make it my purpose to destroy them…to pluck them off like fine flowers and watch them decay in their selfishness, and their pride and their folly.” Satan’s pitiful proclamation as he was cast out of heaven. Yet Jesus, God Himself, lifts up His eyes and prays “sanctify them!” And Satan knows, he understands, he perceives, he sees, he hears, he feels…defeat! And he just convulses! This is the Holy of Holies, The Lord’s Prayer…and Jesus begins there in Chapter 17 by lifting up His eyes! And what is the object of His prayer…you! Here He is at the very door of His demise and His heart is completely focused on what? Others! Even at the cross, as they lifted the cross up and planted it into the ground…the very first thing He said…maybe even as the nails began to bear the weight of His flesh pinned there in excruciating, horrible, unimaginable pain…”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing!” Even in His most painfilled moment…others! I wonder, is that your heart? John Harper was a Baptist pastor who was aboard the Titanic. Many tell the story as to how when the boat was sinking…the ship that not even God could sink…he was on the deck helping the women and the children onto the lifeboats. He was actually traveling with his wife and six year old daughter…and first hand accounts tell the story of how his little girl cried for her father as she and her mom were lowered into the life boat that he refused to get in…why? He was heard calling out, “women, children, and the unsaved first…then all the others!” It’s even recorded that he gave his life jacket to a man who proclaimed to not be saved. (Of course this incredible, amazing story did not make it into the movie…) Then as the people clung to the boat pieces and floating objects, a man tells a story of Pastor John Harper floating over to him clinging to a piece of wood and simply saying, “sir, are you saved?” The man replied that he wasn’t and then proceeded to get the opportunity to be saved. After, Pastor John Harper floated away but not long after that, again, Pastor John Harper’s piece of wood made its way back to the same man at which time again, same question, “sir, are you saved?” John Harper died that night…but even in his time of absolute demise, on his heart and mind and lips and actions…others. I wonder, where you’re at today…as you espouse the Lord Jesus as your God…as you claim to know Him and the power of His resurrection…are others your focus? Are you sure you have the right Jesus? Because just like John Harper, on this night…the night of nights…as the Lord lifts His eyes to heaven…on His heart and lips…others… So many wade through a tough situation, a hard and painful circumstance striving and scratching for their own comfort and needs maybe even praying…maybe even calling out for help…but the superior tragedy is not the situation…its that they don’t know the Lord! The Lord in His darkest moment, in His most intricately horrific pain and suffering, cared nothing of His own needs…His hearts focus, others! Man you may be in a spot today where you’re going through it at work, or you’re going through it at home, or you’re going through it with this person or that person…let me tell you something…if you’re calling out to Jesus with any other prayer than one that is focused on the blessing and needs of the others involved…then you’re offering your prayers to a false Jesus! You’ve got Him all wrong! The Son of Man did not come to condemn but to save!! Save who? HIS ENEMIES!! And the advice and counsel of the world will just pour in won’t it? “Get yours, oh that’s not fair for you, you might as well just leave her…you can do better”…satanic at its very core…beware…because the folks that listen to that garbage always end up alone, forsaken and miserable. Every sitcom today, every real housewives of whatever show today…refuse it man because it is, at its very core, the song of the angel who was cast out of heaven! You know in those situations, you can add to your stress and to your suffering…or you could turn to the true Lord. Just like when you live in a house, you gotta take out the trash or pretty soon your life…I mean your house…will wreak! It will be filled with bugs and rot and decay and stench! Ever watch hoarders? Trash be eating through floors! Well just like with a house, with your life, you gotta take out the trash…you gotta reject those things that are of the flesh, that are just plain bad for you or pretty soon, may…rottenness! Your whole life, decay! (1 Peter 3) The heart cry of the One Way, the One Truth and the One Life? Others! Chapter 17 Verse 1 •At the wedding of Cana…”mom, My hour has not yet come.” Teaching in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles they sought to take Him…but they couldn’t…because His hour had not yet come. Back in the temple the very next day…heart broken over His daughter that they had thrown at His