Judges Talk 2 - Ch 3 Othniel

BI: God is the faithful covenant Lord who sees, hates and opposes sin by his sovereign hand through Israel’s enemies to test his people. But he is also the faithful covenant Lord who acts compassionately and sovereignly by raising up a deliverer to save His people.
God alone is the saving Lord.

AP: God’s people need to repent from the sin of idolatry (of willful self-determination) and turn to the saving Lord and follow the deliverer he has raised up to bring us victory. We are to be the faithful people God calls for (and deserves) for all of our lives.

Introduction:
They say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and there is truth in that isn’t there? There is something profoundly disappointing in this life about seeing unfulfilled potential. About seeing people who had it all laid out in front of them, with great opportunity and reward, and they wasted it, usually through neglect, or sometimes through wanton and flagrant stupidity, but they had a moment, and they let it slip through their fingers.

Well if a mind is a terrible thing to waste, it is an even worse thing to lose!!
As sad as unfulfilled potential is, seeing a person who has lost their capacity to determine, (and be in contact with), reality - is even worse, isn’t it?

I mean if you never wound up being a neurosurgeon because you wasted you time, that is one thing, but when you go to the neurosurgeon and they say there is nothing we can do for you because the damage from your extensive drug use is permanent, well that is a whole different ball game all together, isn’t it?

I think people today, and even Christians today, too often think of Sin, in ourselves, in others we know and love, even in the wider society, we think sin, is a lot like wasted potential. Disappointing, but these things happen and life goes on.

But the Bible tells us the truth about this reality that we so often, and so quickly, distort. Sin is like a disease, a self induced madness, that puts us out of contact with reality, we don’t see things properly –
we create a fantasy land in which we live, we create an imaginary world with our little idols, we create our own god (which is usually ourselves!), and then we wind up a slave to our own creation. And in the process we ignore the reality, that is our creator, the Living God, and his claims upon our life as his creation.

Mankind are at their core, proud and obstinate, with an insatiable desire for self-determination. We think we have no need for the living God and we forget him. The Bible tells us that the effects of our sin of idolatry are not, like wasted potential - in being disappointing, not even diabolical, but deadly. Because God will justly judge sin.

The Bible could not be clearer, ‘You shall have no other God’s before me’. The story of ‘this generation’ – the generation of the Judges in Israel, is one of a forgetful people who reneged on the covenant that was made with their God. That he will be their God, (their only God), and they will be his people. It is A covenant with a Holy God who HATES sin and will deal with sin in His world and in His people.

The story of the Judges generation is that:
All sin is done before the eyes of a Holy God
God hates sin
God will actively oppose sin, even in, and indeed especially in His own people.
But God has provided a deliverer to save all who will turn from their sin and idolatry, and turn to worshiping the true and living God, and following His deliverer.

1. The ‘eyes’ of the Lord were upon Israel’s evil
NIB Judges 3:7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD;
they forgot the LORD their God
and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

‘This generation’ – the generation of the judges did two key things wrong, which was the evil that was done before the ‘eyes’ of a watching and Holy God;
They forgot the Lord
And instead they served idols.

A. They forgot the Lord
‘This generation’ are almost defined as the one that forgot the Lord, the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who brought creation into being by his words, the one who said, ‘let there be light and there was!’, has been forgotten by his most treasured and prized part of his creation, his people Israel. Israel not only knew the power of this God in his creation, but they new him personally in his acts of revelation (his speaking to them), but especially in his act of salvation, his act of saving for himself a people out of this world.
NIB Judges 2:10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger

For the Old Testament believer, they looked to God’s great salvation act of deliverance from slavery in the events of the exodus, with a profound assurance and confidence that God had powerfully and favourably, rescued ‘them’ as ‘his’ people. The deliverance of the Exodus, was to Old Testament believers, what the cross is to New Testament believers, the objective proof, that our God, the living God, is a saving God, and we are now his people.
‘This generation’ – the Judges generation, had forgotten the Lord and his saving acts. This generation, had forgotten the covenant that God had made with them, and they had confirmed with God. That he would be their God, and they would be his people.

Which leads us to the second aspect of their evil picked up in V7.
B. They instead served idols.
God had saved Israel out of the world to be his people in covenant and faithful relationship with him. They were to be His agents into a watching world.
What did God send ‘this generation’ – the Judges generation to do?
(this is not a rhetorical question!!)
TO conquer the land, to defeat the inhabitants of the land and completely wipe out them and all their people, because of their sin before God.
What do ‘this generation’ wind up doing?
The exact opposite!!!
They don’t wipe the people out, no they know better than their God, (that and it is all just a bit too hard), so instead of wiping them out, what do we read in V5&6?
NIB Judges 3:5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Instead of wiping these people out, they intermarried with them, and in fact made them more fruitful. They increased the number of their offspring, and then they in effect brought their offspring into the covenant blessing’s of Abraham by becoming in a strange way his own offspring. Abraham’s offspring were to be a blessing or a curse to the world on behalf of God, and his offspring, ‘this generation’ have called the cursed, blessed, and not in that cool grace kinda way God does, but in that stupid way mankind does when they try and proclaim their own reality under the effects of their own sin, while ignoring God’s truth.

And here is the kicker, they not only married them, and blessed what should be cursed, but then they served their god’s. They unfaithfully prostituted themselves to wooden idols, rather than serve living, creating, saving and faithful covenant God who had brought them out of slavery to be his people. ‘This generation’ preferred the slavery.

‘This generation’ of Israel could not have got it more wrong if they had of tried, they could not have done more damage if they were a North Korean despot with a $1.7 trillion dollar stimulus package!!

‘This generation’ were as far from God and his purposes as they could put themselves. They forgot the Lord, and instead they served idols.

AP: Here’s where we need to pay attention, all of life, every part, even the bits in the little secret compartments of your mind, that you hide from everyone else, all of our life is lived before the eyes of a Holy God. And God HATES sin!

All of you mind, your feelings, even your internet connection are laid out as plain as day before your God!
That should fill you with fear, shouldn’t it? – if it doesn’t you need to think harder.
NIB Psalm 94:7

They say,
"The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed."
8 Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools,
when will you become wise?
9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man;
he knows that they are futile.

God sees and God hates all sin, especially in his people.

2. The ‘hand’ of the Lord was against Israel
All sin is done in the sight of a Holy God. God HATES sin and God will actively oppose it.
a. God HATES Sin
In V8 We read
NIB Judges 3:8 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

God’s anger burned against his people Israel because of their sin against him. Again, just like last week we have this image in the text of God’s anger burning, is like his nose glowed red with anger, steam is coming out, he is furious with his people.
And it is because he has been provoked we learn back in 2:12, because his people have forsaken him. The God who created and save them has been provoked.
God HATES Sin

b. God actively opposes Sin
God’s hand has intervened in the life of his people, he has actively opposed his people in their sin. And as we learned last week, this is both a just and a good thing that God has done.

It is pretty obvious that God is just when he opposes sin, all sin, even his own people’s sin, but it is hard to imagine being opposed by God as being a good thing! And yet it is a good thing, Israel being opposed by God in the midst of their sin, is God’s sharp pointy stick to Israel, to bring them back from their madness of sin. To bring them back from the un-reality of worship idols, to true reality of this world, of knowing and serving the living God.
A spiritual intervention to turn them back from their sin induced haze, so they may repent and live.
Now why would God use a pagan nation to achieve his purposes with his people, rather than something, well a little more kosher (if you’ll pardon the expression), why not an angel, or a prophet to declare the direct will of God?

Well it seems to me, that God is clearly demonstrating to Israel, (and the world at the same time!), that he is the undisputed God. He and He alone is the sovereign Lord, and the pagan nations and their idols are nothing compared to him, in fact they must do his bidding if that is what he decree’s. These pagan’s hands were God’s hands to Israel. The God of Israel is the sovereign and saving Lord, and to worship another god is not only foolish, it is dangerous, because the sovereign Lord always wins in the end.

We see here that God is sovereign over all of his creation, and his creation, (even though it is fallen and affected by sin) still exists for his purposes and Glory.

Even in the midst of this worlds, what at times can feel like turmoil and chaos - the Lord still reigns supreme. Even in the midst of injustice, even in the midst of death, the Lord still reigns supreme. Even in the midst of persecution, even in the midst of a cruel death, even a death on a cross, our Lord still reigns supreme. God’s creation is fallen, but it has not failed, because the saving Lord who is the creator, is sovereign over its events, and he will use it for his purposes to bring him glory, even in the midst of our turmoil and chaos.

All life is lived in the sight of the sovereign Lord, which means all sin is done in the sight of the sovereign Lord. And God HATES sin, and God actively opposes that sin and those who carry it out, even, (and in fact especially!), if it is by his own people.

