Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 6

“Peace Be With You!” [Matt's Messages]

“Peace Be With You!”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchDecember 1, 2024 :: John 20:19-31  
The title for this message just jumped off the page at me because Jesus says it three times in this one short passage. Verse 19, verse 21, and again in verse 26. 
“Peace Be With You!”
In the Greek, John wrote, “Eiraynay humin.”
But that’s probably a translation of what Jesus said in the street language of the day.  He probably said it in Aramaic, something like, “Shlama Alaykhu.”
Which is related to the Hebrew that Jews still use today all over the world, “Shalom Alaychem.” 
“Peace be with you.”
Why don’t you say that to your neighbor, if you are so bold?  “Shalom Alaychem.”
By the way, the traditional response is to say it the other direction back at them, “Alaychem Shalom.” "And with you peace.”
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
I think that when the Lord Jesus said these words, His disicples really needed to hear them. Because they were scared.
Now, remember where we are in the story. Jesus is alive again, but not very people know that.
Everybody knows that Jesus was dead. Everybody in Jerusalem knows that Jesus was crucified. He was arrested in the darkness, put to trial in a series of unjust courtrooms, sentenced to death by the Jews for blasphemy (because He claimed to be the Son of God and God the Son) and sentenced to death by the Romans for claiming to be a King. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate had a placard nailed above His head on the Cross in three languages that proclaimed Jesus was the king of the Jews.
Everybody knew that Jesus was dead. He was killed by crucifixion.
His executioners made sure that He was dead. Not only had they nailed Him to the Cross, but they stuck a spear in His side, and there was no response. Blood and water came flowing out of his dead body.
He was buried. Like we said in the Nicene Creed this morning. Placed in a new tomb in a garden as it was getting dark on Friday evening. And then nothing happened on Saturday. Nothing but grief and mourning.
But then on Sunday morning while it was still dark, Jesus rose from the grave! 
Last week, we read about how Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty and the stone in front of it rolled away. And we read about her running to the disciples, and two of them running back to the tomb to see for themselves. Peter and probably John the gospelwriter. And John believed! And then Mary saw. Mary saw with her own two eyes that Jesus was alive!
But that’s a pretty small circle of people who know. Mary has run back to the disciples once again and said, “I have seen the Lord!” (v.18). But the rest of them have not.
And they are, frankly, scared! And you and I, I think, would have been, too. After what they have seen this weekend?! “After what they did to our Lord?! What’s to stop the Jews and the Romans from doing it to us? I know what Mary said, but what are the chances that it’s true?” Look at verse 19. 
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”
“Eiraynay humin.”“Shlama Alaykhu.”“Shalom Alaychem.” 
“Peace be with you!”
They probably needed to hear that. Now, not just because they were afraid of the authorities out there, but now because there was a resurrected Man in their midst!
“What is going on?!!! Where did you come from? The doors were locked! You were dead!!!”
“Peace be with you! Don’t be worried. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. Have some peace. I am here.”
I’ve got three points to summarize our passage today, and they are all reasons to have real peace. Here’s the first one:
“Peace Be With You!”
#1. BECAUSE THE PRINCE OF PEACE IS ALIVE AGAIN.
The very first thing that Jesus does after bursting in on them and saying, “Peace be with you!” is show them His scars. Look at verse 20.
“After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
“See here? Look at my hands. Here’s where the Romans put the nails. Yes, it is me. I’m not a ghost. I’m not an apparition. This is not a dream. Look here at my hands. Look here at my side. This is where the executioners stuck that spear. You can still see exactly where it went in. I know that this is scary, but it is real. I am alive. 
“Peace be with you!”
Because the Prince of Peace is alive again.
Just a couple of nights ago, Jesus had a lot to say about peace, didn’t He? He promised to give them His peace. Remember that? It was back in chapter 14 which we studied in July, but He just said on Thursday night. This is Sunday evening! He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn. 14:27).
And now He appears four days later and says, “Peace be with you!” 
And that peace is possible because of His scars. I never thought about that until this week when I was studying for this message. He says, “Peace be with you!” and then shows them His wounds? He’s not just saying, “It’s me.” He saying, “Look! I have purchased your peace. Everything is okay...It is finished.” [Meditate on Isaiah 53:5 and how the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.]
“Peace be with you!”
Or how about memory verse right now? That same night right before His arrest. Last thing He said to them. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have [WHAT?] peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). And here is saying, “See! I have overcome the world!” You can have that peace now.
And what better response to that could there be than joy? V.20 again.
“The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
I’ll bet! I can’t imagine. “He is alive. He’s really alive.” They are crying. They’re dancing. They’re shaking their heads.  They go from the lowest of fear and grief to skyrocket to the highest of joys and happiness!
He predicted that, too, didn’t He? Remember that same dark night, He said, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy...I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16:20,22).
We can and will rejoice because the Prince of Peace is alive again!
That’s why we worship on Sunday mornings. Because every Sunday reminds us of the resurrection. And our eternal joy.
“You’re my Prince of Peace, and I will live my life for you!”
And that’s what He asks us to do in the next section. Jesus is going to send His disciples (and by extension you and me) on a mission. He starts by saying it again. Verse 21.
“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’”
“Peace be with you!”
#2. BECAUSE THE SENT-ONE IS SENDING YOU WITH THE SPIRIT.
Now, there’s a lot packed into these three verses. I thought about just preaching them all by themselves. This is like the Gospel of John’s version, of the Great Commission. And it’s glorious.
First, He says again, 
“Eiraynay humin.”“Shlama Alaykhu.”“Shalom Alaychem.” 
“Peace be with you!”
And they need to hear that because the next thing He’s going to say is that they have to go out into the world on a mission. They can’t stay huddled up behind locked doors. They have to go out into the world, and they are going to have to speak up out there. 
“I am sending you.” He’s come back from the dead, and He’s making demands. “I am sending you.”
“I’ve got a mission for you, and it is not optional.” They are going to need that peace. Because the world is not a safe place. And the world is not entirely receptive to their message. But regardless, they have to go.
And so do we.
Raise your hand if you are on a mission from Jesus. Every follower of Christ should be raising their hand. We are all missionaries in this room. We’re not all foreign missionaries. We’re not all supported missionaries like the ones whose pictures hang on our back walls. I’m praying that the Lord will raise up more missionaries like that from the folks in this room. 
But all of us are here are sent. We have a mission. It’s called the Great Commission. We have a message. It’s the gospel. It’s our mission to make disciples through that message of the gospel.
“I am sending you.”
He’s sending you and me into our little mission fields. Whether that’s your workplace or your school or your neighborhood or wherever the Lord sends you each and every day, you are supposed to live on mission for Him.
“I am sending you.”
But notice that Jesus doesn’t ask us to do anything He’s not willing to do first. He’s not just the Sender. He’s been sent Himself. Did you catch that in verse 21?
“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Who is the great missionary there ever was?
Hint: It’s not Jim Elliot or William Carey or Hudson Taylor or Fred and Cindy  or Peter and Deb  or Abe and Jordyn Skacel or John and Becky or Chip and Kim or even the Apostle Paul! As wonderful and used of God as all of those missionaries were. Who is the greatest missionary there ever was?
It’s Jesus, right?
I love that we’re reading verse 21 as Christmas approaches.  Because that’s what Christmas is. It’s a rescue mission.
The Father sent the Son.  
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn. 3:16-17). That’s the point of Christmas!
The Father sent the Son. Now, the Son is sending us.
Jesus predicted that, too, didn’t He? He prayed it to the Father that same night before Cross.
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 7 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (Jn. 17:15-18).
That’s dangerous. But He has gone before us and give us His peace. And more than that, He gives us His Holy Spirit to go with us and in us. Look again at verse 22.
“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Notice “and with that.” There’s a connection between “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you...” and Him blowing on them.
I know that’s weird. This is the only time that He does that in any of the four gospels. He does a lot of weird things, but this is the only time He blows on them.
The Greek word is “emphuseo.” You can hear things like “Emphysema” that are probably related words in English.
What was Jesus doing? There’s a lot of debate about that among Christian scholars, and there’s a number of possibilities including that this was the moment that these disciples first received the Holy Spirit to live in them permanently. That’s possible. [Read John 7:38-39 and think about it carefully.]
But I tend to think that it’s prophetic and symbolic of what Jesus is going to do in 50 days from right then. He’s promising to send the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and saying what it’s going to be like. A rushing wind.
A wind that gives new life like the breath of God breathing life into the first human in the book of Genesis (2:7) or in the book of Ezekiel blowing new life into the skeletons in the valley of dry bones (37:10). Same kind of use of language.
He’s prophesying of the coming of the Spirit that He also just promised on Thursday night: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
“Receive the Holy Spirit.” “You don’t have go out there on your own. I’m sending you, but I’m not sending by yourself. God the Spirit is going to go with you and in you.”
“Receive the Holy Spirit.” What a holy moment! The Risen Jesus promising the gift of the Spirit for the new missionaries. The Sent-One is sending them into the world.
And here’s their message–the forgiveness of sins. Look at verse 23.
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now, that almost sounds like He’s giving the disciples the ability to dole out personal forgiveness and it affect divine forgiveness, but we know that’s not how it works. I think He’s just saying that He’s giving the disciples the job of telling people about how to be forgiven through Him. He’s saying that the disciples have to take the message of the gospel to the world, and if they believe the message of the gospel, then they will be forgiven, but if they reject the message of the gospel, then they will not be forgiven.
And it’s our job to tell people! “If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
If we keep the message of the gospel to ourselves, how can anybody be saved?!
That’s a big responsibility. And it’s not optional.
But we are not alone. Jesus has gone before us and He sends His Spirit with us.
Who should we tell? Who should we tell this week? Who are you going to tell? Don’t be worried. Don’t be scared. Jesus has given you the Holy Spirit. “Peace be with you!” Go and tell them Who Jesus is and what He’s done.
Jesus says it one more time.
He shows up again about a week later.
Which, by the way, I’m always wondering what Jesus did in between these appearances. We don’t know. That’s one to ask Him someday in the Kingdom. “What did you do on Sunday afternoon, Jesus? What did you do between the two weekends?”
We also don’t know why Thomas wasn’t there that first Resurrection Sunday. Perhaps he was running for the pizza. Had to take over the treasury now that Judas was gone. Don’t know.
We just know that he missed this whole thing we just read. Look at verse 24.
“Now Thomas (called Didymus [Twin]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ [It was awesome! We are so happy!] But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’” (vv.24-25).
I don’t blame him. Thomas was a brave man who loved Jesus. Remember when Lazarus died, and Jesus wanted to go into dangerous territory to visit the family? Thomas was like, “You got it, Boss. I’m ready to die with you.”
And Thomas (I don’t know what his twin was like, but Thomas) asked good questions and wanted to know it straight. Just a few nights ago, Thomas had said, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (John 14:5).
And we know what Jesus said to that. But then they took Jesus away. And they killed Him.
And Thomas wasn’t there to see Him back from the dead. And he just wanted more proof. It’s not that he didn’t believe in resurrections. He saw Lazarus come back from the dead! But not from a crucifixion.  And not with his own eyes.
“You guys might just be hallucinating. You want it too much. I will not believe unless I see it myself. Unless I touch Him myself.”
“Show me.”
I like to call him, “Missouri Thomas.” That’s my nickname for him because Missouri is the “Show Me State.”
"Seeing is believing," says, Missouri Thomas. I don’t blame Him. But he probably should have been believing his friends who were eyewitnesses. And he probably should have remembered that Jesus had promised to come back from the dead.
But Jesus was gracious to Missouri Thomas and showed Himself to him personally. Look at verse 26.
“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them [this time]. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”
“Eiraynay humin.”“Shlama Alaykhu.”“Shalom Alaychem.” 
“Even you, Thomas. Peace be with you!”
And then He gets in a little dig. In love. But a rebuke nonetheless. Verse 27.
“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”
An even better translation would be, “Stop unbelieving and believe.” He’s not telling Thomas to stop asking questions or examining all of the evidence. He’s telling Thomas to stop making excuses, stop being an unbeliever, and to put His faith in the Truth. “Stop unbelieving and believe.”
“Because it’s all true! I am alive. And now I’ve proven it to you. Don’t make excuses. Start believing now.”
And Thomas does. Verse 28.
“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
What a moment! I don’t think Thomas even touched him. When he saw Jesus with his own eyes, he hit the floor!
“My Lord and my God!”
Notice that Thomas is saying that He believes everything that the Jews and the Romans killed Jesus for. He is a King. He’s the Lord! And He is divine. He is God! It’s not blasphemy if it’s true.
“My Lord and my God!”
Notice, also, that Jesus does not try to stop Thomas from worshiping Him. He’s not like, “Oh, oh, oh, Tom, Tom, Tom. No. Stop! I’m just a man. Stop with the ‘my God’ stuff.”
No, Jesus just receives that worship as due Him. That is Who He is. That is His name. And Thomas believes in His name.
Jesus says that believing with seeing is good, but there is something better. Look verse 29.
“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
“Peace be with you!”
#3. BECAUSE YOU ARE BLESSED IF YOU BELIEVE.
Especially if you believe without seeing first. One day, we will see Jesus. And we long for that day. John says in his first letter we will become like Him when we see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).
Jesus wants us to see Him in all of His glory (John 17:24).
But right now, we don’t see Him. Nobody in this room has seen Him yet. And yet we believe in Him and “...are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for [we] are receiving the goal of [our] faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). 
That’s blessing. So the believing people in this room are more blessed than Missouri Thomas. Isn’t that wild? I would think that Thomas was more blessed than I am. (And he was in some ways.) But there is a special blessing during this age for those of us who have not  yet seen yet have believed.
Is that you? Do you believe?
Believing is seeing and seeing blessing.
Because you know what happens when you believe? You get life. Verse 30 and 31 which we studied before the very first Sunday of this series.
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (vv.30-31).
I love how John starts talking directly to us in this purpose statement for the whole book. He says, “I have written this so that you may believe.” 
Believe in Jesus. Believe that that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One who came that first Christmas. Believe that He is the Son of God. “My Lord and my God.” That is His name. And that by believing in that name, you will have life. Life abundant and life eternal.
That’s blessing!
If you believe that without yet seeing with your own eyes, but just believing what you’ve been told by reliable eyewitnesses like Mary Magdalene and Missouri Thomas and John the Gospelwriter then you will have life.
Of course, the opposite is also true. If you do not believe, you will not have life. And you will not have peace. Because peace is found only in Jesus.
“Peace be with you in Him!”

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them" - John 17:6-19
46. "That All Of Them May Be One, Father" - John 17:20-26
47. "Who Is It You Want?" - John 18:1-27
48. "Here Is Your King" - John 18:28-19:16
49. "It Is Finished" - John 19:17-42
50. "While It Was Still Dark" - John 20:1-18

Advent Candle #1: "The Light of Hope"

LEFC Family Advent Readings “The Light of the World”John 8:12 :: December 1, 2024Week #1: “The Light of Hope”
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.
During this year’s Advent Season, each of our readings will reflect on the fantastic claim that the Lord Jesus made about Himself in the Gospel of John chapter 8, verse 12.
[READ JOHN 8:12]
Jesus is the “The Light of the World.” He shines like no one else.
Light is such a powerful metaphor because it reveals so many aspects about our Lord.
For example, light means hope.
[LIGHT FIRST CANDLE.]
Jesus came into a world full of darkness. The darkness of sin, the darkness of despair, and the darkness of death.
But Jesus’ birth brought new hope. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied of His coming, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (See Isaiah 9:2 and Matthew 4:16!)
May our first candle remind us that the darkness will not last. Hope shines forth.
As the carol sings:
"O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheerOur spirits by Thine advent here;Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,And death's dark shadows put to flight."
Jesus is the Light of the World.
***
Photo credit: Jonas Von  Werne.

