Religious Evil
Notes
Transcript
There are 1.5 million non-profit organizations in the US
In 2017 - $410 Billion was donated to charities
We live in a country where money DONATED to charities is rising...
Where the CONCEPTS of Christianity are actually popular...
Just Be - nice
Love one another
help your neighbor
pursue Equality
All of these things - Christian concepts...
And even popular today...
But HOW DEEP do these things go?
Today we’re going to see how human beings can PIOUSLY KILL JESUS CHRIST...
To be Pious is to be DEVOUTLY RELIGIOUS...
How we can PIOUSLY KILL JESUS...
I want us to view today’s message as - RELIGION vs The MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST
As we come to our text today in John chapter 18, we come to - Christ being brought before the High Priest...
Jesus has been arrested, and so He is brought before the High Priest - to be questioned...
Let’s go to it...
12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
So here in our text we see that there are 2 different meetings that Jesus is a part of...
THE FIRST - being with ANNAS, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas - who was the High Priest that year!
Now Annas was a former High Priest - similar to a FORMER President here in the US...
BUT - unlike former Presidents - it seems Annas still had some power.
During this first meeting...
Annas questions Jesus about His disciples and His teaching...
And so - Jesus responds...
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
What i think we NEED to see here is this...
SLIDE: Religion: Foreign to the Message of Christ
Religion
Religion
Now when I say - RELIGION here - I’m not referring to - THE LAW...
I’m referring to the SYSTEM that says - PERFORM FOR GOD - to be ACCEPTED BY GOD...
That’s RELIGION....
And so back to our text...
The RELIGIOUS ELITE were questioning Jesus about His TEACHING!
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
Jesus REMINDS the RELIGIOUS elites that He’s ALWAYS taught in the synagogues…and the temple...
He’s saying - I’ve ALWAYS TAUGHT in YOUR place!
In FACT - in the NT - there are 168 verses where Jesus is Speaking to (NO DOUBT - TEACHING) - the Pharisees...
He spent His ministry…TEACHING...
…and the Pharisees - more often than not - are in ear-shot
They just didn’t get it!
The Message of Jesus Christ - is INCOMPATIBLE with - RELIGION...
Listen to how Jesus describes this DISCONNECT...
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
What did Jesus mean here?
Jesus is saying to THOSE WHO HAD MEMORIZED the TORAH...
To those who EXTERNALLY performed all the rituals
The INK on those pages DOES NOT equate to - ETERNAL LIFE...
The COLLECTION of words - and FACTS - on those pages - does NOT equate to ETERNAL LIFE
Jesus is saying - I AM ETERNAL LIFE
Jesus is saying -
A HIGH retention of TRUTH in the brain - doesn’t GET YOU ETERNAL LIFE
He’s saying - TRUST in ME gets you eternal life...
SUBMISSION to ME - brings eternal life
But they didn’t GET IT!!
Their PRIDE wouldn’t ALLOW them to SUBMIT!
AND we can SEE this in our text...
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
PRIDE here - responds to Jesus
In the form of a SLAP to the face...
See PRIDE will do whatever it feels it NEEDS to do in order to MAINTAIN its own POWER…POSITION...
We see this ALL throughout scripture...
When satan and the angels fell (pride)
Adam and Eve sin in the garden (pride)
Cain killing Abel (pride)
Tower of Babel (pride)
Jacob and Esau (pride)
Pharoah refusing to let the Israelites go (pride)
The Israelites murmuring in the wilderness (pride)
Refusing to take the land (pride)
Saul going after David (pride)
David and Bathsheba (pride)
David and Uriah (pride)
and on and on and on....(pride, pride, pride)
PRIDE does what it feels it needs to do in order to MAINTAIN its own PLACE in life…POWER - Position...
It will WALK AWAY from Jesus (God) - as the Rich Young Ruler did...
…KNOWING that ITS victory - is YOUR loss
You think your pride CARES about you??