OF all the privileges that come with belonging to God and being called one of his people, the freedom to sin is not one of them!

So it seems we all have a problem don’t we, and certainly ‘this generation’ – the generation of the Judges have a problem. They have sinned, God opposes that Sin and them, how can this impasse turn out for good, for Israel, and well, for us?

3. The ‘ears’ of the Lord heard the cry of his people, and because of his compassionate ‘heart’, his ‘hand’ raised up a deliverer to ‘save’ them.

It seems that God hears and remembers much better than his people!!
God hears and remembers his covenant promise to Israel.

Now the book of Judges has a pattern of how God and his people of ‘this generation’ related, and the pattern is spelt out back in 2:10-19, but our scene today with the deliverer Othniel, follows the pattern perfectly so we can just read from Judges 3:7-11 and see the pattern in action, there are 5 main parts to the pattern.
NIB Judges 3:7
1. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD;
they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

8 2. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel
so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,
to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.

9 3. But when they cried out to the LORD,

4. he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz,
Caleb's younger brother, who saved them.
10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him,
so that he became Israel's judge and went to war.
The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel,
who overpowered him.

11 5. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Israel do evil, God sees the sin, God HATES the sin, God opposes the Sin and oppresses his people by the hands of their pagan enemies. And now we see that God’s actions through the foreign King are not only Just, but they are also good, because they have the desired effect. Israel realizes its sin, in not driving out the nations as they were supposed to, and now they realize that they are literally slaves to their sin. There is no option left, but to turn to the living God, the saving God, and to call on him to be God, to be the faithful covenant God for his people, despite their unfaithfulness.

And in response God shows himself to be that faithful and covenant saving God, the God who delights to save, the God who delights in restoring relationship with his creation, his people.
The only thing the people contribute to their salvation is their sin, and their recognition that it is God alone who can save them. And God shows that he truly is the gracious and compassionate Lord, who abounds in faithful love.

And that is the consistent testimony of the whole Bible, God is a God who seeks out the lost sheep, who gives sight to the blind and enables the deaf to hear, he is the God who reinstates the ashamed apostle, who in a moment of fear and terror, denied the Lord three times. God’s desire is that people would turn to him and be saved.
And God would save ‘this generation’ the Judges generation. God would ‘Yeshua’ Save ‘this generation’ by raising up a military leader who was like the last ‘Yeshua’ the Joshua who had been faithful. This new saviour, this new deliverer was called Othniel.

Now just briefly it is worth noting a couple of things about Othniel:
Firstly, His story is incredibly succinct. Particularly when you compare it to Gideon or Samson. So why so succinct?
Well it seems that in contrast to those two in particular, Othniel is seen as the archetypal Judge. He Just gets the job done and doesn’t stuff around, so in a literary sense it seems in judges the good guy finishes last in terms of column space.
But the effect of this, is that it emphasizes and reinforces the five part pattern that had been established in chapter 2. God establishes clearly how he would relate to his people in ‘this generation’ through Othniel, and now Othniel is the bench mark for all who follow.

Secondly, breeding is important. Othniel is from the tribe of Judah within Israel, a favoured tribe with the Lord, the tribe from which two other great deliverers would come, King David who would defeat the Philistines, but also the Lord Jesus himself – the great Yeshua or Joshua to which all the judges point. The one who would truly deliver all of God’s people.

Not only is Othniel from the tribe of Judah, he is also the nephew of Caleb, one of two faithful men in Moses generation, the two faithful men of Joshua and Caleb. So Othniel comes from impeccable Israel stock.

Quickly, while speaking about breeding, what is the deal in chapter one with Othniel marrying his cousin?
I’m mean we all know it is important to marry one of God’s people but that is a little close to home isn’t it? (and we live in the mountains!).Well times were different then, and believe it or not, it seems to me that the story is put in as a commendation of Othniel’s faithfulness to God, he was not like his fellow Israelites, and did not marry from those pagan’s who lived around him – those marriages are supposed to be the shocking ones for us as readers!
Thirdly, Othniel was anointed with the Spirit of God, to fulfill the task the Lord had given him to do, he was set apart for God’s service. Just like the Spirit of God would come to rest on those two other great deliverers of King David and the Lord Jesus himself.
And as this pattern of the cycle of Judges comes to end, we can see the result of Othniel’s faithfulness to God, the land had peace for 40 years. God provided deliverance and peace for his people, through his anointed servant and saviour, the deliverer and judge Othniel.

4. The ‘eyes’ of the people were upon??
NIB Judges 3:11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. 12 Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.

And the people followed God’s Spirit appointed leader while he lived, and as soon as he was dead, they turned back to their idols – like naughty school kids when the teacher leaves the room, they revert to their true selves as soon as the opportunity arises. And you know what, in the book of Judges, things are about to get worse for ‘this generation’, so stay tuned.

It seems to me, that what ‘this generation’ of the Judges needed was a Judge who lived forever, and then they wouldn’t have turned away and followed idols would they? I mean ‘my generation’, ‘our generation’ wouldn’t fall away from following a deliverer that the Lord has so graciously provided, one who lived & reigned and brought peace forever, would they? I mean we wouldn’t ever ignore, or trivialize, slight or mislay such a great salvation if it came to us, would we?

Or would we? Or should I say, Have we? Have we forgotten the Lord and the great and precious deliverer he sent, his only Son Jesus Christ, to die alone and shamed upon that cross, ‘my God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’. Are we - ‘Our Generation’ standing by with the rest of the crowd questioning, ‘why indeed?’.

There is absolutely no doubt that we live amongst a generation in Australia today that has forgotten the Lord, and it seems to me that is because we live amongst a generation of the Church who have forgotten who they are, and what they have been called to. Not everyone obviously, but by and large the Church, which is to say God and His Christ and His people, have become an irrelevance for our generation today. And it is because for Christians today, Christ and His gospel have become like an heirloom, say like a of a silver teapot. Nice to hold onto, and show off occasionally, every now and then it gets a clean, but of no practical use in the modern world.
IS that what our generations Christian faith looks like, a family heirloom that is nice to have around, but of no real relevance to today’s world?

My suspicion is that ‘My Generation’ and I do mean that in a more normal sense of the word, those people around my age (being a bit generous in each direction) seem to suffer from a lack of confidence and purpose about their Christian faith. And I don’t think it is because they have outright turned their back on God, I just think it is because they are unprepared to turn their back on the world and its expectations; and so they find it impossible to straddle the ever-growing gap between what God calls them to and what the world expects of them.

The generation of the Judges, forgot the Lord, and they compromised to live and look and be like everyone else around them. Are we not a generation in perilous danger of doing the exact same thing?

In a practical sense of this it seems to me, we are a generation that lacks focus.

Our generation is one that is bombarded by choice, we have a myriad of opportunities, information and decisions to make. When I was kid, you went to public school, and a few people who could afford private school went to that. Occasionally a Catholic went to a separate Catholic school, and that was pretty much that.

Now kids can go to private school, public school, international school, school’s without rules school’s, parent controlled school’s, and not to mention home school’s, then co-op home school’s in case mum doesn’t offer metal work. we have Muslim’s in Christian schools, Protestants in Catholic Schools, Atheists running Anglican Church schools with Jewish Students who complain to principal when someone would dare to preach a Christian sermon at the chapel service – I kid you not…. It is complex and daunting age to have to make choices isn’t it?

You can get cable television with over 100 channels, which just means it takes you, an hour and a half to figure out, there was in fact nothing worth watching in the first place.

Or you could have spent that time on the internet, with its millions of pages of information by millions of authors, who now in fact bring the lunatic fringe, not only into the main stream, but in fact in to your own home. And if you have ever tried to use the net to do research on a topic, you quickly discover that the vast majority of the net (that is not directly related to the sex or gambling industries – which seems to leave about 0.2%) is so anemic in content, and so hard to locate a reliable source on, that the whole thing feels suspiciously like flipping through a bad magazine in the doctor’s waiting room agonizingly slowly…

Too much information – Too many options!!

We are a generation, that needs to get some focus about the options we are going to take or our generation, will swallow your Christian faith alive!

It seems to me, that when you lack focus, you have no chance of being committed, do you? If you are not sure what you should do, you will not commit to any particular option, will you?
And it seems to me they are two defining marks of the Christian Faith of my generation, we lack focus, and because of that we lack commitment.

‘This generation’ the generation of the judges, were called to focus and commitment upon two things, who they were, and what they were to do. They were to be the Holy people of God in the world. They were to take seriously their stand against sin in their lives, and to be different from the pagan world around them. And then they were to remember what they had been called by God to do, they had been called to bring in the kingdom of God.

And you know what, nothing in those two aspects of the focus and commitment for God’s people have changed in the last 3000 years since God spoke to ‘this generation’ of the judges.

