A True Follower of Jesus is (John 18:1-40) G Day Church Family 19-Mar-2017 1 Please have your Bibles opened up to John chapter 18 we ll be looking at the whole chapter. There s an outline to take notes if that helps you concentrate. Let s ask God for His understanding of His Holy Word, this morning. Let s pray Intro/Context [Powerpoint 1-Intro/Context] Let s travel back to the beginning of the Bible to a Garden The Garden of Eden There we find the first man that God created Adam Adam is given clear instructions not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17) But Adam does not submit to the will of God he submits to his own will and to the will of the woman Eve given to him by God to be his helper Fast forward to another Garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives - in Jerusalem and we find another man in another Garden The Garden of Gethsemane there in chapter 18 of John which we just read The Apostle Paul describes this man as the Second Adam (or Second Man- note Hebrew for man=adam) this Second Adam - is of course - the God-Man Jesus Page 1 of 11
2 This Second Adam does not cave in under peer pressure like the first Adam did He doesn t take the easy way out He submits completely to the will of God the Father who sent Him Remember that whatever happens in the OT - is always a signpost to Jesus The Garden of Eden points to this Garden in Gethsemane And as we read the account of Jesus arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and subsequent trial - and as we read about how the people involved conduct themselves we can learn a few things this morning on what a True Follower of Jesus should look like A true follower of Jesus does not betray Jesus a true follower is always loyal [Powerpoint2-Betrayal/Loyalty] One of Jesus disciples Judas has already betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matt 26:15). The bottom line is Judas loves money more than he loves Jesus. And Judas was prepared to take money from the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus whereabouts! Judas knows exactly where Jesus will be because Jesus and his disciples always pray in this same olive grove garden of Gethsemane. So Judas leads a detachment of soldiers, officials of the chief priests and the Pharisees straight to Jesus so they can arrest him. True followers don t betray Jesus like that. True followers Page 2 of 11
are loyal like Peter who in his usual impulsive act first and ask questions 3 later style stands up for Jesus and draws his sword chops of the high priest s servant s ear and is ready to prevent Jesus arrest. Whatever we might say about Peter s wisdom and actions here he does demonstrate loyalty! Peter loves Jesus! He s not a betrayer like Judas. Application: Is there someone or something we love more than Jesus? If so we are betraying Jesus and we need to repent and make the appropriate changes in our lives! Unfortunately Peter takes his loyalty too far Resorting to violence is not the answer! True followers of Jesus are not violent they are peaceful! [Powerpoint 3-Violence/Peace] Peter wants to fight his way out of trouble But remember Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus came to bring peace between God and humankind And He is going to do that not by waging a war against the people who sin against God but waging war on sin itself - by sacrificially dying on a cross and dying for the sin of the world in rebellion against God. So Jesus says no violence and tells Peter to put his sword away (v11) Page 3 of 11
4 Ironically the high priest Caiaphas has previously said (in John 11-after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead) that it would be good if one man died for the people. But Caiaphas reason for saying this was purely political Caiaphas didn t want Jesus getting so popular that the Romans would remove the Jews privileges and close down the temple and the Jewish religion so Caiaphas thinks it is a good idea that one man die for the people. God thinks it s a good idea too in fact the perfect idea that one man die for the people - but for a totally different reason. God thinks it s a good idea for one perfect man Jesus to die for the people not to save them from a more severe Roman rule but to save them from their sin and rebellion against God and bring peace between God and humankind. Jesus does this not by violence but by peacefully accepting a death sentence on a cruel cross. Application What about us? When people reject Jesus and His Words of Good News that He came to bring peace. How do we react? Do we take it personally as a rejection of us? Do we react impulsively and angrily like Peter or do we remember that we are followers of the Prince of Peace who expects His followers to bring that message of peace to others in a non-threatening, nonviolent way, obedient way! Sadly, Peter s loyalty and impulsiveness gets a good work out in this chapter. [Powerpoint 4-Deny/Confirm] Remember back in chapter 13:37 Peter promised Jesus Lord, why can t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Page 4 of 11
Now here in chapter 18 Peter struggles to live up to that promise! 5 Peter s spirit is willing but his flesh is weak (Matt 26:41) And sadly, as Jesus predicted (John 13:38) Peter denies Jesus 3 times in this chapter. True followers of Jesus don t deny they are followers of Jesus instead they admit they are followers of Jesus they confirm they are they are proud they are His followers no matter what is going to come their way! Application - We shouldn t give Peter too much of a hard time Unless we ve walked in his sandals we can t be sure we would act any different? However it s worth us rehearsing what we would do if we were in a hostile or anti-christian setting (not a life-threatening one though) what would we say if someone asked us if we are a Christian? It s also worth thinking about the fact that Jesus died for our sins to be forgiven and was raised from the dead to purchase us the free gift of eternal life. Is it really too much for us to bear a little discomfort, a verbal tirade here and there, a sneer, a scornful look or even rejection for Jesus name! Surely we can survive that cant we? As Jesus is questioned he is challenged about His teaching. [Powerpoint 5-Public/Secret] Page 5 of 11