http://feet..caught in the very act of http://adultery...her true state He saw…just lost and lonely and scared and blind…and His heart broke for her…so they again sought to take Him, but it was not yet His hour. •There in the upper room, His flesh trembling with anxiety and fear and power and purpose…knowing His hour approached…so He held His kids one last time…held their feet in His Holy hands. And now, less than an hour later…”Father the hour has come…Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You.” •That word for “glorify” there is an amazing word in the Greek…doxazo. It only means glorify when applied to God…because what it literally means is “show them!” Show them Father, Jesus said! Show them how much they mean to You! You see it wouldn’t mean glorify if said about me…because my heart is wicked…its dark man! But God! IS LOVE, HE IS GRACE, HE IS OVERWHELMING! And so GLORY! SHOW THEM FATHER! Use ME! •Do you hear His cry? Is it yours? Is Christ living through YOU? Man this is no game! This is truth! Are you His disciple! Can you hear Him? Father, show them…Even though it will cost all of Me, show them. Even though I will be like refuse and hated and hurt and destroyed…Father show them…show them You! Man that’s so powerful! Does that not drive you to your knees for being so self-focused and self-seeking! When there is such an opportunity for God to be SO MAGNIFIED…Father show them! My prayer! •And in that precept, in that truth, in that revelation…the purpose of prayer is made so clear. Prayer is not the way to get God to do our will in heaven. Prayer is the way to get man to do God’s will on earth. Once that is understood, you will find yourself praying in an entirely different manner. •Jesus says glorify Me Father so that I may glorify You! What is God’s will for the Son? Have you every thought about that? God’s will for the Son is that He might have a bride! And even though the immediate result of Jesus’ prayer is that He will be pinned to the Cross of Calvary, the eternal result is hope and grace and forgiveness for all of mankind! •It is so radical when a believer finally gets the big picture and stops saying, “God do it my way!” God is not Burger King where we give out orders about how things should be done and then we complain when onions are left on our burgers…He is not Burger King, He’s the King of Kings and He sees what is going to be absolutely the best in the long run. Chapter 17 Verses 2 – 5 •Jesus says here, “I have glorified You on the earth.” Understand this is the one and only true measurement of success in life. You see those signs on the back of commercial trucks, “How am I driving?” and you get those surveys maybe when you stay in a hotel asking, “How are we doing?” Well just like that I think it’s good for us to say, “How am I doing, Father? Who is receiving the glory?” •Maybe you are a good mother, a gifted musician, an excellent servant in the church, a wonderful neighbor, a hard worker…but who’s getting the glory? Are you getting the glory or is God? Are you as successful as you think? Because in the end, what’s it all matter? This life will soon be passed, and only whats done for Jesus will last. •And I love what He says next here…”I have finished the work.” He didn’t say, “I’ve started the work,” or “I was going to get to the work.” He said, “I have finished the work.” There is nothing more to do to secure your salvation but simply believe on the Son of God…Jesus Christ. Salvation is by faith through grace and not of works because the works are finished. Because Jesus completed the task! •Just like Noah. Noah didn’t spend 100 years piecing together the Ark to the exact specifications given to him by God and then step back and say “you know what, I’m tired…we don’t need a roof!” Man we’d all be sunk! He finished. •What about you? If you today were to come face to face with God the Father could you say, “Father, I finished the work you gave me…” Here it is…or would there be great loss? •Saul didn’t finish. Samuel told Saul in 1 Samuel 15:3, “Let not one Amalekite remain”, but Saul let Agag live…you know why? As a trophy because he was the king of the Amalekites. Twenty-five years later, Saul is killed by an Amalekite. •The Amalekites are a type of the flesh in the Old Testament…what has God called you to do, told you to stop doing, commanded that you give that devotion and part of your life to Him…but you still haven’t. I pray for you…because you may be in year 25 and just not know it… •It is finished Jesus says here…He said that in one other place also right? On the cross…He paid the full price. He finished the full work. I wonder have you missed that? I wonder have you missed the simple fact that your life, your entire life, belongs in the hands and in the will of the Father? •Check this out, as we close… Chapter 17 Verses 6 – 9a •Jesus has manifested the nature of God through His life, His