Sons of God by Faith

Gal 3:26-4:7 Sons of God by faith

Let’s open our bibles to Gal 3.  We will pick up in verse 26 and go through 4:7.  Last week we camped out in vv19-25.

If you missed last week, no fear.  You’re not really in bad shape.  Last week’s text was really a parenthetical section in Paul’s discussion about sons of Abraham and the promised inheritance.  In this parenthesis he discusses the purpose of the Law.

Remember the greater context and purpose of Paul’s letter is to remedy the ill-effects of the Judaizers who were requiring the Gentile believers to be circumcised and obey the Law of Moses and pointing to the Mosaic Covenant as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.  But Paul is showing that Christ is actually the ultimate fulfillment of those promises.  Paul, led by the Holy Spirit anticipates the question: What then was the purpose of the Law?

Very briefly, the point of the law was to point to Christ.  It did that 3 ways:

• Showed Israel that in the flesh, it was impossible to attain and maintain the covenant blessings and privileges and needed grace and mercy from God.
• Foreshadowed Christ.
• Acted as a pedagogue, a teacher & disciplinarian.

Keep in mind that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the story of Israel.  Consider God’s covenant community Israel as you would a person.  A person is conceived and born, is an infant, then a child, and eventually reaches adulthood.  Israel – God’s covenant community also went through these stages of life and while Israel was in the stage of childhood, Israel was under a child conductor – The Law.  But, when Israel reached adulthood (through the coming of Christ), there was no longer a need for a child conductor to teach and discipline Israel.  So, with the coming of Christ, the Law is over and done with.

So let’s jump into the text.

Gal 3:26 – 4:7  ²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 ¹ What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.² He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. ⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵ to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, now Paul adds to his arsenal.  He is showing the superiority of faith in Jesus to works of the Law.  He contrasts 2 modes of existence: the flesh and the spirit.  Works of the law are of the flesh and faith in Jesus is of the spirit.  So far, his arsenal is:

• Justified by faith
• Receive the holy spirit by faith
• Child of Abraham by faith
• Blessed by faith
• Heirs by faith
• Now today: Sons of God by faith

Powerful argument.

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  All who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.  Consider clothing.  It covers.  This morning, I put on clothing (some of you are like, thank you Jesus).  Therefore, you don’t see my belly button, you see this shirt.  I am clothed.  So, instead of seeing me (my skin) you see my clothing.  

In the same way, we have been clothed with Christ.  When God looks upon us, he doesn’t see us, in our sin, He sees Jesus.  He sees a true and faithful Israelite who was perfectly obedient to the Law.  Because we are clothed with Christ, God looks upon us and sees His firstborn Son in whom we are clothed.  Because we are clothed with the Son of God, we are seen as the sons of God.

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Since we, collectively are clothed with Christ, we are one in Christ.  Many individuals unite as one corporate body.  Jews and Greeks unite as one in Christ.  Slave and free unite as one in Christ.  Male and female unite as one in Christ.  Many distinctly different individuals make up the Body of Christ and are clothed with Christ as one.  We are all one in Christ.

When I was a kid, there was a show on television that I loved to watch called VOLTRON.  Several years later Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came along and copied Voltron.  But in my opinion, Voltron illustrates well, the concept Paul is looking to convey here.  Individuals come together and unite as one.  They all belong to Voltron.

²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  If you belong to Christ.  Cody Miles is an individual.  He along with many other individuals make up the student body at SHSU.  He belongs to the student body.  As one who belongs to the student body, he gets certain rights and privileges.  Just like somebody who belongs to the country club.  If you belong to a gang, you are in that gang – you are a part of that entity.  If you are a crip or a blood, you are seen as a crip or blood and you have the rights and privileges of a crip or blood.  

We belong to Christ.  We are in Christ.  We are a part of the corporate body of Christ.   We are a part of the Christ entity.  Since we belong to Christ, we have the rights and privileges of Christ.

Since we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s seed, because Christ is Abraham’s seed.  Paul has already told us, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seeD.  The scripture does not say and to your seeds meaning many people but and to your seed meaning one person, who is Christ.  Christ is the seed.  Christ is the true Israel.  Christ is the seed who is the heir.  If we are clothed in Christ, we are in Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and we are heirs.

Now, Paul is about to connect everything he just said.  Remember last week’s text.  Paul took some time to answer the question: what, then was the purpose of the law?  In that discussion, Paul explained that the Law was a temporal and terminal child-conductor for Israel, which taught and disciplined Israel while Israel was in childhood.  Once Israel reached maturity in adulthood, a child-conductor was no longer necessary.

Paul is drawing on that same idea of Israel’s history as God’s covenant people.  Israel was promised an inheritance.  As long as Israel was a child, Israel was not ready to receive the inheritance.  It wasn’t until Israel was in adulthood that Israel was ready to receive the inheritance.  During childhood, Israel was under a guardian or a trustee – the Law.

Paul illustrates this in Gal 4:1 (he didn’t put chapter divisions)

 ¹ What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.² He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.  If a child is an heir, he will not receive the inheritance until the time set by his father – when he is an adult, when he is mature.  

If Adam declares that Jude is to inherit all that Adam owns, he is not going to give that inheritance to Jude when Jude is 5 years old.  A 5 year old will take that inheritance, liquidate it and buy a bunch of toys.  A child is not mature enough to manage an inheritance.  So Adam would state clearly that Jude will receive the inheritance when he is 18 or 21 or whatever age Adam sees fit.  But that time is set by Adam – Jude’s father.  Adam would state, if I die before Jude reaches adulthood, Jude will be under a guardian or trustee (perhaps an uncle) until adulthood.  When he reaches adulthood, he will receive the inheritance.  God forbid, but if that should happen, all that Adam owns would belong to Jude.  Jude at 5 years old inherits all that is Adam’s, but, you can’t tell.  He didn’t get new star wars action figures.  He didn’t get new batman or spiderman toys.  The money, the house, the cars are his, but he doesn’t yet get to exercise control of it.  He doesn’t appear to have any more than one of Adam’s slaves – they have like 3 (but they’re all white so it’s okay).  Because Jude is under the guardianship of uncle Carl or uncle Mike until the time set by his father.  But, when Jude becomes an adult, at the fullness of time, he will receive the inheritance and exercise the full right of a son.

It was the same for Israel.  Israel was promised an inheritance.  While Israel was a child, Israel didn’t receive the inheritance but was under a guardian until Israel reached adulthood.  That guardian was the Law.  Once Israel reached adulthood, it was time to receive the promised inheritance.

