"I Have Said Nothing in Secret" -- John 18:12-27

The Fifty-Sixth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

From the period of time Jesus time spent in Jerusalem during the Feast of Booths (the previous Fall), until the night of his arrest on the eve of the Passover (in the Spring), the religious leaders of Israel have been plotting to kill him.  One of Jesus’ own disciples (Judas) had approached certain members of the Sanhedrin with an offer he knew they could not refuse.  In exchange for thirty pieces of silver, Judas was willing to direct the Sanhedrin to the ideal place where they could arrest Jesus.  Once the Sanhedrin accepted Judas’ offer, he then led them (along with Roman soldiers and temple guards) to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas knew Jesus and his disciples would have gone after celebrating the Passover together.  To everyone’s amazement, Jesus voluntarily surrendered himself and was soon on his way to appearances before the high priest, and then before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Jesus had done nothing wrong, had broken no laws, and was perfectly obedient to the will of his Father.  But his obedience will take Jesus before the magistrate and will end in a sentence of death.

As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, we are currently working our way through the so-called “Passion” narrative of John (chapters 18-19).  Jesus has left the upper room, where he celebrated his final Passover with the disciples.  After praying for himself (John 17:1-5), for his disciples (vv. 6-19), and then for us (vv. 20-26), Jesus took his disciples across the Kirdron Valley to a small walled-in garden on the slopes of the Mount of Olives–a place known as Gethsemane.  After Jesus and his disciples entered the garden, while Jesus was praying for strength for the horrific ordeal which lay ahead, his disciples fell asleep, leaving Jesus alone when he needed them most.  Struggling with the awareness of the painful suffering he must endure the next day, Jesus petitioned his Father–“if it be your will, may this cup pass from me.”  “If there be some other way. . .”  There is no other way.  Jesus prayed to his Father, “not my will, but thy will be done.”  Jesus will suffer and die so that the guilt of our sins might be taken away.

About this time, Judas, who left the upper room early, went to inform the Sanhedrin that Jesus and his disciples were going to Gethsemane to pray, and that this would be the ideal spot where the Sanhedrin could find Jesus and arrest him.  The garden was small, it was surrounded by a stone wall, and Jesus and his closest disciples would not be expecting to be arrested there, of all places.  Following Judas’ direction was an arrest mob, described by John as “a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees . . . with lanterns and torches and weapons.”  

Fearing trouble–that Jesus would perform a miracle, or evade arrest (as he had done on several occasions earlier during the Feast of Booths), a detachment of Roman soldiers was present, as were the temple police (who worked closely with the chief priests).  According to John (chapter 18:4-5), “then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward [i.e., out of the walled garden] and said to them, `Whom do you seek?’  They answered him, `Jesus of Nazareth.’  Jesus said to them, `I am he.’” The moment Jesus identified himself, simply answering “I am he,” John, who was an eyewitness to these events, tells us that the armed mob “drew back and fell to the ground.”  All Jesus need to is but identify himself–ego emi “I am he,” and those arresting Jesus cower in fear–perhaps seeing his words as an assertion of his oneness with YHWH (who identifies himself as the “I am” throughout the Old Testament), which, as we saw last time, fulfills messianic prophecy.  Fearing that Jesus might attempt to escape, the mob fell to the ground, likely because they were afraid that Jesus would unleash upon them whatever power which lay behind his miracles.  Jesus’ reputation as a miracle-worker was now widely known (many of the people in Jerusalem knew about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead).  The arrest mob exposes their private fear that Jesus might do something to harm them and free himself.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 23-29)

Sunday Morning, November 29:  We will conclude our series on the books of Ezra-Nehemiah.  We will be considering the failure of the Old Covenant to truly deal with human sin (Nehemiah 13).  Our service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  Chris Coleman will be looking at Lord's Day 10, Question 27, "Finding Hope in Your Faithful Heavenly Father."  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study:  No Bible Study this week due to Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Service (November 26):  Join us for our annual Thanksgiving service as we give thanks to the Lord for his many blessings.  Chris Coleman will be leading our service, which begins at 10:00 a.m.