actions, His cross, His resurrection, His word…but even look…even His name. His name is not God…that is His designation. Lord is not His name…that is His title. His name is Yahweh, or Jehovah…and the name Jesus is actually a combination of two words in the Hebrew…”Ya” (short for Yahweh or Jahovah), and “shua”…meaning salvation. So Jahovah Shua or Yashuah or Jesus….transliterally is Jehovah is salvation! So cool! •And notice, Jesus’ qualification for them being His…they have kept His word! There in Verse 6. They have received His word…there in verse 8…and they have believed, not just that God exists, but that Jesus was sent by God the Father to save…that implies trust. They receive, they keep, they believe. •I wonder have you missed it. Have you missed the peace and the power and the purpose and the joy of simply receiving and keeping…believing? •I was fortunate enough to receive a briefing from a gentleman who has completed two space walks. On one occasion he tells of how his suit malfunctioned and he had some sort of ammonia solution leaking out of the front of his suit which caused a substantial chemical ice buildup. Stable in the absence of elements but highly dangerous when mixed with oxygen. So he had to stay outside of the shuttle and “bake off” as he called it in the sun. •The interesting part of the story is that he told of how he hadn’t even noticed the beauty of the earth from space until he was slowed down…you wonder why things are so hard all of the time? Could it be that God is trying to slow you down…get your attention…and show the beauty and reality of a life lived unto yourself, but unto Jesus? •Paul had a harder life than anyone in this room yet he was also more full of joy…why? Because he found this out…he said in Galatians 2:20…I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but I live on in the awesome reality of the one who loved me and gave Himself for me. I pray you too find this…
John 16 vs 16-33
October 21, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 16 is the conclusion of Jesus’ final sermon to His disciples before going to the cross. This night with Jesus had been unusual in that His lesson was one of grave concern to the disciples. It wasn’t reminiscent of the conversation He had with them at the well in Samaria. It didn’t ring as exhilarating as His teachings that He gave with power and authority so many times in the synagogues to the Jews… And so as we’ll see here in Chapter 16, as we look at the conclusion of His final teaching to them that night as they walked, they were quite troubled and confused. They weren’t able to grasp what exactly Jesus was saying…not like we are today. And even though out of all adversaries of our peace, none insult us more violently than discouragement and confusion, none of His disciples quit walking. They continued to follow Jesus. They continued to listen closely to Jesus. They even continued to ask of Him…Lord tell us, Lord show us…Lord what is the meaning? Pretty good example for us to follow as we too are often confused and even discouraged. Why? Do you think that men and women who have been walking with the Lord for 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years don’t get as confused or as discouraged as you do? Do you think just because a man like Billy Graham has a ministry that has reached millions of people of decades upon decades that he himself doesn’t find himself puzzled at hard situations and circumstances? Of course he does and of course they do…God’s ways are still higher than theirs right? The difference is that the don’t stop walking, they don’t stop listening, they don’t stop seeking the Lord and in that look the enemy of confusion, the conqueror of discouragement…the Holy Spirit guides them and you into all truth. Enlightening and declaring to them and to you what things will come and most importantly He will take of Jesus’ love, Jesus’ compassion, Jesus’ purposes and plans and perfect will and He will declare it to you. If indeed you do not turn back to the comfort of the last supper meal…if indeed you do not go out into the night in search of personal gain…thirty peaces of cheap silver… The comfort of materialism, which is not comfort at all…the compassion and confirmation of fellow man, which is worth what? An unknown author once said, “Seeking confirmation from people will have you on an endless search for unnecessary validation.” And the truth is that with the same thirst you have for man’s approval and man’s confirmation and comfort you will dread the condemnation and disapproval of men…your weakness will keep you in a cycle of inner turmoil and personal prison. These men tonight as they walk with Jesus are hearing that they will be cast out of their culture and even killed all the while being blamed for their own unrighteous condemnation…yet they continue to follow. They have great consternation. They