 ³ So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. (YLT) so also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude

Paul is again, showing the temporal and terminal nature of the Law.  Israel was to receive an inheritance.  But as long as Israel was a child, Israel was under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.  Israel was enslaved to the elementary principles of the Law.  Do this.  Don’t do that.  Eat this.  Don’t eat that.  The Law was over Israel until Israel was an adult and ready to receive the inheritance.

Furthermore, note the language “in slavery.”  Remember the theme of the second Exodus.  The gospel is a movement from slavery to freedom.  As Israel of old was delivered from slavery in Egypt and brought into the freedom and rest in the promised land, so also, the true Israel was in Christ being rescued from slavery under the OC and brought into the freedom and rest of the NC.  Paul says we were in slavery under the basic or elementary principles in reference to the Law.  Paul very clearly refers to the Law as slavery (as we saw last week).

⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵ to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

When the time had fully come.  Israel was in childhood under the law awaiting the inheritance and when the time had fully come, when Israel had reached adulthood, God sent his son to redeem those under Law that they might receive the full rights of sons – the ability to receive and manage the inheritance.  As sons they were the heir, but as long as they were a child, they were no different from a slave.  They have as much rights with the inheritance as a slave does – none.  They couldn’t go squander it in immaturity.  But when the time had fully come, God redeemed them and gave them the full rights of sons.  

This happened through the Christ event (the 40 year period from about 30 – 70 AD aka the second Exodus).  The first century was a ripe time in redemptive history.  The first century was the fullness of time.  It was then that God sent his son who was redefining Israel in HIM and ushering in a new covenant and the end of the Mosaic Covenant.  Israel was ready to receive the inheritance.

 ⁶ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

There is a connection between receiving the Holy Spirit, sonship and inheritance.  God gives His spirit (which is the HS, which is the Spirit of His Son) to believers, marking them as sons.  The right of the firstborn son is inheritance.  Those who are in Christ are clothed in Christ, seen as the true and faithful Israelite, firstborn son of God, thus sealed with the Holy Spirit and are heirs.

Let’s shed a little more light on this topic by interpreting Scripture with Scripture.  Once again, Romans is a great commentary on Galatians.

Rom 8:15-17  ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

We are God’s children, thus we are heirs.  Heirs of God (we inherit God) and co-heirs with Christ.  Christ is the heir and we are co-heirs with Him, since we are in Him.

Consider the fact that we, as children of God are heirs of God.  We inherit God.  We get God.  What a privilege.  We get God now and when we die physically, we go to be with Him eternally.

Again, note the connection between the Holy Spirit, being a child of God and receiving the inheritance.

Compare even more Scripture? This is outrageous.  

Eph 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.

You, also, believing Ephesian Gentiles were included IN CHRIST when you believed.  Having believed, you were marked in him, IN CHRIST, with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.  The redemption process of the 2nd Exodus began with the slaughter of the true Passover Lamb and it would end at the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the temple that marked the OC age.  God was redeeming Israel from the curse of the Law.  God had promised Israel an inheritance.  He sent the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing the fullness of the inheritance, which would be given at the end of the 40 year redemption process which was foreshadowed in the Exodus out of Egypt.  The inheritance was far greater than the villages in the Land of Canaan.  It was the kingdom of God.

So again, we see that there is a connection between the receiving of the spirit, being marked as God’s sons and receiving the inheritance.  Those who receive the Spirit are sons.  Sons are heirs.  Those who receive the spirit are God’s children and thus are heirs.

 ⁶ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

What a beautiful passage.  What a magnificent truth taught by Paul in this text.

There are certainly things in this passage that are strictly cultural and historical.  

• We’re not living in Galatia.
• The Judaizers didn’t just come through Georgetown.
• We don’t own slaves.
• We’re not living during the second exodus.

However, there are some timeless truths that have application to our lives 2000 years later and they are lovely.

First of all, surprise: we are not under the Law of Moses.  Gal 3:25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the Law.  You and I as believers in Jesus Christ are not slaves to the Law.  We’ve said this before, We’ll say it again.  In fact.  I’m going to say it again now.  You are not under the Law of Moses.  I hope you don’t roll your eyes at that.  It is something that many Christians don’t fully grasp and it is a foundational precept in Christianity.  It is a glorious truth and it should cause great rejoicing.

• This list could go on forever, but I’ll make it brief…
• Don’t have to make animal sacrifices.  I have a weak stomach.  (Chicken?)
• Don’t live in fear
• FEAR: Did I do this?
• FEAR: Did I fail to do this?
• FEAR: Did the high priest do what he was supposed to do?
• FEAR: Did I measure up to God’s standard?
• FEAR: Will he shut up the skies and cause drought so that my family and I can’t eat?
• FEAR: Will he curse Bre’s womb?
• FEAR: Will he cause an enemy nation to come and destroy us because even though I have been faithful to him, the rest of the covenant community has by and large been unfaithful?
• We are not under the Law: I don’t have to remember an uber long list that would have probably been amended by our religious leaders to be uber-long plus more.  I simply love God and love my neighbor (which is hard enough).

The first precept we considered was that those in Christ are not under the Law of Moses.  

The second precept I would like to draw out is that there are no divisions and classes in the kingdom.  Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  While distinctions remain, divisions do not.  In other words, upon belief a man does not lose the anatomical parts that make him a man.  There is no change in the biology of man and woman, yet, there is no male or female.  We retain the God ordained roles, functions and biological features as male and female.  

We retain ethnicity.  We retain social status.  Distinctions remain, but divisions do not.  

In the kingdom, there is 

• no elevation of one ethnicity over another.
• no elevation of one sex over another.
• no elevation of one social class over another.

God looks upon the Christ entity (those in Christ) and sees one unified Body

• He doesn’t look upon us and say
• Gentile – 2nd class citizen
• Woman – 2nd class citizen
• Slave – 2nd class citizen
• he sees us in Christ as his children and loves us as children
• In OC Israel the sick, diseased or leper was an outcast.  Not in the kingdom.
• Believers should see one another as equals.
• There is no place for racism in the kingdom.
• There is no place for sexism in the kingdom.  Male chauvinists?  No place.
• Thus, as believers we should examine ourselves and seek to rid ourselves of any feeling of superiority to others.
• At the foot of the cross all are equal.  Sinners redeemed by God’s grace, clothed in Christ.  We are all one in Christ Jesus.
• While distinctions remain, divisions do not.

