Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: John

  • The Word Tabernacled Among Us

    The Word Tabernacled Among Us

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Christmas” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 25, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Throughout Scripture barren women bear significant children, and Matthew and Luke both tell of the unique child, the branch from Jesse’s stump who will reign over the house of Jacob forever. John tells of him in 1:14: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The Word through whom God made all things took flesh for the salvation of the world, and he tabernacled among his people, a greater glory than the tabernacle of Moses. God’s compassion, full of grace and truth, took up residence in human flesh.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from John’s Gospel, the very first chapter. We will be reading the first 18 verses of this chapter of John. Hear the word of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the life of men.

    And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Nor was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighted every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received him.

    Then gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received. And grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and proof came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

    Go with me now. We turn unto you, our God, as we would approach your word, and we ask that we may have a confidence in the power of that word. Surely it would not be a man that would convince us, but our God. So may you convince us and convict us and transform us by your word that we might be servants who are willing and able, through your Spirit, to serve. Bless us now, our God. Unto this end we pray it through Christ. the perfect servant, the one who gave himself for us. Amen.

    It seemed a birth like any other. A woman coming to full term for nine months accomplished, she giving birth to a child. And in this, she seemed like all other women who had given birth before, and the child she gave birth to, like any other that had been brought forth. A birth like other birds, but yet this bird so utterly unique. On the one hand, seemingly the same, on the other hand, completely, absolutely different. Nothing like it before. though there had been miracle children before.

    We think of the case of Abraham and Sarah, past the years of conceiving and bearing, and yet because of the miraculous intervention of God, Sarah gives birth to a child, Isaac by name. well-established was the barrenness of Rachel. Yet, because of the mercies of God and His intervention, she gives birth also to Joseph, and then once more to Benjamin. What shall we say of Hannah? She too, barren, yet she in time then giving birth to the great prophet, that servant sent by God for Israel’s good, Samuel.

    There had been miracle children before, they seemingly unique, but none like this child born of Mary. We hear of the coming of the child, we read the gospel accounts. In Matthew, Joseph is told, that which is conceived in the womb of Mary is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Of no other child could that be said. The angel goes on. You will call his name Jesus, that wonderful Old Testament name which means Savior. For he it is who shall save his people from their sins. Had there ever been any child so described formerly. And then, extrapolating from an Old Testament prophecy, Matthew adds his own commentary. This one who is coming is the fulfillment of that ancient prophecy.

    Behold, a virgin shall conceive, bring forth a child, and his name shall be called Immanuel. That is, God with us. Chapter 2 in Matthew. visitors from the East, seeking whom? One called the King of the Jews. That one, when they meet him, they fall down before and worship.

    What child, having been born, given an account in Scripture, is now worshipped? of him is applied another ancient prophecy. For this child fleeing the wrath of Herod goes down into Egypt and then comes up again. Applied to him is that prophecy out of Hosea, out of Egypt did I call forth my son. The child with his parents settled in Nazareth.

    And from that is derived the name the Nazarene. The end of the second chapter of Matthew. That name Nazarene taken from the Hebrew word for branch. For there hath been a promise given to Israel from the stump of that tree. The tree having been cut down, there shall come forth a shoot a branch, a stem, out of Jesse. This one, the Nazarene, is the branch, later described by Jeremiah as, that branch, the Lord, our righteousness.

    The unique, utterly unique, absolutely unique child then, that has come into the world, and so described by Matthew, that we look at Luke too, for he gives us an account of the coming of this child. This time we are told, as the angel addresses Mary, not Joseph, Mary, he shall be called great, his name the son of the most high God.

    Also, he will rule over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom shall have no end. The eternal kingdom. He shall be called the very son of God, says the angel. And then, in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, the angels come and address themselves to shepherds. They say, this one shall be called Savior, Christ the Lord. In him, the salvation of God is revealed before the face of men. and all of those who have been looking for the redemption of Jerusalem, they shall find that redemption nowhere else but in this utterly unique child.

    So we are familiar, are we not, with the stories of the birth of Christ, his coming into the from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, those Gospels that specifically give us an account of his birth. But there is no account in Scripture that puts before us the significance and the uniqueness of this child any more strikingly than the gospel.

    Now, it may not be as we had expected or would have wished. For we are moved by the simplicity and the power and the attractiveness of those accounts given us by Matthew and by Luke. We love to hear of Mary. We delight in hearing about Joseph. We think about their trip to Bethlehem and the inn where there was no room, and then the stable where they found a place to stay. We delight in hearing about shepherds and about Magi. Those things are familiar to us, and we turn instantly to those passages at this time of year.

    But here in John’s Gospel, as I have suggested to you, you have as striking a presentation of the uniqueness of this One who has come into the world, as in any of the Gospels. Verse fourteen of chapter one. The Word was made flesh. The word was made flesh. We might move through Matthew and Luke, contending ourselves that the one who has come into the world is certainly an exalted being, but he is one who is a little lower than God. But John tells us straight out, as is John’s habit, he tells us straight out, the word was made flesh. God became man. Now what John is doing here for us is he’s laying out for us truly the significance of the birth of this one. He is putting it for us, plainly, so that we understand what is taking place.

    The great eternal God, that One who is above, exalted, that One who is holy and righteous, separate from sin, that One, because of His love, has condescended to the plane of the earth, to the circumstance of man, and He has taken to Himself the flesh of humanity. So great is his love. For this one, so great and exalted, so righteous and holy, this one, filled also with love, knows that unless he does this, unless he does this, there is no hope for that flesh. There is no hope for that.

    There is something else here that John wishes us to understand. The great God has come down, yes, but he wants us to also realize the event character of what has taken place here. For you see, Christmas is not just a bright idea. It’s not just some sort of novel thought. Someone sitting around thinking about a marvelous story, a fable invented so as to entertain children or to give people a bit of optimism in depressing circumstances. It’s not as if This whole thing has been invented, hatched out of the mind of man. No, you see, what John is telling us is that we are dealing with something here that happened. An event.

    A historical event. that word then which God is, God himself being the word. that aspect of his reality in which he is continually communicating within himself. That is what the word is all about. God communicating within himself, his thought, his thought expressed in speech, the word, that word, that which comes from within God, takes to itself flesh, comes into the world. And because of that, Nothing will ever be the same again. So the Word was made flesh.

    That Word through whom, by whom, for whom God created all things, that Word through whom he had communicated himself to his people through the generations, that word has now been enfleshed for the salvation of the world. But there’s more here that John wants us to understand. For he goes on to tell us that this word dwelt among us. the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Actually, the words that John uses here, the words that he uses, are those that would suggest to us the fact that this God, if we were to translate this portion literally, this Word tabernacled among us. If in fact then from the beginning of the chapter we had placed before us God’s creative work, we have here placed before us that work that God accomplished for his people when he delivered them out of Egypt. You remember what transpired then.

    God congregated his people in the wilderness at Sinai. He gave them the commandments that he also established for himself and abode in their a tabernacle for himself. It was a tent. And why did God choose to dwell in a tent in the midst of his people in the wilderness? Because they dwelled in tents. God, even then, making himself like unto his people, the pattern of the incarnation being spelled out there, prefigured, if you will. for the children of Israel in the wilderness. He constituting for himself a people and dwelling in their midst, in a way in which they would understand.

    He becoming like them. They intense, he intense. But it won’t be just tense. That concern our God. For in the end, it will be the flesh that concerns him. And as his people are in the flesh, so he will make himself as one of them in the flesh. But the strangest of things is said next.

    For is this one who now is in the flesh, through whom we behold the very glory, the very glory that belongs uniquely and specifically to God. Do you remember the account of the tabernacle pitching in the wilderness, that when it was completed, the presence of the Lord came and there was the glory of the Lord that filled the tabernacle so that the priest Aaron could not enter. That glory is now radiating through this one who is in the flesh The veil of the flesh becomes the medium through which his glory is made visible. It’s made visible in the signs that he performs, in the things that he does, and also triumphantly through the resurrection and the glorification that shall come as a result of the finished and accomplished work that he has set about to perform. this glory, John goes on to say, is of the only begotten of the Father.

    That is, it is that which belongs specifically to him and to him alone. As an only son within the family is heir to all of the inheritance, coming to him all those things that belong to the Father So, with regard to this one, the Son of God, the one in whom that glory of God is manifest, all things will ultimately be His.

    They belong to Him, for He has made them. They were created for Him and through Him. over against this one to whom all glory belongs. There stands then that older administration, that administration of the old covenant. This one who is the only begotten contrasts Moses, that one in whom the Jews had put all of their confidence and hope. He was the unique one as far as they were concerned. He was the leader for the people of God. Through him had come the law, and the people were to live by the law, and the law, the Torah, was their hope. If there was glory to be found, it had to be found through the law and through the administration of that old covenant.

    But now John says, as he presents to us the coming of the Word in the flesh, he tells us, not so. for all that transpired before was unto this end. There is a new tabernacle, there is a greater glory, and there is one that exceeds in might and significance even Moses, one whom we are told, as he concludes his thoughts here in the fourteenth verse, full of grace and truth. had been that manifestation of God’s grace and truth to his people of old. You might recall how they had sinned, and Moses had come down from the mountain, and when he saw them playing about the golden calf, in his anger he threw down the tablets of stone. They were then the means by which God brought judgment upon the children of Israel. Moses ascends the mountain once more, And there, before the Lord, he is told that God, after all, is a God full of compassion, mercy.

    His truth endures forever. And there would yet be a second making of the tablets of stone, a giving again of the covenant. Well, that renewal of the covenant is not an end in itself. It’s unto the second covenant par excellence, that which will be administered through Jesus Christ, in whom the perfection of grace and truth is seen, is observed, is realized, is appropriate.

    You know the grace that is found fully, completely, in this one who is utterly, completely, absolutely unique. The compassion of God. who extends now into the world that marvelous message of the forgiveness of sins. How is it that John the Baptist describes him when he sees him coming to the waters of the Jordan? Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, the fullness of grace, but also the fullness of truth. Over against the truth are shattered promises, broken vows and oaths made to God. But God in truth keeps his word and points us to the eternality of that kingdom which he has come to bestow upon those who believe.

    The fullness of all of that is now being conferred through this unique, utterly absolutely unique child. In the beginning was the word. creation started. But when the Word was made flesh, creation began again. New creation commenced. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word had its work amongst the children of Israel at the times in which they were brought out of Egypt guided through the wilderness, but there is now the ultimate, the quintessential exodus that has been commenced for the people of God, which ends in a sanctuary not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, in which the grace and truth of our God in all of its fullness is mediated unto us through this one who has come for ourselves that we might be a people for him living for him in the world Matthew the unique child Luke, the unique child John, that unique child God made man for you so that you might dwell with him as he has dwelt with you O Lord, we thank you for the gospel, the good news, the coming of yourself into the world where you take to yourself our flesh, our circumstances, yes, even our sin. Through you, then, Lord, we are liberated, set free, and introduced into a service for our God, unto which we were intended from the beginning. Lord, may we set our hope in you. We pray our God these things.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Limited Atonement

    Limited Atonement

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Bible and Calvinism” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 8, 1987.

    About this sermon

    A brief history of Calvinism shows that believers learn it like a language, over time. Limited atonement follows, with the Calvinistic and Arminian positions side by side.

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    Sermon transcript

    Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable Jesus spake unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

    I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

    I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and know of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep have I, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

    Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father?

    Our Father, throughout the world, in this day, your people are gathered in various locations. They are congregated beneath your rule and authority, manifest in Christ, whose body the Church is. Father, your word comes to your own to refresh your own and to strengthen them. And Father, we, claiming to be your own, would receive the word as it is received in many places this day. May we receive it, Lord, with love. May we lay it up in our hearts, cherish it, and practice it in our lives. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    We are living in a time when Calvinism is not widely popular. Not that this should concern us greatly. Not that it should concern us much, whether or not the truth is popular. Nevertheless, I believe this is a fair assessment of our situation. We are living in a time when Calvinism is not widely popular.

    We can, however, find comfort in the knowledge that Calvinism has expressed itself with unique zeal and wide effect at various times throughout the history of the Church. This reflection upon it can be a great source of joy to us. We recognize, for instance, that even in a very early and undeveloped form, the influence of Augustine lies at the foundation of Catholicism. We can say that Augustine was a Calvinist before his time, and his influence was remarkable, though within a generation of his death many of his teachings had been compromised. Still, the flame that he ignited burned brightly. And interestingly, the essential doctrine of Calvinism—regarding God’s work of salvation—burst once more upon the world through a sixteenth-century Augustinian monk named Martin Luther.

    It was, of course, more fully developed in Calvin through Calvin himself, and from him it thrived in Switzerland, in Poland, in Hungary, in Germany, in France, in England, in Scotland, in the American colonies, in the Far East, and in Africa. James Proud, a great teacher of Church history at Oxford, said of Calvinism, “This was the religion of your fathers, which overthrew spiritual wickedness and hurled kings from their thrones, and purged England and Scotland for a time at least of lies and charlatanry. Calvinism is the spirit which rises in revolt against untruth, the spirit which has appeared and reappeared, and in due time will appear again, unless God be a delusion and man be as the beasts that perish.” This Calvinism of which Froude speaks is nevertheless a learned language.

    In other words, this Calvinism is not our native tongue, for our native tongue is consistently natural, while Calvinism is consistently supernatural, and as such it must be rehearsed by us constantly in order that we may keep it fresh and active in our thoughts and actions.

