Scripture Introduction
One way to get at the significance of the story of redemption is to observe the contrasts which God builds into Bible events. For example, as the hours wind down to the crucifixion, we see the bent of the human heart: face-to-face with an innocent man, men plot his death and betray his trust. Such treachery deserves punishment. But in a shocking reversal, he who knew no sin is the convicted criminal. Mankind, created for life, acts out the death which infests his heart; and Jesus, the only person who deserves to live forever, is revealed as the one who must die. Thus, Christ pays a debt he does not owe, because we owe a debt we cannot pay. These absurd paradoxes pierce our hearts with the heart of the Gospel.
The Scripture which God places before us this morning is bracketed by “impossible” prophecies of the death of the one who alone is so full of life that it overflows from him to others. As we consider the disease of death which infects humanity, may God give us grace to believe the great paradox and place our faith in the death of the one gives life to the world.
[Read John 18.12-32. Pray.]
Introduction
Last week on NPR, Patti Neighmond reported on a study of AARP members which suggests that eating a lot of red meat may actually shorten your life. I was driving and not giving it my full attention, when I heard her say: “They found that people who ate the most red meat (that’s beef, lamb, or pork) were 30% more likely to die.”
I laughed as thought, “How could some be more likely to die?” Doesn’t everyone die? Those who gorge on double whoppers with cheese and those who nibble on broccoli are both 100% likely to die.
For the sake of accuracy, I did listen again to that All Things Considered segment on the NPR internet site. Ms. Neighmond actually said, “This was a large study – over half a million men and women over the age of 50. They answered questions about specifics of their diet, and then researchers documented who died over the next 10 years. They found that people who ate the most red meat (that’s beef, lamb, or pork) were 30% more likely to die.” The 30% more likely to die referenced the 10 years from the preceding sentence.
Even so, it is still true that 100% of the vegetarians in the world die. 100% of the carnivores die. 100% of the vegans die. Everyone dies. Why is that?
We need a biblical answer because this question influences many ethical debates swirling around in our politics and culture. The answers affect views on stem-cell research and abortion and end-of-life issues like removing life-support. We should understand why death is inevitable. It was not always so.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created to live! Death was not part of their genes; it was not their certain end. God made humans, “male and female, with rational and immortal souls, endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image…. [And] they were happy in their communion with God (Westminster Confession, 4.2).
But, “seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan,” these first humans rebelled against their Maker, falling from their original righteousness and happiness into a condition of sin and misery. Nor did they sin for themselves alone. Adam and Eve were our federal representatives (which means they were placed in Eden (as it were) to take the test for us all). So when they sinned, because they acted for us also, the “guilt of this sin was imputed to (all their children) – and the same death in sin and corrupted nature also were conveyed to all their children.” Thus in Adam all die – because we are all guilty of our representative’s rebellion. This is called original sin. But there is more: we are also guilty before the law because we actually sin. And every sin deserves death – death, that wretched condition of separation from the God in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore!
At the moment they rejected God’s goodness and ways, Adam and Eve died – they were separated from God. Eventually, they also died physically – their bodies returned to the dust from which they were made. This bodily death is proof of our guilt before the Holy God.
There are other proofs of the sinfulness of mankind, some of which we will see today. Before we do, however, let me remind you of what we read from Hebrews earlier in the service: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” (Hebrews 9.27).
In the days of the American Wild West, a horse bolted and ran away with a wagon in which a little boy was trapped alone. Seeing the child in danger, a young man risked his life to catch the horse and stop the wagon. He saved that young boy. Unfortunately, the child grew up to be a lawless man, and years later he was arrested for murder. At his sentencing, the prisoner recognized the judge as the very same man who, years before, had saved his life. He pleaded for mercy on that basis, asking the man to “save him” again.
The judge said, “Young man, then I was your savior; today I am your judge, and I must sentence you to be hanged” (from Warren Wiersbe, Meet Yourself in the Psalms).
The law is like that; it condemns all alike under sin. It holds humanity captive, imprisoned until a Savior should appear. But now that Christ has come, you can be redeemed from the curse of the law, so that the blessings of adoption and his faithfulness can be yours forever. You need a savior now, so that after death you will be able to stand in the judgment! In order to receive that promise, we must first see our need for a savior. Notice, then…
1. We See Our Need for a Savior in the Blindness of the Irreligious Pagans (John 18.12)
Little is told us about these soldiers. We do know, however, that moments before they bound Jesus, they saw the power of God clearly displayed in the words and works of Jesus Christ. Earlier, Jesus asked some of these very men: “Whom do you seek?”
They then replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them: “I am.” He used the divine name, the proclamation of his self-existence and absolute sovereignty. As a result, John 18.6 points out, “They drew back and fell to the ground.” The words of God incarnate have a self-authenticating power which blows back men when he chooses to lift the veil hiding their majesty and glory.
In addition to the power of his words, these soldiers also witnessed the power of his miracles. Peter cut off Malchus’ ear; Christ healed him. They saw, with their own eyes, an undeniable miracle. Yet they remained unmoved, indifferent, cold and unaffected. They arrest Jesus and bind him.