Our generation has been given a living deliverer, Jesus Christ, who has saved us, (the Christian people who trust in him as God’s deliverer for them) and he has called us to holiness (to hate sin in ourselves like God does) and to expand his kingdom.
We are to live as God’s light in the world, and to proclaim the good news, that will see God’s kingdom expand, one by one.

We have an eternal deliverer, do you have an eternal focus and commitment?

NIB Revelation 1:12 I turned round to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man", dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash round his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Judges Talk 1 - Ch 1-3

‘My Generation’

BI; God’s Covenant faithfulness is seen in both; his anger against the sin, and then his compassionate deliverance of his people.
AP; The people are called to worship and serve their God alone.

Introduction:

They say living in Australia today there are four main generations, each with their distinctive characteristics;

The Lucky Generation – who were born prior to 1946, I reckon they are called that because they were lucky to survive both a depression and a world war, but then I didn’t coin the term and I suspect there was something more relating to natural resources going on.

The Baby Boomers – born between 1946-1961. The original rebellious generation who now look just look plain weird being old and retired. The originators of the problem of the generation gap.

Generation X – born between 1961-1981. The cynical and non committal generation that can remember what a stock crash means.

Gen Y – the ones who can’t keep their pants up and are yet apparently extremely tech savy. They don’t like being defined as just following on from X, and they are about to find out what a stock crash means for the first time.

Each generation has its distinctive characteristics, some good, some not so good. But each generation is also in a sense defined by what came before it. Sometimes defined consciously against it, other times more intuitively against it, but it seems that the ‘generation gap’ is a concept that is here to stay.

Well today we are looking at the book of Judges and it is quite clear that there is a generation gap going on here, and not the good type either.
So we are going to look at three generations;

I.‘That Generation’ – the generation led by Joshua
II.‘This Generation’ – The generation led by the Judges
III.‘My Generation’ – Our generation – who will be our leader?

But before we look at our generation, we are going to look at the generations at the start of judges, because in looking at the generation gap that exists for them, we will learn something about our own generation.

1. The Faltering Conquest
NIB Judges 1:1
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD,
"Who will be the first to go up
and fight for us against the Canaanites?"
2 The LORD answered,
"Judah is to go;
I have given the land into their hands."
3 Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers,
"Come up with us into the territory allotted to us,
to fight against the Canaanites.
We in turn will go with you into yours."
So the Simeonites went with them.
4 When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands
and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.


In chapter 1 of the book of Judges we have a first scene which is set in around 1300-1200BC, in which we have a picture of the Israelites military campaign to capture their land that was promised by God, and it seems to be loosing some momentum. In fact by the end of the chapter some tribes that are supposed to be the hunter have become the hunted!
And as we look at this scene the question we should have is,
what is the problem here? What has gone wrong? Why is the conquest faltering?

Well we know from the Old Testament that God gave the land to the people of Israel for two reasons;
i.God Promised the Land to Abraham and his descendents back in the book of Genesis. In fact God made three promises to Abraham.
Land – that they would receive the land of Cannan
Offspring – that they would be a large people – a nation
Blessing – The God would bless the whole world through this man’s family.
ii.The Inhabitants of the land are wicked people, and the Israelites are to be God’s instrument of justice against them for their sin. We are even told that they sacrificed their own children to their idols in fire – these are a sinful people!

So God has given Israel this land, but then why are they struggling so badly to take what God has given them?
We should be asking the question to ourselves, what is the problem here?
Why is the conquest faltering?

2. Why is the conquest faltering? The covenant!
God made a covenant with Israel, and in turn Israel entered a covenant with God, A covenant is a solemn vow and promise that he would be their God and they would be his people. And this is the covenant we see the people renew with Joshua just before he dies.

NIB Joshua 24:21 But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD." 22 Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied. 23 "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." 24 And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him." 25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.

The Isrealites covenantally promise that they would worship and serve the Lord alone, and God in turn promised that he would be loving and faithful to them. It was to be an exclusive and eternal relationship.
But as we read ‘this generation’ – the judges generation would not keep their part of the deal and as a result they bore the just consequences of the covenant under the hand of an affronted God.

You shall have no other God’s before me
You shall not make and Idol and bow down and worship it
Sound familiar? You could not be any clearer could you?

Today we are going to focus upon chapter 2 of judges, where we read about these amazing word pictures of the action of God; of God’s eye’s, God’s mouth, God’s heart and God’s hand. And in parallel we see the response of the people; the people’s eye’s, the people’s ear’s, the people’s hearts and the people’s hand’s.
These two groups of things should have held together in a perfectly blended symphony of relationship, but instead they have been profoundly torn asunder by the sin of the people.

Sin is the madness, like a disease, that infects every fiber of our human being and existence. It is the selfish and destructive inclination to worship and serve an idol and reject the living God.

It is like a shopping trolley with wonky front wheels that cannot help but spear itself into the shelves in the supermarket, rather than rolling down the centre of the wide isle! It is predictable and yet still very tragic at the same time. Sin distorts our trajectory every single time.

Sin is the enemy of the living God, and God HATES Sin. The Bible tells us that God will deal with sin, one way or the other.
Sin is mankind’s problem, and it is the problem of ‘this generation’ in judges. But before we get to them we need to look at the generation that came before them.

3. ‘That Generation’ – the age of Joshua
It’s almost a hackneyed cliché for an older generation to say, “things were better in my day!”. But in the case of ‘that generation’ – Joshua’s generation – it is in fact true!
Joshua’s generation are held up as a model for the younger generation because of their obedience and faithfulness to God.

2:6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites,
they went to take possession of the land,
each to his own inheritance.
7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua
and of the elders who outlived him
and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD,
died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance,
at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim,
north of Mount Gaash.
In contrast to ‘this generation’ of the Judges, (and in fact even Moses generation for that matter!!!!), Joshua’s generation showed their faithfulness and stormed through the land in a blitzkrieg assault and defeated 31 kings in the process.
They in fact broke the back of the resistance in the land, and tipped the balance of power well on to Israel’s side.

Joshua’s generation ‘that generation’, knew the Lord and the deeds of his rescuing them personally. That generation knew the commandments and requirements the Lord had spoken. They knew the Lord, and they worshipped and served the Lord alone. The believed the Lord and the Lord blessed them. That generation was a golden generation – they are a model generation of faith and commitment to the Lord.

But as much as they are a model generation, it is worth noting, that they are not a perfect generation. They had a couple of spectacular failures; once through making a treaty with a people they should not have, because they didn’t inquire of the Lord first. And secondly, when one of them stole items from the battle that should have been destroyed. That generation were not perfect, as though God owed them something because of their goodness.
But even in their wrongdoing ‘that generation’ were a model, because in their wrong they repented and turned back to the living and gracious God and resolved to serve him alone. They knew how to live in relationship with their saving and gracious God.

2:7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua
and of the elders who outlived him
and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
So if Joshua’s generation were so successful, what went wrong for the generation who came next?

4. ‘This Generation’ – the age of the Judges
Nobody likes to be compared, particularly when you come up short in the comparison. Like try comparing someone to a family member and see how they like it, like pick a female friend and tell her she is exactly like her mother, and see how that comparison goes over!

Well in the story of the Judges, ‘This generation’ is not matching up to the previous generation and it is all their own fault! This generation are faltering in the conquest of the land, because of their own sin.

This generation were culpable in their ignorance in regard to God, his works, his words, and his covenant relationship with them. Externally they appear to be doing God’s command, but in truth they could not care for God at all. And instead of serving God by conquering the Land, they find themselves being actively opposed by God himself!

2:10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers,
another generation grew up,
who knew neither the LORD
nor what he had done for Israel.
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD
and served the Baals.
12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers,
who had brought them out of Egypt.
They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them.
2:17 Yet they would not listen to their judges
but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them.
Unlike their fathers,
they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked,
the way of obedience to the LORD's commands.

The eyes of this generation lusted after the gods and idols of the pagans they were supposed to bring to justice, and so the eyes of the Lord were upon this generation and their evil.
The Lord graciously spoke wisdom, deliverance and salvation to this generation, but their ears would not hear the Lord’s testimony through Joshua’s generation and through the Judges themselves.

The Lord’s heart was set upon them as his prized possession to love and cherish them, to keep and to bless them. But in their hearts, ‘this generation’ cherished evil and lusted after other gods who are no gods at all. They broke their exclusive covenant with God, they were unfaithful to their God. In the most earthy terms we are told they prostituted themselves to gods of the evil nations they were to destroy. (prostituted and Baal a literal description of the act of worship!).

This generation were called to be God’s justice and light in the world and instead they doused themselves in the sinful indulgence of these nations and themselves became corrupted and darkened, in a sense the light of God was extinguished in his world!