“While It Was Still Dark” [Matt's Messages]

“While It Was Still Dark”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 24, 2024 :: John 20:1-18  
Jesus was dead and buried.
For the last several weeks, we’ve been reading how our Lord Jesus was betrayed in the darkness, arrested in the darkness, interrogated, denied, slapped around, drug around from court to court, mocked, scourged, shamed, and executed. 
Our Lord was crucified. Jesus was made to carry His own cross and then was nailed to it and then suffocated on it. Excruciating pain and thirst and agony.
And Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” 
And then He died. No more breath. No more brain waves. No more beating of the heart. Jesus was dead.
And then He was buried. We just proclaimed it in the Apostles’ Creed. His corpse was placed in a tomb.
A couple of His followers went from secret to public. Joe and Nick took His dead body and wrapped it in 75 pounds of spices intertwined in linen strips. Even though He died with nothing and was treated as less than nothing as He died, in His burial, He had been treated as royalty.
There was a little garden near Skull Hill where Jesus had been killed, and in the garden was a newly dug, unused tomb. And that’s where they put Him. Jesus was dead and buried.
But that was not the end of the story!
If this was anybody else’s story, the next chapter, if there was one, would be about the effect of that dead person’s life on the people who lived after them. But that’s not what this chapter and the next is about! Because something amazing happened...“While It Was Still Dark.”
I thought this week, “God does some of His best work in the dark.”
Darkness has almost been a character in this book all along. Judas slipped out into the darkness to betray Jesus. “And it was night.” Nicodemus came at night to question Jesus. John has said that humans love darkness because their deeds are evil.
But John has also said that the darkness will not win (1:5).
Jesus has been dead and buried for two days. Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. And now it’s early early on Sunday (the first day of the Jewish week) when we open chapter 20. Look at verse 1.
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”
By the way, this is the reason why most Christians now worship together on Sunday mornings. Maybe we should start meeting at 6:00am!
It was still dark. The sun was slowly creeping over the horizon. Mary was one of the women who was there on Friday and had to watch that monstrous thing happen to our Lord. She went to the tomb, the other gospels tell us, with some of those other women to finish the rush job that Joe and Nick had done on Friday evening as the Sabbath fell.
I like to get up while it’s still dark and go for a walk. I wear a “high viz” reflective vest and carry a flashlight. I wonder if she had any light with her? Probably not.
I’m sure she felt the darkness. The special Passover Sabbath was over and all that’s left is grief. Her Teacher and Lord had died. And with Him, all of her hopes and dreams. All of that talk about the Kingdom coming. All of what He had said about Himself. 
It was over. Because Jesus was over. The story was over. Jesus was dead and buried. “It is finished.”
But the story was not over. The story was not finished. Even Jesus was not finished!
And when Mary reached the tomb (v.1), she “saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.” There must have been enough light to see that. No stone!
And what did Mary think? Does she think, “Hooray! Jesus is alive again!” No. She thinks, “Oh, rats, grave robbers. Joseph and Nicodemus put 75 pounds of expensive spices in that tomb. Myrrh and aloes. Somebody has made off with the body. I better go tell Peter.” Verse 2.
“So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!’”
She might think that culprits are the Jewish leaders. They might not want Jesus to be celebrated as a martyr, so they have stolen His body so the tomb doesn’t become a rallying point. 
All Mary knows is that the tomb is empty. And she’s distraught. Not only is Jesus dead, but His body has been stolen. Can it get any worse?
So she tells Peter and the other disciple, who I am pretty sure is John the gospelwriter himself. He can’t get over how beloved he was. And so he was filled with grief, as well.
Peter and John take off running. There’s a lot of running here. Mary runs to Peter and John run to the tomb, leaving Mary behind. And John is faster. Verse 3.
“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)” (vv.3b-9)
I love that detail that John was faster. He doesn’t actually say his name, but he’s got to get in that dig.
It definitely has the ring of truth to it, doesn’t it? What interesting details to remember! John gets to the tomb first, but Peter goes in first (classic Peter!). And apparently, there is now enough light that he can see inside of the tomb. Maybe he has a torch. We don’t know.
Peter sees the layout with his own eyes but doesn’t know what to think. The other gospels tell us that he went away marveling over this and trying to figure it all out.
This does not look like the work of grave robbers, does it? They left the strips of linen. That’s where the spices were. That’s where the money was. And the head cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, it was folded up and carefully set in another place. Grave robbers folded up the head cloth? I doubt it! Anyone that raided that tomb. Who would do that?
It’s more like Someone sat up and pulled off the strips of linen and folded up the head cloth and dropped it aside. Like Someone had started breathing again. Someone had started using His heart and brain and lungs again. Someone had started using his arms and legs again. His hands and feet again. That’s what it looks like.
And at that moment, John “got it.” He understood. Verse 8 says, “He saw and believed.”
You can just about see the realization cross John’s face. “He’s alive, isn’t He?! That guy! Look how He neat He is. He folded up the face cloth and put it over there. Jesus is alive again. I believe!”
I have three points of application for us this morning, and that’s the first one. It’s been the main application for the last 50 messages as we’ve studied the Gospel of John together: Believe!  #1. BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!
Because He is. That’s a fact. It’s not a myth or a fable or a fairy tale. It’s not just a metaphor or a nice little story that we tell the children. No. It is reality. It is a historical fact, and it changes everything. Jesus Christ died and was buried and has risen from the dead!
And, I know that it’s Thanksgiving, but we just have to do this:
Christ Is Risen!He Is Risen Indeed!
John believed. And that’s why He wrote this book because He wanted you and me to believe, too. Because when you believe this, what happens? You get life. Right?
At the end of this chapter, John is going to proclaim that “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God [risen from the dead!], and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31).
The lights were coming on for John. Now, he didn’t yet understand how the whole Old Testament had predicted this. Verse 9 says, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”
But John did understand that it had happened!
He might have all of a sudden thought of all of the ways that Jesus had predicted it.
Like when Jesus tossed the tables in the temple, and He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (Jn. 2:19). John might have been like, “Wait a second. Was His body the temple?”
Or when Jesus had said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep....I know my sheep and my sheep know me..and I lay down my life for the sheep...only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (Jn. 10:11-19). John’s like, “Wait a second. What if He meant that He was going to take it up again?!”
Or when He said that He was the “Resurrection and the Life.” What if He is the Resurrection so much that He doesn’t just have the power to raise Lazarus, but to raise Himself?!
Or when He said just the other night, “I am the way, and the truth, and the  life.” What if He is so much “The Life” that He can’t stay dead?!
Eventually, John would go back and read His Old Testament in the light of the resurrection and see it all over the place. Jesus had to rise from the dead. You see that in verse 9? Jesus had to rise from the dead.
That’s what He meant by, “It is finished.” Sin is paid for. The mission is completed. Jesus can’t stay dead because He was victorious! Passages like Psalm 16, verse 10 and Isaiah 53, verses 10 through 12 predicted it most clearly. 
Jesus had to rise from the dead. John didn’t understand that yet, but he believed that Jesus did. Do you?Do you believe that Jesus is alive again?
I do. Our church does. And we invite you to put your trust in Him today. We believe that He is everything He ever said He was. And that He had to rise from the dead. Death could not keep Him.
He paid for our sins, and He promises us eternal life.
John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
Believe!
I love how John has not yet seen the Risen Jesus and yet he already believes. Because that’s like you and me, right? Have you seen the Lord? It would be wonderful to see the Lord with our own two eyes, and one day we will.
Somebody is just about to in the next part of the story. And her name is Mary. Mary did not yet believe. She didn’t understand what had happened. Apparently, she had made her way back to the garden and missed Peter and John and everybody else. And she just stood there outside the tomb and cried. V.10
“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.”
By the way, I never thought about this before yesterday, but I realized that John probably went home and told Jesus’ mother that the tomb was empty! She had just moved in with him on Friday. They adopted each other.  We don’t know, but in verse 10 John might have gone back to his home, and told Mary that he believed that her son was alive again. 
But it’s a different Mary that is crying at the tomb. This was a follower whom Jesus had rescued from demonic oppression (Luke 8:2). We don’t know much more about her than that she had loved and followed Jesus and was there at the crucifixion.
Now she’s crying. “Crying” is a weak word for it. “Wailing” is more like it. It’s the same word for the weeping that the family of Lazarus was doing in chapter 11. She was full of grief. She was sobbing. She was overwhelmed by emotion. Confused and dismayed.
And then she saw something she didn’t expect. She saw two angels. Look at verse 12.
“As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. [These are the only two angels that appear in the Gospel of John.]  They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don't know where they have put him.’” It feels like the darkness has won. “My Lord is dead, and his body has been stolen.” She doesn’t ask, “Who are you?” She’s just done. She just feels done.
And then she senses that there is someone else there. V.14
“At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.”
I’m not 100% sure why that is.
Could be because it was still so early and dark.Could be because she was looking through tears. Could be because she was somehow kept from recognizing Him.Could be because He looked different after having been tortured, either worse because of the torture or more likely better because His body had been glorified. 
We don’t know.
I tend to think it’s just because was beside herself and just didn’t expect to see Jesus. Jesus was dead.
And then He speaks. Verse 15.
“‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’”
I see a twinkle in His eye. He can see what’s going to happen when the light dawns for her. She is seeing what she expects to see. She’s in a garden, she expects a gardener. But He was not what she expected. Verse 16.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ [Just like He always did.] She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).”
What a moment! This is the first believer to ever see the risen Lord!
Can you imagine? Can you imagine what she felt like? His sheep know His voice (John 10:27).
It was Him!It was the Teacher!It was the Lord!
Jesus is alive again.
In my mind, Mary falls at His feet and grabs Him around the knees. She has never been this happy before! 
The darkness has not won. The Light of the World has come. The story wasn’t over. And it’s not going to be!
Jesus says, “Okay. Okay. Let me go.” Big smile on His face. Verse 17.
“Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her” (vv.17-18).
I don’t think that Jesus is saying that Mary can’t touch Him. He’s going to invite other to touch Him. 
But to not cling to Him because this is a special and unique time between His resurrection and His ascension. He is alive, but He’s not staying. He’s still going. 
And Mary has a job to do. Instead of holding onto Jesus, she’s supposed to bear witness to Him.
#2. TELL OTHERS THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!
Jesus is telling Mary that she has a mission to fulfill. She’s supposed to go to Jesus’ brothers (I think that’s His disciples in this context) and tell them  that He is alive and He will be ascending soon. He’s going to be returning to His Father.
But notice that He’s not just Jesus’ Father. He’s “your Father.” The disciple’s Father. Mary Magdalene’s Father!
“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Even though He’s Jesus’ God and Father unlike anyone else’s because He’s the One and Only (monogenays), He is now also their God and Father.
Through adoption! Because of what Jesus has done on the Cross and now that the Tomb is empty, the Father has adopted the disciples through faith in Jesus. It’s John 1:12, isn’t it?
“[Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God” (vv.11-12).
It’s happened! It’s worked! Because Jesus is alive again, everyone who believes in Him gets adopted into God’s family.
So, we need tell people!
Mary did. She ran to disciples and with the good news (v.18), “I have seen the Lord!”
The first eyewitness of the Risen Jesus was this woman. But she should not be the last. You and I are called to go and tell others that Jesus is alive again.
While it was still dark, Jesus stood up once more. The stone was rolled away, and He has made our way to the Father. So that the Father is our Father.
This week, I was thinking about this, and I had the thought: “I’m so glad we’re studying this section of John at Thanksgiving. What could be greater for us to be thankful for than that “It is finished”? That Jesus died for us on the Cross. And then I thought, only one thing and that is that Jesus is alive again today. He came back to life to give us life.”
While it was still dark, the Son rose!
Let’s tell others. Who could you tell this week? When you go around the table and say something you’re thankful for, how about the resurrection? How about the fact that because Jesus is alive, everything has changed?
#3. GIVE THANKS THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!
We’re going to spend at least two more Sundays in the Gospel John thinking about the implications of the resurrection. 
Because Jesus is alive again, we can take heart. He has overcome the world and even death.
And that makes all the difference for us today, tomorrow, and forever. 
“Because He lives, [we] can face tomorrow,Because He lives, all fear is gone;Because [we] know He holds the future,Life is worth the living,Just because He lives!” [Bill and Gloria Gaither, #213]

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them" - John 17:6-19
46. "That All Of Them May Be One, Father" - John 17:20-26
47. "Who Is It You Want?" - John 18:1-27
48. "Here Is Your King" - John 18:28-19:16
49. "It Is Finished" - John 19:17-42

“It Is Finished” [Matt's Messages]