The final and most gorgeous of precepts is: we are loved children of the Most High God.  Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Imagine being Jaden Smith and being able to say know who my daddy is?  Will Smith.  Rapper, TV star, movie star, producer.  That’s my dad.

We can say know who my daddy is?  God.  You know, 

• Self-existent Creator of all things.
• All knowing
• All powerful
• Everpresent
• THAT IS MY DAD!

As a child of God in Christ there is no fear.  Fear has to do with punishment and Christ has already been punished for sin in our place.  We have no fear before our heavenly father.  We have not received a spirit that makes us a slave again to fear, but the spirit of sonship.  Fear was a component of the OC.  Oh no…what if I didn’t.  For those in Christ, it’s not about what I did or didn’t do, it’s about what Christ HAS DONE.  This perfect love drives out fear.  We stand before our heavenly father free of fear.  Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not playing semantics here – we should have a healthy fear in the sense that we recognize him as God in respect, reverence, admiration and awe, but not in the sense of anticipating punishment for sin as that was laid upon our savior at the cross.

Further, as a child of God, clothed in Christ, God is pleased with us in Christ.  He is proud of us.  There is nothing like knowing that your father is proud of you.  I grew up with the sole ambition of making my dad proud.  My dad was a great dad.  No matter how hard I tried I never quite measured up.  Baseball game 3 for 3 with a triple a double and a single.  Stolen bases.  Just waiting to hear, son, I am proud of you.  Son, you let that ground ball get under your glove, you gotta stay down on those.  Dad, I’m leaving AT&T to work full time in the ministry.  I was hoping you’d move into the engineering position at AT&T.  Took me 30 years, but one day, at age 30, I heard the words.  He looked at my family, saw how I operated as a husband and a father, son, I’m proud of you.  That was one of the greatest moments of my life.  Knowing that your father is proud of you is an amazing feeling.

As a child of God, know this: your heavenly father is proud of you.

God is proud of you because you are clothed in Christ.  When he looks upon you, he doesn’t see you in your sin, he sees Christ, in whom you are clothed.  This is what He says of Christ, “This is my son with him I am well pleased.”  Since you are in Christ, he is pleased with you.

That is one of the greatest feelings one can know.

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life

I am the way, and the truth and the life.  These are the words of Jesus in John 14:6.

I believe this verse conveys a simple and straightforward truth: Jesus is the one and only way to God.  Jesus is the only means of intimate fellowship with the Father.

Turn with me to John 14.  Let me share with you the context.

The time has come for the Passover meal.  The 12 disciples join Jesus for the Passover meal, which Israel has celebrated for centuries in remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  At the meal, Jesus does the unthinkable.  He gets up from the meal and begins to wash the disciples’ feet one by one.  

Then Jesus says, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer.  You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going you cannot come.”

Simon Peter, asks, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

• Jesus is only going to be around a little longer.  
• Then He is going somewhere that the disciples cannot go yet, but will later.

That’s where we pick up in John 14:1

¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In 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.  ³And 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.  

• Jesus said he would only be with them for a little while
• He said where he’s going they cannot come
• He said they cannot follow him there yet, but later would
• He says that He is going to His Father’s House to prepare a place for them since there are many rooms there
• He says he will then come back (2nd coming) and take them to be with Him where he is

⁴You know the way to the place where I am going."   ⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

 ⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Jesus’ response is profound.  Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I believe the essence of what Jesus is saying is that he is going to the Father.  He is going to be with the Father.  The way to the Father is Jesus.  Jesus is the only way to God.  

Jesus is the only means of intimate fellowship with the Father.

"I am the WAY and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

VERSE 7 If you really knew me, you would know my father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.  (Jesus is reiterating a point he already made in John 8:58 & John 10:30 – I & the father are one.  Jesus is God in the flesh)

⁸Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

 ⁹Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (again, Jesus is God) How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Jesus makes it clear that He and the Father are one.  If you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father.  Heb 1:3 The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.  If you’ve seen Jesus you’ve seen the exact representation of God’s being.  Jesus is God.  Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God.  If you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the image of the invisible God.  Jesus is God.

¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  ¹⁵"If you love me, you will obey what I command.  ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (He is going to send the Holy Spirit) ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (He reiterates the promise of his return) ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  

²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  ²¹Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

 ²²Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"  ²³Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Now that sounds like a contradiction.  WHICH IS IT?  Is it Jesus taking man away from earth to be with Him and the Father somewhere else OR are Jesus and the Father coming to earth to be with man here?  Those statements sound contradictory.  I don’t believe they are contradictory.  I think they are 2 sides of the same coin.

Jesus is the way to have fellowship with the Father on earth while alive physically and in heaven after one dies a physical death.

Jesus is going to be with the Father, then at his coming Jesus and the Father will dwell together with man.  

THE POINT ISN’T THE PHYSICAL LOCATION.  The point is proximity.  The goal is getting God.  The focus is fellowship with the Father.  Want to know the way to be with the Father?  Jesus.  He is the WAY.  No one comes to the Father except through Him.

I believe that Jesus is communicating that he is going to go away.  He will die and be resurrected to the right hand of the Father.  Then he would return and at his 2nd coming, he would gather believers together, not in a physical geographic location, but into the spiritual kingdom to dwell with Him and His father in intimate fellowship.  I believe that is a reality for those alive on earth and I believe that is a reality for those who die a physical death.  Whether on the planet or in heaven, through Jesus, man has intimate fellowship with the Father.

I believe he uses language to describe the nature of his relationship to believers, in the church age: INTIMATE.  It’s all about relationship.  It’s all about man dwelling with God intimately.

I BELIEVE THAT JESUS’ LANGUAGE APPEALS TO 2 IMAGES.  

• Marriage (groom & bride) in which God dwells with His people INTIMATELY
• Temple (made up of living stones) in which God dwells with His people INTIMATELY

Recall what Jesus said at the beginning of John 14.  ¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In 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.  ³And 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.  

We have 2 images depicted here.  The first one is the image of a marriage.  Jesus is using language of a man betrothed to a woman.  When 2 people were betrothed to be married, the woman would spend time working on her dress while the man went to his father’s house to add on a room to that house for he and his new bride to DWELL IN TOGETHER after the wedding.  Jesus is using this language.   

Jesus is communicating that He was betrothed to the church, that He would prepare a place in His Father’s house, he would return and marry the church, consummate the marriage and bring the church to dwell intimately with Him and the Father.

Jesus is the means of intimate fellowship with the Father.  He is painting a picture of this intimacy by using the imagery of marriage.