**Married people: Let me see hands - How many times has your pride BENEFITED your marriage?
Your pride DOES NOT care about you...
It will walk away from Jesus
It will EVEN SLAP - Jesus Christ in the face… God in the flesh
The LAST thing that PRIDE desires - is humility...
And THAT is why - the Message of Jesus Christ is FOREIGN to - RELIGION...
Foreign to the message that says - PERFORM FOR God - to be ACCEPTED BY Him...
And BECAUSE this is true… we also see...
SLIDE: Religion: Exposed in the Light of Christ
Religion
Religion
Back to our text...
22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Jesus says - If what I said is wrong…bear witness about the wrong!
TESTIFY to the WRONG that I said!
Was there a REPLY? NO - of course not!
See - that’s what TRUTH does!
When ERROR begins to question TRUTH - the TABLES ALWAYS get turned!!
SLIDE: Truth will always expose error for what it is
Truth will always expose error for what it is
And that’s what happens here - The title in this section of the Bible says - The High Priest Questions Jesus...
Well - ACTUALLY - Jesus ends up QUESTIONING the high priest...
With NO response!
We see this EXPOSING of error in Ephesians...
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
We see here how TRUTH will EXPOSE error for what it truly is...
It will expose human cunning for what it is...
It will expose craftiness for what it is...
It will expose deceitful schemes for what they are...
NOT ONLY this - but Jesus Himself BEING - THE TRUTH - exposes error Himself...
HOW??
Because Jesus - Being the TRUTH - DISPLAYS truth - and thus - REVEALS ERROR...
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus HIMSELF - BEING truth - exposes error for what it is!!
He EXPOSED RELIGION as - a path to destruction!
that Self-Righteous living - leads to eternal death...
But that’s not all!
Let’s continue in our text and see what we find!
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
So Jesus was - QUESTIONED by Annas…the former high priest...
And the MESSAGE of Christ was foreign to his PIOUS heart...
Jesus ENDS up QUESTIONING them - and they have NO ANSWER...
So they send Jesus to the governors headquarters…to see Pilate… the Roman governor of Judea
And where I want to focus - to close today is v28
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
The IRONY here is - overwhelming...
Why didn’t the Jewish Leaders enter Pilates headquarters??
Think through this....
why?
It tells us - They didn’t want to be DEFILED…but that’s not the MAIN reason...
The main reason they did NOT enter Pilate’s headquarters was - - They wanted to eat the PASSOVER...
Well WHAT does the PASSOVER meal REPRESENT?
Hopefully you remember that the PASSOVER Meal commemorates the Israelite Exodus out of Egypt...
Let’s go to it...
3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
This was THE FIRST passover...
NOW - fast forward to our TEXT today…and the Jewish Leaders wanted to PARTAKE in celebrating the EXODUS...
NOW think back to our first 2 points today...
RELIGION (Self-Righteousness) is FOREIGN to the message of Jesus
AND - Jesus EXPOSES the LIE of Self-Righteousness!
What does the PASSOVER represent??
Well Paul tells us when speaking to the Corinthian church...
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
So the OBVIOUS connection is between the LAMB used in the Exodus…to bring physical freedom...
AND the LAMB of God (Jesus) who’s death brought SPIRITUAL freedom...
But that’s not all…as we can see in this passage...
Here we see - Paul views church life in light of the reality of Passover
The setting in this passage is that there was a man who was in an INCESTUOUS relationship with his stepmother… Something the pagans wouldn’t even tolerate...
And so Paul is commanding the church to REMOVE this UNREPENTANT man from the fellowship
Saying - “Cleanse out the OLD LEAVEN (which represents SIN)...”
How does that connect with PASSOVER?
Paul’s - referring to the custom at Passover of going through one’s home and getting rid of any leaven — symbolic of sin — from the home.
See - The death of Christ requires a commitment to forsake sin, to remain unleavened — set apart unto holiness and the service of God.
But when we look back at our text today…what do we see?