    And like any learned language, if you do not use it, you lose it. I have thought of sending that line to Robert Shuler. Like any learned language, if you do not use it, you lose it. Here, if I may say, is a compelling argument for your use of the Confession. Just reading it. Here is a compelling argument for your use of the catechisms of the Church. Yes, you are reading them, but also you are committing the catechism to memory.

    Our forefathers realized that what they were seeking to help people understand was, after all, a learned language, and therefore that language had to be practiced. It had to be rehearsed, it had to be reviewed again and again, so that it might be firmly established in the mind and also become the expression of the heart. Not merely memorization or repetition for the sake of memorization and repetition, but so that we might be familiar with the central doctrines of our faith and with the truths we hold dear.

    If you need encouragement to begin, if you need a strong motivation to take up the confession once more and read it, please consider these words as that motivation and that encouragement. If you do not have a confession of your own, and I hope you do, obtain one. If you cannot find one elsewhere, simply use the hymnal. At the back of the hymnal, you will find the confession in full. If you need a catechism, ask for one.

    We will supply you. But also in terms of rehearsing our Calvinistic heritage and our doctrine. It is no mystery to me that Calvinists have not only been those who have insisted on memorization and rehearsal of the doctrines of the faith, but they have also been those who have insisted on literacy. They have insisted on literacy because they want people to read not only the Catechisms and the Confession, not only the Catechisms, Confession, and the Bible, but also to read good Calvinistic literature and to be familiar with it. It is not surprising to me that the lion’s share of strong, weighty, and substantial theological works are regularly read by Calvinists. Nor is it strange that Calvinists have been behind the recent movement to revive the practice of reading Christian literature. The major publishing and distribution companies in this country today all have their roots in Calvinism. Since Calvinism is a learned tradition, and since we do well to be familiar with Calvinistic literature, do not overlook the opportunity to engage with it. This is a way to regularly involve yourself with the great statements of Reformed and Calvinistic thought through the centuries.

    All of these, then, which we have discussed, are wonderful opportunities to rehearse what we are striving to master, so that increasingly it is no longer a learned language, but one that is spoken easily and naturally, and that comes readily from our tongues at all times.

    I dare say that those periods of greatest strength for the Church of Christ have been those in which the church has been forced, for whatever reason, to concentrate upon that learned language— the language that is consistently supernatural in its character and in its intent. Those times when the Church has been compelled, both corporately and individually, to pursue mastery of that language of the supernatural. And I dare say that for you in your personal life, as if your personal history were like the history of the church herself, those times of greatest zeal, greatest happiness, and greatest productivity have been those in which this supernatural language— in which all glory and praise are given to God— has had its way with your heart.

    So while it may be a day in which Calvinism, according to the press notices, is not thriving, still it is a day in which we can be active by ensuring that our beloved, though learned language, is increasingly becoming the language we know best, the language we speak from our hearts. You may be saying, “But isn’t Calvinism just another way in which man has endeavored to avoid the language of the Bible? Better to spend my time in the Scriptures than in the catechisms and confessions. Better to spend my time in the Scriptures than in Calvinistic literature.” I agree. Far better. But don’t you see?

    Your Calvinism has sought, in what I consider the best way, to come to grips with the language of Scripture itself. I say this because, above all other expressions of Christian faith, Calvinism has carefully considered what we have come to call the whole counsel of God. That is, the full range of the biblical record, including those doctrines of God’s eternal predestination and election that are often considered unpopular. But equally, if not more importantly, Calvinism has focused on the clear teaching of the Bible about the end times, its doctrine of our promised and eventual destination.

    For we are those who are destined—indeed, predestined—to see the glory of God. To paraphrase the great Calvinist from the turn of the century, B. B. Warfield, the Calvinist is one who has stood in the presence of the glory of God. There will come a day when we shall surely stand before God in all of His glory. And in that day it will be more clearly evident than it is now that from beginning to end, our standing before God is the result of His direct and sovereign oversight of our lives. He predestinated us, chose us, and worked for us and in us to bring us to Himself, so that before Him we may confess that all things are from Him, through Him, and to Him, forever and ever. Amen. Because of our commitment to this biblical perspective—both in terms of the whole counsel of God and in terms of our ultimate end, where we will stand before His presence and before His glory.

    It is because of our commitment to these things that we have insisted upon teaching the so-called hard doctrine of total depravity. Our doctrine of man is not very flattering to man, but it is biblical, true, and absolutely essential to the Bible’s gospel of sovereign grace. Man is affected in all of his parts by sin and corruption, so that he cannot, of himself, be commended before a holy God. Unconditional election, our doctrine of God, again not very flattering to man, but biblical and absolutely essential to the Bible’s gospel of sovereign grace. The cause of God’s election does not reside in us. It is not conditioned by anything in us, or upon anything in us. Rather, its basis is found in God, and in God alone. He is the source, and to him be all praise.

    Limited atonement, our doctrine of Christ, again not very flattering to man, but biblical and absolutely essential to the Bible’s gospel of sovereign grace. This is the point to which we have come in our consideration of the five points of Calvinism. We have come to the doctrine of limited atonement.

    This doctrine teaches us that Christ, in his death, shed his blood and gave his life as a saving sacrifice for the elect, for the chosen of God. In other words, Christ died for his sheep. Not for everyone. He died for his sheep, and that is why I have read for you the first eighteen verses of John chapter ten, so that it might be impressed upon you that it is not Calvin saying these things, nor is it Augustine, nor any recent-day Calvinist. It is Jesus Christ who is saying these things.

    Now, it is not as if we must wait for the fourth gospel to hear this. All we need do is open to the first gospel and read in its first chapter. That remarkable statement by the angel to Joseph—“You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”—reveals the divine purpose. It is impossible to move beyond Genesis 1 and not acknowledge the absolute sovereignty of God. Who instructed God in how to create Adam? Why those specific chromosomes? Do you see it? This is the work of God’s absolute sovereignty.

    I am utterly amazed that people who call themselves New Testament Christians can read beyond chapter 1 in Matthew and still not be convinced that the design behind God’s saving activity was that Christ should come and offer himself as a sacrifice for his people.

    How rich John’s gospel is with this teaching. How fully it is filled. I do not know about you, but you might wish to immerse yourself, as I do, in John chapter six. The remarkable events of that chapter, as well as the profound words spoken by Christ himself.

    In verse 37 of that chapter, he says: “All that the Father gives me will come to me. Not only is this a matter of sovereignty in the call, but it also affirms that those who come do so because of the sovereign choice of the Father. For them and for them alone has Christ come. For them and for them alone will he die.” Nothing seems clearer to me than this truth as we read through John chapter 10.

    “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. They hear my voice, and they follow me.” And what can we say about Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17? Again, it is unmistakable. The purpose of Christ’s coming, as expressed in his prayer, is for his elect, just as it is in his death. His prayer is but an extension of his priestly work. The other part of that priestly work is his death. And what can we say of Ephesians 1?

    Over and over again, throughout the entire New Testament, this reality confronts us. It is stated, restated, expressed explicitly and implicitly, assumed, yet remains undeniable. Now, admittedly, the doctrine of limited atonement has been misunderstood. The Calvinist is saying to us, and we as Calvinists are saying, that the atonement is limited in its application. It is specifically directed to the elect. But while we say this, there is also a sense in which we affirm that the atonement is not limited at all. For it is not limited in its effect, nor in its power.

    Christ’s death is a sacrifice of unlimited power and strength, in that it fully addresses the sinner’s condition. Therefore, Christ’s death fully satisfies God’s demand for justice and righteousness concerning sinners—those who are called, those for whom Christ has come. It is because the Calvinist affirms that the atonement is limited in application but unlimited in effect and power that he is able to say that Christ’s death is effective. On the other hand, those who oppose Calvinism or deny it—especially those known as Arminians—hold a position that reverses the true situation. They claim that the atonement is unlimited in application, meaning that Christ died for everyone without exception. It is unlimited in application.

    They go on to say that Christ died for everyone, but that the atonement is limited in its effect and power. For if Christ died for all, yet not all are saved, then His death was not effective for all. This is why the classical Arminian has been forced to admit that although Christ died for all, as they say, His death cannot save anyone.

    All that it can do is provide an opportunity for salvation. The best that the Arminian can say is that Christ’s death provides an opportunity for the salvation of everyone, a salvation that belongs to those who recognize the opportunity through their own effort and according to their own judgment. It is no longer grace, do you see? It is no longer grace. Christ’s death is not complete. It is incomplete. And in the end, it proves to be so powerless as to be of no value to you at all. Why believe in Christ in this way?

    I think that Lorraine Vettner, a prominent advocate of Calvinism in this century, has one of the most fitting illustrations regarding the distinction between the Calvinist position on the Atonement and the Arminian position. Think of two bridges. Think of the bridge to nowhere in Pittsburgh. According to the Arminian, there is an incredible bridge that can accommodate everyone, but it only takes you out into the middle of the river and then stops. It is now your responsibility to find a way to continue. If you can, may God bless your cleverness and your ingenuity. The Calvinist says there is a narrower bridge.

    It is not narrow in width; it is wide enough. In fact, its dimensions are perfect. This bridge goes all the way across the river. Christ did it all. His sacrifice was complete, and though limited in application, it is unlimited in power and effect. So that if you are in Christ and claim it as your own, be assured that you are on the bridge that takes you clear across the river. What a Christ. What a God. What a gospel. There is no other gospel than this. Believe it.

    Let’s pray. O Lord, though we are brought up short by our doctrines and humbled again and again by them, still we would rehearse them. Though they be a learned language, Father, by our rehearsing we pray that this language would increasingly become the language of our hearts. Father, we ask that we might bow before You, and that through Christ, who in His death provided the full and complete atonement, we may be brought over the bridge of that atonement. In the end, we may stand before You and Your glory with exceedingly great joy. These things we pray, and we ask for the strengthening of our souls and the souls of others like us who believe these precious things. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Both Lamb and Lord

    Both Lamb and Lord

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 5, 1987.

    About this sermon

    John the Baptist’s early proclamation of Christ as the Lamb of God finds its fulfillment at the cross in John 19, where the same Christ is also mocked, truly, as King of the Jews. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac supplies the Old Testament’s own rehearsal of a father giving up a beloved son. Lamb and Lord, sacrifice and sovereignty, collapse here into a single title rather than remaining two competing ones.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture this morning is from John’s Gospel. We are in the nineteenth chapter. We are reading from the seventeenth verse through verse thirty. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him on either side, one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

    Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did.

    Now they stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother and his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clovis, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said each of the disciples, Behold, thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her into his own home.

    After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I first. Now, there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon his head and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished.

    And he bowed his head and gave up the girls. By the water, in the desert, the man stands. Uncommon, this man, hardly clothed like others. He preaches out his message about the water and about cleansing. and his voice is heard in all of the territories around the people’s stream to that stream where they receive the water to his message. Repent. Repent. Be cleansed for the Kingdom of God is coming. The princes of the land send out their emissaries. They come with their question, who are you? Are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? Are you that prophet who was promised?

    His response to them is, no, I am none of these. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. There is one greater than I. He comes after me. But truly he is important. And I am not even fit. To take off his shoes. The very next day after confrontation with these emissaries. There appears another figure. Coming towards the water stream submitting himself to a yoke. And the profits all. He appears. And this one the prophet the Baptist sees him as with the eyes of heaven. And recognizes him immediately.

    Behold, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Those words, not repeated throughout the account in the gospel, but there nonetheless throughout the entire ministry of this one so recognized. This one then, bearing those words in himself. And now, some three years later, from pavements of judgment out beyond the city walls to Golgotha, there this one, the Lamb of God, And what a sight it is! For he now goes out having heard the sentence of the powers of this world.

    The Lamb, to be sure, that one who has not as much as opened his mouth before those who assault him. He has not raised his voice against their insults, against their jibes. As a lamb before his shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth And now, out from those pavements of judgment, beyond the city walls, to the place of the skull, there to die. For the sins of the world.

    And yes, again it is said, what a strange sight it is. This land then bearing on his own shoulders upon his back the implements of his death, carrying them himself. And as that is said about him, as we behold him thus, our minds run back over the centuries. about a wandering Semite, a man come down from the north into a land in which he doesn’t even own a piece of ground, a man given promise concerning that land and the sea. And to this wandering Aramean there is born a child. and how he loves the child. But the voice out of heaven now says, Abraham, take the child whom you love and offer him to me in sacrifice. What transpires in the man’s mind, we do not know, except to say there is no record of his complaint, his objection.

    He quickly sets about the task given him by the Lord. And he places upon the child the implements of the child’s death, the wood for the altar and the fire. so that that child, Isaac, goes out bearing the cross. I see, I see the supply. Father for the sacrifice, but Father, where is the sacrifice? And Abraham says, the Lord will provide. They make their way into the country designated by the law. to the territory of Mariah, and there Isaac is prepared for the sacrifice. He is laid upon the altar, and the knife is lifted, and the word comes out of heaven, Abraham, withhold your hand. Now I know that you fear me. The Lord indeed provides, for in the thicket nearby there is a ram, a lamb, and that lamb is the sacrifice.