THROUGHOUT THE SCRIPTURES we see this image of Jesus as the groom and the CHURCH AS THE BRIDE.  

John 3:25-29  ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s (JTB) disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

 ²⁷ To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. (JTB wasn’t receiving the bride from heaven – Jesus was)  ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

You see that?  People were concerned that John’s disciples were going to Jesus.  John the Baptist said that the bride belongs to the bridegroom.  The church belongs to Jesus.  I’m the friend who attends the bridegroom.  I’m just the best man.  It’s not about me.  It’s about Him.  I want the bride to go to Him because he is the groom.  

Throughout the Scriptures we have this imagery of Christ being the groom and the church as the bride; this shows the intimacy of God dwelling with man in the new covenant.

All throughout the Scriptures we have reference to this wedding of the Son and His people.  We see it in Ephesians 5.  Matt 22 & Matt 25.  The Scriptures teach that Jesus is the groom and the church was His bride.

We see it in Rev 21:1-3  ¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 

Jesus is saying that in the New Covenant age, the nature of the relationship between God and his people is that of a husband and wife.  They will be united as one in intimate fellowship.

THIS IS ABOUT A RESTORED RELATIONSHIP with God in a NC age where sin has been removed & remembered no more and there is a subsequent intimacy between God & His people.  It is the intimacy of a groom and his bride as the church is the bride of Christ.  

He goes away, adds on to His Father’s house, then comes to marry His bride and dwell with her in His Father’s House.  Dwell with her, be with her, intimately, in fellowship.  The point is proximity.  God is the goal.  The focus is fellowship with the Father.

AGAIN, JESUS’ LANGUAGE IS 2 – FOLD (2 images: marriage & temple).  We just looked at one image as Jesus used the language of a groom preparing a place for his bride and wee see in that the intimate fellowship of Christ and the church as they then dwell together.

THE 2ND IMAGE THAT JESUS ALLUDES TO IS THAT OF THE TEMPLE.  Remember, Jesus says, in my Father’s house are many rooms.  “My Father’s house” is a phrase that Jesus uses to refer to the temple.  He made it clear that God was his father.  The Jews saw the temple as the house of God.  Thus, when Jesus says “my father’s house” that conveys the idea of the temple.

In Luke 2 we read of Jesus’ family in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.  They left afterwards thinking he was with them.  Then they realized he wasn’t and went back to search for him.  

Luke 2:46-49   ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”  "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"  But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Jesus was in the temple – He called it His Father’s house.  After all, that’s where God was – in the temple, right?

In John 2 we read of another incident in the temple courts when Jesus found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.  So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  John 2:16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here!  How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”  Jesus, in the temple courts says how dare you turn MY FATHER’S HOUSE into a market.  Jesus is the son of God, his father is God.  He is referring to the temple as God’s house – his father’s house.

The Jews anticipated a Messianic Temple that would accompany the age of the Messiah.  The Temple is where God’s presence dwelt.  Jesus’ language conveys the idea of BUILDING THE MESSIANIC TEMPLE IN THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE.  

Jesus is speaking of making the dwelling of God to be with men and making men able to dwell with God.  

Remember Jesus’ words in John 14:23  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The rest of the NT attests to the fact that the Messianic Temple was indeed under construction in the first century.

Eph 2:19-22 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

1 Pet 2:4- 7 ⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For in Scripture it says: 
   "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ⁷Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," 

2Cor 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Remember, Jesus’ contemporaries were THINKING PHYSICAL.  In 70 AD the physical temple (the Mosaic temple – if you will) was destroyed.  The Messianic temple is not a physical temple, but is a spiritual temple.  We, believers, make up the temple.  We are stones, joined together to make up a temple for God’s presence to dwell in.  HE DWELLS IN AND AMONGST HIS PEOPLE IN INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP.  

Jesus says he will prepare a place for his disciples in His father’s house.  His father’s house is the temple.  I believe he was referring to the NC temple, the spiritual temple that would accompany the new age.  The physical temple was destroyed at the end of the old age and the new temple was dedicated and indwelt by the fullness of God as Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  In this we see God dwelling intimately with His people.  God’s people with Him in fellowship.

So Jesus uses these 2 images in His language:

• Marriage (groom & bride) in which God dwells with His people
• Temple (made up of living stones) in which God dwells with His people

So in review, Jesus is going to the Father where He is.  He says that He is the way to the Father.  He speaks of returning to bring his disciples to be with Him and he speaks of he and His father coming to make their home with them.  

The idea conveyed here is that man will be WITH GOD and GOD WITH MAN.  The point is proximity.  The goal is getting God.  The focus is fellowship with the Father.  The WAY for man to be with God is Jesus.  

Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.

I AM THE WAY – the way to be with God.  I am the way, he says.  

THEN HE SAYS I AM THE TRUTH.  For them truth was contained in the Scriptures, the OT.  They had the Law and Psalms and Prophets.  They saw the Scriptures as truth (as do we).  Jesus says I am the Truth.  In other words, I am the one Moses and David and the Prophets wrote about.  I came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.  I am the Truth, Jesus says.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

I am the way, the truth and the life.  

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT JESUS IS THE LIFE?  We dealt with this to a great degree last week, and as we have indicated already to a degree, this is ALL ABOUT FELLOWSHIP.  In the Garden man began in right relationship with God – IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.  The first Adam broke fellowship with God through disobedience and the result was death – separation from God.  According to God’s decree in the garden (Gen 2:17) ON THE DAY he ate of the forbidden fruit he died.  He didn’t die a physical death for 930 years, but ON THE DAY he ate of it he died a death according to the words from God’s mouth.  The day he ate of it he was banished from the garden, banished from the presence of God, SEPARATED FROM GOD – spiritual death.   In Adam all die – not a physical death, but a spiritual death.  

All are separated from God.  The first Adam brought death.  The last Adam, (or the 2^nd Adam) CHRIST, BROUGHT LIFE; He brought RESTORATION TO GOD; HE RESTORED FELLOWSHIP with God and fixed what was broken through sin.

Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Sin separates man from God.  This is death.  Jesus unites man with God.  This is life.

Isaiah 59:2  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.  Sin separates man from God.  The wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life.  Jesus says in John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ. 

The wages of sin is death – separation from God.  The gift of God is eternal life – being in fellowship with God and His son Jesus Christ.  He is the life.