I have, at times, wondered if the world would be converted if we in the church could perform more miracles. But such is not the case. Those who give all their attention to the cares and concerns of this world, those who think only of their careers and personal comforts, those with little or no contact with Christians who have a vital and living faith (as was surely the case with these soldiers) – those can grow completely insensitive to the workings of God. They saw Jesus; yet they saw nothing. They were blind and deaf.
The story is told of an eagle who lands on a block of ice floating just above Niagara Falls. The swift current carried the ice and its majestic passenger closer to the edge. The cries of other birds and animals warned the eagle of danger ahead, but he only boasted: “I have great and powerful wings. I can fly from my perch at any time.” Suddenly the edge of the falls was upon him and the ice fell over the great precipice. The eagle spread his wings, only to discover that his claws had frozen to the ice.
Sin grips the soul so that none can fly free with their own wings. The blindness of these irreligious men to the Son of God shows mankind’s deep need for a savior.
2. We See Our Need for a Savior in the Hardness of the Religious Hypocrites (John 18.13-14,19-24,28-31)
One might expect that the Jewish priests, familiar as they were with the Old Testament Scriptures, would recognize and rejoice over the appearance of the Messiah. To make the situation even more shocking, note well how meticulous they are about details of obedience to the law. In verse 28, they refuse to enter the governor’s offices lest they be defiled and unable to eat the Passover. So the leaders of Judaism, scrupulously adhering to the finer points of ceremonial cleansing, all the while plot the murder of the Messiah for whom the Passover was created!
Here is a strange fact about the conscience of the unconverted. In some, the heart becomes hard and cold and dead, like in the soldiers unmoved by the miracles of Jesus. But in others, the conscious becomes overly particular about observing trifling details of supposed obedience to the rules of God. Many a hypocrite hides a heart dissatisfied with God behind a form of religion that pretends to satisfy God with by outward conformity.
J. C. Ryle: “Men who know they are wrong in one direction, often struggle to make things right by excess of zeal in another…. But that Christianity is worthless that makes amends for the neglect of heart religion and practical holiness by an extravagant zeal for man-made ceremonies or outward forms.”
Pray, dear friends, pray that your conscience is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, not darkened by neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness. Many go to hell wearing a religion that masks the heart’s rebellion, but its true character shows the need for a savior.
3. We See Our Need for a Savior in the Weakness of the Faithful Disciple (John 18.15-18,25-27)
Peter is undoubtedly one of God’s elect. Jesus took Peter and only two others with him to the mountain where his face shown like the sun and his clothes became white as light and Elijah and Moses visited with Jesus. Only Peter had the faith to step out of the boat and walk on the water toward Jesus.
When Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” it was Peter who made the great profession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Peter alone had the courage to grab a sword and begin hacking at someone in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here was a devout man, a lover of God, a fiery follower of Christ.
Yet a woman asks him a question, with no indication of a threatening manner, and the Apostle’s courage fails. He answers with an all out, direct lie: “I am not one of his disciples.”
Augustine: “Behold that most firm pillar of the Church, touched but by one breath of danger, trembles all over. Where is now that boldness of promising, that confident vaunting of himself?”
One hour finds Peter drawing a sword against a multitude of armed men; the next frightened out of his Christian profession by the question of a woman. Here is the cowardly liar.
Someone once observed: “It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” Many a man, anxious of the mountain in the far distance, stops in the foothills because he neglected to clean out his shoes.
Peter’s life offers an excellent study in the grains of sand which hobble so many Christians. The pride which caused Peter to brag: “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” The failure to pray which marked Peter’s last night with Jesus. The way one lie led to another, building in intensity until Peter must denounce any relationship with Christ with cursing and swearing! The fact that Peter, in the midst of his trial, warmed himself among Jesus’ enemies, rather than seek God among Christian friends or in private devotion. All of these failures and poor choices contribute to the third denial, followed by the crow of the rooster and the bitter weeping. We do well to mark and fight those temptations.
But the overarching story here is not which grains of sand most troubled Peter; it is the fact that even the faithful disciple needs a Savior. None is good, no not one. All of the advantages and opportunities given him, all the courageous acts and professions of faith given by him, and he is still a sinner in need of a Savior.
4. We See Our Need for a Savior in the Compassion of the Son of God (John 18.32)
What a paradox!
• The innocent is punished that the guilty might be forgiven.
• War is declared on the dearly beloved, so that God’s enemies might have peace.
• The great physician is wounded, so that the mortally sick might be healed.
• He who knew no sin is made sin, so that we know only sin might be made righteous.
• Eternal life is sentenced to die so that the spiritually dead might have life.
• The one to whom belongs the treasures of heaven is made poor, so that we might become rich.
• He is shamed that we might be honored.
• He is rejected that we might be accepted.
• He is cursed that we might be blessed.
Verse 32 is amazing. Often John tells us what Jesus does because the Scriptures said he would. Not here: Jesus himself spoke of what kind of death he would die: an atoning death, a death to set the prisoner free, a death for Peter, and other weak and fallen men like him.
There are few events which all four gospel writers record. Peter’s fall is one of them. They know how we need this. Let this be a lesson to us – do you accept your need for a Savior? Have you come to Jesus in faith, asking him to accept you as one for whom he lays down his life?