are full of fear. They are more confounded then they are comforted. Truly their faith is weak…but as they walk, as they listen, as they continue seeking…their truly weak faith is proven true nonetheless. Chapter 16 Verses 16 – 18 •What Jesus says here is clear and the meaning, to us, is quite understandable, however the way that Jesus says this, the structure of the sentence, His choice of words if you will is quite interesting. You see, as He seems repetitive in His statement, “a little while and you won’t see Me, yet a little while you will see Me” however in the Greek this statement is not repetitive at all. Why? •Jesus says, “a little while you shall not theoreo Me” which is a word that literally means to discern, to understand, to find out, to see in such a way that truth is perceived. This was the same word used there at the well by the Samaritan woman after Jesus had told her all that she ever did…”Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” •But then Jesus says “yet a little while and you will see Me” but this time He uses the word “optanomi” a whole new word, an entirely different word that literally means you will behold Me because I will allow Myself, I will enable Myself to be beheld.” So Cool! •Because by looking at the Greek, by digging in and seeking and knocking and asking and studying we conclude that yes the simplistic surface statement given in the English is acceptable and understandable but wait there’s more! And there’s always more! More to the situation than you see. More to the test, to the trial than you or I grasp but if we ask, if we seek, if we knock, if we walk by faith…the more will be revealed! •And there’s more here…look in the original language what Jesus actually shared with them is “hey guys, its ok to be a bit confused and a bit uneasy…just a little while longer…walk by faith!” “A little while more you won’t fully understand…but don’t be discouraged because look just a little while longer and you will see Me clearly…I promise, I’ll make sure of it.” Why? How? “Because I go to the Father…” •How can we see God clearly? How can we perceive the work of Jesus noticeably? By the ministry of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit within us guiding us into all truth! Chapter 16 Verse 18 •See now that Jesus has comforted them and said look its ok if you’re confused…now they pipe up and are ok with saying “we’re confused!” Chapter 16 Verse 19 – 22 •Now keep in mind, don’t lose sight of the fact that the disciples walking with Jesus, hearing this right now, had left absolutely everything to follow Jesus. Matthew had been making bank collecting taxes. Peter and Andrew had abandoned their fishing business as well as James and John who were sons of a prominent fisherman Zebedee…they had left all of that behind. The others, James the son of Alpheus, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddeus who is also called Judas (not Iscariot), and Simon the zealot…we’re not told what they did prior to their calling but at any rate whatever they were doing, they left it…all of it. •Family, friends, business, positions, they had left if all and placed all of their stock in Jesus. For the last three years, every day spent at the Lord’s side. And now, as they walked with Him on this night of all nights, He tells them He would no longer be with them…concerning to say the least. •But you may like to remember that we serve the God of all comfort…and Jesus, understanding their confusion, He gives His disciples three elements that would replace their depression with joy… •First, a principle. The object of your pain presently, will produce great joy eventually. To illustrate, He spoke of a woman in labor. There’s pain and there’s struggle, there’s anguish and hard work but yet look, bet yet hey…but yet don’t miss this…it’s the very object that produced the pain that provides the joy when the baby is finally born. •Look when you go through pain, when the fiery trials come upon you, the Lord does not take away that which caused the pain and replace it with something else to bring joy…no! God’s ways are higher, God’s ways are more permanent…In the time of testing, it a time of struggling, of anguish of pain it is not time for substitution! The world says, don’t like your husband? Substitute! Don’t like your day? Substitute…here’s some alcohol or some mary jane…Don’t like your mom or dad? Sue them! NO! Man what weakness! Its not substitution but transformation that brings about joy! Lasting joy! Real joy! Growth…maturity…strength with the very thing that once caused pain! •Joseph was thrown into a pit by his envious older brothers. Left to die but he didn’t. Some passing merchants saw him there and saved his life to use him as a slave. He ended up in Egypt and was sold into the house of Potiphar. But there he worked his way up (about 10 years mind you) until