“It Is Finished”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 17, 2024 :: John 19:17-42  
I have good and terrible news for you this morning. And this is it:
An innocent man was murdered.
And that sounds terrible, and it is. But it is also good for you and me.
You know whom I am talking about. This whole church is about Him. 
It’s Jesus.
We’re drawing nearer, nearer to Him and His precious bleeding side. His back is bleeding because He’s been scourged. 
The last few weeks, we’ve read about our Lord Jesus being betrayed, arrested, interrogated, slapped around, mocked, denied, rejected, judged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to execution. Execution of the most unspeakably horrible kind–Roman crucifixion.
Even though the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, could find no basis for a charge against Jesus, he still handed Him over to be crucified.
An innocent man was killed by the authorities. And that’s is good news for you and me.
We’re studying the part of the Gospel that we often focus on during a different holiday season than this one. But it is completely appropriate to focus on it now during this holiday season because, as we’re going to see, this is why Jesus came in the first place, at the first Christmas, and this is what we have the most reason for which to be thankful.
These last moments of His life and His death and His burial. This is why He came, and this is why His last words were (v.30), “It is finished.” That’s our title for today. “It is finished!”
In Greek, “tetelestai.” “It is completed.” Or “It is accomplished.”
Jesus didn’t say, “I am finished.” These are not words of despair, though I know that’s what would be on my lips! His are words of victory even as Jesus was killed as an innocent man. “It Is Finished.”
This morning, I want us to see just what was finished in those final moments before His death and the first few moments after His death and to reflect together on what good news that is for us today. We sometimes call these things “Good Friday.” Every good reason we have here to be thankful.
Starting with this. I have four points this morning, and here’s the first one.
#1. JESUS HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED THE TRUE KING.
Let’s start where Keagan kicked us off. In verse 17.
“Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others–one on each side and Jesus in the middle” (vv.17-18).
It’s amazing to me how little the gospelwriters describe the crucifixion for us.
There are is very little description in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or here in John about what crucifixion was like. Did you ever notice that? It’s almost matter-of-fact.
I think that one of the reasons for that is that everybody who read the Gospels when they first came out, knew what crucifixion was. You didn’t have to explain it in all of it gruesome details.
Another reason is so that we don’t get to glory in the gruesome. It is possible to take a sick pleasure in bloody gore even when talking about our Lord.
But I also think that one of the reasons why the gospelwriters say so little about what it was like is that it is nearly too terrible for words. They just couldn’t bring themselves to talk too much about what was done to our Lord!
He had to carry His own cross. Remember, His back and shoulders are torn up from the scourging. Now, He has to pick up probably the horizontal beam across His shoulders and carry it out of the city limits to “Skull Hill.” 
That’s where they liked do to these crucifixions. There were probably permanent vertical stakes there to mount these beams and these men nailed to them.
John says, “Here they crucified him, and with him two others–one on each side and Jesus in the middle” (v.18).
That means they nailed Him to these pieces of wood and hung him from those poles in the air. “Lifted up.” He was “lifted up.”
And his ankles were nailed, too. And His knees were bent. So that he push up on the pole to breathe a little. And then when He got tired He would sag down and start turning blue. And then He’d push up some more. We invented the word “excruciating” to describe this kind of pain and suffering. It’s got the “cruc...” word sound in there of crucifixion, cross-killing.
And He’s not alone. He’s got actual bad guys on either side of Him. They are not innocent, but He’s dying with them.
It’s hard to talk about. It’s terrible. There’s nothing right about it.
And, yet, it’s good. And we should be so thankful for it.
Here’s one reason, as He was dying, He was being proclaimed the true king of the world. Look at verse 19.
“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written’” (vv.19-22).
Pilate was a weak little man with a lot of power. We saw that last week as the Jews manipulated him into executing Jesus.
But he did get in this one shot. Kind of a practical joke on his Jewish pests. He put up this placard over the head of Jesus that proclaimed Him as the king of Jews. Now, Pilate didn’t mean it. If anything, it was a list of Jesus’ crimes. Here’s why this man is up there on that cross! Sarcasm, dark gallows humor.
But it sure bothered the Jews! They wanted that sign revised. They were rejecting Jesus as their king. And Pilate said, “No way. It stays how I said it.”
But you and I know that it was true. Jesus was the Messiah, the promised King of Israel. And we’ve seen how He acted like a king all the way through this trial. His shoulders back, His head held high. It felt like He was in charge of His own trial. And they were the ones really arrested, really interrogated, really judged and found wanting.
He was the true king!
And notice that it was universally proclaimed. 
Pilate whipped out His Google Translate App and made sure that everybody who passed by knew what it said.
Aramaic. That was the local dialect spoken by the Hebrews in that place.Latin. That was the official language of the Roman empire. All official documents had to be in Latin.And Greek. That was the international language that everybody spoke and had in common. The “lingua franca,” as we say. Like English functions in so many parts of the world.
Anybody who could read, knew what that said.
“JESUS OF NAZARTEH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
And that’s true! And you and I should recognize the Kingship of Jesus over ourselves and proclaim it to the world.
Let me ask you a question. Do we live like Jesus is our true King? What was the last thing you did because King Jesus told you to do it and not because you already felt like it? What was the last thing you did because King Jesus commanded it of you and not because you already felt like doing it?
Now, of course, it’s best when we want to do what the King tells us to do. But when there is a difference between my desire, and our Lord’s commands, which one wins?
Like for example, what Jesus says to do with our finances? With our mouths (which extends to our phones)? With our relationships? Jesus commands us to forgive as He has forgiven us. Is He our true King? Do we act like it?
Pilate was joking that Jesus was the king, but He is. Sometimes we say Jesus is the king but act like we are. 
The truth will come out. When Jesus was dying, the truth was being broadcast right there above His head.
Number two. Here is what was finished and that we can be thankful for today:
#2. JESUS HAS FULFILLED THE ANCIENT SCRIPTURES.
Look at verse 23.
“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.”
Yes, they took His clothes. When you were crucified, you were left with nothing. And it was the privilege of the four soldiers on this execution squad to get to take the victim’s things.
Jesus didn’t have much. He had no money. Just the clothes on His back. And one guy took the cloak off His back, one guy took His belt, one guy took His sandals, and the other guy got Jesus’ hat.
That just left His “tunic” which was under those other things and went from neck to knees. It was woven in one piece, so the most valuable piece of clothes He had and worth a lot more in one piece than torn into strips.
And the soldiers are like, “I’ll flip you for it.” Verse 24.
“‘Let's not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let's decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, ‘They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.’ So this is what the soldiers did.”
Did you get that? The worst thing ever is happening. Jesus is struggling to breathe while probably bleeding out. And below Him, these guys are playing dice for His clothes.
It’s terrible! And yet, it’s not outside of God’s plan. It’s inside of God’s plan.
In fact, it was prophesied! These Romans executioners probably never read Psalm 22. King David wrote it 1000 years before this moment. But here are they are doing it!
John says, “This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled...”
Nothing stops Jesus from fulfilling all of the marks of the Messiah. Everything promised in the Old Testament will come true through Jesus. Even the stuff that doesn’t seem possible! Like the Messiah dying and coming back to life!
So that whenever you read a promise in the Scriptures, you can take it to the bank. You and I don’t ever have to worry that Jesus won’t fulfill all of the promises of Scripture.
We’re coming into the Advent season when the Church has traditionally thought deeply about how all of the ancient scriptures of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. I think our youth group is going to start an advent Bible study tonight. If you are a teen and haven’t yet been coming to the Youth Group, this is a great night to get started. 
In verse 25, we find that there are a number of women standing near the cross. And they are grieving, with good reason.
I’m glad that John tells us about this. One of those women is Jesus’ mother. Look at verse 25.
“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”
I think that’s three women named Mary. It was a popular name. We’ll learn more about this Mary Magdalene next week, Lord-willing. 
But we know some things about Jesus’ mother Mary already from chapter 2 of this book. Remember the wedding at Cana? How she wanted Jesus to help the groom out when the wine ran low?
Well, now her baby boy is being killed before her eyes.
And Jesus sees her and has compassion on her. Verse 26.
“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (vv.26-27).
I love that little detail. This little adoption (running the both directions mother to son and son to mother) to especially make sure that His mom was taken care of. Remember, “the disciples whom [Jesus] loved” is probably John the guy writing this gospel. He was tasked with caring for Mary after Jesus died. 
What amazes me is how Jesus can be thinking about anybody else at this moment! I get a headcold, and all I can think about is me, me, me, me. If I have a tummy ache, I have a hard time thinking about my wife much less my neighbors. If I were nailed to a cross, I wouldn’t be thinking about Mary and John!
But Jesus’ mind is on His people. Jesus’ heart is caring for those who are in His heart. And you know that’s more than John and Mary! He was taking care of you me. On the Cross, Jesus was arranging for our new family, too.
And He’s making it all happen. Jesus is intentionally making all this come together. Even as He dies. Especially as He dies! Look at verse 28.
“Later, knowing that all was now completed [same root word for “finished,”] and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’”
He knows what He’s doing! He knows He’s bringing this whole thing to completion. He knows He’s landing the plane.
He knows that He is fulfilling ancient Scripture like Psalm 69, verse 21 and Psalm 22, verse 15.
That’s why He says, “I am thirsty.” He is thirsty! But He’s saying it here and now to fulfill ancient Scripture. The Messiah was going to thirst. And so they bring Him a drink. Verse 29.
“A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.”
Now, I’ve always thought that was compassion. They had a little pity on Him. But it’s also possible that this was to get a little more suffering out Him. Keep the victim going for a little bit longer so that we can watch Him die a little bit longer. Prolong the pain.
But Jesus has other plans. He’s used that little bit of moisture to loosen his lips and His tongue so that He can yell out His famous last word:
“Tetelestai!”
Look at verse 30. 
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
King to the end! He decides exactly when He is going to die. Until this moment, His head was unbowed. But now He bows His head and willingly gives up His spirit to His Father. And before He did that He said, “It is finished.”
#3. JESUS HAS COMPLETED HIS SAVING MISSION.
How many times has He said in the Gospel of John that the Father has sent the Son? He’s been on a rescue mission all this time. Reveal the Father. Show the Father. Make the Father known. And save those who believe.
And now, Jesus says, “Check! “Mission accomplished. I’ve done it. I’ve completed the work. I’m declaring victory. It is finished!”
Just a few hours before this, Jesus taught His followers our memory verse. John 16:33.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
And here’s the moment when He did just that! “It is finished.”
An innocent man was murdered at that moment, and I’m so glad!
Because He was choosing it and using it to save us.
History tells us that this word "tetelestai" was often written on a business document or a receipt to indicate that a bill had been paid in full. There was no more payment required.  Like that red stamp we put on a bill today. "Paid in Full."
"Tetelestai!" Jesus was saying that He had paid it all. That we don’t have to save ourselves or add to our salvation. That He had accomplished it all for us on our behalf.
We just have to receive it as the free gift it is! “Tetelestai”
Have you received it? Have you put your faith in what Jesus did and what Jesus did alone to save you? He’s done it all! He’s paid it all. It is finished! And you put your trust in His saving work, in His saving mission? If you have not, I invite you to do so right here and right now!
Some people have the idea that Jesus’ death only gets us so far. And we have to take it from there. His death was necessary but not sufficient. They sing the song, “Jesus paid it some....”
But we know that Jesus is not just the true king and the true fulfillment of all of the ancient scriptures, but the true sacrifice that is all-sufficient to pay for all our sins, past, present and future.
He is the true Lamb of God! Who has declared, “It is finished!”
And then He died.
Jesus flat-lined. His heart stopped beating. His brain stopped working. He turned blue, then white. His body began to cool. He was dead.
It was terrible. His mother saw Him die. His beloved disciple saw Him die.
The hero of the story isn’t supposed to die!
Unless the hero dies saving the people He loves.
“It is finished.”
Is He really dead? It’s the job of the execution squad to make sure. They had to verify their kills or they would be in major trouble. Look at verse 31.
“Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath [Passover Sabbath!]. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.”
Here they go again with their hypocrisy. Wouldn’t want to break the law of Moses by having an executed man still hanging out there in public on the Sabbath, especially if that executed man was the Messiah! So they petition Pilate to hurry things along. If they break their legs, then they can’t push up and they suffocate faster.
Normally, the Romans would just let them hang there for days. Even days after they died, to send a message. “See what happens if you fight with Rome. Want to end up like this guy?"
But Pilate knows that Jesus was innocent. And he agrees, probably out of a kind of mercy to let them break Jesus’ legs. [I can’t believe I have to say that.] Verse 32.
“The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (vv.32-34). He didn’t flinch. He didn’t jerk. No involuntary nervous system reaction. Instead, the spear poked the heart and fluid around the pericardium came out with the blood. The cleansing water and cleansing blood of Lamb. 
He was dead. He was fully human, and He was fully dead. And John raises his hand to solemnly swear to it in a court of law. Verse 35.
“The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”
And you know what happens if you believe? You get life in Jesus’ name!
John says that this, too, was a fulfillment of ancient scripture. Look at verse 36.
“These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’”
Psalm 34, verse 20. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 11. Even while He’s dead, Jesus is fulfilling prophecy! He was the perfect Lamb of God without blemish or defect. 
“[He] was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
The only thing left to do is bury Him. But who is going to do that? Mary can’t do that. Not on her on. She’s not up to that. Will John do it? Who will step forward and claim this corpse? You could get into a lot of trouble by identifying with this man. They just killed Him as a traitor to the nation and to the greater empire. Who wants to be known as His follower?
There is a guy named “Joe.” And a guy named “Nick.” Look at verse 38.
“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night” (vv.38-39a).
This is big. I remember when I first saw this about twenty five years ago. At that moment Joe and Nick stepped out into the light. They went public as followers of Jesus Christ. Joseph already believed, but he was keeping it a secret. He hadn’t voted against Jesus’ death that night. But now, he’s asking for the body. Nicodemus had asked some big questions back in chapter 3. Remember “Nick at Night?” I think he was pretty hostile to Jesus back then. But something has changed. He’s now on board. And he’s going public.
Here’s our fourth and last point this morning:
#4. JESUS HAS ACTIVATED HIS FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS.
Even though He’s dead, He’s inspiring these guys to be bold!
And I love that because I want to be bold, too. We’re not supposed to be secret agents for Jesus. We are supposed to be faithful followers. 
That’s part of what it means to be baptized. Looks like we’re going to have some more baptisms next month. If you have not yet gone public with your faith in Jesus and told the world that you are His disciple, why not? No time like the present!
Joe and Nick went public at this moment when Jesus was hanging there dead. Certainly you and I can go public when Jesus is alive again?!
I think the reason why they do this, is that they are convinced that Jesus is worth it. They came to believe that Jesus truly was the king. The placard of verse 19 was true. Look at what they did to show it. Verse 39.
“Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”
How many pounds of spices? Does anybody know what that was in the Greek and Roman system? It says that it was 100 “litra.”
Anybody remember how many “litra” Mary of Bethany’s nard was?
Less than a week before this, Lazarus’ sister Mary had anointed Jesus with some pure nard. Remember that? Remember how many litra it was?
It was 1 litra. Now, that was expensive stuff. Pure spike nard. Extravagant all by itself. Maybe this stuff was much less pure and less exotic. 
But there are 100 litra here. 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe to hide the smell of the decaying corpse. 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe to speak of the worth of the subject being spiced. Nicodemus must have had servants to carry all of that spice. 75 pounds! The great Rabbi Gamaliel was once perfumed at his burial with 80 litrai. This was 100 litrai! This was an anointing fit for royalty!
And His grave was a rich man’s grave. Every indication was that it was supposed to be Joseph’s grave. It was in  garden near Golgotha. And it had just recently been dug out of the rock. It was ready for Joseph to die, and it was nearby, and the sun was going down, so they took the body there and buried it in that tomb. Another important garden in less than twenty four hours!
Even in His death, Jesus was activating His faithful followers.
Are we activated? Are we acting in public like we believe that Jesus is the true king? That Jesus has fulfilled all the ancient scriptures. And that Jesus has completed His Father’s mission? If not, what’s stopping us?
“It” might be finished, but we should just be getting started!
Because we have everything to be thankful for. An innocent man was murdered, and it’s terrible. And it’s the best news in the world.

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them" - John 17:6-19
46. "That All Of Them May Be One, Father" - John 17:20-26
47. "Who Is It You Want?" - John 18:1-27
48. "Here Is Your King" - John 18:28-19:16

“Here Is Your King” [Matt's Messages]