    The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. more than, than even Isaac, more than, than all of the sheep, more than all of the livestock offered throughout Israel’s history. Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But what a strange Lamb He is, for this Lamb is also portrayed in might. He goes forth carrying His own cross, And no one carries it for him. Overlay this message of the Lamb. Overlayed is the message also of the Lord. For this one who is the Lamb is the Lord, and his power, even in this description of his deepest humiliation, is one of glory. He is a king. He is the king. What a procession it is!

    Only those with the eye of faith will perceive it. You will understand it only if God has spoken to you and opened your heart and given you new life. Then you will see in this one who goes forth as the Lamb, the Lord as well. For he carries with him his throne, and the procession It marches out through the city gates, and then comes the coronation. He is lifted up upon his throne, and he is attended by the two, one on either side. What a court! For this King, this Lord, who is a Lamb, And what about the kings of the Earth and those who have power here?

    They at first mock. Why does Pilate write the inscription that he does? Yes, he does it in jest. It’s meant as a goad, both to the one crucified and to the Jews whom he despises. So, in mockery, the inscription, the title for this king is given, Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. Much true, infinitely more true than Pilate ever thought. And how, then, the kingship, the lordship of this land is proclaimed. For there, the Jews read the inscription to be sure. But the inscription is written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek for all the world to read. Regardless of time. This came so ascribed then by all the nations.

    But this lamb, who is the Lord, has come to his own and his own do not receive him. And therefore, the priests of the Jews make their complaint. They raise their objection. Don’t write king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews and out of that confrontation, then there comes, as it were, a purgation for this Gentile Lord, Pilate, who even against his will now is constrained. A mockery aside, to acknowledge this Lamb as Lord, I have written what I have written, and so it stands for all the world to read. Never a lamb like this. And never Lord. But this lamb. Is your lamb? And this Lord. Is your Lord? The sins that he came to remove. are your sins. And the sins over which he has been victorious. They are your sins. His victory. Is yours. What a magnificent. Magnificent.

    Figure. the Lamb who is the Lord, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and light and honor and glory and blessing. Yours and every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the land, be blessing and honor and glory and power forever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. And all the elders fell down and worshiped him. Never, O Lord, a lamb like this, your own son, and never a Lord like this the one you have glorified.

    May we see in Him, you having opened our eyes, the wonders which He Himself bears, the glory which is His. And Father, may we count ourselves amongst those who conclude all of history with the hymn to the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Father, with these things in mind, impressed upon our souls, we come and partake of the supper.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Creation Understood by Recreation

    Creation Understood by Recreation

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 15, 1987.

    About this sermon

    How Christians view creation matters as much as how they view redemption. Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 proclaim Christ by linking the two. Old Testament passages that describe God in specific, personal terms already point toward that link, and creation becomes fully understandable only in light of its recreation in Christ.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning from John chapter 1, verses 1-14. Then we’ll be looking at some verses in Colossians and finally in Hebrews. This is John chapter 1, verses 1-14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

    All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighted every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world And the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

    But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Then from Colossians chapter one, beginning with verse thirteen and reading through verse twenty.

    God hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

    For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones, or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in him, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.” And finally from Hebrews, chapter one, first three verses.

    God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past under the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the back of the on.

    Today, our God, is the day of salvation. Your word goes out to the ends of the earth, especially in this day as it is proclaimed throughout the earth by your servants. And Father, they being laborers for the harvest raised up in keeping with the prayer of your people, We ask that you, the Lord of the Harvest, would bless them mightily. Father, we ask that our prayer, that our labors of love may be viewed by you as a participation in their ministry, and that we would see this harvest as that in which we have been privileged to partake.

    We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Jesus. We have been considering this theme for some time now. We’re getting close to the end. But this series has offered us a bit of a repeat free. In a belief beleaguered treatment of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus then before us his person, who he is. The name he bears signifies that health, salvation, is found nowhere else. For Jesus means salvation is of Jehovah. That salvation is pointed, it is particular. You remember what is said of Jesus before he came into the world. You shall call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. This one, Jesus, then also called Christ.

    He is the anointed one, that one to whom all other anointed ones pointed. He is the one who bears the anointing of God in the spirit beyond measure. He is extraordinary. He is the king. He is the priest for the people of God. He is the Lord’s final prophet and spokesman.

    But Jesus is also the Lord himself. He is given that title, and the sweep of the Old Testament use of that name comes now to reside in this one, Jesus. And what is he as Lord? What does it mean for you to say, Jesus is Lord? It means that he is your owner, and that you are his possession. and therefore you are to glorify him in all that you do, all that you are. Jesus, the salvation of God, the anointed one, the Lord, our owner.

    But this one is also the son of God. And as son, he is heir. He is the inheritor of God, and all things that belong to God. As son, however, he is unique, for just acknowledging him as heir, as inheritor, falls short of the fullness of New Testament confession. That New Testament confession measured by the statement of Thomas before the risen Christ my Lord and my God.

    Therefore, beyond all sons of God spoken of in Scripture, in the Old Testament, beyond all of these that are so described, this one is the Son of God, the Son of God who is God. And as the son of God who is God, his presence in the world is overwhelmingly significant.

    His presence means that the very realities of heaven have come into our world. The very realities of the future have become present to our experience. He brings heaven into our presence and our presence into heaven. He brings the future into the present and the present into the future. In response to this one, we are face-to-face then with that overwhelming decision For you see, it’s as if this One who is the Son, the Son who is God, bringing heaven into our present, the future into our present.

    It’s as if we are being robbed of the world by Him. We are being robbed of this present evil age, and we are liable to cling to it even though we have been confronted with the cost of our clinging. That being one response, a clinging to this world in light of who he is and what he has done and what he has come to reveal, at the same time we might completely misunderstand what he has come to do, what he has come to reveal.

    For opposite those who would cling to the world are those who would run from it, renounce any responsibility in it and for it. But a look at the sun teaches us differently. For while we cannot cling to the world, we can’t run from it either. For the sun did not run from it, but gave himself in it.

    And we must do the same. Well, we’ve said all this before. You’ve been through this exercise with me. This morning, we have another word, a somewhat concluding word concerning Jesus as the son of God. Let me introduce this word to you by asking you a question. And it’s a question that is not unrelated to the remarks that we’ve just made concerning our clinging to the world and then possibly through misunderstanding our running from it. The question then. How do you view creation. How do you. Create. Whose work is it. When you think of the creation of the world how do you do it. Who is at work there. You draw a blank. Drawing back from imagining the form of God, somehow operative at the creation? What is your habit of mind when you reflect upon the creation of the world?

    Is God absent, possibly, so utterly distant that if there is any contact between Him and the world, it is only at the end of his fingertips, and that with his eye, with his face turned away. Now, I know that we’ve all seen Michelangelo’s painting from the Sistine Chapel, and to be sure, the eye of God is not turned away, but the fingertips is there at least. God touching things only with his fingertips. Somehow, let me be contaminated.

    I dare say that in our ruminations about creation, we are quite, quite indiscriminate, and our thoughts of God with regard to creation are also oftentimes quite indiscriminate. We are constrained by Scripture. to acknowledge that creation is a manifestation of his power, that his divinity is there revealed, and his goodness, to be sure. But in our reflections upon creation, we are liable to emphasize things so common and so nondescript that after we are done thinking about creation and the God of creation, we have nothing else but a common God. One who himself is nondescript and quite indiscriminate.

    Is that what happens to us when we venture into the public sphere? We take step outside the door of the church, and all the particularities of God disappear. Somehow God becomes a general figure. I don’t know. Sort of a cross between a grandfather and a cosmic and land. who looks like George Burns. But this is the God that is called upon at public function. The God prayed to. When it’s in the interest of those present that he be anything but specific. specifically delineated and confessed. So, our habit of mind with regard to our thoughts of God at creation. Who was there? Did he appear? Did he make himself known? Was there a revelation of theophonic glory? Was God involved somehow more than just touching things with the ends of his fingers? Was God creating around him that which was made? Well, even the Old Testament will not allow us to confess out of creation our God indiscriminately, as if he were simply a common God, without any specificity whatsoever.

    That there is more involved is plain. If you were to turn to Proverbs, for instance, the eighth chapter, oh, that’s a mighty chapter. Read it through this afternoon. verses twenty two through thirty, a hymn of wisdom, wisdom himself personified, speaking as if God, accompanying God, present, so says wisdom, was I at creation before I am from everlasting to everlasting. What a magnificent statement that is.

    You can take stock, too, realizing that the Old Testament itself is suggesting that there is more than just what we commonly might imagine to this whole matter of creation and the presence of God at creation. Take account of the creation story itself, the mention of the presence of the Spirit, the Spirit of God, hovered above the water. Should we think specifically of the spirit somehow present like a dove hovering over the face of the waters? Some kind of visible manifestation of God present then That there is more in view is brought out by what God Himself says later on at the creation of man.

    Let us make the enigmatic us in our… What is the us, the our? There have been many suggestions made. There is the matter of God’s condescension, some would say hidden. hidden beneath the surface of what is being said in Genesis 1 and 2. I don’t think it’s hidden as much as some say. God himself, subjecting himself to the succession of days, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, on the 7th he rested. Was God tired? Yes. Yes. Why? Because he subjected himself to the conditions of the world that he was making. Did God pass from day one to day two? Yes. Why? Because he subjected himself to the conditions of the creation he was making.

    God’s condescension, the humbling of God in creation, But there is more than meets the eye, or more than we often confess or acknowledge. In the Old Testament, with regard to creation, is made plain by how the Old Testament uses the story of creation.

    We’ve read Psalm 148 this morning, and the praise that is coming forth from every quarter of the universe, the praise of our God. But you see how that psalm ends. It ends with a statement with regard to the redemption of God’s people, His people Israel, so that you have creation and redemption brought together. It is exactly the same in all of the other Psalms that emphasize the creating work of God. Think of Psalm 8 and the words concerning the humility of the child. Think of Psalm 19.

    The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth its handiwork, and it ends with a hymn of praise to the law of God, and a request of God that God Himself might search out the heart of His servant. Psalm 24, “…the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, the world in David’s.” Well, there is, but it ends in that magnificent picture of the One who ascends the hill of the Lord.

    All of these taking the theme of creation, yes, and then utilizing that theme in relationship to the matter, the subject of redemption. They being brought together so that, yes, when we consider the subject of creation in the Old Testament, even there we are being pushed by the Old Testament itself to see more there than ordinarily meets the eye, those things that drive us beyond a simple, bare consideration of God in His power, His divinity, or His goodness. We are driven in the direction of the specificity of God in His person. All that God is, even there, not completely clear to us yet, but there nonetheless.

    Well, it is the New Testament that brings to light what the more of the Old Testament was all about. It is the New Testament that brings to light that more from the Old Testament testimony. The Lord floods in upon you as you read John 1. What’s in upon you as you read Colossians 1, as you read Hebrews 1, and you realize, no, it wasn’t some common God, some nondescript God.

    It was the God who is known in His Son, in the Son of God, for the Son of God was there present in the activity of God when God made the world. The fullness of God’s person, at work in creation. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Specifically, pointedly, the Son. Right smack dab in the midst of God’s creating work. By, through, and for. Those are the prepositions that are used with regard to the sun and his activity in regard to creation. Now, your response may well be sitting where you do.

    Of course, after all, I have believed that the son of God is God, that he is from all And therefore, if God is present at creation, the Son is present there, too. And truly, I am prepared to confess that this Son of God, who is God, allows for no rivals. No more than God Himself signified repeatedly in the Old Testament allowed for any rivals among His people. the establishment of idols for God. So, yes, I know in my confession is God from all eternity. Therefore, he is at work in creation and even more than that. Providing myself and my ability to see things much more clearly now, going and maturing in my faith, I am prepared on the background of Proverbs chapter eight, and what is said of Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter one, verses twenty-four and thirty, Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. He is the embodiment of the wisdom of God.

    As the Old Testament was able to affirm the presence of wisdom there, at the creation of the world, I now am able to see that the Son of God is the wisdom of God, and he is the one who is actually present. Now, having said all of that, have you said enough in grasping the significance of the New Testament affirmation of the presence of the Son at and in creation?

    The fact is that the more into that in the Old Testament is even more down yet. You see, it’s not just a matter of you. That Jesus, the son of God, is God, and that as son of God, he is from all eternity, and that he is in his person the wisdom of God, that one by whom God has made the world, through whom and for whom he has made them. It is not enough for that fall short of the New Testament perspective, as glorious as that confession is.

    You see, the pressure that weighs upon John, and the pressure that weighs upon Paul, and the pressure that weighs upon the writer to the Hebrews, is precisely the same. They have observed, under the pressures of God’s redemptive work, the similarities between that work of redemption and the work of creation.

    As I have said, we are not to imagine the creation as a work of God indiscriminate. No! God, by His condescension, God, by a deliberate act of humbling Himself, creates the world. And now, as it was in creation, so in re-creation. As it was in the original creation, so in the new creation.

    At the center of both works is the love of God and parallel condescensions on the part of God, and at the heart of both is the Son. That’s the expression of that love. In both, the great God becomes the servant. in both. The great God. He comes to serve. That is not therefore a new idea reserved for the New Testament.

    You see. If what I am saying to you is true. It is the very meaning of existence. and all reality. That is the heart of it right there. It’s possible to be at war with yourself and to consider your life in the church and then out in the world. Talk of servanthood is fine here. It’s appropriate in church. When I step out the door. It’s a whole nother ballgame. The rule out there. He’s power. Power. Not service. Power. Now how far do you have to get outside the door? To your car? Sunday lunch? your children, your wife, your job the next day, school, how far do you have to get?