This generation had given its heart to another, and God would respond in his justness to oppose the wickedness of his own people, his hand would be sent against his own people, because with their own hands they served, worshipped and literally prostituted themselves to another, an idol who was no God at all!

What was to be a wonderful and intimate relationship, has been torn asunder by the unfaithfulness of ‘this generation’, how will God their covenant partner respond?

5. The Just and gracious God.
a. The Just God
2:11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD
and served the Baals.
12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers,
who had brought them out of Egypt.
They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them.
They provoked the LORD to anger
13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14 In his anger against Israel
the LORD handed them over to raiders
who plundered them.
He sold them to their enemies all around,
whom they were no longer able to resist.
15 Whenever Israel went out to fight,
the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them,
just as he had sworn to them.
They were in great distress.

The sin of this generation, provoked the Lord to anger, in fact exceeding anger. In V20 the image is of God’s nose burning hot with fire he is so angry with the wanton unfaithfulness and adultery of his people.

You shall not make an idol and bow down and worship it, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.

God is jealous for his people, with a just and right jealousy, like a husband over his very own wife.
The Lord then opposed the endeavours of his people, the God who commanded the invasion is now opposing his people, because of their sin.

Now that is a scary thought isn’t it? Actively pursue sin and you will find God actively and purposefully opposing you!
God actively opposing you – just let that roll around in your head for a minute!!

God’s heavy hand of oppression has come down upon ‘this generation’ of the Judges, through their enemies. God hands them over because of their sin, but you know what, not only for their sin bit also for their good!!!

God pokes them with a very sharp pointy stick to get their attention, that they would come to their senses and turn to him. IF they continue on their current path, it will end not only in oppressive living now, but in the judgment of God and of hell itself. But if they hear the hard rebuke of God, and turn to him, they will live.

Think of it as a particularly confronting spiritual intervention by God himself, so that they might come back to their right mind.

So God is a just God, but he is also a gracious God.
b. the Gracious God
God’s justice is gracious as it compelled right-minded behaviour from his people.
2:2 ‘I will never break my covenant with you’
God will be faithful even if his people aren't.
God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
The story of the book of Judges is the story of a just and compassionate God who is patient and long suffering with an obstinate and sinful people.

‘This generation’ which had not seen the deliverance of the Lord out of Egypt, would now experience a ‘mini exodus’ of deliverance from slavery of their own. This will happen so that they may know the Lord and his character, that they may love, worship and serve him alone.
2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges,
who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

2:18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them,
he was with the judge
and saved them out of the hands of their enemies
as long as the judge lived;
for the LORD had compassion on them
as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

God’s justice drove his people to seek and receive his compassion. God was faithful to his word, his covenant with his people, despite their unfaithfulness to him. In the midst of their hardship, slavery and persecution, God sent Judges – a military leader – to defeat his people’s enemies, to defeat evil, and to save his people we read in V16.

'TO Save' or 'salvation', are great biblical words. But in the context of Judges it is a great play on words too. Yeshua is the Hebrew word, that as a verb means salvation, but as a noun is the name Joshua. It is this wonderfully inviting theme that the people need to be saved (Yeshua), so maybe they are looking for a new (Yeshua) Joshua, the people are looking for another great leader like Joshua.


People in slavery need to be rescued, but then all mankind are slave’s, they are slave’s to sin, the Bible tells us that, ‘no one is righteous not even one’, we all need a saviour, we need a (Yeshua) a Joshua of our own. Well another Joshua would come, his Hellenized name in English in Jesus. This Joshua, the great deliverer and saviour, would come to die on a cross and then rise from the dead, to save all who would believe in his name from the slavery to sin, and the judgment of God, as we celebrated last week.
In the book of judges the people are looking for a leader, a new Joshua!

In this section of Judges we see that God is a gracious God, when he actively opposed our sin. When God actively pokes us with a pointy stick or leaves us exposed to testing in this world, he is being gracious to us, that we would come to our right mind and turn from our sin, that we would repent and find forgiveness and grace from our God who is our saviour.

‘This generation’, the Judges generation, however, true to form did not turn back to the Lord wholeheartedly
2:19 But when the judge died,
the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers,
following other gods and serving and worshipping them.
They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

3:5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
6 They took their daughters in marriage
and gave their own daughters to their sons,
and served their gods.

6. My Generation
‘That Generation’ – Joshua’s generation were a model of faithful and dependent covenant relationship with God. They lived to see God’s kingdom come!!
‘This Generation’ – of the Judges, well they are more a model of the consequences of unfaithfulness and indifference to God’s words and his ways. They live for this world.

SO the question is what will God say about ‘My Generation’, about the people of God we are apart of, ‘Our Generation’?

Is our generation one that lives to see God’s kingdom come?
Or is our generation one that lives more for this world, and to serve its idols, rather than the living God?
Do we compromise and worship the idols of this world?
Do we worship comfort over faithfulness?
Do we worship self-centred individualism over selfless commitment to God's people?
Do we bow down and worship at the all consuming altar of the home loan, with every last cent and every last second?
Do we worship the idol of status and popularity, of career and prestige, rather than lower ourselves to love God’s people and serve the Lost?
Do we worship the slavish idol of acceptability and approval of others and live like anyone else, instead of living out the love of God and serving a crucified messiah.
Who do you worship?

If - our Eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord – Jesus, the Christ of the cross
If – Our ears have heard the command of the Lord – To love, obey and serve him alone
If- Our hearts have felt the love of the Lord – The Spirit of God poured into our hearts by faith.
Then – let us serve God with our hands – to hate sin, to love the saved brothers and sisters, and serve the lost by testifying of the Joshua who came to save them.

That is what it means to worship our God…. To love God is to put our belief into action.

NIB Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

John talk 7 - Ch 20 The Resurrection

Jesus is the Lord who was bodily resurrected and by this, declared to be the Lord of Eternal Life, because he has defeated Sin and Death.

Introduction – The Resurrected Jim!

When I was fairly new out of university (the first time!), I often got assigned to go and do the site inspections for the various construction projects our company was working on. And one of the first ones I was assigned to was the redevelopment of Harold Park paceway in glebe.

Now I was out on site fairly regularly, and got to know one of the site managers out there Jim fairly well. Now Jim was an older fella especially to still be on site, and to be honest he was a little cantankerous at times, but he was one of those people you kind of were best mates with or you wanted to drop him in the concrete pour, but he was like that with everyone.


Anyway, on this one particular occasion, there had been a miscommunication, which Jim had gracious rung up and admitted that it was in fact all - my fault and misunderstanding and I was supposed to be on site RIGHT NOW! (except he used some more adjectives in there, and possibly a verb – but it was the same word anyway!).

Well after some negotiation, given there was no way
I could get over there that evening, he pointed out I better be there by 7am, because the concrete was going down at 7:30am. (I wished I had the courage to say, if you could actually read drawings you wouldn’t need me to come out anyway – but I didn’t have the courage).

SO I slept badly, and thought of all the retorts I was going to give Jim, when I turned up on site the next day, which I did dutifully at 7am. And at that hour there was surprisingly few people on site. SO I made my way around to the section where I was to do the inspection, but I couldn’t see Jim. SO I thought he better not be late or will I give it to him!
Anyway, I wandered over to two of the steelworkers and asked, ‘have you seen Jim?’. And they looked sheepishly at each other, and then looked back at me and said, ‘Ah, Jim passed away last night!’.

Death cuts through you doesn’t it, worse than a winter breeze in Katoomba?

I can still remember the piercing feeling I had, like an obscene amount of adrenaline had been released into my body. They went back to their work, and I was totally unsure as to what I was to do. So I wandered around to do some work, and then thought this is ridiculous so I started to wander off to the site shed to work out what to do next.
And as I started off down to the stair well, I opened the door to see a startled man on the inside of the stairs, but not half as startled as I was!

And in His surprise he looked at me and said something like, ‘where the bloody hell are you going?’.
And I replied, ‘I have no idea, Jim!’
TO which he again said something like,
‘seems to be a theme with you’.

I to this day, do not know the Jim that had died, but the feelings I felt of total shock, and then utter surprise were very real – even if Jim’s apparent resurrection from the dead wasn’t.

In this situation it seems to me you are faced with three options:
He really was dead, and he really was bodily resurrected. But given that he wasn’t God (despite his occasional overtures of grandeur in that direction), and he also said he was tired but not recently deceased, it definitely wasn’t a resurrection.
Secondly, he was still dead and I was seeing a ghost. But as I said, he said he wasn’t dead, and I don’t suspect you can shake the hand of a ghost. That and you’d expect someone from the afterlife to hand you a more life changing and grandiose task than checking y16’s @200 cts.
He wasn’t really dead – it was a case of mistaken identity (which is to say it could just be a hoax!).
These three options would have to be your first port of call when it comes to a claim of a resurrection from the dead wouldn’t it?