“Here Is Your King”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 10, 2024 :: John 18:28-19:16
The title of this message comes from the mouth of Pontius Pilate in chapter 19, verse 14.
We’re going to see that he didn’t really mean it. Pilate didn’t really believe that Jesus was the king or he wouldn’t have sent Jesus to the Cross! But you and I know that Jesus is the King and a king like no one else.
So as we look intently into this passage, we can actually see our King for Who He really is, at least glimpses of it.
And one thing we will see is that He is a king Who was on trial. Jesus is a defendant here. He has been arrested, interrogated, and slapped around.  But Jesus is a defendant unlike any defendant anyone has ever seen before or since.
He is a defendant who doesn’t defend Himself.
And, in fact, He seems to be in charge of His own trial!
Last week, we saw that Jesus doesn’t act like a criminal. He acts like a regal king.
We said, “Who is really arresting whom?” Because Jesus takes the initiative, “Who is it you want?” “Well, that’s me.” “I am He.” And they all fall back. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” And they do! 
And then we said, “Who is really interrogating whom?” Because when the  high priest starts asking Jesus questions, Jesus starts asking them back! “Where are the witnesses? What kind of a monkey trial is this? Why did you strike me? What have I done wrong?”
Who is really on trial here?
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
We have reached the day of the crucifixion. Good Friday. We’re in that part of the Gospel that we often focus on in the Spring as Easter approaches.
But it’s just as appropriate to focus on it now as Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming because this is why Jesus came and this is the thing we have the most to be thankful for. 
This unjust trial. This mockery of justice. This cruel and inhumane punishment. This tragedy means our salvation. That’s why Jesus allowed Himself to go through it.
Last week, we saw Jesus be arrested and taken to the Jewish high priests (the shadowy “godfather” high priest Annas and then his son-in-law the official high priest Caiaphas). Both Annas and Caiaphas have condemned Jesus. And at the same time, his disciple Peter has denied Jesus three times. The rooster has crowed. And now the high priests are sending Jesus from their Jewish jurisdiction on to the Roman governor with a desire for him to execute the defendant.
And, spoiler alert, that’s exactly what happens. They get what they want. Look at verse 28.
“Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.”
What an ugly sentence that is! What an ugly farce this all is. The Jewish leaders want to maintain their “ritual cleanness” while they offer up their rightful Messiah for crucifixion!
There’s an interesting dynamic that goes on here as the story toggles between inside and outside. Jesus is inside with the Roman governor. He is innocent and at peace. The Jews are outside, angry, and pretending to be clean. The Roman governor shuttling between the two is a man named, “Pilate.” 
P-I-L-A-T-E. To some of you exercise nuts, that looks like “pill-aht-ay.” To some of you phonics folks, it looks like “Pi-late” which is the worst way to get some pie. Unless it’s for breakfast I, for one, want my apple pie to be hot.
But traditionally, we pronounce this name, “Pilot,” and it’s the Pilate that we mentioned in Article 4 of our EFCA Statement of Faith during our Worship in Unity. It’s the same Pilate named in the Apostles’ Creed.
This is a person in the history books. Pilate was the governor appointed by the Roman Emperor over Israel from AD 26 to 36. And he was a very weak man. On paper, he was the most powerful man for hundreds of miles. And he had plenty of Roman authority at his disposal. And yet, he is weak and ineffectual. And he ends up doing what he doesn’t want to do. The Jews play him like a fiddle.
First off, he comes outside to them. Pilate plays along with their pretending to be clean. He leaves Jesus inside and goes out to meet the Jews outside. V.29
“So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’”
That’s a pretty straightforward question. Pretty basic. But notice their answer. It’s feisty and manipulative. Verse 30.
“‘If he were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed him over to you.’”
“Don’t ask us what He did. Just trust us. Let’s not get into a big thing here. Just trust us and kill him.” Verse 31
“Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ ‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ the Jews objected.”
Pilate clearly does not want this case. He wants the Jews to handle their  Jewish problems on their own Jewish terms. But the Jewish religious leaders don’t just want to punish Jesus.  They want Him killed.
And they are not supposed to do that. By law. (Doesn’t mean that they don’t do it from time to time. Mob justice. Stoning. Like they will do to Stephen.) But they aren’t supposed to do executions. That’s up to their Roman overlords. And they want Jesus dead so bad, and they want Him to die in the worst possible way–by Roman crucifixion. 
But guess what? That’s the way Jesus has already chosen to die. That’s why Jesus is going to die by crucifixion. Look at what John says about all of this in verse 32.
“This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.”
I have five things I want to point out about King Jesus in this passage today, and this is the first one.
“Here is your king...”
#1. WHO SPEAKS THE FUTURE INTO EXISTENCE.
Look at verse 32 again.
"This happened [what happened? The Jews petitioning the Romans to execute Jesus] so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die [crucifixion] would be fulfilled."
All of these terrible machinations against Jesus happened so that Jesus’ prophecy would come true!
What did Jesus say about how He would die? Remember what He said in chapter 3 about the snake in the wilderness?
“So the Son of Man must be lifted up.”
“Lifted up.” He said something similar in chapter 8 and chapter 12. 
Jesus didn’t just know that He was going to be crucified. He chose it. He didn’t like it, but He chose it. This is how He said it was going to happen. He wasn’t just going to be stoned or stabbed. He was going to be lifted up. 
Look what Jesus did for us! Look Who is really in charge here.
Our King speaks the future into existence. Last week, we said that He was an undeniable prophet. What He says will happen is what happens. “This happened (v.32) so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was go
So Pilate goes back inside. And he plays the “tough guy.” Verse 33.
“Pilate then went back inside the palace [only one Jew in there], summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’”
Pilate knows what’s up. He knows that Jesus is being accused of leading a rebellion. He knows about the ride into town on the donkey. He knows that the Jewish religious leaders hate Jesus. He wonders if Jesus is truly a threat. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Yes or no?
How would you answer that question? Jesus answers it with another question! Verse 34.
“‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’”
Who is really on trial here?
That’s a feisty answer from our Lord. He basically asks, “What do you mean by ‘king?’ What kind of king are you worried about? Is this your own question or are you being manipulated, Mr. Roman Governor?”
Pilate doesn’t like it one bit. Verse 35.
“‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’”
“Why are you here in front of me? How should I know? Do I look like I know what’s going on?”
Do you see how weak he is? Which of these two men are defending themselves and their actions? Which of them seems at peace and which is jumping up and down? Verse 36.
“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’”
“Here is your king...”
#2. WHO BRINGS A KINGDOM FROM ANOTHER WORLD.
Jesus says that He does have a kingdom, but it’s not the kind of kingdom that is worrying Pilate. He’s not bringing a military kingdom through guerrilla warfare. His kingdom isn’t coming by the edge of the sword. Just like he told Peter when Peter tried that by attacking Malchus earlier that morning.
Jesus’ kingdom is here, but it’s not from here. It’s from above! It’s from heaven. And it comes, first, by changing hearts. 
Now, that’s not say that it doesn’t affect everybody’s life. Pilate’s kingdom will be affected by Jesus’ kingdom, but not because Jesus’ servants have taken up swords.
And one day, “The kingdom of the world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).
But it starts small like a mustard seed. And then it grows and it grows and  grows until “it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matt. 13:32).
But this kingdom starts in hearts.
Has is started in yours? Are you a citizen of the kingdom that is not of this world?
It’s the same idea, I think, as what He just was praying hours ago for us as His disciples, that we would be in the world, yes, but not of the world. So that the values of the kingdom that comes from another place would be our values and characterize our lives.
Did you live differently from the kingdom of this world this last week?
In how you did your job?In how you lived with your family, in your neighborhood?In how you voted or didn’t vote according your conscience?In how you related to those who didn’t vote like you did?In how you loved your brothers and sisters in Christ?In how you prayed for Jesus’ kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven?In how you talked to your friends, neighbors, co-workers about Jesus?
Did you tell someone about Jesus’ kingdom that is here but is not from here? And is coming here fully one day soon.
Jesus says to Pilate, “Don’t worry. I’m not that kind of threat. My kingdom is not of this world.”
And what did Pilate hear? “Just the word ‘kingdom.’” Verse 37.
“‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”
“Here is your king...”
#3. WHO WAS BORN FOR TRUTH.
Do you see how this fits with Christmas?
Why was Jesus born? Well, for a lot of reasons that I’m sure we’ll be talking about over the next two months, but one that He knew and said on the day He died was that He was born on Christmas day to “testify to the truth.”
His kingdom is characterized by truth. It is the kingdom of truth. Jesus not only speaks the future into existence, but He only speaks what is true. And everyone who is on the “side of truth” listens to Him.
But look at the sad thing that Pilate says back to Jesus in verse 38.
“‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked.” Oh, man, that is sad. Pilate is dismissive at best, and I think, probably disillusioned and depressed. He doesn’t know what truth is any more. 
You ever feel that way? Up is down and down is up. 2+2 is 5. Good is evil and evil is good.
It was Pilate’s job to decide what was true in this case. But he doesn’t care. Not enough! He runs from the truth.
“What is truth?” he says. And he walks out.
What would have been better is if Pilate asked the question, “Who is truth?” Not just “What is truth?” but “Who is truth?”
Because Truth Himself was standing right before Pilate! John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Everything He say is how it is! There is no falsehood in Him. There is no trickery. There is no bait and switch. Jesus is not a con-man. Anything He says will happen will happen. And whatever He says is true is what actually is.
So for example, our memory verse right now. John 16:33.
“I have told you these things [everything in the Farewell Teachings], so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33 NIVO)
Pop quiz. If Jesus is telling the truth, then will we have trouble in this world? Yes, we will. Trouble, tribulation, persecution, oppression. Cancer. Conflict. War. We will not have it easy. 
Anyone who tells you that everything will great, is lying to you. Because the One Who is Truth says that in this world, we will have trouble. But He also says that He has overcome the world. That’s true, too! And because of that, we can take heart.
But Pilate is not listening. He has turned up his nose about the truth, and he’s turned on his heel and gone back out to the Jews.
But notice that he tries to get Jesus off! This is the place where Jesus almost goes free. And, of course, He should have if there was any justice. Look at verse 38.
“With this he went out again to the Jews and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him.”
Wow. I think that Pilate does know what’s true. Jesus is no earthly threat to Rome. He’s going to say this three times. Just like Peter denied Jesus three times, Pilate is going to say “I find no basis for a charge against him.”
“Here is your king...”
#4. WHO WAS INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES.
Jesus should be released. It was obvious to Pilate. And he thinks it should be obvious the Jews, too. This has gone too far.
The Gospel of Luke tells us that right about this point in the day, Pilate tried to foist this problem onto Herod who was also in the city for the Passover. But Jesus wouldn’t even speak to Herod. And though Herod mocked and ridiculed Him, he sent Jesus back to Pilate also with no basis for any charges against Him (see Luke 23).
So Pilate offers a way out to the Jews. He pulls out a custom they have practiced from time to time of releasing a prisoner at the Passover festival. Kind of a celebration in amnesty.
He probably thinks he’s come up with a perfect solution for all. Jesus goes free. Pilate is seen to be wise and gracious. Those who would be rebels don’t have a martyr in Jesus to rally behind for their cause. And the Jews don’t get their hasty hands dirty with blood. Look at verse 39.
“I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?’ They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.”
We’ll come back to Barabbas himself in a minute.
But it’s clear that the Jews did not want a way out. They wanted Jesus dead. And they got what they wanted. 
This next part becomes increasingly hard to read.
If we get the picture of what happens, it should make us both incredibly mad and incredibly sad. Chapter 19, verse 1.
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.”
Here’s what that means:
“Jesus was stripped, tied to a post or thrown to the ground, and beat with flagella–leather whips to which were attached pieces of iron, bone, or spikes, which would shred the skin, often leaving it hanging on the victim’s back in strips. Unlike the thirty-nine maximum lashes prescribed by Jewish law (Deut 25:3), the Romans did not limit the number of lashes, thus leaving the victim helpless to the cruelty of the supervising soldiers” (Edward W. Klink III, John: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, pg. 776).
Often this first flogging would be the lightest one, the later one would be much worse.
But, remember, our King is innocent! Pilate just said that He was innocent. And he has Him flogged. 
I think, actually, this first flogging was a weak way of trying to help Jesus. See how weak Pilate is? He had the authority to dismiss the charges and set Jesus free. But he didn’t think he could pull it off. So he’s going to make Jesus look ridiculous and humiliate Him in the hopes that that will be enough punishment so that he doesn’t have to make a hard decision. V.2
“The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they struck him in the face” (vv.2-3).
They made wreath of thorns and put it as mock crown on His head. And they pressed it down so that He bled from His scalp. It hurt. And blood started to cover his face. And they put a royal purple robe on Him. He is royalty! But they mocked His royalty. And they yelled in His face and they hit Him. They hit our innocent King. Blood everywhere.
Look at verse 4. “Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’”
Second time he says it. “This man is innocent. He’s inside. I’ve humiliated Him. I’m going to bring Him outside. You can see what’s happened to Him. But I have to say it again. He is innocent as far as I can tell. Okay. Bring Him out.” Verse 5.
“When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’”
Can you see it in your mind’s eye? Can you see how terrible He looks? Can you see how they have tried to shame and humiliate Him? I think that Pilate is trying to engender sympathy for Jesus. He’s maybe trying to get the Jews to pity Him. “Look at this sad thing. Here is the man. He is harmless.”
And you, I say, “Yes, He is the man! He’s the man that Adam should have been. He’s the man that David should have been. He’s the man that can fix everything for all of humanity. In fact, He’s doing it right now in front of us.”
But that’s not what the Jews said. Look at verse 6.
“As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’ But Pilate answered, ‘You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.’”
Third time! Pilate is so frustrated, isn’t he? How about that petulant, “You take and crucify him”? They can’t do that! He doesn’t want to do it.
But they insist that he do it. Verse 7.
“The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer” (vv.7-9).
The Jews insist that Jesus has blasphemed the name of God by saying that He is the Son of God. And Jesus DID say that He was the Son of God! He said it and shown it in so many ways in the Gospel of John. 
But it’s only blasphemy, if it’s false. If I said I was the Son of God, it would be blasphemy. But it’s not blasphemy if it’s true! And Jesus is the King of Truth!
And this freaks Pilate out. We learn in the other gospels that Pilate’s wife had a difficult dream about Jesus that caused her tell him to leave Jesus alone. Pilate was scared stiff that he might be executing a supernatural person. He pulls Jesus back into the palace and just about screams in His face, “Where do you come from?”
But Jesus says nothing. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a [innocdent] lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).
And that freaks Pilate out even more. 
Can you see how this is “the Weak versus the Meek?” Pilate has never seen a defendant like this before. Normally, they are doing everything they can to get out of their predicament. Making every argument. Every defense. This is a defendant Who doesn’t defend Himself.
And it freaks Pilate out. V.10
“‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’
Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’” (vv.10-11).
I think He means Caiaphas or He could mean Annas or Judas or even Satan. The point is that Jesus doesn’t think much of Pilate at all. He is weak and sinful, and bears guilt for what he does. But he isn’t as powerful as he thinks. The only reason he has power in this situation is because power has been given to him “from above.” 
Which is important for everyone who is in authority for a time to remember. Whether your name is Biden or Harris or Trump or Vance or Mitchell or put in your name there.
Whatever authority on earth we are granted “from above” is temporary and limited, and we will have to give an account for how we used it. I don’t want to be in Pontius Pilate’s shoes for what he did with his.
He tried, weakly, to get Jesus released. Verse 12.
“From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’”
They play Pilate like a fiddle. They know what he cares about and that is staying in power. And staying in Caesar’s good graces. So, even though Jesus is innocent, and these people are supposed to be under Pilate’s authority, Pilate ends up doing what they want! V.13
“When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. 
‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ 
‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked.
‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus” (vv.13-16).
Pilate loses the tug of war. The other gospels tell us that he tried to symbolically wash his hands of the whole thing, but, of course, inaction is action, too. He handed Jesus over to be crucified.
That question that he asks them, “Shall I crucify your king?”
Man, what a thing to say! And they refuse to receive Jesus. “We have no king but Caesar.” They refused their Messiah. “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).
They rejected Jesus even though He was innocent of every charge. And Jesus was crucified.
We will talk more about that next week, but we have one more thing from this passage to remind ourselves about our king.
Even though He was innocent of every charge, He took our place.
“Here is your king...”
#5. WHO TOOK YOUR PLACE.
What Jesus went through, the flogging, the humiliation, the execution? That is what you and I deserve for our sins. And He chose to do all of that out of love for you and me.
Like Barabbas, right? From the last few verses in chapter 18? Barabbas was a bad guy. He was a traitor and a domestic terrorist. He taken part in a rebellion. Barabbas deserved to die. But that day, he went free.
Do you know what his name means? “Bar” is son and “abba” is father or daddy, right? So he was “Son of the Father.” Maybe his father had been a rebel, too. But isn’t it ironic that the True Son of the Heavenly Father took the place of the one named “son of the father?” So that the guilty one gets grace and goes free!
That’s a picture of the gospel.
That’s a picture of what animates us here as a church.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:5-7).
Jesus is a king like no other.
He speaks the future into existence.He brings a kingdom from another world.He was born to testify to the truth.
He was put on trial as a defendant, but He was innocent of all charges. And yet He did not defend Himself.
Instead, He took our place.
Don’t reject Him. Receive Him.
“Here is your king!”
***

Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them" - John 17:6-19
46. "That All Of Them May Be One, Father" - John 17:20-26
47. "Who Is It You Want?" - John 18:1-27

“Who Is It You Want?” [Matt's Messages]