    Well, you see, the strange It’s not just with regard to matters of redemption, that the message of servanthood pertains. It is with regard to the entirety of existence, all of life and all that you are. Give me a few more minutes. Beyond the application that I’ve already made. I’m sure that you can put it firstly, compactly. Our posture with regard to the world, our disposition within the world, no less than in the church, is that of servanthood. For we are like God. We are to be Christ. Giving of ourselves, humbling ourselves, surely as he has.

    So I don’t use this pulpit as a soapbox for my. Personal love. And I haven’t spoken to you. Directly. About the Christian school. But let me say something. Do you see how significant this whole thing is becoming? You can have your battles out there in the world with regard to the public sector and whether God’s going to be admitted to the classroom or not. But what kind of God is going to be admitted? I ask you that. I’ll tell you what kind of God. A God that’s not worth having. He’s completely indiscriminate and nondescript. There’s nothing unique about him. So let them have their God and their gods.

    But do you understand now what is at the heart of Christian education, what must be at the heart of a Christian school? Not some sort of general notion about God, but the specificity of God in Christ. Education, then, is not simply to be God-centered. not God indiscriminately considered, but Christ sent. For Christ is at the center of God’s creating work. It was through by and for God in Christ created. An education then that does not honor Christ is not a God honoring education.

    Period. Now some of us are liable to find ourselves in impossible circumstances. But if we find ourselves in those impossible circumstances with our children, it behooves us to in every effort extend all energy to encourage them in the things that we know to be true in the face of what they’re getting hit with every day. One last thing. You can’t see the meaning and the significance of the original creation without having entered the new creation. You can’t understand the meaning and significance of creation without being recreated yourself.

    And it is only with the spectacles that God can supply that you are enabled to see things as they really are and are to be I hope and trust that that is very clear to you. Let’s pray. Our Father, we would bless you that you have opened our eyes And the more that the Old Testament hinted at. We thank you. But that more has been made plain to us now. That had worked in the creation. Was your eternal son? So that all of reality bears the mark. Of the great God. Who made himself servant? In the midst of all the things he was Lord, may our life in this world be similarly marked. Now, Lord, may that mark be understood supremely in light of the cross of Christ, our great Savior, by whom we have been reconciled to you, enabled to see, so that now truly we understand the world around us.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Son of God Is God

    The Son of God Is God

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 8, 1987.

    About this sermon

    John’s prologue calls Christ God, far beyond calling him God’s Son, and John 3 and Christ’s exchange with Pilate in John 18 assume the same. Christ’s parable of the seven demons in Matthew 12 warns against withdrawing from the world in place of serving in it, the pattern Christ himself set. God is never stingy in his giving.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from John’s Gospel, the first chapter of that Gospel. We are reading the first fourteen verses. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

    In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light that lighted every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

    But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.

    The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” And reading from John chapter three, beginning with verse sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

    For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. Finally, from the eighteenth chapter of John, verse thirty-three, to the first part of verse thirty-eight.

    Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Are thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him. Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.

    To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Jesus rather. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? Our God, your word goes out in the world. You gather your own And Father, we pray on behalf of those who preach today and speak that word in truth. May full blessing rest upon them and the wonderful ministry of the Spirit. May that be at their disposal. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    Jesus is the Son of God. We have been speaking about Jesus, the Son of God, and we’ve said a great number of things about him as the Son. We have said, for instance, that as Son, he is heir. He is the inheritor of those things that belong to God. And greater still, as son of God, he is heir of God himself. We have also said that as son of God, we are not to trip over that title. that is ascribed to Jesus.

    For nothing less will do than that confession that is spoken by Thomas towards the end of John’s gospel. Thomas is doubted. And the risen Christ has appeared to him. The response of Thomas at that point is not Jesus, you are the son of God. But rather, my Lord and my God. Any confession that falls short of acknowledging this son of God as God. Is a confession that falls short of what God expects of us. As we would confess Jesus. Jesus then, son of God, heir of God, that son of God who is God. But we have said something else as well about this Jesus. So magnificent is he that as John portrays him in his gospel, We are face-to-face with one who brings those things which are above down into the world in which we live. The coming of the Son of God then means the appearance in this world of heavenly thanks. It also means But those things which are yet future have now come into our experience.

    Do we read about eternal life, the abundant life, the glorious life of bliss in heaven? Do we think of that life as something exclusively future? The appearance of this one, who is the son of God, brings with him the future realities of glory so that if you believe now already you have eternal life and you will never die. Isn’t that magnificent? Isn’t that, at the heart of things, the gospel? We are called upon to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and we are told, if we believe, we will have life through Him. Not just more of the same. Not just more of the trouble and the pain. but eternal life and glory. That to begin already now with our believing. But there is a problem, of course, with such a message and such a figure as Jesus is.

    There is a problem with this person, If you have one into him. If you have faced him. If you have appeared as it were into his eyes and understood who he is and the demand that he made. You realize that the cost to you is the world. For as this one comes and makes plain the world that is above, as he comes and makes plain to you that that which stands beyond the grave can become a present reality for you now, as you see these things clearly, you realize that Jesus is robbing you of the present world you love. And that is the price. That is the price.

    That is the consequence of him taking that world from him. And also, ill health, uncontrollable anxiety, frustration, bitterness, resentment. He takes away from me my world. This one, the son of God, robs us of the world. He tells us in his statement to Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world, it is not of this world or… It’s strange that we feel the agony of heart, the battle that goes on in our souls.

    There is then that response to the promise He robs us of the world, and we can stand back them from him in simple resistance. But here, the warning that is given to us with regard to that simple resistance. We are told by the writer of this gospel, in a letter that he writes later on in his life, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Now, you might think that John is being particularly harsh, but those words are elched in love.

    They are meant for our good. How so? Because John understands that the things of this world will pass. just as the world. He also knows that Christ and his kingdom endures forever, and that is the issue. Our sinful resistance then Recognizing the price, counting the cost, we run up against this one son of God. We see is the man. He loves the world. And we resist. Because we hang on to, we cling to the world. Jesus gives us a parable in another gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.

    He’s speaking about his ministry of casting out demons. It’s a very powerful statement that he makes when he reflects upon his activity. He says, You have that one out of whom there has been driven the spirit, and that spirit, that demon, wanders about in the world.

    And as he does, he gathers to himself seven demons far worse than himself. And then he decides to return to that a boat that he left. That person out of whom he had been driven and when he arrived, he finds that everything is in place. It’s as if that person is a building in a boat well kept, but utterly empty for nothing has come to fill up that a boat that person. And thus the spirit, the demon, takes the seven words and sets up house.

    And Jesus says the latter state is worse than the first. Hear the warning then. You come up against Christ. You see the cost. You recognize the demand. Jesus, that one who comes forth from another world, telling you that you can be a part of that other world. And you, resisting, saying, no, I can’t give up this world.

    You, having seen Jesus and understood his message, you are like that one from whom a demon has been driven. But if your abode, if your person is not filled up with the fullness of eternal life, if you yourself are not filled up with the Holy Spirit, then the demon returns. And he brings with him seven worse than himself, and the latter state is worse than the first.

    Hear the warning, then, and hear the loving call of the Savior. Come to me, all of you who are weak and heavy laden. Learn of me. I will give you rest for your souls. There is then that response That simple resistance to the claim of the Son of God upon you. When you hold on to this world. Instead of letting it go. The Word of Christ is if you hold on you will lose everything. Even your soul. But if you will let go. And trust me, it will be salvation and eternal life. There is another response, though. Some might understand this as a believing response.

    I might flatter myself. Having seen the Son of God through the word by the Spirit, understood him congratulating myself, but I have interpreted him a right that my soul is secure. I am still liable to misunderstand his message and how tragic that misunderstanding. For I can whistle my way through life, contending myself that my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that I am set for eternity, and withdraw myself from that world that I am not to love, forgetting that God himself loved the world in such a way as to send his Son into it to die for it. So I wrap myself in my cloak of self-righteousness. I’m very pleased with myself, and I’m quite satisfied.

    But do you understand? Jesus comes to us from that other world and he preaches his message, and he brings to us the realities and blessings of that other world in order that we might live in this world as a testament to him and to the realities that are above. How are you to live in this world? Are you to withdraw from it in such a way that you have no contact with it? Are you to wrap yourself up in your cloak of self-righteousness, well satisfied with yourself? Or is there something else? Is there another way of life for you?

    Well, how was it with the Son of God? How was it with that one who came forth from heaven? How did he behave? He came giving himself, offering himself, a servant for the sake of others. How are you to live? As a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. In this world. What kind of life is it to be. For all those. Who would confess Jesus as son of God. It is to be a life patterned after him.

    And though we may do poorly. And though our thought may far exceed our life. And our ability to conform. Still in the end. The bottom line must be that there is in us a heart comparable to his own. We not setting our minds so much upon heaven. That we are rendered useless. In this world. Withdrawing to monasteries and nunneries. Becoming permits and recluses. In the name of the kingdom of God. That isn’t the way in which the kingdom is to be manifest in the world.

    The pattern is set in Christ. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And the glory that is resident in him has become our possession. And through us now, his glory is to be manifest in the world so that the world might understand that we belong to him. That’s what it is, isn’t it? So that in the end, having met Jesus, I have to give up my world and I have to give up myself. And I do that because I love him. And I trust him.

    How does it with you? The strain, the agony, the pain and suffering. A long history of bitterness, resentment. I can confess that to you this morning. And rehearsing my own life. I can go back to my teenage years and tell you about times then when it seemed as if I was in mortal conflict with my parents, bearing those resentments still in my heart to this day. My parents were forced to make a decision. They had to move from a place that I loved I felt the decision was mine. It wasn’t. It was theirs. But how hard that bitterness and resentment dies. It hangs on. Tears, rips, gnaws. So many other things.

    What if? What if this had happened? Or that? Where would I be today? What would I be doing? Bearing grudges against God? Angry with Him? Resenting Him? He takes from me a world. Then it’s as if He takes from me myself. And what does He give back in return? Everything. Eternal life. In self. Rest. Peace. A life free of anxieties. Resting in him. Nothingness.

    Our father, it may well be. That we in facing you have understood very plainly. Your demand. Our quest to save our life and our world. You have told us. And. In our severe disappointment. We would therefore Lord. in the power of the spirit that you supply, realize afresh, grab hold of anew that world which you have come to reveal to us, and for the sake of our God and His kingdom, we will let go of this world. Father, let us as well Let go of ourselves. If we might be patterned after and conformed to. The son of God. We thank you Lord. That you have blessed us. That you have granted us mercy. Willing hearts open ears. And Lord may we have obedient lives.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Heaven Brought to Earth

    Heaven Brought to Earth

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 1, 1987.

    About this sermon

    This review sermon draws the series together around one repeated movement in John: Jesus brings heaven down to earth, feeds his people with heavenly bread, and pulls the future forward into the present tense. John 4’s conversation with the Samaritan woman supplies the clearest example of that last move. What results, in each case, is real blessing and real peace already delivered, not merely promised.

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    Sermon transcript

    Reading from a few passages in John’s Gospel this morning, we are first of all reading from the first chapter of that Gospel, verses fourteen through eighteen. And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

    From that same chapter, beginning in verse 43, the day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee. He findeth Philip and saith unto him, Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

    And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus, say, saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith to him, Behold, in Israel, indeed, in whom is no God. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?

    Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou?

    Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. From chapter four, reading from verse Seen as the encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me.

    The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit. and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah is coming, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.”

    Our God, this day, your word reverberates throughout the world. It is proclaimed, declared by servants of yours, called truly weak. Yet, Lord, it pleases you to take the weak and through them expound your strength. So now, Lord, under your heaven May that word sound forth and may your people be called and your saints confirmed in the knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen. What are you looking for in Jesus? What are you looking for in Jesus? We have been talking about this central figure to our faith for a while now.

    We have expounded his name, Jesus, and its significance, its relationship to the whole notion of and reality of salvation. We know that this one Jesus is called Christ. He is the anointed and we have endeavored to feel all that that signifies, truly the anointed one of God. We have said as well that he is Lord, and by saying that we have been bold to affirm that as Lord, he is our owner. Nothing less than that. Our owner. We are owned by Him. We are bond slaves of Christ. But we also confess that Jesus is Son of God. Son of God. And we have thought about that name and understood it along two lines. First, that as Son of God, Jesus is unique. Not that there aren’t others in scripture called Son of Gods.

    But Jesus is unique, for in light of everyone else’s failure, Jesus has triumphed. He has succeeded. The failure of everyone else is due to sin. Regardless of how glorious they may appear on the pages of scripture, eventually that sin is unearthed, the feet of clay are revealed, and the idol tumbles. Jesus is unique. the Son of God.

    And read along one line, as Son of God, we have said that He is, as any son of a father would be, heir. He is that one to whom the inheritance belongs. And in this case, the inheritance is nothing else than God Himself. Jesus, Son of God, as heir of God. He inherits God.

    Is it plain to you now why Jesus can say, out of the fourteenth chapter of John, I am the way, the truth, and the life? No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” You see, as son of God, Jesus is heir of God. No one has passage to God, but by way of Christ, no one becomes an heir of God himself, but through that one who is the heir of God. So if you do not have the Son, then you do not have the Father. Because the Son is the heir of God. And if you are to have God, you must have Jesus. Son of God as heir of God. and thereby our root to God.