His defense is that His teaching has always been a public one in the 6 synagogues (like a church) and the Temple. It s not like He has been teaching and preaching underground - or in secret. He has made no secret of He s teaching. Even now as He is questioned He admits He is a King (v36-37) and that His Kingdom is not of this world. You see the Jewish people and Pontius Pilate see Jesus kingdom as an earthly one and that He is somehow a political and a military king who might fight for the Jewish people and threaten to overturn the Roman rule. But they don t understand that Jesus kingdom is from Heaven and it s not a physical, earthly kingdom but a Heavenly, spiritual one. And that membership of this kingdom comes by being spiritually connected to Jesus the King by believing in Him and believing in who He is and why He came and what He achieves through His death and resurrection. Application What about us how can we apply this to us this morning? Well in the same way we need to make our faith in Jesus a public one not a secret one. This can be done in our church by promoting the ministries of our church and reaching out to the community and inviting others to come and join us and follow Jesus too. It s not a secret squirrel club we belong to. It can also be done by making our teaching about Jesus and His kingdom a public one in our families, amongst our friends, in our jobs, in our schools in our relationships with community organizations like the council, businesses and the shops and so on True followers of Jesus proclaim Him publically not in secret How are we going with that? Page 6 of 11
7 [Powerpoint 6-Will of the Father] In our passage this morning Jesus submits completely to the Father s will He does exactly what the Father asks Him to do even though it will lead to His death. He confronts the situation head-on and goes out to meet His accusers (v7) and asks them who they are looking for. Not only that Jesus is prepared to take full responsibility for all that will happen to Him and He says in verse 8 - I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go. He basically says take me not them leave My disicples out of it. Isn t that the same offer He makes to everyone Father take me take me to the cross let me die for everyone s sin and leave sinners out of it I ll take the blame and punishment for them Jesus could have got Himself out of this situation at any time as He says in verse 36: my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders if I asked them to! But no! Jesus is determined to do the will of the Father whatever it takes! Application what about us? As we face each circumstance in life as we face each decision do we examine it and ask - is this what God would want me to do, is that what God would want me to say is this how God would want me to act is this action, this decision in accordance with God s will? And how do we know what we think, say and do is according to God s will? By always referring to His Word to determine His will for us! Page 7 of 11
A true follower of Jesus always submits to the Father s will not their own 8 [Powerpoint 7-Hypocrites] But we have to realize that the Jewish leaders and priests have an agenda they want Jesus gone they don t want people believing in Him otherwise they fear the Romans will shut down their temple and their religious and political freedom. But at the same time they don t want to kill Jesus themselves they want to pass that responsibility on to the Romans So they take Jesus to the palace of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. But look at how hypocritical they are. They don t want to enter the residence of a Gentile (non-jew) that would make them ceremonially unclean. And then they won t be able to celebrate their religious Passover festival. What hypocrites they don t want to break a ceremonial law but their happy to break God s law and have and innocent man murdered. They hypocritically say they are not allowed to execute anyone (v31) but they had no trouble attempting to stone the adulterous woman in John 8 and they had no trouble stoning Stephen to death in Acts 7. The Jewish leaders aren t the only ones who are hypocritical here the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate is also a hypocrite Pilate finds no basis to charge Jesus (v38) yet Pilate still agreed for Jesus to be executed! Application what about us? We say we are Christians but as we examine our thoughts, our words and actions do they demonstrate we are followers of Jesus? Page 8 of 11
As people look on do they see our behaviour and actions as being according to 9 Jesus teaching? Are there hypocritical things we need to repent of this morning? True followers of Jesus are not hypocritical they are genuine, sincere, honest, faithful followers [Powerpoint 8-Truth] As Jesus faces Pontius Pilate Jesus says in verse 37 You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Jesus is bold! Yes He is a King! And He was born for this very purpose to teach the truth about Sin and how to be in a right relationship with God Jesus holds the absolute truth in His hands And He says that anyone who listens to Him is on the side of truth Truth followers of Jesus are on the side of Truth Application But we live in a world today where truth is very flexible. Even in recent weeks since President Trump s election one of his advisor s Kellyanne Conway has come up with the phrase alternative facts they ve basically come up with their own version of the Truth! No wonder Pilate says philosophically What is Truth? But Jesus has already said what the source of Truth is Jesus is the source of truth Remember He is the Word of God in flesh form He is the walking-talking Word of God the Truth Instead the world we live in gives us alternative truth Page 9 of 11
Like you can behave in any way you like God will understand No He won t. God calls behaviour contrary to His Word Sin And that s why He sent Jesus to die for it and teach us to turn away from Sin God doesn t understand sin He hates sin! The world we live in gives us alternative truth Like God wants me to be happy-he wants me to feel good No! He want us to be obedient before necessarily being happy! Happiness doesn t line up with going through tough times does it? What are we going to tell the person who s lost their job, their wife, their husband, their house? God wants them to be happy? Happiness doesn t line up with facing tough times? You see - God sees hardships and suffering as a launching pad to give Him glory and to trust Him no matter what. Show me someone in the Bible who accomplished something great for God without enduring hardship or difficulty? True followers of Jesus are on the side of truth His truth not the world s alternative truth Conclusion [Powerpoint 9-Conclusion] The people in Jesus day were given a choice in last verses v39-40 10 Accept Jesus and believe who He says He is and release Him OR reject Jesus and release a murderer Barabbas instead The Side of Jesus the Truth pictured by Jesus the Son of God Or the Side of Sin and rebellion pictured by Barabbas That same choice exists today as it did even in the time of OT Joshua Joshua s answer was this: Page 10 of 11
11 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15) I pray this morning that we can all leave here saying As for me and my household we will serve the Lord And that you and your household can pass that on to all the households in our community! Let s pray Page 11 of 11