“Who Is It You Want?”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 3, 2024 :: John 18:1-27  
The next few weeks of sermons are going to feel a bit like we’re in the wrong season.
If you’ve been in church a lot over your lifetime, the next several weeks are going to feel like we’re leading up to Easter not to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This last section of John is all about Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and the amazing miracle that came afterwards. We often talk about it in February, March, and April. 
But I think it’s good that we’ve reached this point in November. Because this is something that Christians should be the most thankful for. And it IS what Christmas is all about. This is WHY the Word became flesh. So, we’re going to lean into it over the next several weeks. Seeing what our Lord went through so that we are more thankful and more worshipful than ever before. And that we enjoy life in Jesus’ name.
In John 18, we’re in the night before the Cross. Jesus has met with His disciples, washed their feet, given them the Farewell Teachings, and prayed the Real Lord’s Prayer, His great prayer of consecration. Praying for His glory to be restored (and one day seen), for protection for His disciples, and for their unity and oneness because of His oneness with God the Father.
And now, Jesus is finished talking and praying and is ready to be arrested.
And you’ve probably already caught that this arrest is unlike any other arrest ever. Right? Did you hear how strange it was when Keagan read it to us?
I’ve never been arrested before, but I can imagine what it feels like. I’ve been stopped for speeding before. And I know how nervous I felt then. I feel nervous when I’m not speeding and I pass by a state patrol car!
But Jesus doesn’t act nervous. He doesn’t act scared. And He knows that He’s going to get something much worse than a ticket.
Jesus doesn’t act like a criminal. He acts like a king!
Let me show you what I mean. Let’s start again in verse 1.
“When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.”
We know it, from the other gospels, by the name “Gethsemane.” It’s on the east side of Jerusalem.  It’s night time. Probably past midnight, so we would consider it Friday morning. It’s cold and dark. 
And Judas knows where they will be. Remember Judas? He had slipped out into the dark back in chapter 13. Because He was going to be betray Jesus. He has been one of the twelve. Think about that. He has been in the inner circle of Jesus. Jesus washed his feet just a few hours ago. Jesus had given him a piece of bread dipped into the dish. They were that close.
Judas knows where Jesus would normally be. He knew He would be in the garden. Jesus loved to take His disciples to the Olive Garden. And not just for the breadsticks. Sorry, couldn’t help it. But He did! This was a regular meeting place in this grove of olive trees. Jesus prayed here. Jesus loved this garden.
You know there are a lot of gardens in the Bible. Sometime, trace the gardens from Genesis to Revelation. A lot of important things happen in gardens. 
Everything was lost in a garden, wasn’t it? Now, everything get fixed in a garden! As Jesus gets arrested in a garden.
Or does He? I mean who really is arresting whom here?! Look at verse 2.
“Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.”
This is serious. They have tactical gear. And there are a whole lot of them. The Greek word here translated “detachment” is a “speiron” or a Roman “cohort” which is a unit of between 200 and 600 soldiers! Now, even if they didn’t all 600 go on that mission, there were at least 200 soldiers with Judas and some of the Jewish temple guard. And they are marching up the hillside in the darkness with their torches and lanterns gleaming off of their swords.
Why so many? I think they are afraid of Jesus. They are afraid that He is so popular. They saw the crowds as Jesus came riding in on Sunday on that donkey. And they are afraid that Jesus is plotting to overthrow the government.  He thinks He’s king of the Jews! What if He raises an army? So they come ready. Or so they thought.
And what does Jesus do? Does He run? Does He bargain? Does He send out an emissary to meet them and negotiate?
No! He steps out Himself, towards them and asks the first question! Look at verse 4.
“Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’”
And that’s our title for today: “Who Is It You Want?” The ESV has, “Whom do you seek?” Who are you looking for?
Jesus doesn’t sound like a criminal, does He? No, He sounds like a king.
“State your business. Who are you after? You are obviously here for someone. Who is it?”
Notice that John emphasizes (in verse 4) that Jesus knows all that is going to happen to Him. We’ve seen that again and again in the Gospel of John. Jesus is going into this with His eyes wide open, and in fact, is choosing it for Himself. That’s why He takes the initiative, and puts them on the defensive.
“Who is it you want?”
Today, I have five descriptions of Jesus to try to capture what I see about Him in these first 27 verses of chapter 18. And here’s the first one.
#1. UNDAUNTED KING.
Jesus is an undaunted king. He’s not afraid. Not of them, at least. He’s not scared. He’s not running away. Even though He knows what’s coming and has prayed fervently and desperately that the Father would take it away.  But He knows it’s coming. And He chooses it. He chooses to come to it.
We’re going to see this the next several weeks. Jesus is regal! He is in charge. He is not helpless here. He is not caught up in some trap that He couldn’t get out of. If He just said the word, a legion of angels would have wiped out this puny cohort of Romans. But He doesn’t call for help. He calls out, “Who is it you want?” And they answer in verse 5.
“‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.”
Did you ever notice that?! I remember when I first saw this clearly. Jesus says, “I am he,” and these 200 men retreated and fell backwards! Maybe the first row jumped backwards and they all dominoed over?! I don’t know. I do know they would have been ashamed. I see them all climbing back to their feet. Picking up their torches that had fallen when they had fallen. Maybe they’re all in defensive posture. This guy is undaunted.
200 plus men outnumbered by One. (Cf. David Garland.)
But what a One!
Notice this happened when Jesus said what? “I am He.” You know what the Greek is there? “Ego eimi.”
We’ve seen it again and again in the Gospel of John. It could be simply translated, “I am.” He’s said “I am” seven times in this Gospel with something after it to tell us how amazing He is:
“I am the Bread of Life.” “I am the Light of the World.”“I am the Gate for the Sheep.”“I am the Good Shepherd.”“I am the Resurrection and the Life.”“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”“I am the True Vine.”
But a few times He’s also said it without anything after it.
“Ego eimi.” “I am.” And that could be translated, “I am he.” It does mean that. But I’m sure it means more than that or why would these guys all fall down?
Remember when He said it in John 8:58? He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
#2. UNVEILED DEITY.
For just a second, even if they couldn’t see it, the could hear His divinity. Here was God the Son confronting them.  Not just an undaunted king but an unveiled deity. Look at verse 6 again. “When Jesus said, ‘I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground.’” He sure doesn’t act like a criminal. He acts like a king. Like the King of Kings. 
But that isn’t the end. They don’t all go home with their tails between their legs. No, Jesus asks them the same questions again. Verse 7.
“Again he asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ ‘I told you that I am he,’ Jesus answered. ‘If you are looking for me, then let these men go’” (vv.7-8).
This isn’t over. In fact, it’s just beginning. Jesus is getting arrested here. He is going to the Cross.
But His followers are not. Notice what Jesus has done. He has focused their attention on Him and Him alone. “What name is on the warrant? What name is on the warrant?” 
“Jesus of Nazareth.”
"Alright, I’ve told you that’s me. Let these other 11 guys go."
And apparently they do. They go free. Even Peter! And wait until you see what he does.
Notice how protective Jesus is. He’s being arrested, and He’s thinking about His disciples. He’s promised all along to watch over them.
Look what John say about it in verse 9.
“This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’”
Remember what Jesus prayed last chapter? In chapter 17, verse 12? 
“While I was with them, [Father] I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled” (Jn. 17:12 NIVO).
And this is a picture of that. As they were kept safe here, it was a picture of how Jesus’ people are going to be kept safe forever!
“Not lost one.”“Not lost one.”“Of those you gave me.”
Remember, we are the gift of God the Father to God the Son. And He does not lose His gifts!
Let’s make that number three.
#3. UNSTOPPABLE SAVIOR.
“This happened so that the words [Jesus] had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me.’”
You can’t stop Jesus from saving His people! And Peter tried. Look at the next verse. Verse 10.
“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)”
Peter meant well. He was trying to help. He pulled out a short little “gladius” sword and went for the head. But it probably bounced off of the Roman helmet and just sliced the guy’s ear.
Peter had told Jesus that very night that he would follow Jesus to death. “I will lay down my life for you.” Chapter 13. Do you remember what Jesus told Peter about that? 
“Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” (Jn. 13:38). Peter was trying to help. But he was going about it all wrong. Jesus’ kingdom doesn’t come by the edge of the sword. Jesus’ kingdom comes from loving sacrifice.
In fact, Peter was actually trying to stop Jesus from saving His people. That’s what would have happened. Yikes! What if it had worked?!
Verse 11. “Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’”
“Of course, I will.”
“You’re not going to rescue me. I’m going to rescue you.”
“I’m going to drink the cup.”
What “cup” is that? It’s the cup of God’s wrath. It’s the cup of suffering and judgment and death. It’s the cup that Jesus pleaded His Father to take away from Him, but the answer was no. Jesus needed to drink it so that we would not. Remember, He knows what He’s doing. He is drinking the cup for us. 
And that’s why this text is appropriate for Thanksgiving! Because our Undaunted King Who is the Unveiled Deity is determined to be our Unstoppable Savior. He is going to lay down His life, and nothing is going to deter Him from doing it.
Peter goes free. The other disciples go free. But Jesus goes bound. Verse 12.
“Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year” (vv.12-13).
Our Lord was handcuffed. You know that’s ridiculous, right? Peter should have been. He’s swinging swords. But Jesus hasn’t done anything to deserve this. Can you think of anything Jesus has done in the Gospel of John which we’ve been studying nearly every week since August 2023 which would call for Him to be handcuffed?
From here on for the next two chapters, it’s all injustice all the time. Jesus is mistreated at every step, and it’s mockery of justice.
First off, that they hold a trial at night. That was illegal! And they don’t take Him first to the legal high priest. They take Him to Annas. Who was like the “Godfather” High Priest. He had been the high priest for 10 years but had been deposed. His son-in-law Caiaphas was the official high priest at the time. But Annas was like the power behind the scenes. In fact, his 5 sons all became the high priest, over the next 30 years.
So this is the Godfather high priest, and he probably hates Jesus with a passion. He probably lost a lot of business when Jesus went around tossing tables in the temple.
And his son-in-law hated Jesus, too, and wanted Him dead. Verse 14.
“Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.”
Remember that? Chapter 11, verses 49-51. Caiaphas didn’t realize that He was a prophet. He said that it would be good if one man died for the people. And it would be! Not like he meant it, but it would be. That’s why Jesus is going to the Cross. That’s why Jesus is drinking the cup. That’s why Jesus is standing before His father-in-law and being interrogated.
Meanwhile, Peter is trying to sneak in. He hasn’t run off. He’s been following at distance, and he’s trying to get close and see what’s going on. Look at verse 15.
“Simon Peter and another disciple [perhaps the John the gospel-writer himself] were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard [access], but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
‘You are not one of his disciples, are you?’ the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, ‘I am not.’” (vv.15-17).
Strike one. It’s good that he’s there. But it’s not good that Peter denied following Jesus. V.18
“It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.  Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching” (vv.18-19).
I don’t think he was interested in becoming a follower himself. I think that Annas was trying figure out how big of a problem he had on his hands. “How many disciples do you have? What have you been teaching them? Are you going to lead a revolution?” Verse 20.
“‘I have spoken openly to the world,’ Jesus replied. ‘I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.’”
Who is interrogating whom here?
Jesus doesn’t back down. He isn’t cowed by the “great and mighty” Annas.
#4. UNASHAMED DEFENDANT.
He might be the One on trial, but it doesn’t really feel like it. Jesus says that has taught openly to the world and not not in secret. Now, that doesn’t mean that He hasn’t taught in private. Obviously He did that very night, but if you want to know what He taught, just ask Him! He’s the same in private than He is in public, and His beloved disciple John is going to publish His teachings for the whole wild world to read like we’re doing today. There’s no political conspiracy here.
And why is Jesus being questioned? That’s not proper procedure. If this is a trial, the prosecution is supposed to produce witnesses. Where are the witnesses? If there is a conspiracy going, it’s on the other side!
This is so unjust. Want proof? Look at verse 22.
“When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. ‘Is this the way you answer the high priest?’ he demanded.”
Feel that. Go ahead and feel that. That is our Lord Jesus being smacked in the face.
But He doesn’t feel any shame. He knows that He isn’t even really talking to the real high priest. Annas isn’t really the high priest. Even Caiaphas isn’t really the high priest! Annas is talking to the high priest. Verse 23.
“‘If I said something wrong,’ Jesus replied, ‘testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?’”
He is unashamed. He has done nothing wrong. He is perfectly innocent. And He knows it. And they know it, too. But that doesn’t stop them from sending Him to the Cross. V.24
“Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.”
To get His official charges and be sent over to the Roman governor, Pilate.
We’ll learn more about that next Sunday, Lord-willing. But now we find out what happened to Peter at about the exact same time. V.25
“As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, ‘You are not one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it, saying, ‘I am not.’”
Strike two.
Will there be one more? V.26
“One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, ‘Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?’”
Here’s his chance to do what he said he would do. Lay down his life with Jesus. V.27
"Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.”
Strike three. He’s out.
I know how Peter feels. At times, I’ve denied Him, too.
But let’s not just focus on Peter here. Let’s think about Jesus. What does this denial of Jesus say about Jesus?
#5. UNDENIABLE PROPHET.
Now, of course, Peter just denied knowing Him. So I don’t mean that kind of undeniable. I mean that when you look at Jesus’ prophecies, they all come true. Every single one of them.
Jesus said that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed.
And guess what? Peter denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.
Every time Jesus prophesied of the future, it came to pass. And that means that we can trust Him for everything He’s prophesied for our future.  
And just think about all of what that means!
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (Jn. 6:35).
He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).,
He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” (Jn. 15:5).
He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn. 11:25-26).
He said, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:2-3).
We can take these promises to heart. His prophecies of the future always come true.
And He also said this, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).
Who is it you want?
I’ll tell you who I want.
I want an undaunted king who is unafraid and clearly in charge.I want an unveiled deity, to worship a man who is clearly God the Son.I want an unstoppable savior, who is bound and determined to rescue and keep His people.I want an unashamed defendant, who is clearly not guilty so that He can my place as a Lamb without blemish or defect.I want undeniable prophet who always keeps His promises and infallibly predicts the future.
Who is it you want?
I want Jesus. And I want Him for you.

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them" - John 17:6-19
46. "That All Of Them May Be One, Father" - John 17:20-26

“That All of Them May Be One, Father” [Matt's Messages]