    But there are many things that we might confess about Jesus as Son of God, and there are many feelings that may well up inside of us concerning this figure of Jesus, and we may be very quick to blurt out, yes, of course, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

    And as we say that, we might not yet have said enough. And that is why, you see, at the end of John’s Gospel, we have that marvelous, is there any story quite as large. We have that marvelous story of the confrontation of Thomas with the risen Christ. There may have been, then, you see, an estimation of Jesus as Son of God in Thomas’s mind, despite his disbelief in Jesus’ resurrection. He may have looked upon him much the way that Nathanael did at the end of the first chapter of John, and said, truly, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel. Able to say that, even though this one has died, Thomas not yet understanding and comprehending. But what a marvel in that confrontation between Thomas and Christ. For if there’s anything lacking in his confession of his understanding of Jesus, son of God, it is remedied by that confrontation.

    Jesus presents himself to Thomas and Thomas says, My Lord and my God. If, then, your confession of Jesus as the Son of God does not go on to confess with Thomas, My Lord and My God, you have fallen short of New Testament confession. Jesus is the Son of God. But He is also that Son of God who is God. The Word became flesh. Was that the Word God? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But what is the significance of the appearance of this one? The Son of God, called the Word, made flesh. What is the significance of this one who has come into the world?

    At least as John is pressing us to consider. What indeed does he do? Well, we know all of that compact confession concerning our sin the coming of Christ to die that we might live, he taking our judgment to himself that we might be vindicated, not because of our own goodness, but because of his goodness imputed to us and received by faith alone. The catechism is handy at times, and convenient.

    You recognize the language. What power grips John as he writes and paints the portrait of Christ and his significance for us? Son of God, God in the flesh come, what does it mean? What could it possibly mean? Take hold of it now. See it clearly from that fourteenth verse of the first chapter. See it clearly from the fifty-first verse of that first chapter.

    Understand that in many of the comments that are made by Jesus throughout this gospel, the significance now of God having come into the world is that He brings heaven down to earth. in himself as if in him a whole new world is being unveiled before you, one that you could never see with your natural eyes.

    Do you long for a different world? Do you want a world in which there is no weeping or crying, in which there is no pain or sorrow, in which people don’t hurt one another? Do you want that kind of world? You can see it in Jesus. For Jesus, the Son of God, is God, come down into the earth, and with that descent, heaven itself has descended, and you can see in Jesus. of having this life.

    How slow people are to grab hold of it. How obstinate, how obstinate my heart, how hard my own heart. Do you remember the scene in John 6? Oh, what a story. Jesus has multiplied the loaves and the fishes, and then he takes off from the crowd. They pursue him. Jesus tells them the truth about themselves. He said, you’ve come after me because I filled your stomachs and gave you something to eat. Then he goes on and says, I am the true bread that comes down out of heaven. And if you eat of me, you shall never hunger. Is there hunger in heaven? None. Is anyone starving in glory? No one. No one.

    But already in Christ, the spiritual reality, the realities that are made real through the Holy Spirit, have become present. Well, does Jesus simply bring heaven down to earth? We read from chapter 4 in John this morning, I have already said that Thomas and Jesus and their encounter at the end of the gospel has to be the greatest story. I’m liable to have to backtrack. All these stories are just so magnificent. The encounter between Jesus and this woman. And you know the story.

    We don’t have to go over the details. Simply to zero in on the significance of this one son of God, this one who is God in the flesh, what he means now. For not only by him has heaven come down into our presence, but the future has come into the present. Heaven into our presence, the future. into the present. He tells the woman, there’s an hour coming, but he doesn’t stop there. He says, it’s already here.

    The power of this One who is Son of God, God in the flesh, is to bring the future into the present. And what future might that be? why it’s the pure, unadulterated worship of God—worship in spirit and in truth, truth there meaning in the full reality of all those things that are, yes, real in the world. Son of God, God in the flesh, he brings the future into the present, and as such he becomes the true source of our comfort, our peace, our tranquility.

    Why are you afraid? Are you older? Are you facing an uncertain future? Should I keep the house? Should I sell it? Should I move where I don’t know anyone? Should I stay near my family and friends? What’s going to happen to me? Am I middle-aged and out of work? What am I going to do? Am I struggling with my family? What’s going to become of my children? Will they believe? Will they love Jesus when they’re older? How am I going to pay for their college education? Am I a student? What am I going to do with my life? Why is life such a hassle anyway? Why is everybody on my case?

    Don’t be afraid. This Jesus, Son of God, who is God, brings into your present experience the blessings that we have been trained to think of as belonging exclusively to the future. Not so, he says. If you believe in me, he says, you have eternal life. That’s future. You have it now. You don’t have to wait for it. It becomes a present reality for you. And with that life, there comes abundance. And in that abundance, there is peace. Yes, you’re God. You’re God in Christ.

    We’ll take care of you. Why be anxious? Why fret so much about what tomorrow will bring? Will you not rely upon and rest in the only one to whom the future belongs? The only one. There’s a price you have to pay. You have to give up the world. For many it’s too steep a price. Much too steep.

    The people in Jesus’ day wanted bread that they could see and eat. Fill their stomachs. That would satisfy them. Jesus would have them feast on food from heaven, spiritual bread, which alone can satisfy the soul. Won’t you rush to Him? He will bring heaven into your life. He will bring the future glory into your present experience. and you will experience unspeakable joy.

    Let’s pray. Now, O Lord, we, needy that we are, have been supplied. We have been supplied by you out of heaven We have been given of those things that belong to the realm above, and that realm that we have thought could only come after this world was completed. Yet, even now, through Christ our God, those things are granted to us. And we, Lord, glory in them. We thank you, Lord, that you are blessing your people throughout the world, who, turning their back upon the world, have turned unto you, because you are their only hope. Lord, may we be satisfied fully, since we have turned from the world to serve you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Third Day at Cana

    The Third Day at Cana

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. John sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 1, 1987.

    About this sermon

    The ‘third day’ that opens John 2:1 marks something worth pausing over, and John 16 sheds retrospective light on the scene. Christ’s mother, seeking wine, stands for the people of God in their need. The wedding’s wine pictures Christ purifying and cleansing his people and fulfilling their joy.

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    Sermon transcript

    I’m sorry to report to you that this has been one of those weeks. Therefore, I can’t give you Isaiah tonight. I usually see Jonathan down here running over his Hebrew parsing. I’ll especially disappoint him, but we are going to look at John chapter 2. and some passages, another passage in John 16. I don’t, I hope I don’t do this to you often, but I truly was unable to crack the nut of Isaiah 53 for this week, so bear with me if you would. John chapter two, first eleven verses, then we’ll look at some verses in chapter sixteen. And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited and his disciples to the wedding.

    And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 30, 20, or 30 gallons each. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter. And they took it to him, and when the headwaiter tasted the water, which had become wine, and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poor.

    You have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Then, looking at chapter sixteen of John’s Gospel, beginning with verse thirteen. Now, Jesus is speaking here, as you know, on the eve of his crucifixion. This is John 16, verse 13.

    But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify me. or he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you.

    A little while and you will no longer behold me, and again a little while and you will see me.” Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, What is this thing he is telling us? A little while and you will not behold me, and again a little while and you will see me, and because I go to the Father. And so they were saying, what is it, what is this that he says, a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. Jesus knew that they wished to question him. He said to them, are you deliberating together about this, that I said a little while? and you will not behold me again a little while and you will see me?

    Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. Whenever a woman is in travail, she has sorrow, because her hour has come, but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers her anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore, you too now have sorrow.

    But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. And in that day, you will ask me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, If you shall ask the Father for anything, he will give it to you in my name. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be made full.

    Let’s pray. In this part of the world, your word has been heard on this day. And Father, in many places, that word is being spoken again. And your people receive it as health for their lives and strength for their lives. We pray, Lord, that we, too, may receive this word, and by it, Lord, may we be refreshed. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. We have been looking at John’s Gospel for a couple of Sunday mornings now. In keeping with that and following through a bit on it, I thought this evening it may be well for us to look to John again.

    I’m interested in this story of the wedding at Cana for any number of reasons. Some of those reasons are because of things long standing in discussions about this text For instance, what do you do with Jesus’ response to his mother? And I’m certain that you have run into the buzzsaw of Roman Catholic treatment of that subject on maybe more than one occasion.

    There is also the matter of the Jewish rites of purification. and these immense stone water pots that you find there, it does stagger the mind a bit. That’s somewhat of a pun. It does stagger the mind a bit when you realize how much wine was produced by Jesus at this feast. There is the miracle itself, and the implications of that miracle, which have been debated by various wings of the Christian community for centuries. Was it really wine? Or was it just an ancient version of Welch’s? It seems rather indisputable that what Jesus here produces is the real thing, the real article.

    Now, the other and more pressing and perplexing question is, as you run through the passage What is it that this event is here to tell us? What is the central issue, the central question of the passage? I think that we are tipped off right away. As you begin the story, you note that John tells us and on the third day. Now, it’s almost as if John says nothing innocently. Everything is weighted, calculated.

    On the third day, now you might want to run back to chapter one and see how this whole thing has been constructed from chapter one on in terms of the succession of days and the days of the week, and we could spend a tremendous amount of time on that. We could reflect on John’s creation themes that, as it was the day followed day, as God was at work to make the old world now, day by day in this progression in John one, you have a new creation unfolding before your eyes, and at the center of it is the person of Jesus. But then you come to the second chapter, and John hits you with, on the third day, and immediately it’s as if that precise construction drives you on to the end of the gospel and the consideration of another third day. Fell on the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead. So, the combination of the third days places the story for us in a particular light.

    And as you run to the end of the story, down to verse 11, you gain greater insight because you see here John is telling us this was the beginning of his son. But by the sign, you see, he manifested his glory. If you place glory in connection with that third day, you have the bookends of the text wrapped around the issue of whatever is transpiring in John’s mind with regard to the resurrection. What is the significance and the power of resurrection in John’s estimation? That’s what’s at stake in the text. Well, in light of that, the text begins to open up for you, because then you begin to understand the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

    Again, she makes an observation concerning the feast. The wine is gone. She informs her son. It’s no innocent observation, as John would understand it, because John has these eyes that seem to peer through everything. Everything becomes transparent to this man. He sees everything as if you could see right through it, as if it were a pane of glass. An innocent comment. There’s no wine. The wine has run out.

    She makes that observation, informs her son, and John, and Jesus as well, you see, being of Jesus himself, he now speaking through the disciple as the disciple writes this gospel. Jesus sees everything clearly as well. So who is the woman? I have tried to press this on you before. In the Old Testament, for instance, the figure of the woman is very important. She is a collective figure. She is the embodiment of the people of God. In Isaiah’s prophecies, she becomes a symbol of Zion, the city of God. Here you have the mother of Jesus as the embodiment of the people of God. She makes them this observation concerning the wine, informs the son, and the son then makes his response to her appropriately.

    What have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come. Now, it’s that response, you see, that drives us to a deeper understanding of the figure of the woman, because it’s not just that you have here in the mother of Jesus a figure that’s comparable to the Old Testament people of God. You see, you have here the very heart of the Old Testament people of God, or you have the heart of the people of God per se, even as they reach on beyond Old Testament times into New Testament circumstances. So here are the people of God, ideally conceived in the mother, coming, making request of Jesus, and Jesus tells them in her, my hour hath not come.

    The hour hath not come for me to supply the wine to the feast. Well, as has already been suggested, and we’ve been tipped off to it by the way in which John writes this passage. That hour will in fact come when the third day, the latter day, third day arrives, and the glory of the sun is truly manifested. But what is the significance of the coming of that hour? John would have us see it here from this story.

    Well, you can take up the matter of the six stone water pots for the Jewish, underline that word, Jewish custom of purification. The Old Testament administration and the manner in which the people were to conduct their lives, the way in which they were obliged to cleanse themselves, How were they to be cleansed? How were they to be cleansed? By the observations of the traditions of the people, the traditions of the elders, in keeping with the administration that had been handed down to them from generation to generation. Those stone water pots there are a symbol of the Old Testament administration and its effectiveness in bringing about purification. each water pot able to contain twenty to thirty gallons each. But can the old administration cleanse the conscience? Can the old administration bring peace? Can the old administration bring that purification for which the people of God long? And the answer to that is no, it cannot.

    And thus he, before the time, Jesus, sets about to place before the people the way in which they are to be cleansed, they are to be purified, the manner in which their consciences are to be set free at liberty. Now, there is a complication. because you see there is a multiplication of images now. You have the stone water pots there related to the Old Testament custom of purification. You have suggested for you this issue of the cleansing of the conscience and the setting free of liberty, our soul and spirit. But you have the complication here of the abundance of the wine that Jesus produces. And at this point, you see, you have to take stock of the true problem at the wedding.

    What’s the problem at the wedding? What happens at a Jewish wedding when the wine runs out. What is forfeited? What is forfeited in this festive occasion when the wine runs out? Why is it so important that there be wine to begin with? Because, you see, Whether we are somewhat offended by it or not, the truth is that the joy of the occasion depends upon the wine, and when the wine runs out, the joy is gone. Now, you mix that in with the idea of the cleansing of conscience, and you see, if the Old Testament manner of purification, or these stone water pots and their water cannot cleanse consciences, then there can be no joy.