So when Jesus says I am the way and the truth and the LIFE, he is identifying Himself as the WAY to be with the Father in fellowship, the TRUTH as foretold in the Law & Prophets, and the LIFE; the SOURCE OF RESTORED RELATIONSHIP with God.  No one comes to the Father except through Him.  He is the only way to the Father.  Because of the sin of Adam, all are born into sin, into a state of separation from God.  Christ is the only way to be right with the Father, RESTORED to the Father, in FELLOWSHIP with the Father.  

NEARNESS TO GOD IS THE GOAL.  

Being with Him in fellowship is our LIFE’S PURPOSE.  

Sin separates man from a holy God.  The only way to be near this Holy God, the ONLY WAY TO BE WITH THE FATHER IS THROUGH JESUS; Jesus’ blood makes atonement for our sin.  

Jesus is the way.  Jesus is the truth.  Jesus is the Life.  

No one comes to the Father except through Him.  The point is proximity.  The goal is getting God.  The focus is fellowship with the Father.  Jesus is the way to get to God.  Jesus is the way to have restored relationship with God.  Jesus is the way to have intimate fellowship with the Father.  No one comes to the Father, except through Him.

I am the resurrection and the life

I am the resurrection and the life

I am the resurrection and the life.  These are the words of Jesus in John 11:25.  

I am the resurrection and the life.  What is resurrection?  What is life and what does it mean that Jesus is the resurrection and the life?

RESURRECTION IS THE PROCESS OF GOING FROM DEATH TO LIFE.

Resurrection is crossing over from death to life.  Resurrection is being raised from the dead.  Resurrection is the process of going from death to life.  In the bible we see more than one concept of life and death.  We see physical life and spiritual life.  We see physical death and spiritual death.

THE BIBLE’S GREAT CONCERN (MAN’S CONCERN) IS SPIRITUAL DEATH.

Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.  Spiritual death simply defined as separation from God and it is the result of sin.  Rom 6:23   The wages of sin is death – spiritual death.  In Genesis 2 we read that God put Adam in the garden of Eden.  He told him in Gen 2:16-17 you may eat from any tree in the garden.  But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.  For in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.   Adam ate.  In the day he ate, he did not die physically.  He died spiritually.  He sinned against God and God condemned him, casting him out of God’s presence.  He was separated from God.  The day he disobeyed, the day he sinned, he died spiritually.  This spiritual death is man’s problem, not physical death.  The Bible’s concern is spiritual death.

The Bible is all about man’s fall into sin, that sin causing separation between God and man, man’s attempts at attaining favor with God in his own power (failing to accomplish that goal), then God coming in the form of man to remove man’s sin and restoring the fellowship between God and man.  Jesus brought men out of the spiritual death that came through Adam and into spiritual life.  Through Adam, sin separated man from God; Jesus restored man to fellowship with God.  Through Adam man died spiritually.  Through Jesus man who was dead spiritually, comes to life spiritually.  Through Jesus, man goes from death to life.  JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.  Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.  The Bible’s concern is spiritual death.

Man dying a physical death doesn’t necessitate separation from God.  When a man dies physically, when his physicality expires, when his organs cease to function, God doesn’t say “Oh no.  He’s gone and we can never be together because he’s gone forever.”  Physical death doesn’t necessitate separation from God – in fact, for believers, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  When I die a physical death that doesn’t mean I don’t get to be with God; it means I continue to be with God in heaven.  We sing a song “better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”  From Psalm 84:10 The idea of that song is from an old covenant perspective, God’s dwelling place was the Temple.  The idea of that line is it is better to dwell with God for just a small amount of time than it is to dwell anywhere else for a long amount of time.  In other words, man’s goal shouldn’t be to live in a physical body on this planet forever; man’s goal should be fellowship with God.  Being with God is the highest goal.  What good is living in a physical body forever on this planet if it’s not in fellowship with God?  Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.  The Bible’s concern is spiritual death.

Matt 8:18-22   ¹⁸ When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”   ²⁰ Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”   ²¹ Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  ²² But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”  Let the dead bury their own dead?  How can a dead person bury anybody?  Physically dead people can’t do stuff.  Exactly.  Follow me and let the (spiritually) dead bury their own (physically) dead.  Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.

1 Timothy 5:6  But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.  How can somebody be dead even while they live?  Can you be physically dead while you live?  No.  The widow who lives for pleasure (the widow whose life is sinful) is (spiritually) dead even while she lives (physically).  Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.

We have seen that physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.  The Bible’s concern is spiritual death which comes through sin.  Man’s ultimate goal is God.  Every other world religion out there is some weak attempt on behalf of man to achieve reconciliation to God, to overcome this spiritual death.  But overcoming this spiritual death is only achieved through Jesus Christ.

JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.  RESURRECTION IS GOING FROM DEATH TO LIFE AND THAT IS ACHIEVED IN CHRIST.

Eph 2:1-5  ¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead (we went from death to life) in transgressions.  In other words, you were spiritually dead, when you were in your sins, but God made you spiritually alive with Christ.  JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.

The wages of sin is death.  Sin separates man from a holy God.  In Jesus Christ, that sin is dealt with.  He was punished for our sins and made atonement.  Our sin was removed from us and placed upon Him.  There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but we stand justified before God.  We receive a verdict of not guilty.  Because our sin is dealt with in Christ and no longer applied to our account, it no longer separates us from God.  Sin is no longer a separating factor for us.  We are no longer dead in sins.  Through this atoning work and this removal of our guilt and condemnation, we have restored relationship to God, we have fellowship with the Father.  In Christ, we go from spiritual death to spiritual life.  JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.

NOW LET’S LOOK AT OUR CONTEXT.  Turn with me to John 11.  Let’s see the circumstances in which Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.

John 11:1  ¹ Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”   This isn’t just a random guy.  Jesus healed random people.  Sir, my daughter is sick, just say the word.  But this isn’t a stranger.  This is the one Jesus loves.  This is Jesus’ bestie, his BFF.

 ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.  Some translations say SO when he heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was 2 more days.  Jesus’ BFF is sick.  So sick his sisters sent word to Jesus, the one who heals people, turns water to wine, walks on water, multiplies bread, performs miracles, that kind of stuff.  But when he got the word he didn’t say, well I better hurry up because my miracles only go so far, we have to catch him before he dies, let’s go guys, what are you waiting for.  When he got word, he stayed where he was 2 more days.

 ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”  ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” 

 ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.” 

 ¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”   Fallen asleep is a euphemism for physical death that we find in the NT (3x in 1Cor 15, 2x in 1Ths 4 all in context of resurrection).  Why “fallen asleep?”  As we will see in our text today, physical death isn’t the end.  At the end of the age there was to be a resurrection out of that death so it wasn’t permanent, it was temporary, like sleep.  Physical death isn’t man’s problem.  Spiritual death is man’s problem.  The Bible’s concern is spiritual death.