“That All of Them May Be One, Father”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchOctober 27, 2024 :: John 17:20-26  
The Lord Jesus was praying for you.
On the night before He went to the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed the most profound and heartfelt prayer consecrating Himself to do His Father’s will to fulfill His Father’s mission, sanctifying Himself to suffer and die for us. And we’ve been listening in to His prayer.
Do you remember that? It’s been a month since we were here in John 17. I hope it’s coming back to you.
We’ve spent the whole Summer and Fall studying what Jesus taught His disciples the night before He went to the Cross. We call them “The Farewell Teachings.” And the last thing He said to them was our memory verse: 
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33 NIVO).
And then He began to pray. And pray and pray and pray. The longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the Bible. I’m so glad that His beloved friend John wrote it down for us to study today.
Because you can learn a lot about someone by listening to them pray. You can tell what they really care about by what they say to God when they are really praying. I’ve often called this, “The Real Lord’s Prayer” because it’s what our Lord really prayed to His Father just hours before He was killed. When you really listen to someone pray, you can learn a lot about their heart. 
This prayer expresses the heart of Jesus. And do you remember what we’ve learned about the heart of Jesus?
Jesus began (in verses 1 through 5) by praying for Himself. In fact, He prayed for His own glory. Father, “Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify You” (v.1). Jesus prayed, for Himself, that He would get the glory (the shining beauty of His greatness) in His crucifixion, in His resurrection, and in His ascension and present session at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Jesus prayed that He would get the glory that was His, is His, and will be His forever. And that that glory to the Son would bring glory to His Father forever and ever, in an endless circle. Glory was Jesus’ number one priority in His prayers. And it should be ours, as well.
But He didn’t stop there. He went on in verses 6 through 19 to pray for His disciples circled around Him. Jesus was concerned about them. He saw the danger that they were soon going to be in after He was gone so He prayed for their protection. He prayed (v.11), “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.” Do you remember this? Jesus was afraid that His disciples were going to be blown apart from one another and sucked back into the world and knocked off course from their mission. And so He prayed for their protection by the name of God Himself, for their unity and joy, from the evil one, and in and into the world. Remember all that? Remember how important the prepositions were in His prayers? Jesus prayed for their protection by the name of God Himself, for their unity and joy, from the evil one, and in (but not of) and into the world. And the Father said, “Yes” to these prayers for His disciples. And He still is.
But Jesus didn’t stop there either! Jesus didn’t just pray for Himself and His Father’s glory, and He didn’t just pray for the eleven disciples circled around Him and their protection. That night also prayed for you. And He prayed for me. Did you hear it when Keagan read verse 20?
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message...”
That’s us, brothers and sisters. That’s you and me. Jesus gave the disciples the gospel message, and they took it to the world, and it has reached central Pennsylvania so that you and I sitting in this room today believe in Jesus through that message. And on the night before the Cross, Jesus said to His Father, “I am praying for them.”
These seven verses should be so precious to us. The whole thing is, of course, but we can put our names in verse 20.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for...Matt Mitchell. I pray for all of them at Lanse Free Church. Everybody who believed in me through the gospel message that I gave to these eleven disciples. I’m praying for them.” This is precious.
And what did He pray for? What was on His heart for us? Look at verse 21.
Jesus said, “I pray...that all of them may be one, Father...” That’s gotta be our title for today. 
“That All of Them May Be One, Father.”
Jesus was praying for our unity. He was praying for oneness, wholeness, togetherness, love.
Jesus was looking down the corridor of time and earnestly praying for all His disciples over all of the years (more than 2,000 by now) and praying that all of His future followers (numbering now in the multi-millions) would be one. Jesus was praying for our unity.
Want to know what Jesus cares about? Want to know what is on Jesus’ heart? Jesus cares that His future followers are unified so much so that He prayed for it as Judas and the Romans were coming to kill Him.
We’ve seen this again and again. How much Jesus cares about His disciples loving one another. He’s been talking about it all night. He’s been showing them how to do it. Some of their feet are still wet from Him washing them and saying, “Do this to each other.”
In chapter 13 He said to them, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn. 13:34 NIVO). That’s been our theme as a church for all of 2024. Because it was one of Jesus’ biggest themes! He’s commanded it. He’s shown them how to do it. And now He’s praying for it. He prayed for it in verse 11, “Holy Father protect them by the power of your name...[why?] so that they may be one as we are one” (Jn. 17:11 NIVO). 
And He’s praying for it here in verse 21. And He says it again in verse 22, “That they may be one.” And in verse 23 He says, “May they be brought to complete unity...” 
Perfect unity among Christians. That was Jesus’ prayer. Is it yours? Is it mine? Do we pray for unity with anything like the passion our Lord did? Do we strive to see that prayer answered in our lives anything like our Lord did?
Because unity does not just happen. It’s not easy. 
It’s not easy because we not the same. Notice Jesus doesn’t say that He wants us all to be the same. He wants us to be one. He is very happy that we are different from each other. Where the differences are not foolish or sinful. Last night at the membership seminar, we looked at how the Bible says that we are all like different body parts. Some of us are elbows and some of us are pinky-fingers and some of us are lungs.But we are all one body. Or at least we’re supposed to be. 
It’s good that we’re not all elbows, right? Imagine a body that is just all elbows. We’re supposed to be different. Racially, ethnically, both genders, all ages, all demographics, all socio-economical levels, married and single, different political parties, different jobs, different interests, different giftings, different complementary perspectives on a whole range of things. But all one in Christ.
“...that all of them may be one, Father...”
I don’t think He’s talking about one organization or one human institution like one great big denomination.  No, He doesn’t pray that we would be one organizationally but relationally. Missionally. Purposefully. Spiritually. See what He says to the Father in verse 21 about what this oneness should be like. Verse 21.
I pray, “...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
Did you catch that? Our oneness is to be modeled after the oneness of God the Son and God the Father!
Our oneness is supposed to reflect their oneness! Which we have also seen again and again in the Gospel of John. He says it again in verse 22. Skip down to that. “...that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me.”
I’ve got four points this morning to try to summarize this precious paragraph (which is impossible to sum up! But here we go).
“I pray that all of them may be one, Father...”
#1. LIKE WE ARE ONE!
Like the Son of God is one with God the Father.
Now, of course, that cannot mean that we are one in every way as the Father is with the Son. They are both God, and we are not. But the analogy stands. Jesus insists on it in His prayer. He wants our unity to be like their unity. And that should just blow us away. Because what is their unity like? It’s perfect, isn’t it? It’s unbroken and unbreakable. 
They are so united that they it’s right to say that they are IN each other, right? Their oneness is IN-ness. Look at verse 21 again. I pray “...that all of them may be one, Father just as you are in me and I am in you.” It doesn’t get much closer than that!
And that’s the model for our unity. We need to, on some level, think of ourselves as IN each other. And that’s because we are in Christ. That’s what He prays for in verse 21.
“May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Jesus prays that we would all be in the Father and the Son (and we know from chapters 14-16 that the Holy Spirit is there, too). Jesus prays that we would all be IN the Triune God. And that if we’re all spiritually IN the Triune God, then we are IN one another. Jesus says that this is only possible because of the gift of His glory. Look at verse 22.
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one...”
And I just don’t know exactly what it means, but it sounds wonderful! There are bunch of things it could mean that Jesus has given us His glory.  Of course, there are some things it cannot mean. It cannot mean that we are now shining with the same glory He is. I can tell just by looking around the room. But He says that He has given us the glory that Father gave Him. I think that, at least, it means that we have seen a glimpse of His glory, a taste of His glory as we have looked at Him.
And it probably also means, on some level, that He was giving us His glory as He went to the Cross. Just like it meant that in verse 1. The time had come for Him to glorified in the Crucifixion and then the Resurrection. He was giving us His glory by laying it down only to take it up again.
And it probably means that He was giving us a mission to be like Him in His glory to humble ourselves, as well, only for Him to raise us up.
But my guess about the main thing He’s saying here is that Jesus gives us His glory spiritually because we are now IN Him. It’s all of that other stuff and it’s because we are spiritually located in Jesus.
And that makes us one with Him and with everyone else who is in Him.
And that makes us one with Father, too! Because He is in Jesus. Do you see it?
It’s like of like Russian dolls, right? You know what I mean? Those wooden Russian dolls that nest inside of each other? There’s the big one, you open it and there’s another and then another and so on.
Look at verse 23. I almost named this sermon by the first phrase of verse 23. “I in them and you in me.”
The big Russian doll is us. All of us. And then open us up, and there’s Jesus and His glory. He’s given it to us! Jesus is in all of us. And then, look. Open that up. Look who is inside of the Son? It’s the Father.
“I in them and you in me.”
But it goes the other way, too, right? Like no Russian doll you ever saw before. Open up the Father and what do you find? Verse 21 says, “You [Father] are in me and I [Son] am in you.” [And we know the Spirit’s in there, too!] So open up the Father and you find the Son. And what does verse 21 say next? “May they also be in us...” 
That’s what He means by “complete unity.” All of us so intimately bound up with one another that we are “IN” each other. And if that is true of us, why wouldn’t we be unified? Why wouldn’t we be loving?Why wouldn’t we be totally together? That’s what Jesus was praying for. And that’s what we should be praying and striving for, too.
Notice that the Father never stops being the Father. And the Son never stops being the Son. They are still different. We are all supposed to stay different from each other in lots of ways that aren’t foolish or sinful. But we are supposed to be one. Like the Son and the Father.
And, number two, we’re supposed to be one so that others may believe.
#2. SO THAT OTHERS MAY BELIEVE!
Did you catch that in verse 21 and in verse 23?
There is an evangelistic purpose to this prayer for unity. Look at verse 21 again.
“[I pray] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us SO THAT the world may believe that you sent me.” Do you see the connection?
The world is watching the church. Outsiders are asking themselves if they want to come in to Christ. They are wondering if this gospel thing is true.
“Did the Father send the Son? Did God so love the world that He gave His One and Only so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life?”
Some of you may be asking that question right now. “Is all this stuff true?”
How will they know? One way is by looking at us to see if our lives have truly changed. One way is by looking at Christians to see if we actually love one another. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:35 NIVO). How are we doing at that?
Are followers of Jesus known for our genuine love for each other? Are we one?!
I know it’s hard. It’s not easy love each other especially because we’re so different and because we’re all sinful. We are not all lovable. We are often unholy and unlovable.
But that didn’t stop Jesus from loving us.And it didn’t stop the Father from loving us.And we can’t let it stop us. Look at verse 23.
“May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
We love each other so that others will know how much they are loved.
I love how much this church family is loving each other these days.
I see it all over the place. The Fall Retreat last week! I loved seeing everybody passing around the babies. Playing board games. I laughed so hard at one with multiple generations playing that I was crying.
And the Ladies Fellowship group on Wednesday mornings? Those ladies sing and do crafts and study the Bible and share their testimonies and check up on each other. They call each other and pray for each other. And make gifts for others. They sent me with a gift to give to John Walter. I was so glad they made that and asked me to deliver it because it meant that I got to see him one more time just last week before he passed.
And the Community Group and Youth Group and Prayer Meeting and Choir. Those are all healthy expressions of oneness.
This meeting right here. A big bunch of loving people loving on each other. How you stick around afterwards and love on each other.
This especially true when we get unlovable. Forgiving each other. That’s when it gets real. When we sin against each other and have to confront each other and then ask forgiveness and then actually forgive each other? That’s when you see oneness! And when we bear with each other? When we’re tolerant of each other. When we’re patient with each other? When we are longsuffering? That’s when the world has to sit up and take notice.
When people who shouldn’t be one are one, that’s when our witness kicks into high gear.  
That’s when people start to say, “Maybe the Father did send the Son and loved ME even as He loved His Son...”
“He loved ME enough to give up His Son? ... I believe!”
Let me ask you a question. Has the Father answered this prayer request of Jesus?
We’ve seen what’s on Jesus’ heart. What is the Father doing with this request? I’ve gotta say that He’s in the process of answering it with a YES.
Like other prayer requests in verses 1 through 19, there is a sense in which they have been be answered and, yet, there is still more to come.
I look around, and I see a lot of disunity in the Body of Christ. And I feel it in my own heart. I often grow cold in my love for other Christians, especially when they sin against me or when they choose paths that seem foolish or wrong to me.
And I see some Christians trying to bring unity in the wrong way. Often by trimming the truth or pretending that something is holy that I unholy. But, remember, Jesus prayed for our unity and He prayed that we would be sanctified by the truth in the very same prayer (17:17). We have to be unified in the truth, not in lies.
But Jesus prayed to His Father that we would all be one, and I believe that the Father is saying YES to that prayer request, one Christian relationship at at time. And, one day, every Christian relationship at the same time! And how glorious will that be?!!  Jesus can hardly wait. Look at verse 24.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Want to see the heart of Jesus?! This is what Jesus wants. The old King James has “I will.” It expresses the deepest desire of Jesus’ heart.
“Father, I want those you have given me [remember that’s us, we are the gift of the Father to the Son, I want those you have given me] to be with me where I am...” 
Not so much in the Garden or at the Cross but in Heaven where He was soon headed.
“With me where I am...and to see my glory...”
#3. SO THEY SEE MY GLORY!
He’s back to praying about His glory, but He’s not just praying that He would be glorified or that His Father would be glorified but that we would see His glory! That we would be up close and personal and see the shining beauty of His greatness. 
There’s no way of describing what that beatific vision will be like. He is the most glorious being in all of the universe. He’s everything we ever need or could imagine. He’s everything we’ve sung his morning and so much more. And the Father has given Him this glory because He’s loved the Son forever and ever! “Before the creation of the world.” Long before anything else existed the Triune God existed in an endless circle of love and glory! Always and forever have been and will be.
And what’s amazing is that Jesus wants you and me to be caught up in it! The Lord Jesus was praying for you that night that you would be with Him and see His glory!
He promised it in chapter 14. “In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:2-3). And He told us the way to get there. He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (14:6).
And here He’s praying that we could believe and be close to Him and see His own glory. You know what? That’s where John is right now. That’s what He’s getting to see. I’m jealous. But our day will come soon enough if we are trusting in Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.
In the last two verses, Jesus promises His Father that He won’t stop until all of His people know Him and know that they are in Him and are full of His love.
“I pray that all of them may be one, Father...”
#4. SO THEY ARE FULL OF ME AND OUR LOVE.
Look at verse 25.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you [in fact, they have often rejected you], I know you, and they [my disciples] know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
How’s that for a way to end a prayer?! Jesus tells His Father that He’s on mission and He’s not going to be deterred. He’s been revealing the Father all along just like it says in chapter 1, verse 18.
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”
In fact, it literally says, “I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known.”
We look at the Son and we learn of the Father. And He’s going to keep on doing it even though it means His death. In order that the love that the Father has for the Son may be in us. And so that the Son may be in us, too!
The Lord Jesus was praying for you. He was praying that you would have the son inside of you through faith in His name. And He was praying that you would have the love of the Father for the Son inside of you, too. And if you’ve got that, then you have everything you need to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we all have that, too!
Are you full of Jesus and full of the Father’s love for Jesus? Then you can have the same passion for unity as your Savior. And you can strive like Jesus that we would all be one. Then you can pray like Jesus that we would all be one.

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5
45. “Holy Father, Protect Them”

“Holy Father, Protect Them” [Matt's Messages]