Well today we are going to look at chapter 20 of John’s gospel which is the crux of the matter. If Jesus really is who he claims to be, he must be able to do, what he claims to do. IF Jesus is God, God the Son, God the saviour, the one who comes to forgive sin and restore relationship with God. IF Jesus is this God, then he has to be able to do what he has promised to do and predicted he will do in:
John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--
only to take it up again.
18 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.
This command I received from my Father."

No Fakes, no hoaxes, no phonies, no sending angels instead, no mistaken identities:
Jesus must die – truly dead
Jesus must rise – bodily resurrected
And why? Well the Apostle Paul explains in 1 Cor 15:
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

The Christian faith stands upon the twin foundations of firstly, Jesus substitutionary death in our place on that cross for our sin. And secondly, of Christ’s bodily resurrection.

The bodily resurrection of Christ is the demonstration of Christ’s death effectiveness and the truth of Christ’s identity. Christ being raised from the dead is the undeniable and outstanding proof that he is the saving Lord, that Christ is the resurrection and the life, the saving Lord who give eternal life.

If Christ has not been raised bodily, he is not the Lord of life and death, and his death is not able to deal with our sin. Jesus death may be an empathetic act for us, to understand the weight of death,
but his self sacrificing death, but his death would become, just another brick in the wall, if he is not raised. If he is not raised, he cannot save us.

It would be like being a man overboard, being washed around in the see, to have someone on the boat decide that they can’t find a rope, but they are so selfless they will also jump in to keep us company!! Thanks for the offer, but personally I don’t need someone to hold my hand on the way down, I need a saviour.
Christ is such a saviour, one who understands the predicament mankind has with death, and he understands it personally, but he has overcome death, and so he can save you and me.

The Apostle John in his gospel has testified to the truthfulness of Christ’s claims about himself, and Christianity takes it stand upon these historic claims, that Christ died and then Christ Rose in accordance with the scriptures. And in our passage today, John makes three more claims of truth about Christ.
- Jesus really did dies on that Cross
- Jesus Tomb really was empty on the third day
- Jesus was seen bodily resurrected, on and after the third day.
John tells us the truth of these claims and they are backed up by a number of witnesses.

1.Jesus Really did die on the Cross!

This is an uncontroversial claim, given the Roman’s were pretty competent at killing people, and the disciples were hardly likely to bury their friend alive!!
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special 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.
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.
33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
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.

40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
41 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.
42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.
So the Roman’s really did kill him, but his friends also knew he was dead, their grief is a real grief, the disciples fear and doubt, and we see Mary’s deep grief. Mary using that great image of John’s gospel comes to the tomb in the dark.
NIB John 20:1 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.
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!"
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes,
11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 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."
Jesus was dead, that is an undisputed statement of fact. But more than the fact he was dead, the method of his death was important too, Jesus died on a cross (and not from a common cold) for a reason.
If Jesus was really going to be the saviour of the world, he had to deal with our problems of sin, death, fear, grief and doubt, he had to do more than just die an empathetic death, he had to die a sacrificial death, a death that pays the penalty to our creator that we owed and couldn’t pay ourselves, the debt of sin that under-girds all our ills in this life.
The type of death Jesus died was essential for him to be able to save us;
3:16 "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.
The type of death was essential, but its validity and its power is proven and demonstrated in his bodily resurrection.
John’s first fact is Jesus really did die on that cross.

2.The tomb really was empty

That the tomb really was empty is again an undisputed fact, how it got empty is disputed, but that it was empty on that third day is not!
And we have at least three witnesses to the fact. The first is Mary and then the Apostle’s John and Peter. Any fact in Jewish law is established upon the consistent testimony of two witnesses – the witness of Peter and John. (Obviously they weren’t entirely politically correct in first century Palestine and a woman’s witness did not count – which makes it even more striking that John is telling the truth if he first includes the witness of a woman).

In fact in Matthew’s account he additionally tells us that even the Roman guards admit the tomb is empty, and the chief priests – the Jewish leaders accept the claim.
matt 28:11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

SO there is no disputing the tomb is empty, the question is how did it get that way?
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!"

SO the question is, Who does Mary mean by “they”?
Well it seems to me there are five main possibilities:
- The Jewish Leaders
- The Roman guards
- Some random Grave Robbers
- The Disciples
- OR Jesus is God - and the one who resurrected Lazarus has resurrected himself from the dead.

Now I am not a judge or a lawyer, but I have seen enough CSI, SVU, NCIS and any other acronym you can think of to know that in any crim,e you are looking for two things in terms of your main suspects, motive and opportunity.
1.The Jews
Quite frankly, why on earth would they want to do it? They wanted him dead and they asked for the guard in the first place.
matt 27:62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
63 "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said,`After three days I will rise again.'
64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
65 "Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how."
66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

I’m pretty confident they had neither motive or opportunity.

2.The Romans
Again, why would they? Maybe to get up the noses of the Jews, but then Pilate Killed Jesus just to keep the Jews happy and to bring some stability and peace and stop the Jews from starting an uprising. SO it wasn’t him.
And I suspect the guards aren’t going to show initiative in this matter and disobey Pilate’s direct command, Rome doesn’t have a sense of humour when it comes to mutiny.
I can’t see motive or any real way opportunity.

3.Grave Robbers?
It would take at least 5 men to carry Jesus plus the 35 kgs of spices he was buried with. How exactly are five guys going to casually slip past the Romans out the front of the tomb on guard duty, then roll away the rock and then casually carry the body off with no-one watching?
And then you have to explain what happened with the grave clothes, did the robbers suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, and just had to unwrap the body and neatly fold the linen up, while the Roman’s stood outside, before they left?
And they just happened to do it on the third day, rather than wait for tomorrow when the guards would be gone.
No chance is it?

4.The Disciples
They have to be the ones with the real motive – but then even they happily admit, they didn’t understand anything about Jesus death and resurrection until after they saw it!! They don’t exactly come off in the gospel’s looking like criminal masterminds. They currently are the guys off hiding in the dark who did a runner at the first sign of trouble.
And even if they were organised, there is still the same problem of the Roman guard to do something about, and the grave clothes issue remains.

5.Jesus really was resurrected
The grave clothes lead you to believe that the person who unraveled the body had plenty of time to themselves to do the job without the Roman’s noticing. It seems to me that would be easiest with the stone over the door wouldn’t it? It had to be an inside job.
NIB John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

It seems the most likely motive and opportunity belonged to the creator himself, the word become flesh who dwelt among us. The creator has done a profound act of recreation, but that is nothing new in John’s gospel, new wine, new legs, new eyes, and a new Lazarus.
In this act Jesus declared himself in the most profound way the creator and the Lord, the Lord over death in his own resurrection from the dead.
Jesus folded his own grave clothes, because unlike Lazarus who emerged entangled, he would never need them again, he had begun his resurrected eternal life.

That is a staggeringly outrageous claim isn’t it?
Resurrection?
Resuscitation I can usually believe, but not after three days I can’t.
Resurrection, that is amazing, what a way to declare you are the Lord and God the creator himself. I’m impressed if someone can go to the January sales and find their car first go at Westfield Parramatta. But resurrection isn’t just impressive, it’s plain scary isn’t it? Jesus is God.

1. Jesus was dead – no doubt
2. Jesus tomb was empty – no doubt
3. Jesus was seen bodily resurrected
John again testifies to us the truth he has seen, the truth that was seen by many, and again he has three witnesses of Mary, the disciples and of course Thomas.

Now Thomas cops a hard time in my opinion, but I am glad he is there, he is a details man, and he is the sure witness we all want isn’t he.
I want to hear from a man who saw the wounds which showed it really was Jesus body.
24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" 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."
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
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."
28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
I mean, ‘resurrected, really?’
And Thomas the doubter says to us, ‘resurrected really!’
Hands in holes, hands in sides, and hands on heart, resurrected really!

Jesus was bodily resurrected and Thomas shows us the right response, ‘my Lord and my God’.

But maybe 3 witnesses aren’t enough for you, because let’s face it there is a lot at stake, well listen to the testimony of the apostle Paul:
1 cor 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Over 500 people testified to what they personally saw – they saw the truth, the truth John has testified to us from the pages of his gospel.

Jesus was seen Bodliy Resurrected.

Conclusion:
There are only 2 options when you are confronted with the truth, you can try and deny it, or you can believe it. Neither makes the truth any more or any less true, the truth is true whether anyone believes it or not, but denying the truth does have an impact on you and your life.