The Academy:  On Hiatus (TBA)

For More Information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Info), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"God Made Them Rejoice" -- Nehemiah 11-12

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Jesus in Pop Culture

Joining the hosts on this edition of the White Horse Inn are David Zahl of Mockingbird Ministries, and James Gilmore, co-author of Authenticity and The Experience Economy. We are continuing our focus on the Jesus portrayed in popular culture. What are they saying about Jesus in today’s music, movies, and television? Who is the Hipster Jesus, and how does he differ from the Macho Jesus? More importantly, how are these popular expressions of Jesus different from the real Jesus?

Who do you say Jesus is? Just as Jesus asked this question of his disciples in his own day, so too does he confront us in his Word concerning his person and work. Join us for this special edition of the White Horse Inn as we seek the real Jesus in this culture of noise.

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"I Am He" -- John 18:1-11

The Fifty-Fifth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus has done absolutely nothing wrong.  He has spoken only those words which YHWH has given him to speak.  He has broken not a single one of God’s commandments in his thinking, in his doing, or in his speech.  He has loved God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself.  But the religious leadership of Israel absolutely detests Jesus–this includes the Sanhedrin (the Jewish senate), both main political parties and religious factions (the Saduccess and the Pharisees), the smaller factions (the Herodians and the zealots), as well as many of the chief priests, elders, and biblical scholars (the scribes and teachers of the law).  In their minds, Jesus is a blasphemer and a heretic.  Although his miracles attest that he is from God, instead, many of the Jewish religious leaders see this as proof that he is in league with the devil.  Jesus has spoken of himself as equal with YHWH, he has called himself the true temple as well as the true Israel.  He identifies himself as the “Son of Man,” a prophet, and that one foretold throughout the Old Testament.  Because people love darkness rather than light (even “religious people”), the Jewish leadership seeks to put an end to Jesus’ messianic mission, even as he seeks to be alone with his disciples to pray.  It is hard to imagine, but the sinless Son of God is about to be arrested by an armed mob on the charge of blasphemy, even as one of his own disciples betrays him by revealing where Jesus is to be found.  And all the while the citizens of Jerusalem and pilgrims in the city to celebrate the Passover, remain sound asleep only to be rudely awakened as the news of Jesus’s arrest begins to spread.

We continue our series on the Gospel of John, and we enter into the final section of this gospel, the so-called “Passion Narrative.”  In the “Passion” section of his gospel, John recounts those events associated with Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion (chapters 18-19), followed by the account of our Lord’s triumphal resurrection from the dead (John 20-21).  The first seventeen chapters of John’s gospel have been pointing to those events found in the closing chapters.  Jesus’ long-dreaded hour is at hand.  The time has come for Jesus to suffer and die, and in doing so, secure eternal life and faith for all those given him by the Father.  In his death and resurrection, Jesus will bring glory to both the Father and to himself–the very thing which Jesus sought in the opening portion of his High Priestly Prayer.  

One of the things which makes the gospels unique as a literary genre, and which separate them from ordinary biographies, is the presence of a so-called “Passion narrative.”  Each of the gospels includes an account of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and brutal death by crucifixion, followed by the account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  Although each of the gospels emphasizes different aspects of Jesus’ passion, when taken together we get a very full eyewitness account of why Jesus was crucified, how his death fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, what this death means (in terms of our salvation), and how his death was not the end of his messianic mission.  It is in Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead that many of the hard sayings and unexpected turn of events revealed throughout John’s gospel find their resolution–something which the disciples have been led to expect but were struggling to understand.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 16-22)

Sunday Morning, November 22:  We are  continuing with our study of Ezra-Nehemiah.  This Lord's day we come to chapters 11-12 and the dedication of the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem.  Our service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We are working our way through the Heidelberg Catechism, and will be discussing Lord's Day 4 (Q & A 9-11), which speaks of God's mercy.  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (November 18):  We are working our way through Paul's letter to the Galatians, and we are in chapter 5, and continuing to discuss the fruit of the Spirit.