    The administration, then, of that third day that is coming, the manifestation of glory that is coming on that third day, signifies the ultimate cleansing of conscience in a new way that restores the joy to the people of God, and their liberty again in that freedom of conscience.

    What a marvelous thing this is. What a tremendous story is told here. And the best line, the very best line, whatever the ministrations of the Holy Spirit in the The best wine is saved to last. Now you see why I turned to John 16 and read that passage concerning Jesus last day here in the flesh on earth, the eve of his crucifixion. He’s speaking there of the coming of the Comforter. He’s speaking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the ministration of that Comforter, the ministration of that Holy Spirit, will be in terms of the glory that has been procured through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the purification there is significant in that it cleanses consciences and it restores joy? No, you see, it gives joy in its fullness. How much? How much? Well, multiply. Multiply 20 or 30 gallons by 6. 180 gallons worth of wine?

    That’s why, that’s why the overwhelming abundance to make the point that when the ministration of Christ reaches its climax, it will mean to the people of God the fullness of joy. Now think of it, friend, think of it. It tears away from you It tears away from you that dead conscience, that pollution due to sin. It rips from you that depression that settles in upon you because of your own transgressions. And there is no other route to the cleansing of conscience. but Christ’s death, resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit. Now, but think of it again, and even beyond that incomparable gift.

    For you see, Jesus speaks in that sixteenth chapter in light of the anticipated disappointment of the disciples. Do you see the remedy that the fullness of joy that the Spirit brings will affect? Do you see that remedy that comes, that answers the disappointment of the people? What about your own disappointment? Don’t you understand that now the Spirit in His gift brings to you a joy that can never be taken from you, because it is eternal?

    It is neverlasting. And it works against all of the disappointments and frustrations of this life. All of the things that conspire to make us sad, conspire to undo us, conspire to depress us about our lives. But there’s something else here too. one of the. You see, the temptation with disappointment. Is that it will. So you.

    From the deadening of joy due to sin. considering also what disappointment is likely to do to us, to the point where you see that the fruit of disappointment becomes bitterness of soul. And Jesus’ message to all of us. if we have allowed something to fester, to brood, to grow as a cancer within us to the point that we seem almost thoroughly soured on life and even our faith.

    Well, on the third day, Jesus manifests his glory. And the significance of the manifestation of his glory is the arrival of fullness of joy. Joy in expression. A delight. Through Christ, my conscience is cleansed. By Him and the Spirit now, I am equipped to face every disappointment that may arise and deal with the threat of bitterness that may overtake me. Oral in white is the confident hope that that third day for Christ preaches another day for me. when I, following Him, will be raised to glory.

    Father, there are so many things that will sweep away seemingly the joy that you have procured for us. And Lord, we pray that we will not succumb to any trap, none at all, but rather the light and the joy that has come because of the Spirit and the light to the full in that joy. May we have fullness of joy by your Holy Spirit and what medicine your Spirit is for all of what seem to be the crushing disappointments and the threats of bitterness that arise in the world. Truly, that spirit that comes to grant us fullness of joy is the comforter, the encourager. And Lord, how he ministers to us.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • My Lord and My God

    My Lord and My God

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 22, 1987.

    About this sermon

    Thomas’s confession in John 20:28, ‘my Lord and my God,’ is the destination John’s whole Gospel has been building toward, and 20:30-31 makes that purpose explicit. Mary’s own clinging to the earthly, risen Christ in 20:16-17 supplies a contrasting picture, one Scripture repeats elsewhere, of grasping the wrong thing too tightly. Real reconciliation, on Paul’s terms in 2 Corinthians 5, requires letting go of exactly that instinct.

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    Sermon transcript

    morning from the Gospel of John, and first of all we’ll be reading from the twentieth chapter, chapter twenty, beginning at verse nineteen. Then the same day at evening, Being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

    And when he had said, when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As my father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

    But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again, his disciples were within, and Thomas with them.

    Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

    Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen me, and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, But these are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, he might have life through his name. And then from the 21st chapter, beginning at verse 15, So when they had dined, Jesus said unto Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

    He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things.

    Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou dirtest thyself, and walkest with her thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hand, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not.

    This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? What shall he do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he carry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the disciples, that that disciple should not die, that Jesus saith not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he carry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

    And there are also many other things which Jesus did, for which if they should be written, every one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. And from chapter one, the first five verses, in the beginning was the word And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made, that was made. In Him was light, and the light was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

    Today our father. Because of the work of Jesus Christ and the gift of your spirit. There are those that proclaim the message of the gospel. Throughout the world. And father. We would not so much as pray for ourselves as we would for those who here today. We would pray for those who deliver your message and bring it to. Congregations of your people. That have assembled under your heaven. And father may it please you. With the fresh breeze of your spirit. to encourage many and to grant life to those who are calling. We pray these things through Christ. Amen.

    I have also, I have usually thought, at least recently, that a good practice in reading scripture is to check out the ending first. I don’t know how you read novels. I don’t know whether you turn to the last chapter and find out how it’s all going to end. Before you start the book. But a good practice as you read books of the Bible.

    Is to turn to the conclusion and check out the ending. And I suppose that there’s something quite fitting about this because you see. For us in our faith, it’s as if God has revealed to us how things are going to turn out in the end. It’s as if with God through his word we are turned to the end of the whole matter to see how things are going to conclude. And then, you know how it is, we live in light of the conclusion. Not only is the story of the gospel, then, written with an eye towards the end, but so is the life of each one of us.

    Now, you have in front of you the gospel of John. And John, at the conclusion of his gospel, let you in, in a very compact sentence, he let you in on what he has been driving at all along. He gives you his purpose for writing. It appears there at the end of the twentieth chapter.

    You know the verses thirty and thirty-one. Many other signs, therefore, Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that leaving you may have life in his name.” Now, it’s not as if this conclusion isn’t without problems. If you look at these verses carefully, the problem, the principal problem of these verses becomes clear. What might it be, as you take stock of what John says here? How would you understand his words? That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, he may have life in his name. Or put it this way, who exactly is John addressing here?

    Some have suggested that John is speaking exclusively to those who are without faith at all. Those who are in need of the gospel, simply because they haven’t embraced it. That in the end, John here is writing what we might call an evangelistic tract. and that his gospel is intended for those who are outside of the church who have not made any kind of confession of Christ. But do we want to conclude that?

    Is John’s gospel, in the end, written for those who don’t believe? Is it only useful as a missionary tool as an evangelistic tool in the work of the Church? Or is the Church herself being addressed by this gospel and these words? Now, if it is the case that we can say that the gospel is addressing the Church, not just on believers, but those who believe, if we can say that, in what sense, then, In what sense can John be instructing them to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that believing they may have life in his name? In what sense can those who already believe, believe again? Am I here talking about some sort of second blessing? How is it that John is able to speak to these people, we assuming that, yes, this gospel is meant in some regard for the church, how can he be speaking to them as if they haven’t believed as yet? How can he talk to those who believe as if they are in need of believing.

    Help for us might come from another writer in Scripture. If you look, for instance, to Paul’s writings, Second Corinthians, chapter five, a very familiar passage, but one that is ordinarily misunderstood. Look at Chapter five, beginning with verse eighteen.

    Now, all things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he is committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating, through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Now, you see the problem.

    To whom is Paul writing? He’s writing to the Church, to those who have already been reconciled. But yet, here in verse 20 of this chapter, he comes out with this imperative, be reconciled to God, as if those to whom he is writing have not been reconciled at all. And why does he write this way? Well, if you know something of Paul’s problems in Corinth, you know why he writes this way.

    He’s having difficulties with the people. There is a question about his authority, his apostleship. Is he really an apostle, or is he some sort of underling, not worthy of their respect? And so the arguments go. And as the arguments have raged, you see, the people in Corinth have fallen out of fellowship with Paul.

    And now he comes to them with this message about reconciliation, truly a reconciliation grounded in the work of Jesus Christ, whereby God is reconciling sinners to himself, but always taking that he’s applying it to the circumstance in court, and he’s saying to them, you know, by which he reconciled to me. And later on. In chapter six. We’ll see how he entreats the Corinthians.

    Our mouth, verse 11, has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is open wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now, in a life exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also. See what Paul’s doing?

    Because there is not a proper fellowship between him and the Corinthians. Paul, therefore, entreats this Corinthian church, be ye reconciled to God. Namely, be ye reconciled to God’s servant, to me. And insofar as you are not reconciled with me, you are in need of being reconciled to God.

    Now let’s return. Is it beginning to register on you how it is possible for John to. Lay this imperative upon the leaders. As if they don’t believe. How he is able to address this gospel to the church. and say to them, I’ve written these things, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believe him. You might have wife in his name. Is it not obvious then that as John writes this gospel, he’s observing things in the church that lead him to conclude that the people aren’t living up to their faith, that they are not living in their faith, that they are not acting like they believe. And so it is that you run through the gospel of John. Let’s take stock of a few things that are getting in the way that are getting in the way. Just back up to chapter twenty. In the middle of that chapter and the story of Jesus encounter with Mary Magdalene in the garden after his resurrection.

    Verse sixteen, you have Jesus saying to her, Mary, she turns and says to him in Hebrew, which is translated by teacher. And then he proceeds to teach her seventeen. Jesus says to her, New American Standard is very good here. Jesus says to her, Stop clinging to me.

    For I have not yet ascended to my father.” Now, why is it that Jesus must say that to Mary? Do you recognize what’s happening here? Mary wants to keep him there. And she’s holding on to him and will not release him. He says, stop clinging to me. Mary, by clinging to him, is interpreting Christ as some sort of earthly Messiah. Some Messiah intended, destined to set up a kingdom of this world. And Jesus says, no, none of that. I’m ascending. So that the focus, you see, is on heaven, on glory, on that which is above. Stop clinging to me.

    Now do you see what could happen in the church? After the days of Christ’s resurrection at the church, it progressed in her history a bit. She’s undergone persecution, maybe a time of peace has come. Here they are in circumstances a bit removed from those traumatic events of Christ’s ministry, his death, resurrection, and the vision is getting a bit blurred.

    We don’t see things so clearly anymore. But don’t be deceived to say, John is here speaking to the assembly, to the Church of Jesus Christ, and telling them, look, it’s not an innocent matter of your vision being blurred, it’s a matter of you not believing. That’s how serious it is. Now, what constitutes that blurred vision? You get weighted down with all of the affairs and concerns of this world and this life. You don’t see things in their proper order.

    You don’t begin with a God who is from above. You don’t start with an ascended Lord. You don’t start with glory. And the warning is plain and clear and very serious. If you start with the earth, you will end with the earth. And it doesn’t matter if you’re even a good and devout Jew, you will end with the earth if you started with the earth. Jesus, the teacher, Rabboni, says, stop clinging to me as if I was some sort of administrator for an earthly kingdom here. Clear your vision. Clean up your sight. That’s what it means to believe. To have faith. Start with those things that you don’t see. Hold them fast. Be eternal. Now there are other ways to cling. There are ways to cling that are very religious. I dare say that Mary’s clinging was very religious. But as the church progresses in her history, and John writes to her, there may be, well, those amongst her members who are clinging to many things that have religious overtones and power.

    For instance, as the gospel begins, you have that antithetical statement that is made in verse seventeen of the very first chapter. The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now you see, as the church progresses, it’s liable to think that Moses is someone to hold on to as if he has value in and of himself, apart from Christ. Stop clinging to Moses, you who are tempted to do that.

    A little later on, you have the disciples of John, very much worried that John’s reputation is suffering because of Jesus’ activity. You read about it at the end of the third chapter of John. They enter into an argument with their master. This one, Jesus has everybody tripping after him. And what’s going to become of your ministry?

    And John responds, magnificently, he must increase, but I must decrease. In the church, there were many who loved John the Baptist, who were, in a sense, brought to faith under his ministry. But John is not the one who was to come in order to bless God’s people with life. He was a witness. There was someone greater yet to come. Stop clinging to John, the gospel says.

    You take up the story of the woman at the well. Well, we could question who she was going to. I guess none of her previous five husbands. But she does cling to the traditions of the Samaritans and a point is made about the fact that the well at which she and Jesus are their congregated. Jacob. And for the Samaritans Jacob was greater than Abraham. He was greater than Moses. Stop. Stop.

    Well These are the things you see that come as temptations to the church. Divert your eye from glory and from Christ. And the diversion of your eye is the loss of faith. Therefore, I write these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ There are many other things that you can point that will cause the diversion.

    You might take stock of what happens in the twelfth chapter of John. A dramatic passage. Tremendously powerful in its effect. You have John there quoting parts of Isaiah. towards the end of that chapter, beginning with verse thirty six. But then you have inverse forty to these words. Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believe in Jesus.

    But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him. less they should be put out of the synagogue, for they love the approval of men, rather than the approval of God. Why would it be that John would write to a Christian church, believe, believe on Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, as if they were not believing, because Many of them out of fear are failing to confess. Many out of fear, and due to their love of the approval of man, simply will not stand up for Jesus. So it’s not an innocent thing. It’s a very serious thing. to not stand up for Jesus, to love the approval of men rather than the approval of God, is to not believe.

    There are so many ways in which it is possible for those who believe not to believe. For those who believe to be in need of believing. Take stock. Of Peter at the end of Chapter 21. This man. Who has at the center of his life. Himself. You have Jesus repeated statements to him questions. Do you love me? Of course, you know, I love you, Lord, will then tend my feet, but you see what Jesus is doing.