To deny the truth, always winds up in problems, like a Bat that denies the truth that power-lines are not tree branches!

Ultimately if you deny the truth of the resurrection, it may mean some moral freedom for now, but it ultimately ends in hopelessness and despair, because everyone and everything dies and turns to dust. And eventually we (the centre of the known universe – well at least our universe) are remembered no more.

Without the resurrection of the dead, which is to say without the resurrection of Jesus, life has no ultimate purpose or meaning. Sure it has glimpses of good and happiness sure, but in this view all life happens in the face of a chasm of non-existence.

Death comes to everyone and in order to understand life, you need to be able to give some account of death.

Jesus resurrection is not a truth we believe because we need it, but in fact the opposite is true, the truth is there is a resurrection from the dead, and the deep down conviction we have about this truth and our real need, is revealed to be true, when we see the content and proof of our conviction laid out before our eyes in the gospel message, that Jesus was raised from the dead.

These are truly shocking thoughts aren’t they, that life without Jesus Resurrection is a life without hope. But the truth is, the Bible says things are worse than that. The Bible says we are not extinguished at death, but we are raised to face our maker and give and account for our life, and account for how we treated his Son:
john3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

The message of the cross and the resurrection go together, you can try to deny the truth, but truth always catches up with us in the end.

The second option is you can believe the truth, the truth that Jesus really was bodily raised from the dead, the truth that he is God’s Son the Lord, our God and creator, the one who died on the cross and rose to life to show his power over sin and death, the one who gives eternal life to all who believe in his name.
Jesus and his death and resurrection is the truth that gives live meaning, purpose and hope.

- Jesus really did die on the cross
- Jesus tomb really was empty
- Jesus really was bodily resurrected.

John has told us the truth:
john 20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
31 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.

john 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John talk 6 - Ch 19 Jesus Trial

Who’s on Trial?
Big Idea: Through the character of Pilate we see it is not Jesus who is on trial, but Jesus is the Judge presiding over the trial of the Jews, Pilate and us as the reader.

I’m sure your life is no different to mine in this respect, - that the speed of the year is determined - by how quickly it seems we get to those most important of events of the year, - the Public holidays.

The second half of the year always seems to me to be longer than the first. With only the October long weekend after the queens birthday, - but both Easter and Anzac days before it -the first half of the year it seems much quicker.

If you can’t believe Easter is with us already, - another marker as to what happened at Easter in recent years, - it was just over 5 years ago that Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion came out. As you may remember there was a lot of controversy surrounding it’s release - and it’s story line.

In fact - I was talking to someone who works in an Arabic nation and they were telling me - that the movie was incredibly popular there and regularly sold out. I have to admit - he had my attention with this statement - so I took the bait and asked, “Isn’t that a Muslim nation, why would they want to see a movie about the historical beginnings of Christianity?” He replied, “It was because the American press had reacted so strongly against it calling it anti-Semitic, - a lot of the Arab people thought to themselves - it must be good”.

Kind of strange way of thinking really!

But the question still remained for me really from his statement, - I mean just who is responsible for Jesus death.

So I thought the best place to look at the evidence for ourselves - would be the account of the Trial from John’s Gospel, - it’s an incredibly famous account - even in our society today - and that fame stems largely - from how well John tells the story.

The story is driven by tension, tension seen in the conflict both between characters, and the conflict within characters. And John’s story is brought to life as it is told through rich word pictures and his use of irony.

So to set the scene, - Jesus has just been arrested, and had a kangaroo court trial before the Jewish religious rulers in Jerusalem - and now he was to appear before the real power of the day - the Roman Empire.

It is worth noting - that he had of course had been betrayed into the Jews hands by one of his own disciples.

[story] Now just to emphasize how well known this story is, - would you please raise your hand if you know someone in your family who has a first name that is the same as one of the disciples, - so Matthew, Mark, Luke John, Andrew, Phillip, Peter etc.

Just Keep your hand up - if the member of your family who is named after a disciple is called Judas?

No didn’t think so. So it is a famous story.

But as we turn to the Gospel of John, - I want you to keep in the back of your mind, the question, who is on trial? Who is on Trial?

And we can picture the scene - Jesus is inside the Praetorium - and the Jews are outside - and Pilate - has to constantly shift between the two.

So please turn with me to
John 18:28 - 19:22 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.

If you can picture the scene - Pilate is the ruler of the region, - Caesars representative - he’s quietly going about his business and here come those constant thorns in his side, - the Jewish religious leaders. These two had clashed quite violently on a number of occasions, - they were far from being on good terms.

[story] The Jews in Jerusalem remind me a little of a friend of mine who is an avid St George supporter, - he keeps harping back to glory days when they ruled supreme, - even though he’s too young to have actually seen these glory days for himself.

In the same way the Jews hadn’t ruled in Jerusalem in any shape or form for over 300 years, - and the height of their rule was over 1000 years ago at this point.

29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?" 30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

Interestingly the Jews are so determined - they don’t even bother with a specific charge against Jesus, - it’s just about the vibe of the thing. It’s almost like a petulant child?

You can almost see Pilate rightly thinking, - listen no charge, none of my business.

31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

But it already appears that Jesus is a condemned man, - in fact not just a condemned man, - but a dead man walking if the Jewish leaders have their way.

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" 34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" 35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied.

I have always found Pilate - to be an intriguing figure, I can’t decide whether I believe him or not, - and I really struggle to understand exactly what his questions mean, - they seem to be deep, but I’ve never been sure exactly what he is trying to say.
Well it seems in John’s story, the term “Jew” is not really a description of your national and cultural identity, But it is a description - of the people who will oppose Jesus. The term “Jews” in the Gospel is exclusively - the Jewish Religious Leaders who want Jesus dead. It is not about a race as such, because Jesus and all his disciples are Jews also by birth.

So Pilate sets out to get to the bottom of the issue by inquiring of Jesus, - but then finds himself answering the questions. His response to Jesus, “Am I a Jew” is an amazing veiled question for us as we read.

If a Jew means a member of a cultural group, - the answer is clearly and simply – NO.
But in John’s story the “Jews” are the people who want Jesus dead, - so when Pilate asks the question “Am I a Jew”, we actually think – well maybe you are a Jew. We want Pilate to answer his own question, - when all he really wants to do is sit on the fence.

So we now start to wonder, who is on trial here anyway?
As we move on we see Jesus states clearly - that he is not with the Jews, - they are not his people, but he is a King.

"It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 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." 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." 38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked.

Jesus finally tells Pilate plainly that he is a King, - but not any King - he is God’s king. The king that God has promised to King David some 1000 years before, - the one who would rule for all eternity. Jesus’ Kingdom - is from God himself.

And finally Pilate seems to understand, “you are a king, then!”. By this stage in John’s Gospel You feel like cheering yah! he has got the point. But then Pilate goes and ruins it - by asking another of his cryptic and illusive questions, “what is truth?”.

Well we know what the truth is because Jesus has used this term lots of times throughout the gospel story, - and he’s used it about himself. In verse 37 he says he reveals the truth, and those who follow him recognize him as the truth.

John 3:3 "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
John 3:11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
John 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

Truth is a big issue in John’s Gospel
Jesus reveals the truth about God, because he was sent from God.
Jesus tells the truth, because he is the one who gives eternal life
Jesus tells the truth and his followers see him for being the truth from God.
Truth is a big issue in John’s Gospel

Pilate sees the truth standing in front of him, - and he evades the issue with his slightly flippant “what is truth?” as he leaves the Praetorium to be with the Jews again outside.

And now - we suspect we can answer Pilate’s earlier question for him. Pilate asked “am I a Jew?”, and we are beginning to think, It sure looks like it buddy.

And we see him head outside to be with the Jews - and So again we think - who really is on trial here?

But again with a sense of irony of the situation, - the one who does not seem to want to think that there is truth, - he proceeds to go out the Jews and tell them exactly that, the truth.

With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 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'?" 40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion. NIV

The Jews again reject the King their God has given them - and would prefer some common criminal. Whose name ‘Bar-Abbas’ literally means the son of the father, which is ironic given Jesus is the true son of the father.

John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
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." 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" 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." 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." 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace.

Again with this wonderful sense of Irony, - Pilate has three times told them the truth, that there is nothing to charge Jesus with, he has done nothing wrong. The Jews however, are adamant, - Pilate’s attempt at sitting on the fence and appeasing the Jews by flogging an innocent man is not enough - Jesus must die.

In their fury - they finally come up with a charge, “he claimed to be the Son of God”

And Pilate is rocked to his core, - you can see him thinking, “can this be the truth?” and he scurries back from the Jews - to Jesus inside.

"Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 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?" 11 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."