“Holy Father, Protect Them”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchSeptember 29, 2024 :: John 17:6-19  
We are listening to Jesus pray.
We are listening to our Lord talk to His Father on the night right before the Cross.
This is, perhaps, the most important prayer in human history. It is definitely the longest prayer of our Lord recorded in our Bibles for us to read today. I’m glad that John was listening and writing it down for us to study together here.
Because it really reveals Jesus’ heart. We said last week that you can really learn a lot by listening to someone pray. And that’s true. 
What was the main prayer request of verses 1 through 5? What did the Son pray to the Father in the first part of John 17? What did He pray for? He prayed for glory. “Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify You” (v.1).
Jesus prayed, for Himself, that He would get the glory (the shining beauty of His greatness) in His crucifixion, in His resurrection, and in His ascension and present session at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Jesus prayed that He would get the glory that was His, is His, and will be His forever. And that that glory to the Son would bring glory to His Father forever and ever, as well.
Glory was Jesus’ number one priority in His prayers. And it should be ours, as well.
But Jesus didn’t stop there. Not only was that prayer for His glory good for us because it means the gift of eternal life for us, but Jesus continued to pray in the next few verses directly for His disciples. Jesus prayed for His disciples circled around Him. How encouraging that must have been! To hear their Lord praying for them. How encouraging! 
But also scary. Because His main prayer request is for their protection. Jesus believes that His disciples are in grave danger. That’s why He’s praying for them. And so He’s praying for their protection. Look at verse 11. Here’s where we get our title for today.
“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.”
That’s the central thrust of this part of the Real Lord’s Prayer. The prayer our Lord really prayed. Not just the one that He taught His followers to pray, but the one that He prayed Himself right before He was arrested.
“Holy Father, protect them....”
Your version might have “keep them,” and that’s a good translation, too. The Greek word is “tayrayson” from “tayreo” “to keep.” It means to “attend to carefully,” “to take care of,” “to protect” or “guard” or “watch over.”  “Holy Father, keep them safe.”
Jesus believes that His disciples are in some kind of danger, and so he prays this prayer to his “Holy Father.”
Notice that! Notice what Jesus calls the Father here. This is the only place in the entire Bible where the Father is called this particular name, but it so sums up Who He really is so well!
He is Holy! He is transcendent. He is perfect. His above all things. He is separate from sin and wholly other. There is noone above Him! Holy. And, yet, He is Father. He is close. He is near. He cares. He loves. He provides. He is “Daddy.” The perfect Father. Perfectly Holy and totally Father at the very same time. Just the Person you want to bring your prayer requests to. And Jesus does. And He asks His Holy Father to protect His disciples.
Protect them from what? What’s the danger?
Jesus is afraid that His disciples are going to be blown apart from one another and sucked back into the world and knocked off course from their mission. So He prays that they will not be lost. “Holy Father, Protect Them...”
I have four points this morning to summarize this part of Jesus’ prayer, and I could have many more. There is so much here! But here’s the first one. 
“Holy Father, Protect Them...”
#1. IN YOUR NAME.
The prepositions in this section are very important. As we’re studying it together, pay special attention to the prepositions in this passage. The words like, “in, by, from, of, into.” Those sorts of words that show the nature of the relationships here.
You see in verse 11, Jesus prays, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name...”
Literally, that could be simply translated, “...keep them in your name...” That’s what some of your versions have. Jesus prays that His disciples would be protected by and in and through the very name of God! Which is something that He’s been talking about all along, hasn’t it?
In fact, that where He starts this section in verse 6. Let’s start in there. Verse 6. Jesus is praying.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”
Now, let’s make sure we know who are all the pronouns here.
When He says, “I,” He means Who?  That’s Jesus. The Son.
When He says, “You” Who does He mean? That’s the Father. The Holy Father. This is a prayer from God the Son to God the Father.
Whose are the “those” and the “they” in verse 6? That’s Jesus’ disciples. Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Thomas, Phillip. Those guys. There are eleven of them. One is now missing. What is his name? Judas has slipped out in the darkness to betray Jesus. Jesus is praying for His disciples, and He’s praying for them as the Father’s gift to Him. He’s reminding the Father how He gave the Son His true followers. Verse 6 again.
“I have revealed you [literally, that’s “your name!”] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”
That’s like a description of what Jesus has been up to all along for the last three years. He has been revealing the Father’s name, making the Father known to His disciples. 
Remember, a name isn’t just a label. It’s the Person that the label stands for. That’s why the NIV has, “I have revealed you...” "I’ve been showing these guys Who You really are. I’ve been giving them a sense of Your name. And they have obeyed your word. Unlike the unbelieving world, these guys have believed the good news about Who I am." Verse 7.
“Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”
What a great description of conversion, isn’t it? These disciples have heard Jesus teach Who He is. The seven I Ams. Everything from chapters 1 through 16, and while they are still confused on details, they have accepted it as true. And they have believed that the Son was sent from the Father.
These disciples believe that this is the truth. And that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So that’s whom Jesus is praying for. Verse 9.
“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”
There’s that glory again! Jesus is praying for His disciples because they are His. Because they belong to Him. 
Or do they? Do they belong to the Father or to the Son?
The answer is, “Yes.” They belong to the Father, and He has given them to the Son. Because they share everything. “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.” I love how the old King James says it here, “...all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them” (Jn. 17:10 KJV).
But they are in trouble. “I’ve told them they are in trouble. ‘In this world you will have trouble...’ And now I’m praying for their protection in this world because I’m leaving this world.” Verse 11.
“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name...
Jesus is going, but the disciples are staying. And so the Son prays that the Father would keep them in His name. He says it’s (v.11), “the name you gave me...”
So it’s not just the name of the Father. It’s the name of the Son, too. It’s the very name of God, the triune God Himself. It's being kept and protected in the very Person of God. Is there anything more powerful than that?!
It’s what’s been protecting them so far! Look at verse 12.
“While I was with them [He’s so close to going, He’s already gone in this prayer!], I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”
Jesus hasn’t lost any of them yet except the one that He was supposed to lose. 
And, no, I don’t understand exactly how all of that works, except that I know that Judas fully chose to betray Jesus and that’s on him and that he was always was going to in the perfect plan of God (Psalm 41:19, Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8).
The name of God wasn’t “keeping” Judas even though he was hearing all about it for several years. But it was “keeping” these that Jesus is praying for here. And Jesus prays that the Father would continue to keep them in that name. To protect them and keep them safe in that name. There is no other name that is safe.
And here’s what will happen if they are protected by this name above all names. Number two.
“Holy Father, Protect Them...”
#2. FOR THEIR UNITY AND JOY.
Look back up at verse 11 and see the purpose clause at the end of it.
“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name–the name you gave me–so that they may be one as we are one.”
Jesus was afraid that they were going to be blown apart from one another. Jesus was afraid that His little band of brothers were going to break apart and go their separate directions. He was afraid they were going to scatter and not come back together. He was afraid of disunity and discord and conflict. He knew that together they would stand but divided they would fall.
So He prayed against it.
“Protect them...so that they may be one as we are one.”
What a thing to say! How unified are the Father and Son? He just said, “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.” That’s oneness!! Their oneness is so close that it’s is-ness, right?
Jesus prays that His followers oneness would be so close that you could see that they are in each other.
“We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord...”
We’re going to see more about this next time because He has more to say to the Father about this at the end of the prayer. But this prayer for protection is protection for unity. Not organizational unity. But spiritual unity. Relational unity. For profound deep, God-reflecting unity and togetherness.
Do you pray for this?
You can learn a lot about a person by listening to their prayers. Do you pray like your Lord did that His followers would be unified? That we would love one another. It’s not easy!
It’s hard to love other Christians sometimes. That’s why Ephesians says that we need to, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3 NIVO).
We have to work at it. And we should pray for it. Jesus did! Pray for that other Christian that you are struggling to love. Pray for our church that we would love one another. That’s one of my prayers the Fall Retreat. That we would experience sweet fellowship and unity and oneness that weekend. Pray for other churches. Especially ones that are different from ours. Jesus prayed for their unity in the very name of God. And He prayed for their joy. Look at verse 13.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
Wow! What a phrase? “So that they may have the FULL MEASURE OF MY JOY within them.” The joy of Jesus and not just a little bit of it!
Remember, we get that joy, His joy, by remaining in Jesus. We learned that in chapter 15. He just said that to them a few minutes ago.
We get that joy by dwelling in the truth. “I say these things while I am still in the world (the Farewell Teachings), so that [as they dwell on them] they  may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
That’s why we can “take heart,” right?
Not because we are out of trouble but because Jesus has overcome the world. Not because we are loved by the world, but because Jesus is defeating the world for us. We’re still under attack. Look at verse 14.
“I have given them your word [the Father’s word, the Father’s teaching, the gospel] and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” That’s number three.
“Holy Father, protect them...”
#3. FROM THE EVIL ONE.
You see how important those prepositions are? Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t pray that they would be kept “in” the evil one? Or “for” the evil one? No, Jesus prayed that His followers would be kept from the evil one.
He knew that Satan hated them and wanted to eat them for lunch. Satan hates the followers of Jesus and wants to destroy them. But Jesus loves His people and wants them to be safe from Satan.
Do you pray for this one?
It’s no wonder that Jesus included this request in prayer He gave His disciples, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Or “from the evil one.” [Same phrase in the Greek.]
You and I should be praying that sort of prayer regularly. Because Satan is not our friend. He’s a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And the main way he wants to do that is to suck us back into the world. He will use oppression where he must, but Satan loves to tempt us. Satan loves to attack us through temptation.
I think that’s the main thing that Jesus was praying against in verse 15, that the Father would protect His disciples from the temptations of the evil one. So that they didn’t get sucked back into the world.
Because they were still in the world. Right? Jesus was leaving this world by death and then later by ascension, but He was leaving His disciples in the world.
And in fact, He wasn’t praying that they would be taken out of the world. But that while in the world they would be kept from the evil one. You see that? Look at verse 14 again.
He says that the disciples are hated because (v.14), “they are not OF the world any more than I am OF the world.” 
They are foreigners to this world and citizens of the world to come.
Now, verse 15. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” So, He’s not praying that His disciples would get to escape from the world. They didn’t get to be raptured and escape all the tribulations of the next several decades.
But Jesus prayed that they wouldn’t go backwards and give in to the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil either. Point number four.
“Holy Father, protect them...”
#4. IN AND INTO THE WORLD.
You see, there are two fundamental mistakes we make with the world.
They are ISOLATION and ASSIMILATION. And Jesus wants us to reject both.
We are not supposed to be isolated from the world. We are not supposed to insulate ourselves from the world. To escape, run away, become monks, withdraw from the world. Jesus says that we are “in the world.” And He says in verse 18 that we are sent INTO the world. No isolation!
But we aren’t supposed to get too comfortable with the world, either. We are IN but not OF. Right? Look at verse 16.
“[Protect them from the evil one.] They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”
We don’t belong here.  We are not worldlians any more. We don’t have the same goals, same values, same laws, same mindset, same desires. We march to the beat of a different drummer.
What did we learn this summer in Romans 12:2 at Family Bible Week?
“Do not be conformed to this age [this world], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2 CSB).
Don’t be assimilated. Don’t be sucked back in. Instead, be sanctified. That’s verse 17.
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
We don’t use that word enough these days so that we don’t really know what it means. But to be “sanctified” means to be set apart for a special use. It means to be holy which means to be set apart as God’s own for God’s own use. It’s not just what we don’t do but what we do. It means separate from sin, separate from the world’s approach to things.
Jesus wanted His disciples to be different. Our teens learned that at Challenge this summer. Jesus wants us to live as citizens of the kingdom and that’s a whole different way of living.
So He prayed for that. Jesus prayed that His followers would be protected in the world from being like the world. And He cared more about that than their lives.
Let me ask you a question, do you pray for your sanctification more than for your protection from danger? We can pray for safety from car accidents and flooding and looting and cancer and warfare. We should pray for that. But Jesus was more concerned that His disciples be holy. Jesus was more concerned that His disciples fought against temptation by the promises of God.
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus prayed that His disciples would know God’s word and believe what it says and say no the temptations to be just like the rest of the world.
That’s what He was scared of. Jesus wasn’t scared that His disciples would be persecuted by the world. Jesus was scared that His disciples would just start acting like the rest of the world.
“They are not OF the world, Father, keep them from acting like it.”
“Don’t let them get sucked back in.”
“You’re holy, Father. Make them holy, too.”
Do you pray for that?
We need to pray that we would live like citizens of the kingdom to come and not like the denizens of this unholy world. We shouldn’t expect much of them, but we should expect it of ourselves and pray for it. While we are here.
The answer is not assimilation, and it’s not isolation. We aren’t supposed to just go off into our little holy huddles.
The answer is mission! We are sent INTO this world. Look at verse 18. We are set apart but not to live apart. Verse 18.
“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”
We are not just in the world. We are sent into the world. You see how important the prepositions are? We are not just present in the world. We are sent into the world on a mission.
Jesus is concerned that His disciples were going to get knocked off their mission. So He prays that they would be kept on track. Just as the Father has sent the Son on a mission of salvation, the Son has sent the Church on a salvation mission, too. I’m praying that our Fall retreat would be a time to gather together but not to hide from the world. But to gather together in unity and oneness for the world. To be sent back out into the world to reach the world for Christ. Neither isolated nor assimilated but on mission.
Do you see yourself as on mission for Jesus? Wherever you are? Whatever you are doing. He hasn’t taken you out of the world yet, so He’s got mission for you to do. He doesn’t want you to become like the world. He wants you to be sanctified. But He does want you to go into the world with His gospel.
It’s why He came. And it’s why He sanctified Himself. Look at verse 19, last verse for today.
“For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
Jesus was sanctified like nobody else. He was set apart, consecrated, for the most special work every accomplished. He’s talking about the Cross. He’s saying that He fully consecrated Himself to give Himself up for us. That was His mission–dying for our sins and rising again to give us eternal life.
So that (v.19), “they too may be truly sanctified.”
Saved from sin and set apart for our mission into the world!
What a prayer request, huh? Let me ask you a question. How did the Holy Father answer this one?
Jesus prayed that the eleven would be protected by the name of God Himself, for their unity and joy, from the evil one, and in and into the world.
Read the book of Acts and you will see that the Father said, “Yes” to this prayer. It wasn’t straightforward, and it wasn’t easy. And they all lost their lives for Jesus. But they were all protected where it mattered most. They were not blown apart, or sucked back in, or knocked off course in their mission. They were one, they were joyful, they were holy, and they turned their world upside down for the name of Jesus Christ.
May we do the same.

***
Messages in this Series
01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33
44. "Glorify Your Son" - John 17:1-5

“Glorify Your Son” [Matt's Messages]

“Glorify Your Son”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchSeptember 22, 2024 :: John 17:1-5  
This morning we’re going to start listening to Jesus pray.
We’re going to listen closely to what our Lord Jesus Christ said to God the Father on the night before He went to the Cross.
For the last several months, we’ve been studying what Jesus taught His followers that night. What we called, “The Farewell Teachings.” Jesus said that He was going away, and He was getting His disciples ready for His departure.
And the very last thing He said in that section (chapters 13-16) is our current memory verse, John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33 NIVO).
And right then in chapter 17, Jesus begins to pray. And pray and pray! This is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the entire Bible. And His beloved friend John listened closely to this prayer and wrote it down for us to read and learn from today.
I have often called John 17, “The Real Lord’s Prayer.” Because unlike the Disciples’ Prayer where Jesus taught His followers how to pray, this is a prayer that our Lord Himself prayed to His Father.
And it’s not a prayer that is a model for us to pray. At least, not directly. Because we aren’t the Lord! We aren’t Jesus. This is a unique prayer of consecration by Jesus before He willingly goes off to His Cross. So, while not a model for us, we can learn all kinds of things by listening in and meditating on it.
You can learn a lot about a person by listening to their prayers.
Did you ever notice that? If you are listening to someone pray, you can at least know what they think is important for them pray for. You probably also can learn how they were taught to pray. And most of the time, if their prayer is genuine, you can know their very heart. And nobody prayed more genuinely than our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s listen to Him pray.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
We’re going to spend at least three Sundays studying this prayer. There’s a logic to the flow of it based on Whom Jesus prays for in each successive section. In verses 1 through 5 (this week), He prays for Himself. And then in verses 6 through 19, He also prays for His disciples right there with Him, and then in verses 20 through 26, He widens the circle to include His future disciples and that directly includes you and me!
Think about that! On the night before the Cross, Jesus was praying for you.
But the first person that He does pray for here is Himself. And there is one major thing that He prays for Himself. He says it in verse 1 and repeats the idea in verse 5. Look at verse 1.
“After Jesus said this [‘Take heart! I have overcome the world.’], he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
That's our sermon title. Jesus' big request is: “Glorify Your Son.”
Jesus prays that God the Father would glorify His Son.
And that’s Jesus, right? Sometimes Jesus refers to Himself in the third person in this prayer. He calls Himself “The Son.” “He.” “Your Son.” And He even gives His name and title in verse 3, “Jesus Christ.” “Jesus the Messiah.”  And other times, He uses the word “Me,” and “I” in the first person. But every time He says, “You” here, He’s talking to His Father.
He says, “Father, the time has come.” How many times over the course of the last year did we hear Him say, “It’s not time yet.” “It’s not my time yet.” Like He said to His mom at the wedding in Cana. “It’s not my time yet.”
But now, He says in prayer, “Father, I know it’s time. I’m ready to go. There’s nothing left to do but surrender myself to the awful thing that’s going to happen tomorrow. I’m headed to the Cross.”
“But there’s one thing I want you to do as I go there–glorify your Son. Father, please, bring glory to Your Son!”
What a striking thing for Him to pray.
What is glory? And what does it mean to glorify something or someone?
Glory is the beauty of greatness. Glory is greatness that is seen and known. God is glorious because God is great, and His glory is that greatness shining forth so that others can see it and know it. Glory is getting credit for being great.
And to glorify someone is to give someone that credit or allow that greatness to shine. To glorify someone is to shine the light on their greatness and make it known.
Someone could falsely glorify someone or something by puffing it up and making it look awesome when it really isn’t. But you can also glorify someone or something truly by shining a light on the true greatness or removing the curtain so that the true greatness that was hidden now shines forth from them.
That’s this one. Jesus is asking the Father to unveil the Son’s glory and shine the light of true glory on the Son. So that the greatness of the Son is seen and known.
Wow! What an audacious thing to ask for! We’ve said a number of times this last year that Jesus has a way of making everything about Him.
Imagine if anyone else prayed this way. Imagine if I said to my Dad this morning, “Hey, Dad, make sure you make me look good today. I want glory. And I’m asking you to glorify me.” You would think I was the biggest narcissist in the world! What an egotistical thing to ask for!
But not if you are truly this great. And not if your greatness means the greatness of your Father and the good of all who believe in You. Totally different.
Notice that Jesus’ glory is not selfish. Because look what His glory does. Verse 1 again.
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
#1. THAT THE SON MAY GLORIFY THE FATHER.
If Jesus gets glory, it won’t just stay there on Him, it will bounce back onto His Father. Their glories are mutual and reenforcing and intertwined. They are, in fact, one. If God the Father glorifies God the Son, then God the Son will glorify God the Father. It’s an unending circle. 
If God the Father glorifies God the Son, then God the Son will glorify God the Father. (And we know from chapters 14, 15, and 16, that God the Spirit is in there, too.)
It almost like two giant mirrors. And if the light of the Father shines on the mirror of the Son then it will be reflected back on the mirror of the Father. Light and glory everywhere!
“So, Father, please, glorify Your Son.”
What is He asking for, specifically?
I think He’s asking that the crucifixion be effective. He’s agreeing to go to the Cross, and scorning its shame, but He’s asking that the Father would make it all worth it. For our salvation and for the display of God’s glory.
So that Jesus is seen to be worthy.So that God is seen to be holy.So that Jesus is seen to be humble.So that God is seen to be gracious.So that Son is glorified in the Cross. Lifted up!
And the Father is glorified in the Cross because He was obeyed.
If God the Father glorifies God the Son, then God the Son will glorify God the Father. 
And I think He’s praying for the resurrection. Because if the Cross works, if the mission is completed, then Jesus can’t stay dead. Sin will be paid for and righteousness will be fulfilled. And Jesus will have to come alive.
“Glorify Your Son by giving Him life once again!” And that will bring glory to the Father because He will be seen to be powerful. Just and righteous and gracious and merciful and powerful. If God the Father glorifies God the Son, then God the Son will glorify God the Father.
And I think He’s praying for the ascension that the risen Jesus with ascend to the right hand of the Majesty on High. That the Son will be enthroned beside the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe.
“Glorify Your Son by crowning Him Lord of all!” That that will bring glory the Father! If God the Father glorifies God the Son, then God the Son will glorify God the Father. Do you see it?
You can learn a lot about a person by listening to their prayers.
This is what Jesus is all about. Jesus is all about glory. His heart desires for Him to be glorified and His Father to be glorified by Him.
That might surprise you. If I asked you whom Jesus loves the most in all the universe, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear some of you say, “Us.”
And He does love us. It’s amazing. But the answer is that there is no One in the universe that the Son loves more than the Father. And there is no One in the universe that the Father loves more than the Son. That’s because there is no One greater in all the universe! There is no One more lovable, no One more wonderful, no One more awesome than God Himself.
And that’s what makes the sacrifice of the Cross so audacious. That the Father would love the rebellious world so much that He would give His One and Only Son to save it!
And the Son so loved the Father that He went when He was sent. And the accomplishing of that mission will bring glory to the Son which will bring glorify to the Father in an unending circle of love and light!
Here’s a question for you: Do you pray like this? Is this how we pray? 
You and I can’t and shouldn’t pray, “Father glorify us.” But we can pray, “Father, please glorify your Son that your son may glorify you.”
We tend to pray for lesser things, don’t we? And we should. We can pray for whatever and about anything. We can and should pray for our daily bread and everything else we’ve prayed for so far in this worship time. But under and through and above all of those requests, we should pray for glory.
Don’t just pray for safety for your son fighting wildfires. Pray that Jesus would be glorified if He would keep your son safe.
Don’t just pray for a good experience at Capernwray Hall for your son. Pray that God would be glorified by your son learning and worshiping and living with those other growing Christians.
That’s what it means to pray in Jesus’ name, isn’t it? That Jesus would get the ultimate glory from what we pray for.
“Father, glorify Your Son that your Son may glorify You.”
And catch this, that will always be for our ultimate good. We never lose when we pray that Jesus will get the glory. In fact, here it means our eternal salvation. That’s point number two.
Glorify Your Son:
#2. FOR THE GIVING OF ETERNAL LIFE.
See the reason why Jesus says that He should get glory in verse 2?
“For you [the Father] granted him [the Son] authority over all people that he [the Son] might give eternal life to all those you have given him.”
There’s a lot there, isn’t there? That’s why we’re only going in five verses this morning. 
Here’s the logic. Jesus should get glory because He’s been given authority by the Father to give eternal life to all the people the Father has given Him. And that’s everyone who eventually will be saved. What the Bible calls elsewhere the "elect" or the "chosen."
Have you ever thought about yourself as someone who is the gift of the Father to the Son?  That’s going to be a major theme in this prayer. We’ll see in verses 6, 9, 12, and 24. We’ll come back to it the next two weeks. But you and I are a gift of the Father to the Son. And as His gift, the Father has given the Son authority to give a gift to us.
What is that gift? Eternal life.
Notice that eternal life is a gift. It’s not something that you buy or rent or earn. Jesus gives it. He doesn’t sell it. The church doesn't sell it. A lot of people have misunderstood that. Eternal life is a gift. We simply receive it.
Have you received it? Have you been given this gift by Jesus of eternal life? The four who were baptized last Sunday were telling the world that they had received this gift. They didn’t earn it. They didn’t deserve it. They didn’t buy it. They had just received it by faith, by believing in Jesus, they have life in His name.
In verse 3, Jesus explains what eternal life actually is. Obviously, it’s life that is eternal, but it’s more than that. In its essence and effect, it’s more than just living forever. Here’s what Jesus says. Look at verse 3.
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Oh. So that’s what eternal life is. That’s what eternal life means. It’s not just that you don’t ever die. It’s that you know God forever. Wow! It’s not just that you go to heaven when you die or even that you get resurrected eventually when the kingdom comes. It’s that you know God. You actually know Him. Not just about Him. Lot’s of people know about God but they don’t know Him personally. This is knowing Him personally.
Eternal life is not just a duration of life, but a quality of life. It’s a relationship. And it’s not just for later. It’s for right now.  “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God [the Father], and Jesus Christ [the Son], whom you have sent.” (And we know from chapters 14-16 that it includes God the Spirit, as well.)
Eternal life is knowing God. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you probably don’t have eternal life. If you want eternal days without knowing the eternal God, then you don’t want eternal life. That’s why our church is all about bringing people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Because that is eternal life. And it is the gift of God.
Do you know Jesus? Do you know God the Father? There is one true God and only one true God and He can be known. The way we know Him is through His One and Only Son.
We learned this way back in chapter 1, didn’t we?
“No one has ever seen God [the Father], but God the One and Only [Son], who is at the Father's side, has made him known” (Jn. 1:18 NIVO).
And guess what? That is the essence of eternal life. If you have never come to know God, you are invited to do so right here and right now. Put your faith and trust in Jesus and believe in what He did for you on the Cross and receive the gift of eternal life.
The Father sent the Son. How many times have we read that this last year? He’s going to say it a bunch more. The Father sent the Son so that you and I could know the Father.
You can’t know the Father except through the Son. He is the Way to the Father and the only way.
But if you come through Him, you get the Father and the Son. And you get them forever! And that brings glory both of them.
Father, Glorify Your Son.
#3. WITH THE GLORY THAT WAS, IS, AND WILL BE HIS.
In verse 4, Jesus reminds the Father that He is accomplishing the mission on which the Father sent Him. Verse 4.
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (vv.4-5).
Jesus prays with the full knowledge that He is going to be successful at the Cross and the Empty Tomb. 
Remember, He just got done saying, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” Has He yet overcome the world? He hasn’t died yet. He hasn’t risen yet. He hasn’t ascended yet. But to Jesus, it’s as good as done. 
And He knows that He has brought glory to the Father. Which is good because that’s His number one goal! And now, He’s asking for the Father to restore His glory like He had before the incarnation! Before He took on flesh. Even before the world was created!
So before John 1:18. Before John 1:14. Back to John 1:1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1 NIVO).
Jesus wants that glory. “Glorify me in your presence (with God) with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
Now, Jesus is always worthy of that glory, right?
He was.And He is.And He will be.
But that glory was hidden. It was behind the veil. Behind the curtain. That glory was hidden in His humility and His humiliation. In His enfleshment and incarnation. He had the greatness but the greatness was not shining forth. And now Jesus is asking for His greatness to shine as He deserves. He’s completing the mission. He’s done everything the Father has sent Him to do.
And now, He’s asking for the Father to raise Him from the dead and exalt Him to the highest place.
You know what? That is actually not an audacious prayer request.
Because He deserves it.He deserves every inch of it.Jesus is worthy of all of the glory.
He always has been. And now He’s done something even more glorious. He has died for us! He has died on the Cross. He has obeyed the command of the Father to lay down His life only to take it up again. 
The Son deserves this. He always has and now He does even more. And He always will.
And guess what? The Father said, “Yes.” to this prayer. 
This is the real Lord’s prayer. The real prayer of the real Lord Jesus Christ. And the real one true God, said “Yes.”
“I will glorify you, Son. I will glorify You.”
The greatest application of these first 5 verses of the Real Lord’s Prayer is simply to rejoice that the Father is granting everything the Son asked for.
Because, guess where Jesus is right now? He’s in the Father’s presence with the glory He had with Him before the world began. Jesus said, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
And the Father said, “Amen.”
And so do we.
***

Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24
43. "Take Heart!" - John 16:25-33

“Take Heart!” [Matt's Messages]

“Take Heart!”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchSeptember 15, 2024 :: John 16:25-33  
“Take heart!”
Verse 33 has become, for me, one of the beloved verses in the whole Bible,  especially since 2015 when I had my big surgery and when our church had to say goodbye to our friend Blair Murray.
That year, I latched onto John 16:33, and it has seen me through all the difficult days since then.
We’re going to make the last verse of John 16 our memory verse for the next few months. Let’s read it together. This is Jesus speaking to His disciples. John 16:33.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 
“Take heart!” Some of your translations might say, “Take courage.” Some of them say, “Be of good cheer.” In other words, fill your minds and hearts to the brim with the things that Jesus has been teaching here so that you are able to rejoice and able to be bold and courageous in the face of much hardship and even persecution. “Take heart!”
I love how honest and hopeful Jesus is in this section. Both completely honest about how hard things are going to be and completely hopeful about how things are going to turn out.
“Take heart!”
I think this is just about a perfect passage for those who are going public today as disciples of Jesus Christ. John and Kara, Alexis, and Cayli are telling the world this morning that they believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior. And that in believing in Him they have life in His name (John 20:31).
John, Kara, Alexis, and Cayli, these words from Jesus are for you today.
“Take heart!”
In this short passage, Jesus makes many big promises that you can count on 100% so that you can “Take heart!” as His follower, no matter what comes. And that’s true, not just for John, Kara, Cayli, and Alexis, but for all of us here who are Jesus’ disciples, as well.
I have noted down at least 5 things that Jesus says that you and I can count on in these 9 verses. Five good reasons to take heart. And here’s the first one:
#1. CLARITY.
Jesus promises us enough clarity about the truth that, no matter what comes, we can take heart.
This is the very last paragraph of Jesus’ direct teaching in the Farewell Teachings. When we get to chapter 17, next week, Lord-willing, Jesus will turn to direct prayer, and John has captured what He prayed that night for us to learn from it. So it’s kind of part of the Farewell Teachings. But it’s us listening in to His conversation with God.
This paragraph (verses 25-33) are the last few words that Jesus directly taught His disciples on the night before the Cross. And that last verse of that last paragraph, verse 33, says why Jesus was doing all that teaching in the first place.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
What are the these things? It’s everything He’s taught them ever since He washed their feet. It’s chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16.
Jesus is going away, and He’s trying to get His disciples ready.
And, boy-howdy, are they having a hard time taking this in. They are troubled. They depressed. They are shocked. And they are confused. Jesus has even more things that He wanted to teach them, but they just couldn’t bear it. In fact, they couldn’t take what He did teach them.
So He’s been talking kind of obscurely. He’s been speaking kind of enigmatically. He’s given them everything they need, but almost with some vagueness that the Holy Spirit will have to fill in later.
Like that phrase, “a little while,” last week. Remember that? So obvious to us, but obscure for them. But a time is coming when all will be made plain. Look at verse 25.
Jesus says, “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.”
When is that? I think it’s “after a little while.” It’s after the resurrection. Right now, this is kind of dark to them, but then the light of clarity will shine!
That’s what happened, right? Read Luke 24 this afternoon and see how, after the resurrection, Jesus explained everything that had happened to the disciples, and the lights really began to come on for them.
And even more after the Spirit of Truth came at Pentecost, and He guided them into all truth.
They got clarity! And that’s how we got our Bibles.  So the obvious application for you and me is to read our Bibles and take heart. Not that every question we ever have is always answered how we want, but everything we need to know, we are plainly told in these pages. Read the word and take heart. Clarity.
John, Kara, Alexis, and Cayli, decide today as publicly-marked-out followers of Jesus that you are going to read your Bibles in the power of the Holy Spirit to clearly know what the Lord wants from you and wants for you and has promised you so that you can take heart. Clarity.
Jesus says that when that clarity comes, His disciples will pray in His name. Verse 26.
“In that day you will ask in my name.”
That’s been a big theme for the last few months, hasn’t it? Asking in Jesus’ name. Asking in the Person of Jesus. He’s told us that we can pray about “whatever” and ask for “anything” as long as we do it in His authorization, His reputation, His will, His Person, His name. After Jesus comes back from the dead, it will be the obvious thing to do. Of course, we’re going to pray in the name of the One Who returns from the dead! And we’re going to expect answers.
Now, in verse 26, Jesus clears up a possible misconception about what praying in His name means. Look at that. V.26
“I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
I think what He’s saying is that Jesus intercedes for us, yes, Jesus is our mediator, but He doesn’t take our words and mechanically report them to the Father. Like Kara says, “Jesus, will you tell your Father for me that I really would like this to happen?” and Jesus says, “Okay, Father, this is what I’m hearing from my disciple Kara. She says...” I think that’s what Jesus is saying it’s not like.
Like there’s some distance, some daylight, between us and the Father. Like it’s only the Son that loves us and not the Father, too. “I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you[!]...”
Do you need to hear that this morning?
“The Father Himself loves you...”“The Father Himself loves you...”“The Father Himself loves you...”
That’s the second of “these things” that are worthy of taking to heart.
#2. LOVE.
“The Father Himself loves you...” So you can expect answered prayers! There’s no daylight between you and God. Jesus has bridged the gap! He has closed in the space between you and the Father.
When we had our baptism classes for these 4, I drew a picture of us one side of a cliff and God on the other and great big chasm in between us. And I said that sin has caused that valley between us. And we try in our own efforts, in our own good works, to somehow the jump the valley. But it’s no good.
But God has bridged the gap for us in Jesus! And all we have to do is to cross over that bridge by faith.
Jesus says the Father Himself loves you. Not just the Son, but the Father. And here’s one of the things He loves about you: you love His Son and believe that He came to save you. Verse 27 again.
“...the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
Notice that this is not saying that we loved God first. We did not. God loved us first. In fact, He loved us so much that He sent His One and Only Son. Verse 28.
“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
There’s the gospel right there, right? That’s the “main thing.” The Father sent the Son into the world. It’s John 1, right? And now He’s calling Him out of it. First in the crucifixion and after that the ascension. He came to save us. And one day He’s coming back to get us.
John, Kara, Alexis, and Cayli believe that gospel. They believe in the love of God for them.
How about you? Is verse 27 true for you? Do you know that you are loved by God the Father because you love Jesus God the Son and have believed that He came from the Father to save you?
If you believe that, then take heart!
That’s all you really need, isn’t it? They say, “All you need is love.” But it’s not romantic love that’s all we need. It’s divine love.
“The Father Himself loves you...” Take heart!
Now, sadly, the disciples, in verse 29, pretend that they understand what Jesus is talking about. They decide they’re going to play along. Verse 29.
“Then Jesus' disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’”
“Oh, we get it. Yeah. Sure.” 
They don’t really “get it,” but they don’t want to appear clueless any longer. Sadly, it makes them appear even more clueless. One day soon they will not be clueless, but this is not that day. Jesus is almost sarcastic in verse 31.
“‘You believe at last!’ Jesus answered.” ‘’
It's probably a question in the original Greek. “You believe at last? You're picking up what I'm laying down? I doubt it.” V.32 
“But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”
Jesus knows what is about to happen. In just a matter of hours or even minutes, the Romans, led to Him by that traitor Judas, are going to arrest Jesus, and not one of these eleven men will stand by Him.
He will be alone. All alone. But He will not be alone in being alone. His Father will be with Him. And He’s going to do this thing. He’s going to go to the Cross. And He’s going to do it out of love. And He’s told them all this so that they will have peace. 
#3. PEACE.
Look at verse 33 again. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Notice that “in me.” Our peace is found in Jesus or it’s not found at all.
No Jesus - No PeaceKnow Jesus - Know Peace 
We learned in chapter 14 that Jesus gives us His own peace. The peace we have is not just peace with God (which is awesome!) or peace with others or peace within. It’s peace from God that is from Jesus Himself. And it comes from knowing all the things that Jesus has been pouring out on the disciples in the Farewell Teachings.
If you know this truth, you can have peace, and take heart.
John, Kara, Alexis, Cayli, you can have peace. Sometimes it’s a peace that passes understanding. You don’t even know how you can be so peaceful. But there it is. And you’re going to need it. Because of the fourth thing that Jesus promises here in this paragraph. And that’s trouble.
#3. TROUBLE.
With a capital T. Look again at verse 33.
“In this world you will have trouble.”
Notice the contrast. In Jesus you will have peace. But in this world, you will have trouble. Affliction. Distress. Tribulation. Suffering. Hardship. Persecution.
Remember, the world will not always love you. In fact, the world hated Jesus first, so the world is going to hate you.
John, Kara, Alexis, Cayli, I have some bad news for you. The world is not going to love you for following Jesus. The world will not love you for being baptized today in Jesus’ name. In fact, the world may hate you for it. And you will have trouble.
I love that Jesus says that in verse. He does not sugarcoat things. He is so honest! He doesn’t tell us only what we want to hear. He tells His disciples that it’s going to be hard.
And not just persecution. There’s going to be sickness and death. There’s going to be conflict between Christians. There’s going to be natural disasters and all other kinds of trouble.
We do not get out of trouble by following Jesus. We get baptized into trouble! But He’s told us that in advance, so we are prepared. So that we have hope. And we can take heart.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
#5. VICTORY.
The Greek word for “overcome” in verse 33 is “nenikayka” which comes from the Greek root word “Nike.” Have you ever heard that word before? I think there may be a shoe company named after that. It means “victory.” It means “conquering.”
Jesus says that He has won the victory over the world. Which is a pretty impressive thing for Him to say before He goes to the Cross! Jesus knows what’s going to happen. He is going to win. He knows it so much that He can declare it before He even dies! Remember what He just said in verses 22:
“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (Jn. 16:20-22 NIVO).
Be of good cheer!Take courage.Take heart!
John, Kara, Alexis, Cayli, take heart! Jesus has overcome the world.
Because you have clarity about the truth. That Jesus is the Truth (Jn. 14:6).Because you know you are loved by the Father Himself so that He sent His Son for you.Because you know you have peace with God because of Him.Because He died and rose again and is coming back for you some day soon.
You can be courageous right now even in the face of trouble and persecution. And bear witness to His work in your life and follow Him even to death.
Take heart!

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36
18. "I Am the Bread of Life" - John 6:35-71
Vision Meeting Bonus: "As I Have Loved You" - John 13:34-35
19. "At the Feast" - John 7:1-52
20. "I Am the Light of the World" - John 8:12-30
21. "Your Father" - John 8:31-59
22. "Now I See" - John 9:1-41
23. "I Am The Gate" - John 10:1-13
24. "I Am the Good Shepherd" - John 10:14-21
25. "I And The Father Are One" - John 10:22-42
26. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:1-53
27. "Expensive" - John 11:54-12:11
28. "The Hour Has Come" - John 12:12-26

30. "Believe In Me" - John 12:37-50
31. "Do You Understand What I Have Done For You?" - John 13:1-17
32. "I Am Telling You Now Before It Happens” - John 13:18-38
2024 West Branch Baccalaureate: "The Way, The Truth, and The Life" - John 14:6
33. "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” - John 14:1-6
34. "Show Us the Father" - John 14:7-14
35. "If You Love Me" - John 14:15
36. "I Will Ask the Father" - John 14:16-24
37. "My Peace I Give You" - John 14:25-31
38. "I Am the True Vine" - John 15:1-11
39. "You Are My Friends" - John 15:12-17
40. "If The World Hates You" - John 15:18-6:4
41. "When He Comes" - John 16:5-15
42. "After a Little While" - Joh 16:16-24