    Not only is there a remedy here in these three questions to the denial that Peter is already honored before the crucifixion, a remedy for Peter’s sin, but there is a confrontation here for Peter with himself. Is he actually willing to give up all in order to be that one whom Christ has called in order to fulfill that ministry that is laid upon him? It’s no innocent thing if Peter turned from that. It’s no innocent thing if he failed to see the significance of Christ’s call. For him to fail in that regard and to give himself for the sheep, as Christ has given himself, is to be guilty of not believing. Similarly, his reactions to the beloved disciple, which concludes this story.

    Well, what about him? You’ve told me that I’m going to suffer. You’ve given me this horrendous scenario about the prospects for my life. What about him? Peter, you don’t understand. And insofar as you don’t understand, you don’t believe. You’re in need of believing.

    It’s a similar thing that happened on the eve before Christ’s crucifixion, when Jesus He takes the towel and puts it around himself, and goes and washes the disciples’ feet. He says, I’ve given you an example of the way in which you ought to treat one another, insofar as you’re not willing to love one another. You are not believing, and you are in need of believing. Well, the most powerful illustration and the most riveting confrontation with diversion is dished out to us in the story of Thomas. I want you to understand what’s going on here. You see, Thomas becomes a foil by which the church is instructed.

    The church may well contend herself coming down to that thirty-first verse. I believe Jesus Christ I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, haven’t I said as much? And so the confession goes. Oh yes, Jesus is the Son of God. I see him up there somewhere. He’s very powerful, very important. He’s probably the most important person that ever lived. I think that there surely is none greater than Jesus. What is the church said throughout the ages? Jesus is the Son of God! Amen!

    Let the power of Thomas’ confession grip you. Is the church tempted with the confession that Jesus is the Son of God to think less of Jesus than they ought? If you fall short of Thomas’s confession, you have not believed that Jesus is the Son of God. Is it registering? If you have not embraced Thomas’s confession as your own. Regardless of how many times you have said, Jesus is the son of God, you have not believed that he is the son of God. Feel the power of it? The church says, Jesus is the son of God. Thomas says, my Lord and my God. And that’s the conclusion of the Vatican, right there. That’s it. That’s it. Nothing less will do.

    Is the Church tempted to make Jesus something less than God? Is the church tempted in its confusion with the eye diverted, giving in to rationalistic schemes to make of Jesus less than he is? In every age, the person of Jesus Christ has been attacked, not by those outside the church, but by those in the church, who want to say over and over again, Jesus is the Son of God, but they can’t for the life of them.

    Embrace Thomas’s confession, my Lord and my God, and only then will you have true faith, the kind of faith described here for you by John. The kind of faith that grants life is for you. Jesus is my Lord and my God. Let’s pray. Our Father, we may well believe and still be in need of believing. We may be in need of believing the very basic doctrine of our faith, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. O Lord, there are so many temptations for our eyes to be diverted, but may our vision remain clear because we are helped we are directed by your spirit and therefore we see things truly first of all in terms of the invisible realities of heaven of glory and then we are able to understand the things of this life, this world. But most importantly, may we understand that this One who is the Christ, the Son of God, is our Lord and our God. And as such, Lord, may we melt before Him. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Three Cycles With Nicodemus

    Three Cycles With Nicodemus

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. John sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 27, 1986.

    About this sermon

    The confrontation between Christ and Nicodemus in John 3 moves through three distinct cycles, a structure easy to miss when the conversation is read as one continuous exchange. John 12’s later summary of unbelief sheds retrospective light on where that confrontation was always heading. The cross, even here in an ostensibly private nighttime conversation, sits at the center of what Christ actually says.

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    Sermon transcript

    I’m a little worn down tonight, but we’ll carry on and hopefully make a little progress in John 3, beyond where we’ve been. We come to that point in the story of Jesus and Nicodemus where Jesus now has Nicodemus completely at his mercy. Jesus has unmasked Nicodemus.

    We come, therefore, to that third cycle. That third cycle is now commencing with the ninth verse. And at this point, unlike what has appeared previously, we find Nicodemus on the right. Take note of the progression in that first cycle, verses two and three. was the one in control, or at least he thought he was. His opening remark, as we have repeatedly pointed out, was actually subterfuge.

    It was an attempt by Nicodemus to move Jesus, if there was any question as to where he stood, it was an attempt to move Jesus It was an attempt to compel Jesus to accept his rules. It was an attempt on the part of Nicodemus to move Jesus to a position in which he would become harmless. Become harmless through an acknowledgement of the authority of the rabbinical establishment become harmless through an acknowledgement of the superiority of the Jewish institutions that were wrapped up in the figure of Nicodemus himself. So you see, Nicodemus does not come to Jesus in a supplant.

    He isn’t even an honest seeker. He is a representative of the Pharisees. He is a representative of the synagogue. He has come for the purposes of making sure that Jesus intends no harm to the institutions that are revered and sacrosanct within the structure of life in Israel. But what does he mean? Does he need one who is ready to accept the flattery? Does he need one here who, before that flattery, succumbs? Rather, he needs one for whom he is no match.

    If Nicodemus is a master at rabbinical chess playing, rabbinical debate He is met one in Jesus for whom he is no match. For Jesus outflanks Nicodemus. And he does so with talk that comes straight out of another world. Straight out of another world. And interestingly, Nicodemus seems to be wholly ignorant of that word. Jesus tells Nicodemus, in effect, that the pretensions of those rabbinic and Jewish institutions which he represents are worthless. Those claims to superiority, those claims to privilege, they are utterly worthless.

    What is necessary, says Jesus, in the face of your claims, in the face of your pretended authority, is a rebirth. Indeed, a rebirth, you must be born again, is necessary if any man. Be he even a Jew, be he the best of the Jews, a rebirth. Is necessary for any. If he is to see. The kingdom of God. Now the implication of Jesus remarked here is blank. They could even stop it. Therefore this one who has such a pedigree. This one who has such credentials. Is in need of the very thing that Jesus speaks up. What do you do in a debate when you are outflanked? Well, I know what I do. I try to make a fool out of the opponent. I try to pass it all off with a quip. I try to make the opponent looked foolish, absurd.

    And that’s precisely what Nicodemus does. The rabbis, in their argumentation, were certainly no stranger to this sort of thing. And when they were losing in a debate, their practice was then to take a point made by the opponent and make that point then appear utterly ridiculous. And that’s precisely what Nicodemus does.

    His objective here in the second cycle, which begins in verse four, runs through verse eight, by the way, is to make Jesus look foolish. So he speaks about the man who’s old, and the utter absurdity of that man being born. when he is old, or what about that man entering into his mother’s womb for a second time to be born? Well, of course, it’s thoroughly and utterly ridiculous.

    But Jesus, Jesus here, in fine rabbinical style, arguing better than the best of the rabbi himself. In fact, you see, as we have looked at the third cycle, it seems that we’re not dealing with any ordinary teacher, any ordinary rabbi of the Jews. For Jesus, it seems, gives place to Nicodemus as not just one of the teachers that you’ll note in verse 10, he calls him the teacher. of Israel. But the teacher of Israel, be he ever so great, once more is no match for Jesus, the greatest rabbi, the one who has no equal.

    What does Jesus do when faced then with the charge by Nicodemus that his position Jesus position is ridiculous. He makes appeal to the very thing in which Nicodemus is supposed to be the expert. He makes appeal to the truth of Scripture. He makes appeal to Old Testament text and images.

    He makes reference being born of water and the spirit, and as we have seen, Jesus’ remarks here are a deliberate appeal to the prophets Isaiah, Joel, and Ezekiel. Each of those prophets spoke of a coming day, a day which would be thoroughly unique. literally new, no day like it formerly, in which there would be an outpouring, notice the combination of images, just with that kind of a vocabulary, outpouring of the spirit of God. pouring water, the spirit itself being poured out like water, the references in Isaiah and Joel specifically banking on that kind of imagery. Now you have the outpouring of the spirit in this new day, which is to come. And in that day, you see the prophets were saying God would wash his people afresh. He would make them clean. and he would set within him his spirit, and thus, and thus, they would be fit for service in his house, in his temple. Well, we know the impact of Jesus’ word is utterly astounding. to this teacher in Israel, because the plane are so utterly astounding. This man is intelligent. This man knows the tradition. This man knows the text.

    Jesus doesn’t even have to quote them. He just merely makes reference, and this rabbi knows precisely of what he is speaking. But you see, you see, what is so thoroughly astounding is that in the context Jesus now is making plain that the things that are surrounding his ministry, those things which are true about his person, this which he has said concerning the new birth, all of these things are coming to a focus in him and in the things that he is accomplishing. And therefore, therefore, Jesus applies the language of rebirth spirit, water to his ministry and his person. These things all have in reference to him. He is at the center. Well.

    Jesus now has placed discussion on an utterly unique plane. The world of the rabbis. The world of Jewish service. is, as it were, on one level. But the world of the gospel of Jesus Christ is on a completely different plane. The contrast in that second cycle is described by Jesus as one between flesh and spirit. Because Nicodemus then belongs to the order of the rabbis of Israel and Jewish service, he belongs, in fact, to the order of the flesh. And the darkness in which he has sought out Jesus remains the figure under which one must consider this rabbi, for he still walks in darkness. But now, that one, Nicodemus, who has tried to make fun of Jesus, or make light of him by pointing out the absurdity of his position, by pointing out the impossibility of what Jesus has suggested, namely a rebirth is confronted with the absolute impossibility, even absurdity of that rebirth of which Jesus speaks, and that in a unique way.

    For Jesus now, speaking to this Israelite, talks to this Israelite who is supposed to be no stranger to the sovereignty of God. He speaks to this Israelite about a sovereignty of the Spirit. He illustrates that sovereignty by appealing to the figure of the wind. But the bottom line in this progression in the discussion is that Jews and Jewish rabbis are also subject to the sovereign disposition of the spirit, and this means that they cannot count upon their bloodlines or even their training or their intelligence to make them fit for the kingdom of heaven.

    Can you then imagine the desperation, the desperation of Nicodemus? He had been moved from a position of power to a position of impotence. He had been moved from the position in which he thought he had the And now he is faced with the utter impossibility of his own salvation.

    One is driven back to the synoptic gospel accounts of the rich young ruler and the response of the disciples after that rich young ruler goes away. You remember how they responded. They said, if it’s true of this rich young ruler, namely, that it’s impossible for him to enter into the kingdom of heaven, then who? Who can be saved? You get the fourth of that. You understand how?

    How the disciples saw that rich young ruler. They didn’t see him as a bragging young man. They saw him as the pattern of that which they hoped to become when they reached Jerusalem. They, too, were going to become rich young rulers. But Jesus sends the rich young ruler away.

    That one who signals the best that Israel has to offer cannot get in. The utter impossibility of it. So the disciples, after the rich young ruler has gone away, cry out to Jesus, who then can be saved? And Jesus says to them, It is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.

    Now you might want to see Nicodemus and the rich young ruler at a glance. As if they signify something of the same thing. Although I think Nicodemus is a bit more devious than the rich young ruler. A bit more calculated. But you, you see things clearly now. You are with me thus far. I want you to feel it though. I want you to understand the utter desperation of this man. If there was anybody who was in, Nicodemus was in.

    If there was anyone about whom there was no question, it was Nicodemus. And yet now, that one about whom there was no question, his position is questioned. And if the position of the one about whom there was no question is now questioned, what can we say about everyone else?

    You get the fourth of it? If there’s no hope for Nicodemus, And he’s the best that Israel has to offer. And what hope is there for anybody else? Absolutely none. None. Except for the sovereign disposition of the Spirit. The Spirit, like the wind, blowing where He wills. We hear the sound of it. We don’t know where it came from, where it’s going. So is everyone. Think of yourself. Not all of us were raised to believe. Not all of us knew what faith was as we grew up. For some of us, though we may have been raised in a Christian environment, it seems as if we were strangers to the message of grace and the knowledge of Christ.

    But now, as you look at your life, the inexplicability of your presence in the Church of Christ, your love of the Savior, is it reasonable? Knowing what you know about yourself, is it reasonable? Is it possible? No, it isn’t possible. The only possibility for your faith for your presence in the Church of Christ is the work of God.

    His sovereign disposition, His choice of you. Well, the Desperation brings us to verse 9. And you understand the man better than you’ve understood here before. The man is literally crying out. How can these things be? It can’t be like this, he said. And Jesus turned on him and said, Are you a teacher of Israel, or the teacher of Israel, and you do not acknowledge the truth of what I am speaking, you do not own it, and then begins what seems to be a sermon by Jesus to this rabbi. Now this sermon is quite interesting and we are not going to be able to cover the whole and increasingly convinced that the sermon goes on the first twenty one.

    It moves in the final cycle of the third cycle after Jesus makes his initial response to Nicodemus in verse ten and it is if you have a certain by Jesus to this route. Now get the fourth of it again. The fourth of it is made clear to you if you take stock of verse eleven.

    Look at strange way which Jesus speaks here. Remember, there are two men speaking with one another, and as they talk to one another, we would expect that they would use singular pronouns. Already, Nicodemus He did so in his initial address to Jesus in verse two. He said, Rabbi, we know, and we talked about that, we know. But now Jesus, as he begins to speak to Nicodemus in this most direct fashion, he also uses plural pronouns in verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak. Who’s we? Where do we come from? We speak that which we know. We know over again, but we know that the demons that convert to and bear witness of that which we have seen, and you do not see our oral again. How do you see what’s taking place?