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep VERSE 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

 ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

 ¹⁶ Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  I don’t know what to make of this.  Some say that he is being sarcastic, which makes sense in light of their urging Jesus not to go.  Let’s go also so that we may die with him.  He’s dead.  They want to stone Jesus.  They’ll probably stone us for believing in Jesus.  Let’s go die too.

 ¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 

 ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 

 ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 

 ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 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?”

Martha knows about the doctrine of the resurrection at the last day.   How did Martha know that?  Paul hadn’t written 1 Cor 15 yet.  Martha knew the doctrine of the resurrection at the last day because the doctrine of the resurrection at the last day is found in the OT Scriptures.  It wasn’t a new teaching only found in the NT epistles, it was an old teaching found in the Prophets and having to do with Israel’s eschatological hopes.  The resurrection was the hope of Israel.  It was a teaching found in the OT and anything the NT says about it flows from the OT teaching about it and has the OT as a backdrop.

A few OT passages in which we find the resurrection include

• Isaiah 25:6-8
• Ezekiel 37
• Daniel 12
• Hosea 13:14

Not enough time to unpack those right now as much as I’d like to, but I mention them so that you can take note and explore them on your own in light of today’s message.  What I hope to convey to you is simply that the resurrection that Martha anticipated was foretold in the OT scriptures.  The resurrection was an OT doctrine.

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Martha, knows about the resurrection of the dead because she is familiar with the Scriptures.  That resurrection is in Jesus, because Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.  The resurrection foretold in the OT was fulfilled in Jesus.  Isaiah 25 is fulfilled in Jesus.  Ezekiel 37 is fulfilled in Jesus.  Hosea 13:14 is fulfilled in Jesus.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.  JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.

The OT foretold the time when they would go from death to life and it finds its fulfillment in Jesus.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.  Martha, you are right about the fact that there is a resurrection in the end of the age, at the last day.  But here’s what you probably don’t fully understand yet: the scriptures about resurrection, the scriptures that foretold crossing over from death to life – they were pointing to me.  Those who believe in me will live even though they die.  He who believes in me will live spiritually, even though he dies physically.  For those who believe in me, they will not be separated from God forever.  They will only sleep until the resurrection – then they will be brought into the presence of God.  Though they die physically, they will live spiritually.  Though the outer body dies, the inner soul will live and be with God.

²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  If the last day comes and someone is still alive physically and he believes in me, he will never die spiritually.  He will never be separated from God.  He won’t even sleep.  He will go straight to be with the Lord.

We saw that the resurrection is an OT doctrine and the hope of Israel.  We saw that Jesus identified Himself as the fulfillment of that resurrection.  Now I’d like to look at some other passages in the NT that will help to add to our understanding of Jesus as the fulfillment of the resurrection.

We read in Matt 12:38-40  ³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

 ³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  A sign signifies.  It is not the reality itself.  It points to another reality.  When you see a sign that says garage sale, that sign is not the garage sale.  It only tells you that there is a garage sale.  It points to another reality.  The resurrection of Jesus was a sign.  It signifies that his body was being brought from death to life.  The resurrection of the body of Christ pointed to the reality that those who were in Christ, the true Israel were being brought out of death and into life.

In short: THE BODY OF CHRIST WAS RESURRECTED.  THUS, THE BODY OF CHRIST WAS BEING RESURRECTED.  In other words, the physical body of Christ with holes in hands laid in the tomb, was raised and so the body of Christ made up of many parts aka the church was being raised and in a sense had been raised.

Eph 1:20 That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰ which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms

God raised Christ from the dead (resurrection of Jesus).  Jesus was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father.

Now check this out.

Eph 2 (we read a portion earlier but stopped just short of v6).  Eph 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

See that.  Jesus was raised and seated at the right hand.  Eph 1:20.  God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ.  Eph 2:6.

The body of Christ was raised; thus, the body of Christ was raised.  Those in Christ, the church aka the body of Christ were raised with Him and are with Him.

Col 2:11-13 ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the flesh, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

 ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. 

You were raised with him.  That’s resurrection.  You were dead.  God made you alive with Christ.  That’s resurrection.  Because you are in Christ (in the body of Christ) and His body was raised, you who are in the Body of Christ have been raised.

Jesus was raised; thus those in the body of Christ have been raised with Him.

Now wait a minute.  This sounds like Paul is saying that at the resurrection of Jesus the general resurrection spoken of in 1 Cor 15 occured.  If that’s the case, then he’s saying that the resurrection happened in circa 30 – 33 AD.  Didn’t Paul condemn Hymenaeus and Philetus for saying that the resurrection already happened in his 2^nd letter to Timothy written just before his death in the mid – late 60’s?  How could Paul in one breath say that we have been raised with Christ and yet condemn Hymenaeus for saying that the resurrection already happened?

That is a great question.  In my answering that, I would appeal to the already, not yet hermeneutic that so many scholars point to.  In the Scriptures we see a multitude of eschatological realities that are said to already be realities and then are said to be future realities.

For example, Gal 3:26 you are sons of God.  Yet in Rom 8:23 Not only so but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons.  So in one breath Paul says they were sons of God.  In another breath Paul says that they were awaiting adoption as sons.  Already but not yet.  Already sons, but not yet sons.

Romans 9:30  What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith.  Yet in Gal Gal 5:5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  So in one breath righteousness has been attained.  In another breath, they were eagerly awaiting the righteousness for which they hoped.  Already but not yet.  Already righteous, but not yet righteous.

Eph 2:15 by abolishing in his flesh the law…  And yet in Heb 8:13 By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.  So in one breath the OC was abolished already and in another breath it was obsolete and aging and would soon disappear.  Already gone but not yet gone.

I believe resurrection is no different.  They were already raised with Christ.  Yet, they were awaiting the full consummation of resurrection.  The resurrection was in process just as redemption and justification were in process.  They couldn’t be fully restored into the presence of God (fully alive) until the full removal of the law.  The law still condemned men to death until the full and final sweeping away of the OC order in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.