suddenly Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of rape. Again, Joseph cast into a pit…cast into prison where he sat and languished for more than 2 years until God miraculously worked through a series of incredible events to release him from prison and elevate him to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt. •Thus the very things that produced pain…rejection by his brothers, the pit, the prison…were transformed not only to work out for his own good, but to save his entire family in the day of famine. Check it out in Genesis 50. So man keep at it, keep in it, keep going because I’ll tell you, from the other side of the pit, if endured in faith, clinging to the Lord…you will appreciate, you will see…a little while longer Jesus said…and you will be SO thankful for what God has done…things don’t happen to you Christian…they happen FOR you. Chapter 16 Verses 23 – 28 •So first Jesus gives them a principle to hold on to…now He gives His disciples a power to plug in to! The power to transform that which produces sorrow into that which produces joy…the power of prayer! •Jesus says “until now you have asked nothing in My name…but I tell you ask in My name…that your joy may be full!” What does asking in the name of Jesus mean? Well we went through this a bit before but by way of review… •Once when I was just a kid, my mom took my sister and I to a country club…now we weren’t and frankly still aren’t the country club type but this time we had gone at the invite of one of my mom’s friends. •Well while we were there…the bartender at the clubhouse gave us what seemed to me to hundreds of dollars in play money…and if we wanted a drink or if we wanted chips or if we wanted coins for the arcade games or really anything…well we he would tell us the cost and we would hand him that play money. •What’s interesting is that while I got candy and chips and games and drinks…when we got ready to leave, I watched my mom’s friend…settle the bill with the bartender. And I didn’t understand it then but I do today that I wasn’t getting those things that I wanted based upon what I was offering for them but based upon a precoordinated promise! •And so he gives them a principle, then He gives them the power and authority to pray in His name. And through Him we come to the throne seat of grace, to the Ancient of Days, to God the Father not through our own worth or ability or righteousness but simply through the name I’ve been given to use: Jesus! •And then the third things He gives them, first principle…second power…third, Jesus gave His disciples a name to conform to. If I went up to that same bartender in that same country club and pulled out my fake money and my real gun and demanded all the chips, drinks, coins and candy…he’d probably give it to me but he’d also probably sound some sort of silent alarm, for although I would be using the precoordinated promise of reimbursement via the play money, I would not be acting in conformity to arrangement that was secured for me… •So too, when we pray in the name of Jesus, we must do so not only in His authority, but in conformity to His desire…Consequently, if a guy cuts me off driving down the road and I pray, “God in Jesus’ name, help that guy to drive off the road…” its not going to happen because that’s not in conformity with God’s nature. •Often times we ask for things that are outside of harmony with God’s will and ways…grace and love…and we wonder why our prayers aren’t answered in the affirmative. That’s why, for me, a real secret in prevailing prayer is to be in the Word constantly, studying the life of Jesus and the Words of the Lord specifically, so that the things I pray for are in conformity with His character…and fullness of joy is continual! Chapter 16 Verses 29 – 33 •Jesus knows they don’t get it…and He says here that the hour is coming that their inability to understand will scatter them yet He offers a final point for them to remember…first a principle, second a power, third a name to conform to and now fourth Jesus gives His disciples a position to lay claim to… •“I have overcome,” Jesus said, “And you are in Me. So even if you do scatter, even if you do stumble, even if you do fail…chin up kid…I have overcome and you are in Me and therefore you too will overcome…don’t lose heart! Don’t look down > look UP!” •The Christian race is the only race in the world that begins at the finish line…We don’t fight for victory > we fight from victory! The battle is already won, Jesus has already overcome! So be of good cheer! Seek the Lord…He will be found…and with finding Him, indeed you will find fullness of joy! •Principle, power, person and position…all things you have abundantly and immediately in Jesus Christ…and all things you lack tragically in rejection of the Lord and His Word and His Ways! Come to the well today, the well of living water and drink so that you may thirst no more! In Jesus’ name…