    It’s rabbi representative of the preacher, right? speaking on behalf of his constituency, Rabbi we know, and then you come to verse eleven, and Jesus here is not speaking as a solitary individual, for his whole and entire church is wrapped up inside of him, and he is speaking on their behalf.

    His sermon, therefore, is an address of the church in the midst of the synagogue to the Jews. It’s a confrontation between assemblies. And now that the rabbi of the Jewish synagogue has disqualified himself, the rabbi of the Christian assembly takes the podium, and he begins to preach. And he preaches to this rabbi, but through that rabbi, to everyone who is in the synagogue.

    Great preaching. Great preaching. We speak. That which we know. and bear witness of that which we have seen. And you do not receive our. Now, of course. There’s much to be said about this. And in the coming weeks, we hope to say a few things ourselves about that. But tonight, let me conclude by taking note of a certain kind of difficulty that arises. You know that Nicodemus has said, here’s the note.

    But now through Christ, you have the church saying, there we know. Is it possible for the church to slide into a position, principally speaking, slide into a position We’re there, we know, he comes just as offensive as he begins. This, in order to give you a clue about what Jesus is going to say, he is going to concentrate on faith. Hey, it’s a very interesting subject in John’s gospel, and that’s why we read John 12.

    Because you see, To say that one has faith is not completely and wholly sufficient. To claim for oneself that faith in Christ, if it is not the proper kind of faith, the right kind of faith, true faith, literally lands you in precisely the position that Nicodemus was. It lands you in the position of presumption. Is there a kind of faith that is found in the church that is not true faith? You might note that in that twelfth chapter, what is said about the Pharisees, that some of them believe that because of their fear of the authority, they didn’t confess Christ because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue.

    And you can push it a little bit further. You can take stock of the conclusion of the twentieth chapter of John. You see what is said there at the conclusion of that chapter. Now, let this register many other signs. Verse thirty. Therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

    But these things have been written that she may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life on his name. Now, you know what has been done with that text, for many have come along and said that this text then makes plain the purpose and the intent of John in writing. It does that. But then people go on to say that the objective of John in writing is holy and completely in terms of an evangelistic, evangelistic tract. that this gospel is intended wholly and completely for unbelievers, not so.

    The believing and the belief, the faith to which John is referring at the conclusion of this chapter has reference also to those who are in the church, that their faith might be a settled, firm, and true faith itself, and not one that slides into the we know of Nicodemus, a presumptuous faith. God forbid! For there is that kind of bankruptcy. That is an armchair thing. It relaxes. In its own comfort. And it also avoids suffering.

    And if there is anything that true faith does not do, it does not avoid suffering. You see, the faith of which John speaks here in the 20th chapter, and that faith, which is going to be so important to the sermon of Jesus to the synagogue, is indeed setting the tone. Not that armchair, presumptuous faith, but a living and vital faith, a faith that is prepared to suffer for the sake of the state, just as the state has been ready and willing to suffer for his own. Now. That’s the direction. And I think that you can see.

    How it is true that the cross will become central to the preaching of Jesus as he delivers this message to make it. and freely give us to the Jews the cross of Christ. In that cross, all presumption is slain. In that cross, all pride is destroyed. In that cross, each of us face ourselves.

    It is utterly impossible for you to know yourself apart from that cross and life as well is impossible without that cross so Jesus preaches and in him the church speaks we speak that which we know and bear witness of that which we have seen You do not receive our witness.

    We are those who have received the testimony of the Son. Let’s pray. Our Father, we do acknowledge the utter impossibility of a place in your kingdom, apart from the sovereign disposition of the Spirit, apart then from his working within us that there might be faith, and in that faith, a proper, appropriate appropriation of the cross of Jesus Christ. Lord, that we might know ourselves through that cross, that we might know life, that we might know Jesus Christ, who is life. May we not be those who are presumptuous, proud. Rather, Lord, may the message of Jesus to a proud and presumptuous rabbi be neat and green to us, we being fed. May we delight in our service to Him all of our days.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • I Have Seen the Lord

    I Have Seen the Lord

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Easter” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 7, 1985.

    About this sermon

    John 20 opens in darkness, and the resurrection answers the first creation with a new one. Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene each come to the tomb. Mary goes to the disciples and says, ‘I have seen the Lord.’

    More sermons from John · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabona, which means teacher. We have read this morning a story that you all know, the story of John’s account of the first Easter morning. But did you notice John’s mention of the darkness? Only John, among the gospel writers, tells us it was still dark. When it was dark, that is, when darkness still enveloped everything, including those most devoted to Jesus.

    Now, it’s not as if the light hasn’t shined forth. the magnificent light that bursts forth in the resurrection of Jesus. Light much like light bursting forth once before, early on, at the very beginning of time. For you see, this first day of the week reminds us of that very first day in the very first week of creation. And now, as then, God performs a hidden work In the creation, no one but God and his holy angels witnessed what took place. Who was there to hear the Almighty say, Let there be light? And now it is the same at the resurrection of Jesus. It is a hidden work And in this hidden work of God, he brings to life this dark world’s light.

    It being a hidden work, it focuses our faith. We might recall what is said about that original creation later on in the New Testament. We are told, since we weren’t there, by faith we understand that the worlds were made by the word of God. And as it was with that first creation, so it is now with the new creation. And there are other parallels. The testimony of God’s original great act, calling forth the light, was set finally before his creatures, the man and the woman, our first parents, whom he made as the crown of his creating work.

    But why them? Unfortunately, we think of Adam and Eve as indiscriminately personality-less and character-less. as if they aren’t the consequence in God’s creative activity of his sovereign, electing, creating power and disposition. Why them? Why those particular bodies? Why those brains? Why those particular features? I am astounded that so many do not believe in God’s election, for you cannot get beyond the first chapter of Genesis without being confronted by it.

    But here in the new creation, this marvelous work of God in which a later-day light bursts upon the scene, a new creation to be sure, there are once again chosen witnesses before whom that light then, the testament of what God has done, is displayed.

    In John’s account, we have three. We have Simon Peter, we have that special disciple known as the one Jesus loved, and we also have, most importantly here, Mary Magdalene. We want to look at each of them in turn, but we want to look at them in keeping with what we have said at the very beginning, calling your attention to the fact that it is John who says, and while it was still dark, Jesus has been raised from the dead. The light has come for the nations, and yet John says, while it was still dark. The three mentioned here then will be related to that darkness. Our understanding of the darkness, and also our understanding and comprehension of the light.

    Simon Peter, called a rock by Christ himself, he an early follower of Jesus. You know of his admirable loyalty and fervor when many were deserting Jesus Jesus then asked the twelve that they would leave him, too. And it was Simon Peter who said, To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of Israel. But we also know of Peter’s, how shall we call it, proud humility, best expressed when he drew back from Christ’s attempt to wash his feet. You’ll never wash my feet, Lord, he said, only to be ashamed by his Lord’s rebuke to such an extent that he explained that the washing of his feet would hardly be adequate.

    Lord, not my feet, but my head. No, all of me. Please. But there is an ambivalence in Peter. There is frailty. There is that bold boast, the bravado I will die with you, Lord,” he said, only to have that remark answered in his cowardice by, Know him? I neither know him nor revere him. His response, then, to those who had associated him with Now, before you are too hard on Peter, I want you to consider him in light of what John says in verse 1 of chapter 20. While it is yet dark, even though the light has come, while it is yet dark, To be fair to this man, we have to penetrate him at a much deeper level than we have so far.

    For you see, Peter is more than a solitary figure. He is more than just an individual man. He is that one disciple in whom we are struck at one and the same time with, yes, amazing resilience and even faithfulness, and then amazing bewilderment to the point of offensiveness. understanding Peter for all that he is, for all that he is.

    We are compelled to see in this one man the deep, agonizing struggle of all within Israel who are longing for their Savior, but yet frightened by the prospect that this Jesus might be the one. Shall we follow Jesus as God’s Messiah, or will we hold back in uncertainty? For in seeing him, I am face to face with the cost of it all.

    In this one man, then, Israel is struggling with itself. Because you see, even among the faithful in Israel, the hope of that people is so tied to the land. And this Messiah has come and said, my kingdom is not of this world. To give up Palestine? I don’t know if I can do it. For that has been my life.

    But what other demands are made by this Messiah, the one who says that when he is lifted up in coronation, he will draw all men, all nations to himself? What then of the indigenous character and purity of the Jewish people? And I don’t know what he’s doing with the law, but he certainly isn’t handling it like our rabbis. It’s as if, with his coming, there’s been a marvelous transformation, an amazing, a bewildering transformation of even the law. How can I give these things up? Am I able, for the sake of this Jesus and his gospel?” So in the figure of Peter, even though the sun has risen, it is still dark. He is caught in his ambivalence. Now, if Peter speaks to us about uncertainty and ambivalence in Israel, what might we say of the beloved disciple?

    How fresh he appears in the passage. He outruns Peter. He arrives first at the tomb. and after giving place to Peter, certainly the older, he answers and we are told he believes. If Peter is hesitant, uncertain and ambivalent Israel, then in this beloved disciple we find here One who is a picture of an almost naive, naive belief, confidence. He is a picture of unhesitancy, unambiguity. As we have said, he arrives first at the tomb. As we have said, having seen what Peter saw, he believed.

    But yet, yet, this one who is poised, ready, willing, even for him, it is still dark. He doesn’t realize everything, he doesn’t know what it all means, he doesn’t know how it all fits together, much less what to do about it. We learn then in these two men about the nature of the true Israel of God, those faithfully waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. In Peter we have one holding on to the old, even when the new has come. In the beloved disciple we have one quick, poised, ready to believe and obey, yet not knowing what to do. So it is that both of them are hesitant, as it were, and walking, groping, if you will, in the darkness as yet. For they both return to their homes as if nothing had happened.

    How great is this darkness of which John speaks? What is the magnitude of it? We get a glimmer of it in Peter and in the beloved disciple, for you see, that darkness is so great that it overtakes even the best that Israel has to offer. Not even the best of Israel can avoid the shadow. There is no ghost even for them.

    But in order to grasp better the greatness of this darkness, we move on to the figure of Mary Magdalene. For she will not merely take us back into the bosom of Israel. She will take us back to the very foundations of the earth. She is the one then through whom we are confronted with the awesomeness of the darkness.

    So great is that darkness that apart from God’s sovereign and gracious mercy, it envelops and vanquishes Israel’s best. It is as awesome as the kingdom of darkness and as fierce as that kingdom’s dark prince. Its history is as old as creation and as ancient as the Garden of Eden.

    For this woman, will stand over against another woman, the very first woman that ever lived. So it is, then, that we are brought in John 20 to a garden. If in that first garden man died, being disobedient as he was. In the second garden, man is made alive, bringing the woman into perspective. If in that first garden the woman succumbed, in the second she triumphs. If in the first garden the woman found no one, not even her husband, to stand in her place, to die for her in order that she might be reconciled to the life of the glorious knowledge of the true God, in the second garden now she finds the resurrected Christ. who has not only offered himself up for her, but now confesses to her, naming her by name, eliciting from her her own confession that he is Rabboni, my future. He it is, then, who will instruct her perfectly in all of the purposes of God. He it is, then, that remedies the deceit to which she originally fell prey.

    The darkness once chased on creation’s first day. invaded the earth through sin, bringing with it its dreaded fruit, death. Even the best of Israel lived under the shadow of death. But now, on the first day of the week in the new creation, darkness is chased again. The light shines in the darkness. The darkness will never be able to put it out. It is chased from the Israel of God. It is driven back from the borders of the nations, from those called of God, as they are ministered unto by the resurrected teacher, Rabboni, the Lord Jesus Christ. His word brings light.

    All of us then, with Mary, must learn as she did from that teacher. Notice how the darkness still holds her as she looks at Christ. Initially she wants to hold on to him, as if in finding him she has found a true husband. a new and second Adam. As if in holding him, she, by holding him, can bring to pass a new paradise here upon earth. For his instruction to her and through her to us is that the paradise for which she and we long is not found in any garden in this creation, but rather is above with God in a place unthreatened by any darkness at all.

    And that is the place to which Christ presently ascends. In him was life, and that life was the light of man. And now with the instruction that Jesus Christ gives, based upon his resurrection, he chases darkness from the souls and the hearts of men, who up to this time have vainly believed that the real objective is some kind of permanent residence in this world. It is not.

    It is his life, his resurrection life then that brings to light all of the purposes of life itself and the reason why you are here. That in the end He who has gone to prepare a place for you might come again and receive you unto himself that where he is there ye might be also. Now in the day that that happens you will be able to say exactly what Mary said to the disciples. After having left this scene, I have seen the Lord.

    Here is our life. the light that dispels our darkness and our perpetual hope. Let us pray. The darkness continues even though There has been that resurrection, a dark shroud over the hearts and minds of men and women. Be they the best that the world has to offer, and it is only the risen Christ who is able to dispel that darkness and bring the clear, bright instruction of heaven to bear upon us here. that we may not put our trust or our hope in the things of this world, but in the one who was raised again, who is preparing a place for us, who comes a second time to receive us, that we might be with him forever. Even so, come Lord Jesus, quickly come. Good night.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.