So in review, we defined resurrection as the process of going from death to life.  We showed that the bible speaks of not only physical death but also spiritual death and that man’s problem is not physical death.  Mans problem is spiritual death – separation from God.  But in Christ man crosses over from death to life.  The sin that separates man from God is removed in Christ and man is restored to fellowship with God.  In Christ man goes from spiritual death to spiritual life.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  As the resurrection, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures because the resurrection is a doctrine that is found in the OT Scriptures.  We saw that the resurrection of the Body of Christ was a sign of the resurrection of the Body of Christ – that those who belonged to Christ were already raised with Him, but not fully raised to life – not fully restored to the presence of God until the full removal of the law because the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.

The law has been fully removed.  We are fully in the new covenant.  We have been raised with Christ, fully.  We have been fully restored to a right relationship with God.  We have fellowship with the father.  Our sins have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west.  Sin does not separate us from God.  We have gone from death to life.  We were dead in sin but God made us alive in Christ.  We have been raised with Jesus.  We have resurrection life now because we are in Christ.  He is the resurrection and the life.  

I AM the good shepherd

I AM the good shepherd

I am the Good Shepherd.

These are the words of Jesus in John 10:11 & again in v 14.

Let’s explore the implications of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in light of the Biblical context.

Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.  A shepherd is one who herds sheep.  Is that what Jesus did?  Was his profession to herd those white fluffy animals?  Mark 6:3 implies that he was a carpenter.  Jesus didn’t literally herd sheep.  Just as Jesus wasn’t literally made out of flour, yeast, butter and salt though He is the bread of life.  Nor did Jesus have literal roots that fixated him into the dirt as he photosynthesized though he is the true vine.  Nor did Jesus literally illuminate his area, making things optically visible, though he is the light of the world.  Nor does Jesus swing on hinges though he is the gate.  Jesus uses these metaphors in order to communicate spiritual realities.  

Today we want to explore what spiritual realities are communicated by Jesus’ statement, I AM the good Shepherd.

As I said earlier, a shepherd herds sheep.  Have you ever noticed that most other animals don’t have a human that follows them around, herding them?  Where’s the lion herder?  What about the anteater herder?  No one is putting forth this much effort to tend to other animals; why is it that they do so with sheep?  

WHY A SHEPHERD?

SHEEP ARE MISERABLE CREATURES – A POOR EXCUSE FOR AN ANIMAL!

• Sheep are fearful, timid, stupid and stubborn
• Startle easy, but don’t have a good sense of danger, could nibble self off of a cliff
• They make mistakes and don’t learn from them; they repeat them
• Wander off, get lost, can’t find way home even when pen is in plain sight
• Sheep require endless attention and meticulous care 

THEY NEED A SHEPHERD (one who herds the shep/sheep – a SHEP HERD)

• When sheep are thirsty, they become restless and begin to search for water. They will drink any water they can find – even polluted water that can cause disease – so a shepherd must lead them to clean, refreshing water that can satisfy them and keep them healthy.  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD
• If a sheep is turned over on its back it cannot get up again.  In this case a sheep will die unless its shepherd gets to it in time to “right it.”  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD
• Sheep are defenseless animals (no claws like cat, no needles like porcupine, scent like skunk, teeth like lion). Thus, they are in constant need of protection, shepherds protect them.  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE SHEEP.  Over and over, the Bible compares God’s people to these fearful, timid, stupid, stubborn animals who require endless attention and meticulous care.

• Psalm 79:13  Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Psalm 100:3  Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.  It’s no different in the NT…
• Matthew 7:15  "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Matthew 10:6  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Matthew 25:32-33 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.

LET’S FACE IT; WE CAN BE JUST LIKE SHEEP.  

• Like sheep, we can be fearful, timid, stupid & stubborn.  
• Just like sheep, we can nibble at something, making our way towards a cliff (not literally, but figuratively speaking in regards to sin we can make our way to the edge of a cliff and nibble, nibble, over the edge).  
• Just like a sheep we make mistakes and don’t learn from them.  
• Just like sheep we wander off.  
• Just like sheep we require endless attention and meticulous care.  
• Just like sheep, we will drink from dirty water rather than drinking from streams of living water.  
• Just like sheep we can fall on our backs and feel like we can never get up and are thus in need of a shepherd to “right us.”

JUST LIKE SHEEP, WE NEED A SHEPHERD.  

We need someone to:

• tend us
• herd us
• keep us safe
• protect us from danger
• protect us from ourselves

AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD, WE, THE SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD.

The good news is: WE HAVE ONE.  The REALLY GOOD NEWS is we have a GOOD SHEPHERD!  As new covenant believers in Jesus, we, the true people of God, the true Jews, the real Israel, have a good shepherd.

However, UNDER THE OC, the Law of Moses, ethnic Israel, as the people of God as sheep looked to their leaders as their shepherds, the priests, the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  THE SHEPHERDS OF THE OC PEOPLE WERE BAD SHEPHERDS.  

Open your Bibles to Jeremiah 23.

Jer 23:1-5 1Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD. 3I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD. 5“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David (or up from David’s line) a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”

In this passage, we see that God says 4 things:

• the shepherds in the OC are bad (v1 – woe to the shepherds)
• God will remove them as shepherds (v2 – I will bestow punishment on you)
• God, Himself will shepherd His people (v3 – I myself will gather the remnant of my flock)
• God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people (v5)

Turn with me now to Ez 34.  In Ezekiel we will read about those very same bad shepherds.  And we see those same 4 elements.  We find the fulfillment of this prophecy in Christ.  

Read with me Ezekiel 34:1-24.   

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; (OC shepherds are bad shepherds) prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.  ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.  (bad shepherds)

 ⁷ " 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I WILL REMOVE THEM FROM TENDING THE FLOCK  so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

 ¹¹ " 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I MYSELF will search for my sheep and look after them.   ¹² AS A SHEPHERD looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, SO WILL I LOOK AFTER MY SHEEP. (God, Himself will shepherd His people) I WILL RESCUE THEM from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

 ¹⁷ " 'As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

 ²⁰ " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, ²² I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will place over them ONE shepherd, MY SERVANT DAVID, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.  (God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people)

Again, we see the same 4 elements:

• the shepherds in the OC are bad (v2)
• God will remove them as shepherds (v10)
• God, Himself will shepherd His people (v11-16)
• God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people (v23-24)

QUICK SUMMARY: IN CONJUNCTION WITH NC

God says that shepherds of his people under the OC are bad shepherds.  They were selfish shepherds, that didn’t care for the sheep, but only themselves.  But God told them that one day, in conjunction with a New Covenant, He would remove these bad shepherds, and place over them ONE SHEPHERD, David.  And yet, at the same time, he says that He, himself will look after his sheep.  