The Academy:  On Hiatus (TBA)

For More Information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Info), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"Observe and Do" -- Nehemiah 10:1-39

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon.

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Jesus According to the History Channel

On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton focuses on the Jesus that is often portrayed in popular culture. Each holiday season we’re given another opportunity to watch television specials on the life of Jesus. But these programs end up featuring the same left-of-center scholars with radical views about Jesus. This “Jesus of pop culture” has very little in common with the best scholarship available or the biblical Jesus.

Unfortunately, many Christians today don’t know how to respond to these radical claims since they often focus on “the Jesus of my heart” rather than the Jesus who actually lived in first century Palestine. Is the Jesus of history different from the Jesus of faith? Tune in to this special edition of the White Horse Inn as Michael Horton answers these questions and more.

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"I Made Known to Them Your Name" -- John 17:20-26

The Fifty-Fourth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

When Jesus prays for his disciples, there is one very important point of emphasis–that all of those whom Jesus will redeem, might be one.  As Jesus prays, he asks that as he and the Father are one, so too may his people be one, so as to witness the glory of the Father and the Son, and to bear witnesses to the watching world that Jesus has been sent by the Father.  If, in the one time in which we learn the contents of Jesus’ prayer for his people, and the thing for which Jesus prays is that we might be one, then we should get some sense of how important it is that we indeed strive to be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.  And yet, we must be careful not to disconnect the goal (unity) from the means by which the goal is attained, sanctification by the truth.  This, then, is our focus as we consider the final section of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.

In this sermon we wrap up our time discussing the Upper Room Discourse as we conclude the 17th chapter of John’s gospel.  The scene is well familiar to us–Jesus wraps-up the teaching portion of the discourse, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples.  Knowing that his hour has come and that Jesus must now leave for Gethsemane–where he will be arrested, before standing trial, culminating in his crucifixion and burial the next day–Jesus stops to pray.  His prayer makes up the entirety of John 17.  Known as the “High Priestly Prayer” (the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the New Testament), Jesus prays first for himself (vv. 1-5), then for his disciples (vv. 6-19), and then finally for us (in vv. 20-26)–all those who will come to faith in Jesus through the word preached by the disciples, and which is now inscriptured in the pages of our New Testament.

As we saw last time, when we covered verses 6-19 and considered Jesus’ prayer for the disciples, Jesus states in verse 9, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”  According to Jesus’ prayer, he will give eternal life and faith to all those (but only those) whom the Father has given to him.  In this petition, Jesus is referring to those specific individuals chosen by the Father for eternal life in eternity past (in the so-called covenant of redemption), and who are then given to Son, who, in turn, will secure for them the blessings of salvation through his suffering and dying upon the cross.  That Jesus came to save those specific individuals given him by the Father is the foundation of the Reformed distinctive often identified as “particular redemption.”

In the final section of our Lord’s “High Priestly Prayer” (vv. 20-26) Jesus prays for those yet to come to faith at the time of his prayer–his is praying for all those Christians from the apostolic age until our own.  Jesus’ focus upon those yet to come to faith grows directly out of his prayer for the disciples (in vv. 6-19).  In verse 15, Jesus petitioned his Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”  Jesus’ disciples will not live lives free from suffering and persecution–far from it.  All but one (John) will die as a martyr.  Jesus does not ask that his disciples be spared from the troubles about to befall them just hours away (and of which, they are blissfully ignorant).  Instead, Jesus asks that the Father protect the disciples from the evil one (Satan), who seduces one of their own number (Judas) to commit the despicable act of treason leading to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 9-15)

Sunday Morning, November 15:  As we continue our series on Ezra-Nehemiah, we now come to Nehemiah 10 and Israel's covenant renewal ceremony.  Our service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We are working our way through the Heidelberg Catechism, and will be discussing Lord's Day 4 (Q & A 9-11), which deals with sinful human nature.  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (November 11):  We are working our way through Paul's letter to the Galatians, and we are in chapter 5. discussing the fruit of the Spirit.

The Academy:  On Hiatus (TBA)

For More Information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Info), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).