Pilate feels he has the power in this situation, - after all he is a Roman, - and Jesus is the victim. But we know from earlier in the gospel story, - that Jesus is no helpless victim, - but a willing participant. Jesus goes to the cross because:

John 10:17-18 I lay down my life-- only to take it up again. 18 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

And We know why he is a willing participant
John 3:16-18 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Jesus is no passive victim, but willing participant.
And so back to the trial story;
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."
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). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. 15 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.

And with that - the trial is over - and the guilty verdict rings out, the penalty is death. Only we now realize that it wasn’t Jesus who was on trial, - because he had long before made up his mind to be obedient to his Father - and die on the cross.

And it isn’t the Jews, - (the religious leaders) who are on trial, - because they also have long before made up their mind - and rejected Jesus and just wanted him disposed of. But the Jews in rejecting Jesus, - were in fact rejecting their own King, - they were rejecting God’s King.
In rejecting Jesus they don’t just reject God’s King, but they reject God himself and their condemnation is just.

The passion trial isn’t really just about Jesus condemnation, - (we knew that was coming since early on in the book of John). In the passion trial, - the real person defending the charges is Pilate. How will Pilate respond to the truth? How will Pilate respond to God’s King?

Three times Pilate pronounces Jesus innocent of any charges, Three times he pronounces him to be the King of the Jews, - Jesus is God’s King and it’s for this he will be crucified.

As we read the story, - John paints this wonderful picture for us - that there are only two kingdoms a person can belong to; you can either belong to the kingdom of Caesar; or you can belong to the Kingdom of Christ.

Caesar’s Kingdom is of this world, the kingdom of the dark. To have No King But Caesar is to either be; just like the Jews who boldly proclaimed it; or like Pilate has almost been shamed into saying. Either way you are a member of Caesar’s kingdom none the less.

In this life you can belong either to Caesar’s kingdom; or you can belong to Jesus kingdom. Jesus Kingdom is the Kingdom of the truth, the kingdom of the light, the kingdom of God.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others-- one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 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.
21 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." 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Pilate saw the truth, it was staring him in the face, he knew it, and chose to look the other way.

And with that - the trial is over - and the guilty verdict rings out - and the penalty is death.

It’s easy to see why this is such a famous story isn’t it?
It’s easy to appreciate why John is such a great story teller, a great writer, - but actually he isn’t finished with us as the readers just yet.

As we read the account of Pilate and move through the trial with him - we start to realize that in looking at him and his reactions, - we are holding up a mirror to ourselves. Is Pilate the only one on trial here? - Or are you on trial here? - and am I on trial as well?
From the pages of John’s gospel - the truth is staring us in the face, the truth about God, the truth about God’s King and the truth that we needed him to die on that cross so that we can be forgiven.

Pilate saw the truth and recognized it, but was too attached to the Kingdom of Caesar to accept the offer - to become part of the Kingdom of God.

[illust] When I was growing up - I never really understood why this day would be called Good Friday? I couldn’t understand why we celebrated someone’s death - as being good.

[Story] After reading John’s Gospel - I am certain that it wasn’t Pilate who decided to coin the phrase Good Friday. He had anything but a good day.

It’s called Good Friday because it’s the day God acted decisively and clearly - to deal with the division between himself and man, the day God demonstrated his love for us for all to see

A good Friday is on offer here today. A chance to turn to God and thank him for what he has done through the death of his Son. To ask God for His forgiveness - and turn to him as our heavenly father.

There are only two kingdoms you can belong to; the Kingdom of Caesar; or the Kingdom of God. Don’t be like Pilate having seen the truth, to turn your back on it - and walk away.

So why don’t you talk to someone here at church about God’s offer of forgiveness in his son Jesus Christ, - whether it’s me or or even the person who brought you here if you like.

Today - God has got a Good FriDay on offer, why don’t you take him up on it?
We’ve read a lot about the Truth today, let me leave you with some of Jesus great words of truth for those who belong to his kingdom.

John 14:1-6 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 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. 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

PRAYER:

John Talk 5 - Ch 17

John 17; "I pray father..."
Introduction;
There are two big questions you need to ask about life, and they aren't optional. If you have been given the gift of life, it is incumbent upon us to ask these two questions, but more than that I think even the harsh pragmatics of this life bear their weight upon all of us at some point, and compel us to find answers to these two questions;

1. who am I?
2. what is my purpose?

The first question, "who am I?" Is a question of "being", who am I to be?
The second question, "what is my purpose?" Is a question of doing, what is my function, My goal, my purpose from being?

These are two massive questions, and these are the most important questions and the foundations of any life.
And do you know what most people I suspect particularly in Australia would answer to those questions?
I suspect they would say, "don't know really, I haven't given it much thought!"

The philosopher Socrates in around 300 BC said of this kind of attitude, of a hand to mouth approach to existence, he said, "that the unexamined life is not worth living".

And we find ourselves amongst such an age, that seems to be endemic with scepticism at best, but a profound apathy at worst -- how can we find an anchor to ground our existence.?

Well as Christian people we know the answer don't we? The answer of our existence is the revelation of our own creator to us. The revelation of the word become flesh, God incarnate, the light of life, the word of truth from the father, full of grace and truth, Jesus Christ.

The anchor of our existence is Jesus Christ, but how can we as Jesus followers earn his truth a hearing in this sceptical and apathetic culture which we find ourselves planted within.

Well the answer comes today as Jesus answers the questions for us, when he tells us of our;
1. Being -- who am I?
2. Doing -- what is my purpose?

Lisa Simpson once said, "prayer is the last refuge of the scoundrel".
And at one level we all know what she means, it is where people turn who have run out of other "earthly" options -- they pray to God for divine intervention.

But the thing about the pressure of situations that would turn even a scoundrel to Prayer is, that it strips back the froth reveals the true heart of the persons concerns. Prayer under extreme pressure seems to have a clarity and focus that makes it the most honest and raw form of communication a human is capable of. And we see that today, as we see Jesus heart laid bare in prayer to his father for himself and for us.

This passage is the longest of Jesus prayers in Scripture, as he faces the impending trial, hardship and persecution of the Cross the next day. And Jesus High-priestly prayer in the face of that tremendous pressure and anguish is not for deliverance for himself, but to bring the father glory, and also that his disciples may persevere, so as to also bring the father glory.

Now in context you may remember from last week in chapter 16, Jesus plans for his return to the father, so that he and the father may send the spirit. In this chapter's prayer Jesus prays for the work of the spirit in his followers -- so that;
1. they may know who they are -- their being
2. they may know what they are called to -- their purpose

Jesus knows who he is, and he knows his purpose, and because of that we can know ours too!
But in this first section, that we will look at today, Jesus actually prays for himself.

1. Jesus prays that the father may glorify him, so that he may glorify the father! (Verse 1-5)
Which I will point out, is not exactly the request of a scoundrel is it?

NIV John 17:1
After Jesus said this,
he looked toward heaven and prayed:

"Father, the time has come.
Glorify** your Son,
that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people
that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life:
that they may know you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.

5 And now, Father,
Glorify** me in your presence
with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Twice Jesus requests the father to glorify him, in v1 and V5.
The glory of Christ is of course a theme that has been developed throughout the Gospel of John, but Christ's glory itself is where people see him for who he really is. People see the glory of the Christ, when they realise he is the revelation of the father, the one sent from the father -- the word of God, who was with God, the word who is God, and the word of God who dwelt amongst us full of grace and truth.

In this section we see the nature, the "being" of our God laid bare, the triune God reveals his servant nature or that characteristic of being "other person centred". The Son wants glory from the father, but only so the son can give glory to the
Father. All three persons of the Trinity are "other person centred" in their deep relational unity, it's like a mutual appreciation Society. Our God is a relational God, the one triune God who is three persons in a deep relational, "other person centred" unity.

Christ's glory is revealed in his being, and also in his authority ,that he is the Lord from the beginning we read in V5, and he is the Lord over all people we read in verse two. But Jesus Glory is also revealed in his purpose, to bring glory to the father by completing the father's work of saving sinful men and women.

Christ's glory is revealed most pointedly in his purpose of salvation.

And Christ reveals his understanding of his true self to us in his prayer. And in the process of revealing himself, he also reveals the reality of mankind's being and doing. Our being and doing are inextricably linked to Christ's being and doing, which is unsurprising given he is our creator.

Christ’s being is to be the son of the father,
our being is to now be children of God, in a deep personal relationship with God through the holy spirit.


Christ's purpose is to bring the father glory by saving the lost,
our purpose is to bring the father of glory by testifying to the saving son in the power of the spirit so the lost may be saved.

If you are being honest, what would you say your answers to the questions;
1.who am I?
2.what is my purpose?

If your answer is "don't know"
let me ask the question in a different way, which is, what do you pray for?
Answer that question, and I think you have answered what is really your answer to the other two as well!