28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
Here we have...
SLIDE: Religion: Seeks the Glory Due Christ
Religion
Religion
What do I mean?
Here we have - Men who are:
Trying to please God by partaking in the PHYSICAL rituals of PASSOVER...
eating the physical lamb of the world
ALL THE WHILE...
MURDERING the LAMB of GOD who takes away the SIN of the world!
See RELIGION wants to make a NAME for ITSELF...
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS wants to make a name for itself!!
But it CANNOT do what Jesus HAS DONE!!
Religion CANNOT conquer SIN
Jesus HAS conquered SIN...
The physical CANNOT conquer SPIRITUAL foes!
Back to 1 Corinthians...
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Think about LEAVENED bread...
Just think physical now -
SLIDE:
John Chrysostom writes in his sermon on this passage:
“In the case of material leaven, the unleavened might become leavened, but never the reverse… ”
remember - LEAVEN refers to SIN
And so IN the PHYSICAL world - the bread that becomes LEAVENED - is doomed to STAY leavened...
BUT - if we finish THIS QUOTE which is referring to REMOVING that unrepentant SINNER from the church…we see what JESUS CAN DO...
SLIDE: “In the case of material leaven, the unleavened might become leavened, but never the reverse; whereas here there is a chance of the direct contrary occurring.”
“In the case of material leaven, the unleavened might become leavened, but never the reverse; whereas here there is a chance of the direct contrary occurring.”
REMEMBER...
Paul is telling the church to REMOVE the unrepentant man…FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
Is the man DOOMED to be LEAVENED forever?
Is this COMMAND by Paul VOID of MERCY?
Of course not...
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
This REMOVAL of this man - is a LOVING act...
His REDEMPTION is the goal…!
That he might become - UNLEAVENED!
JESUS changes HEARTS...
RELIGION CANNOT do that!!
HE is due all GLORY…and HONOR...
YET - Religion seeks the glory DUE Christ!
The Jewish Leaders sought to ADHERE to RELIGIOUS RITUALS - WHILE PLOTTING the execution of Jesus Christ..
The ONE for WHOM those rituals POINTED to!
Religion SEEKS the glory due Jesus Christ...
SUMMARY
RELIGION:
Foreign to the message of Jesus Christ
Exposed as error in light of Christ
Seeks the glory due Christ
This is RELIGION - (self-righteousness)
It SEVERS us FROM Jesus Christ...
AND so a QUESTION we need to ask ourselves - One that’s been asked before… David Platt is probably the most recent...
Are we going to die in our religion, or die in our devotion?
Are we going to die - holding tight to our COMFORTS and resting in our WORKS...
OR
Are we going to die - pursuing Christ in the hard places?
The majority of churchgoers (56%) say they pray for opportunities to share their faith, but in the last month, less than 10% had a conversation about the Lord with anyone.
3 out of 4 Christians (75%) seldom have a “spiritual conversation” with anyone.
What’s it going to be for you?
We’ve seen today that RELIGION (self-righteousness) CANNOT bring you to God!
And to the world this SHOULD BE eye-opening!
WHY - because the world believes that we GET TO GOD - by PERFORMING for Him...
by DOING good things and AVOIDING bad things...
But that won’t CUT IT!
ONLY JESUS can bring us to God!
ONLY faith ALONE in Christ ALONE will bring us to God!
We are ALL sinners - all of us have FALLEN short of the glory of God!
We ALL deserve the wrath of God!
And there is NOTHING that WE can do - to fix this!
That’s WHY Jesus came (God in the flesh):
Lived the perfect life (never sinned)
Fulfilled the LAW
Died for our sins....and was RAISED for OUR justification!
Jesus is ALIVE today…and THIS is the good news of Christ...
That He MADE A WAY for us to be reconciled to God...
Will we die in our RELIGION, or will we die in our DEVOTION?
Jesus is the ONLY way...
May we BELIEVE it!
Let’s pray