WHICH IS IT?  (God or David?) Is it God who will shepherd his flock or will it be a descendent of David?  YES!

Flip with me to John 10:11-18 

What we are about to look at in John’s gospel is that JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROPHECY.  JESUS IS THE ONE SHEPHERD WHO DESCENDED FROM DAVID (WHO IS ALSO GOD).

John 10:11-18 ¹¹"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

 ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸No 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."

He begins by contrasting Himself with the leaders of old.  

UNDER THE OC, THE LEADERS OF HIS PEOPLE WERE BAD SHEPHERDS.

Jesus, on the other hand comes on the scene and claims, ¹¹"I am the good shepherd.  Those who have been tending the flock are bad shepherds.  I’m not like them; I am the good shepherd, Jesus says.

He continues in v11 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. THE SHEPHERDS OF OLD, THE BAD SHEPHERDS WERE TOTALLY SELFISH.  The shepherds of old only took care of themselves, not the flock.  However, Jesus, the Good Shepherd is totally SELFLESS.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old ate the curds, clothed themselves with the wool and slaughtered the choice animals.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not take care of the flock.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not strengthen the weak or heal the sick or bind up the injured.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not bring back the strays or search for the lost.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old ruled them harshly and brutally.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, not one of the bad shepherds of the OC.  I am the good shepherd, the SELFLESS shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, not one of the SELFISH shepherds of the OC.

Continuing in John 10:12, ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  Hey, I’ll pay you to watch my sheep.  Okay, I’ll watch your sheep.  I’ll come out there and play video games on my contraption.  This is good stuff, getting paid to look after some sheep, this is cake, easy money.  Oh, wait, what’s that?  A wolf is coming.  I ain’t sticking around to get torn up.  I’m out of here.  That is the mentality of the hired hand.  He’s not the shepherd who owns the sheep.  They don’t belong to him.  He doesn’t care about those sheep as the shepherd who owns them does.  

¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jesus is implying here that the shepherds of old, the BAD SHEPHERDS UNDER THE OLD COVENANT WERE AS THE HIRED HAND.  God had entrusted to them the flock.  God trusted them to shepherd his people, lead them, guide them, love them.  But they didn’t.  They were a hired hand who cared nothing for the sheep.  However, on the other hand, Jesus is not the hired hand, he is the one to whom the sheep belong, the one who truly cares for the sheep.  If a wolf attacked His sheep, he would go all out to protect them; he would lay down his life for the sheep.  Greater love has no one than this that he would lay down his life.  

Continuing in John 10:14  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  Again, Jesus is not just a hired hand who doesn’t know the sheep.  Jesus is the good shepherd who knows the sheep.  And the sheep know him.  Goats don’t know him; wolves in sheep’s clothing don’t know him, but the sheep know him.  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—Those who were truly sheep, those who truly belonged to Him recognized him.  Remember, they knew Ezekiel 34.  They expected the day when God would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel, which according to Ez 34:25 would be a covenant of peace.  

It would be a covenant in which there would be ONE SHEPHERD, DAVID (v23).  God would REMOVE THE SHEPHERDS OF OLD (v10) and GOD WOULD SHEPHERD THEM (vv11-16).  Jesus is the good shepherd.  He knows his sheep and the sheep know Him.  Those who truly belonged to Him, the sheep, knew Jesus, responded to Jesus.  However, those who were WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING did not recognize Jesus as shepherd, but rejected Him.  Those who were not sheep but GOATS, those unbelieving Jews rejected him, they did not know him.  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. Now this is referring to our brothers, the Mormons.  That was a joke   Jesus was speaking to Jews.  At that point in human history, when Jesus came on the scene, God’s people were ethnic Israelites.  The idea of Gentiles being part of the people of God was a foreign idea to the Jews.  Jesus is telling Jews in the first century that He will be bringing OTHER sheep into the sheep pen.  Jesus is foretelling of the inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God.  THIS IS YOU & ME!!!

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.   There shall be ONE FLOCK.  There’s only one flock of God’s people.  There isn’t 2 different people groups that God has.  He has one flock made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, not one group of ethnic Jews that belong to him and one group of believers in Christ.  One flock made up of believing Jews and Gentiles.  One olive tree where unbelieving branches were cut off and unnatural branches were grafted in.  One olive tree, not 2.  One body of believers, not 2.  One flock.  

There shall be one flock and ONE SHEPHERD.  This is a direct reference to the prophecy in Ezekiel 34:23-24 ²³ I will place over them ONE SHEPHERD, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.  Jesus, God in the flesh, is the one shepherd.  The shepherds of old have been removed in the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman armies in 70 AD in the sweeping away of the OC and replaced by one shepherd, Jesus, who is a descendant of David and who is God in the flesh.

They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

This one shepherd is Jesus.  He is the image of the invisible God who was to come to shepherd them; He was the descendant of David who was to come to shepherd them.  One shepherd, Jesus – THE GOOD SHEPHERD.  

• The shepherds of OC were bad shepherds.  
• God removed them and 
• placed over his people one shepherd, 
• the descendent of David, Jesus, who is God.  

We see in this 2 of our themes that have been present throughout these I AM statements: Jesus is God and Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus says.

Continuing in v17 - ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life Jesus keeps saying this.  This is the 3rd time since v11 Jesus says that he lays down His life.  I don’t think his original audience caught the power of what He was saying.  Not only is Jesus simply a good shepherd who would go all out for his sheep in danger, he is literally about to die for his sheep. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life —only to take it up again.  Not only will Jesus lay down his life, he will also take it up again.  Not only did he go to the grave, he conquered the grave; he rose on the 3rd day.

¹⁸No 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."  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was no accident.  Nobody took his life.  He laid it down of His own accord.  At his command ten thousand angels could have come to his rescue, but was led like a lamb to the slaughter.  Christ, doing the will of His Father, laid down His life of His own accord.

The Good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep.  That’s how good He is.

Oh, how good is our shepherd!  We who are believers are the sheep of His flock.  As sheep, we are fearful, timid, stupid and stubborn.  We make mistakes and don’t learn from them; we repeat them.  We wander off.  We require endless attention and meticulous care.  

WE NEED A SHEPHERD.  We need a shepherd to: 

• lead us to clean water (to living water)
• right us when we are cast down
• protect us

• tend us
• herd us
• keep us safe
• protect us from danger
• protect us from ourselves

And we have one!!!  DO WE EVER HAVE A GOOD SHEPHERD, THE LORD!

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  ² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³ he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  ⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.