2. I pray for them...not " them", the other them! (Verse 6-11)

It seems in the cataclysmic battle that is going on in John's gospel ‘the world’ are on the side of evil, the world does not want the son and because of this the son does not pray for the world, but to those who have been given to him and come to him out of the world.
6 "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.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me
comes from you.
8 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.
9 I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world,
but for those you have given me,
for they are yours.
10 All I have is yours,
and all you have is mine.
And glory has come to me through them.
11 I will remain in the world no longer,
but they are still in the world,
and I am coming to you.

Christ’s people see him revealed in his words. They see, they know, they believe that he is the Christ, sent from the father and they obey his words. And because of this they are his, and he will pray for them. He will pray for them because as we learnt last week Jesus is going to the father. And now both the father and the son send the spirit to carry on God's work in God's people.

In being who we were made to be -- We bring Christ glory.

Christ's return to the father means "the world" no longer has any hold on him, but he prays for us because we remain in the world, but he prays that we would not be "of the world".. which we will see in the next section.
Jesus lives now to intercede for us, and what did he pray?

3. "father, protect and sanctify them in the truth.." (versus 12-19)

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.
12 While I was with them,
I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
…..
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world
but that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus asks his father had two clear things on behalf of his disciples
1. protection (or keeping)
2. Sanctification
Both of these are integral aspects of our "being" and "doing" as Christians, integral aspects in our answer to the question of, who am I? And what is my purpose?

Well in praying for protection Jesus tells us that we are God's possession, we are set apart from the rest of fallen creation for God's purpose and glory.

I. protection in the world
Now I am only guessing, but I reckon if you were the disciples, up until this part in the Gospel you would be feeling pretty confident about facing life wouldn't you?
After all Jesus has cured sickness, healed the lame, given sight to the blind, calmed a raging sea, and only recently raised the dead, not to mention he sticks it to the religious leaders every time they try to catch him out.

Life is sweet isn't it, and on top of that he has given you power over the demons -- you don't need to fear anyone do you?
You are king of the hill, you walk the streets and everyone knows you, and even your enemies cannot touch you.
And then -- Jesus dies.

The whole power structure will change won't it?
How are you going to feel then?

I suspect extremely vulnerable, is the answer, because the one who had protected them will be gone.
And the world that killed him because of his word, will be looking at you next because you are now the keepers of his word.
The world will hate you because the world hated Jesus.
The devil will persecute you, because the devil persecuted Jesus.

But Jesus knows the fear and trial that will come the way of his followers and so he prays to his sovereign father to protect them by sending them the holy spirit. Jesus Disciples are held safe in the depths of the sovereign father (even while they are still in the world!) By the intimacy of the relationship we have with the sovereign father, through the son in the holy spirit.

The sovereign lord is our father and because of that we are protected from the evil one even while we are (in the trial, temptation and persecution), that it is, to be ‘in the world’.

Christ prays to his father for the power of the holy spirit to protect or keep his disciples in their relationship with God.
Who am I?
In Christ and by the spirit, I am God's possession and he will hold me fast in the face of opposition and trial.
That is who I am.

II. Christ prays that they may be sanctified by the truth
Christ not only prays that we would be his possession, but he also prays that we would be his people!
Christ prays that we may be sanctified and that we may be sanctified by the truth.

So firstly, what does sanctified mean?
Sanctified is the action of holiness,
Great what does is that mean?
Well to be sanctified, is to be holy-ified -- if I can make up a word!
It means made holy.
And holiness involves two things;
1. being -- who I am!
2. doing -- what is my purpose!
God is HOLY in the very depths of his being and doing.

In his being he is just, right, pure and good -- he is HOLY.
And in his doing, in creation, Judgment, Salvation and Providence -- he is HOLY. And he is the one person, who is utterly consistent in themselves, between their being and their doing. God is HOLY in his doing, as he is in his being.

All Holiness in this world is received from, (and is a derivative of), God's holiness. And we see that in verse 19, that Jesus sanctifies himself for us. Now clearly, he was already holy in his being (and was never otherwise), but now he will go to the Cross, the ultimate expression of his Holiness in doing, so that we may be made holy, that we may be truly sanctified.

To be holy means Firstly and foremost to be without sin. Christ prays for those who believe in his name, and then acts for us, so that we may have no sin. That our sin would be taken away and dealt with at the cross.
The sin was absolutely ours and our doing, but he bore it in his body on that bloodied Cross and because of that, (and by believing in his name), we are without sin and being made holy.

In our being (if I can use those terms) our sin is dealt with, the cross has dealt with our sin in our relationship with God, and yet in our doing, we still sin don't we?
We are not separated from the presence of sin this side of Christ's return.

So Where does that leave us?
Justification -- is the Bible’s legal term for the penalty of our sin being paid by Christ at the cross. He paid our debt and we are justified before God.

Justification is one of the benefits that comes to us through Christ, and another benefit is of Sanctification.

Sanctification -- is the process of being made holy, we are being changed in our minds, our actions, and our character to conformed to the family likeness. To be sanctified is to be holy like Christ our brother, and like God our father.

And how does Sanctification happen?, well it happens by being exposed to, and change by, the truth. The truth is of course Jesus himself. Jesus sanctifies his people and he does this through the truth of his word exposed and empowered by the spirit himself upon our lives and being.

As we learnt last week Christ rules his church, by his word and by his spirit. And he rules and changes his people in the very same way!
Sanctification is a “being” related to our character, but it is also a “doing”. To be holy or sanctified is also a doing, of being set apart for God’s purposes, set apart from the world. Sanctified people are in the world, but they are not of the world. God sanctifies us so that we may make him know in this world, and that is what Jesus prays for his disciples to be and to do.

Sanctification is foundation and primarily a being, but it is a being that is integrally, essentially and explicitly a doing. We are being made holy to please and serve God by being his witnesses to a lost and watching world.

And We are going to have a little think about that in the next section, but before we do, let me ask you this,
how serious are you about holiness?
One theologian has said, "holiness is not a condition into which one drifts!"
So are you serious about holiness?
Are we as a congregation serious about holiness?

We are Christian aren't we?
Holiness is who we are!
Holiness is what we do!

Holiness comes by being sanctified by Christ's truth, his word and his spirit acting together.
Do you soak yourself in Christ’s word that you may be changed?
Do you earnestly pray for the holy spirit’s work that you may be conformed to the family likeness?
This is in an essential aspect of the Christian life, it is not an optional extra.

Sanctification or holiness is about our identity & it is pleasing to God, but it is also so we can do his will, so we can fulfil our purpose.

4."father, I pray that they may be one, for my glory in the world!" (V20 to 26)

20 "My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 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 have sent me.

Now we are running a little short of time, so we will just touch on this section briefly.

Firstly, if you have a pen, you have my permission to cross out the title on this section of the NIV, it is totally misleading at this point and makes it look like this is the only section that applies directly to us. But the whole prayer is Jesus prayer for all of the disciples -- yes there are distinctive elements for the first few disciples -- particularly in terms of their witness and message -- but the bulk of the prayer is for all Jesus Disciple's.

So V20 would be truer if it started "my prayer is not just for them alone" and that just makes quite a difference in how we understand who and what Jesus is praying for.
Now leaving that aside for the moment, Jesus prays for the believers, that the depth of their relationship in Christ, (their relationship with the father, through the son in the holy spirit), would be expressed in the unity of their relationship together as believers.

That is who we are to be, and this also is for a purpose, so that the world may know Jesus and see his glory. And that the world may believe that he is the one sent from the father, the one full of grace in truth, the one who brings eternal life.

So what does this Oneness look like?
Well we don't have time for a thorough and detailed conversation now, so let me leave you with a couple of ideas.

-- we are to have a oneness of being ‘in Christ’. Being ‘in Christ’ is a description of reality now. A Oneness in the truth of Christ found in his word applied to our lives by the holy spirit -- that is the being of oneness in Christ

-- it is also a oneness of doing for Christ. We are to be one in action for Christ in seeking to bring him glory by testifying the truth of the Gospel of Christ in Word, character, actions, and our relationships to a watching world.


SO let me ask you a question to ponder through this week,
how do you think we are going as a congregation in our being in doing for Christ?
And what are you going to change as a result?
Conclusion;
People, both Christian and non-Christian, always want to know what God's will is for their life. Well in his prayer to the father, Jesus reveals God's will for our lives. He prays that through glorifying him we may bring glory to the father, and that we may be kept from evil and be sanctified in the truth by him, that we as a congregation of Believers would testify to the watching world the truth about Christ, through the unity of our being and doing.

That is Jesus foundational prayer and will for your life.
Is that your foundational prayer and desire your life as well?
Who are you?
And what is the purpose of your life?